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LAST UPDATE | 17 Feb
CONCLAVE WAS THE big winner at the Baftas, taking home the award for best film while Northern Ireland’s Nick Emerson won the prize for best editing for the papal thriller.
Adapted from Robert Harris’s 2016 novel, the film stars Ralph Fiennes as Dean of the Cardinal in the Vatican who is tasked with overseeing the election of a new Pope while experiencing his own crisis of faith.
It also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
After being named in twelve categories, making it the most nominated film of the year, Conclave took home four awards this evening.
The high-stakes drama beat Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown and Emilia Pérez to win the best film award, while it also won the gong for outstanding British film award. Peter Straughan also got the best adapted screenplay trophy.
Best editing went to Nick Emerson for his work on the film. Emerson is also nominated for an Academy Award for his work, the only Irish hopeful to get a nod at the Oscars this year.
Accepting Conclave’s best film award, director Edward Berger recalled the journey to make the film took seven years, paying tribute to British screenplay writer Peter Straughan’s “wonderful script”, and the cast including British actor Ralph Fiennes and Hollywood star Isabella Rossellini, who both missed out on gongs.
“What you did (for) me on set was magic,” he added. “I’m so grateful I was able to witness.”
Speaking during the winners press conference, producer Tessa Ross described the film as “a story of the desire for power”.
“It’s the story of a job that a group of men do, the story of that institution and how they run it, and the story of a loss of faith in that institution,” she said.
Director Edward Berger and producer Tessa Ross speaking after Conclave won Best Film and Outstanding British Film at the #BAFTA2025@thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/yZLQAx5FIo
— Jane Moore (@janemoore__) February 16, 2025
“It’s a very specific world, and I think a lot of people have come to me and said, ‘I’m not really very interested in the church’. But of course, it’s a political thriller. It’s also a personal journey, and it’s also a nice, forward-looking idea, so I think that’s why people’s minds are opened by it.”
Ralph Fiennes missed out on the leading actor award to Adrien Brody, who starred as a Hungarian-Jewish architect escaping post-war Europe in The Brutalist.
Isabella Rossellini, who critics have dubbed the scene stealer of the acclaimed drama, also failed to take home the supporting actress award, which went to Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez.
The Brutalist also took home four awards on the night, including the directing gong with a win for Brady Corbet.
Here’s a full list of the winners:
Conclave
Conclave
Mikey Madison – Anora
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
Conclave
Anora
Conclave – Nick Emerson
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
Dune: Part Two
Dune: Part Two
Wicked
Wicked
The Substance
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
David Jonsson
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The leading actress is not welcome in Ireland, we are a profoundly antisemitic country
@Fachtna BLAINE: Yawn, I’ll tell you what’s not welcome, Fachtna. Hackneyed fabrications, that’s what. On you jog son…
@Fachtna BLAINE: In their own words:
Yoav Kisch – Minister of Education - “Those are animals, they have no right to exist. I am not debating they way it will happen, but they need to be exterminated”.
“There are no innocent people in the Gaza Strip.” Avigdor Lieberman – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Yisrael Beitenu), Former Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister
“The war will never end if we don’t expel them all.” Nissim Vaturi – Deputy Speaker of Knesset (Likud)
“Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!” – Revital Gottlieb – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Likud)
“Erase all of Gaza from the face of the earth. That the Gazan monsters will fly to the southern fence & try to enter Egyptian territory, or they will die & their death will be evil. Gaza should be erased!” Galit Distel Atbaryan – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Likud), former Minister of Information
“We must not show mercy to cruel people, there is no place for any humanitarian gestures – we must erase the memory of Amalek” (This recalls a passage in the Old Testament where King Saul is instructed by God to completely annihilate all of the Amalekites, including children, babies, animals, men, women, everyone”). Boaz Bismuth – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Likud)
“in the kibbutzim they say, ‘destroy them.’ My friends at the prosecutor’s office, who fought with me on political matters, in debates, tell me, ‘Moshe, it is clear that all the Gazans need to be destroyed,’ and these are statements I have never heard.” This proves, he said, that the right-wing was correct just as it was on the Palestinian issue.” Moshe Saad – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Likud)
“A leadership that has mercy on monsters who massacred us is not worthy of leadership. A ceasefire for several hours is surrender, it is weakness, humiliation … Without crushing Hamas and razing Gaza, we will not have the right to exist” Revital Gottlie – Member of the Israeli Knesset (Likud)
Absolutely heartbroken at the images of men and women vaping, they are known to cause serious physical and psychological problems, we must ban them
Loos like Gladiator 2 was a massive waste of money
@Fachtna BLAINE: Ehhh, it made double its cost at the box office!
@Alan Kennedy: so it broke even
@Dr Albert S Meinheimer: if it made its cost back, it broke even. If it made double its costs, it made the amount of its costs again, in profit. You might want to scrap the application to the Smurfit School lad…
We British in Ireland salute this fine Irishman. Bualadh bos as they say. Your day has come.
Jesus thought conclave was hopeless. Every two minutes there was tense music for scenes that were not in any way tense
@Sean Mc Garry: I thought Jesus was dead!
@Mike Dunne: on the the third day he rose again
@Sean Mc Garry: Jesus needs to come back and fix my door
Pity the IFTA’S didn’t get the same coverage
@RIP: yeah dreadful there was no report….
Oh wait… :-O
https://jrnl.ie/6623572
Guessing gladiator 2 was a disaster at all these awards not even mentioned
@Chris: Are You NOT Entertained?
@Chris: i tried to watch it a few times
its err not a great movie
It is romantic, and quite funny, how Kneecap try in vain to revive a dead language, makes me chuckle lol
Heard a lot about conclave, can’t wait to watch.
@Clare Power: Would that be an ecumenical matter?
@Clare Power: will i tell you the ending
@and the hit’s just keep coming: ah now…
‘The Brutalist’ is the best film of the year.
I liked the one with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino
Kneecap are soooooo gammon
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