Film4 triumphs at the BAFTAs winning six awards

19 February 2018

Martin McDonagh’s Film4 backed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri tonight won five BAFTA awards including Best Film and Outstanding British Film (Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh), Original Screenplay (McDonagh), Best Leading Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell).

Writer/Director Rungano Nyoni and Producer Emily Morgan were honoured with the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for I Am Not a Witch, also Film4 backed.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek commented: “To be honoured with Best Film, British Film and Outstanding Debut for two films as different as Three Billboards and I Am Not a Witch makes this a truly special night for Film4. Congratulations to Martin, Graham, Pete, Frances, Sam, Rungano and Emily.”

The Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, financed by Film4 and Fox Searchlight Pictures, crossed $100 million in worldwide box office gross last week.

Three Billboards has received seven Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson), Best Original Screenplay (Martin McDonagh), Best Original Score and Best Editing.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has been steadily accruing awards and nominations since bowing at the 2017 autumn film festivals, where it won the Best Screenplay prize at Venice and the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at Toronto, following in the footsteps of previous Film4 backed winners Room (2015), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008). Other major accolades the film has collected include Best Film from the London Film Critics Circle, and four Golden Globes - Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) and Best Screenplay (Martin McDonagh). The film won best Ensemble, Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) from The Screen Actors’ Guild and Best Ensemble, Best Actress (Frances McDormand), and Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell) from the Broadcast Film Critics. The film has also won seven audience awards.

Film4 has backed all McDonagh’s screen work to date, including his Academy Award winning short film “Six Shooter” (available to view for free on Film4 website, see URL below), and his debut feature “In Bruges” which was nominated for the Academy Award and won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is financed on a 50/50 basis by Film4 and Fox Searchlight Pictures, with the studio taking worldwide distribution rights. Film4’s parent company Channel 4 Television retains UK TV rights – profits from which will be used to support future British film production.

-ENDS-

 

See Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-winning debut short film Six Shooter here:

https://www.film4productions.com/shorts/2004/six-shooter

 

 

ABOUT FILM4 

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in UK and international filmmaking, both new and established.

Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award®-winners such as Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Alex Garland’s Ex Machina, Asif Kapadia’s box office record breaking documentary Amy, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Chris Morris’s Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

Film4’s recent releases include Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, Todd Haynes’ Carol and Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette. Forthcoming releases include festival award winners Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here and Andrew Haigh’s Lean on Pete, as well as Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience, John Cameron Mitchell’s How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Michael Pearce’s Beast, Paddy Considine’s Journeyman and Toby MacDonald’s Old Boys. Films in production include Lenny Abrahamson’s The Little Stranger, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Bart Layton’s American Animals, Tinge Krishnan’s Been So Long, Iain Morris’s The Festival, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Steve McQueen’s Widows, Stephen Merchant’s Fighting With My Family, Garth Davis’s Mary Magdalene, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Tom Harper’s Country Music, Jim Hosking’s An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn and Asif Kapadia’s Maradona.

For further information please visit www.film4productions.com