Olivia Colman's win caps consecutive successful Oscars for Film4

25 February 2019

Olivia Colman’s Oscar win for best performance by an actress in a leading role for THE FAVOURITE capped another successful awards season for Film4.

Colman’s win was the 35th Oscar in Film4’s 37-year history and marks the third time in four years a Film4-backed film has produced the best actress winner, following Frances McDormand’s win for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Brie Larson’s in 2016 for Room.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek comments: “At Film4 we are privileged to be a fundamental part of this quintessentially British triumph. Olivia Colman is a one-off and tonight here in Hollywood her riveting performance in The Favourite was rightly rewarded. We are thrilled for her, Yorgos Lanthimos and everyone involved in the film.”

Film4’s Oscar history:

• Film4 films have produced 138 Oscar nominations and 35 wins in the organisation’s 37-year history.
• In the last 11 years, Film4 films have picked up 69 nominations winning 19 Oscars.
• Biggest Oscar winner – Slumdog Millionaire with 8 wins.
• Most nominated films – The Favourite and Slumdog Millionaire with 10, closely followed by 12 Years a Slave and Howard’s End with 9 apiece.
• Most Film4 nominations in one year - 15 in 2016 and 1993, followed by 13 in 2019.
• Most recent winners – Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2018.

The Favourite, Film4’s third collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, has been steadily accruing awards since launching at the Venice Film Festival, where it collected the Grand Jury Prize and Olivia Colman picked up her first Best Actress Award. It led the BAFTAS winning seven awards from 12 nominations. Olivia Colman has won a BAFTA, Golden Globe, a BIFA, a National Society of Film Critics Award and was crowned Actress of the Year by the London Critics Circle.

THE FAVOURITE had gone into this year’s Academy Awards as joint leader with 10 nominations, while another Film4-backed film COLD WAR had three.

 

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 Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, 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 Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, Andrea Arnold’s American Honey, Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch, 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 and Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years.

Film4’s recent releases include Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience, Steve McQueen’s Widows, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Tinge Krishnan’s Been So Long, Bart Layton’s American Animals, Clio Barnard’s Dark River and Michael Pearce’s Beast. Forthcoming releases include Stephen Merchant’s Fighting With My Family, Tom Harper’s Wild Rose and Chris Morris’s The Day Shall Come. Films in production include Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield, Michael Winterbottom’s Greed, Asif Kapadia’s Maradona, Sarah Gavron’s ‘Untitled Girls Film’, Nick Rowland’s Calm With Horses, Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang, Coky Giedroyc’s adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s How To Build a Girl, Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo, Cathy Brady’s Wildfire, Rose Glass’s Saint Maud, and Chaplin from Peter Middleton and James Spinney.

For further information please visit www.film4productions.com.