American Beauty won in six categories including best film at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) awards ceremony on Sunday night (April 9).
DreamWorks’ multi Oscar-winning production also picked up awards for best actor and actress for Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, and was also honoured for cinematography, editing and music.

However Sam Mendes missed out on the best director award which instead went to Pedro Almodovar for All About My Mother. Almodovar’s film also won the award for best film not in the English-language, adding to its foreign-language awards haul which also includes this year’s Oscar.

Beauty also missed out on the original screenplay award, which went to Charlie Kaufman for Being John Malkovich. The award for best adapted screenplay went to Irish writer-director Neil Jordan for The End Of The Affair. Meanwhile UK talent scored in the supporting actress and actor categories which were won by Maggie Smith for Tea With Mussolini and Jude Law for The Talented Mr. Ripley.
FilmFour’s commercial and critical success, East Is East, walked away with the Alexander Korda award for outstanding British film of the year.

As expected, an academy fellowship went to Michael Caine, and a posthumous fellowship went to Stanley Kubrick. Lynne Ramsay, the writer-director of Ratcatcher, picked up the award for best newcomer in British film while Notting Hill won the Orange Audience Award. Notting Hill star Hugh Grant used the occasion to thank the film’s original backers which he wryly described as "good old PolyGram, who were sadly murdered".

and those winners in full...

BEST FILM:
American Beauty

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR:
All About My Mother, Pedro Almodovar

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD FOR BEST BRITISH FILM:
East Is East, Damien O’Donnell, director

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
The End Of The Affair, Neil Jordan

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
American Beauty, Annette Bening

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
American Beauty, Kevin Spacey

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Tea With Mussolini, Maggie Smith

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
The Talented Mr. Ripley, Jude Law

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
All About My Mother, Pedro Almodovar

ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM MUSIC:
American Beauty, Thomas Newman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
American Beauty, Conrad L. Hall

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Sleepy Hollow, Rick Heinrichs

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Sleepy Hollow, Colleen Atwood

BEST EDITING:
American Beauty, Tariq Anwar and Christopher Greenbury

BEST SOUND:
The Matrix

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL SPECIAL EFFECTS:
The Matrix

BEST MAKE-UP/HAIR:
Topsy Turvy, Christine Blundell

BEST SHORT ANIMATION:
The Man With The Beautiful Eyes, Jonathan Bairstow, Jonathan Hodgson

BEST SHORT FILM:
Who’s My Favourite Girl, Joern Utkilen, Kara Johnston, Adrian McDowall

CARL FOREMAN AWARD FOR BEST NEWCOMER IN BRITISH FILM:
Lynne Ramsay

ORANGE AUDIENCE AWARD:
Notting Hill