BAFTA Awards: 'La La Land' wins Best Film, but no sweep in sight

We are 12 days away from the end of awards season, which has seemingly been going on since the beginning of time. Now that I'm thinking about it, the season kicked off during the first week of my school year with the Venice premiere of La La Land. Somehow, it's second semester and this thing is still going on. However, the end is finally near, and the Oscars are almost here. I maintain my view that the Academy Awards end up being more exhausting than anything, as pretty much all of the bloggers and industry people are completely done with the whole awards race by that point. At this moment in the game, we have a fairly good idea of who will win most of the major races, and the Oscars are going to exist mainly as a formality. This weekend, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced their yearly awards, and they managed to throw in a few surprises to keep things interesting. Here are the winners from this year's ceremony!

Best Film- La La Land

Best Director- Damien Chazelle, La La Land

Best Leading Actor- Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Best Leading Actress- Emma Stone, La La Land

Best Supporting Actor- Dev Patel, Lion

Best Supporting Actress- Viola Davis, Fences

Best Adapted Screenplay- Luke Davies, Lion

Best Original Screenplay- Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea

Best Animated Film- Kubo and the Two Strings

Best Documentary- 13th

Best British Film- I, Daniel Blake

Best Film not in the English Language- Son of Saul

Best Makeup and Hair- Florence Foster Jenkins

Best Original Music- Justin Hurwitz, La La Land

Best Cinematography- Linus Sandgren, La La Land

Best Costume Design- Madeline Fontaine, Jackie

Best Production Design- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Best Editing- John Gilbert, Hacksaw Ridge

Best Sound- Arrival

Best Visual Effects- The Jungle Book

EE Rising Star- Tom Holland

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer- Under the Shadow

La La Land unsurprisingly won Best Film, further solidifying its position as the film to beat in the Best Picture category at the Oscars. However, for those predicting a historic La La sweep, the BAFTAs shook things up a little bit. Hacksaw Ridge, Arrival, Fantastic Beasts, and Jackie took surprise wins, complicating the below-the-line categories at the Oscars. Will the strength of Damien Chazelle's musical push it over the top, or are we in for some major surprises? I'm not quite sure. Dev Patel also pulled off a strong upset over Moonlight's Mahershala Ali, which could make the Supporting Actor category quite interesting. Chazelle, Emma Stone, and Viola Davis all practically sealed their Oscar fate, while Casey Affleck pulled off a strong victory after his crushing defeat at the SAG Awards. He's in good shape for the Oscars, but Denzel Washington is still lurking as a strong contender after his victory at the aforementioned guild show. The last major guild awards will be handed out on Sunday by the Writers Guild, and from there, it's off to the Oscars. Ballots are out this week- here we go.

Images courtesy of Lionsgate