Director: Peter Jackson (NZ/UK) The trilogy finale swept everything. The Ride of the Rohirrim remains a cinematic high-water mark.
Director: Alan Parker (UK/Ireland) A surprise win. This raucous Irish film about a soul band from Dublin beat Dances with Wolves and The Silence of the Lambs . Pure energy.
By the 1970s, BAFTA began to mirror the Academy Awards, but with better taste. The Godfather (1970? Actually The Godfather won in 1973) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976) are undeniable masterpieces. However, the real revelation is how often BAFTA chose the better film over the Oscar winner. In 1982, they awarded Chariots of Fire —a quintessentially British victory. But in 1986, while the Oscars went with Out of Africa , BAFTA chose Hannah and Her Sisters —a sharper, more intelligent pick.
Director: Anthony Minghella (UK) Minghella’s romantic epic about a burned mapmaker in a Tuscan monastery swept BAFTA and the Oscars.