BAFTA stands for British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The British Academy Film Awards are the major film awards held in Great Britain The British Film Academy was founded in 1947 as when a group of the most eminent names in the British film production industry met in a room at the Hyde Park Hotel. The first BAFTA awards ceremony took place in 1949. In 1976, the Academy was renamed the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

The Academy's awards have the form of a theatrical mask .This iconic mask was designed in 1955 by US sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe and has become a symbol recognised worldwide.

Since 2008 the ceremony had been held at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden but before it had taken place in the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square. Since 2017, the BAFTA ceremony was held at the Royal Albert Hall. The ceremony historically took place in April or May of each year, but since 2002 it has been held in February to precede the Oscars.

 

The 71st British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA, took place on 18 February 2018. For the second year in a row, the ceremony was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was a glamorous ceremony. The red carpet has been dominated by the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, with most women wearing black in a show of solidarity. Several stars also brought activists as their guests. 

The host was Joanna Lumley and it was a big night for the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won five awards: Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, Sam Rockwell, and Best Leading Actress, Frances McDormand.

 

 

 

 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

It is a 2017 drama film written, directed and produced by Martin McDonagh. It stars Frances McDormand. Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, John Hawkes, and Peter Dinklage appear in supporting roles.

The story takes place in the small town of Ebbing, Missouri, where a girl was raped and murdered a few months ago. The mother, Mildred Hayes, believes that the local police did nothing to find the killer, so she rents three billboards in order to challenge them to solve her daughter's murder.