71st British Academy Film Awards
The 71st British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 18 February 2018 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2017. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2017. Following revelations of sexual harassment in the film industry, many attendees wore black or a badge to show their support for the Time's Up movement.
Guillermo del Toro, Best Director winner
Gary Oldman, Best Actor winner
Frances McDormand, Best Actress winner
Sam Rockwell, Best Supporting Actor winner
The Shape of Water is a 2017 Mexican-American romantic dark fantasy film directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature, and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel. Filming took place on location in Ontario, Canada, from August to November 2016.
The Gill-man from Creature from the Black Lagoon was the inspiration for del Toro's concept.
Elgin Theatre, Toronto, the Orpheum cinema of the film
Image: MJK35133 Sally Hawkins (Maudie, Berlinale 2017)
Image: "Hidden Figures" Screening at the White House (NHQ201612150008) (cropped)