Silent movie, and Oscar front-runner, The Artist won film of the year; Michel Hazanavicius won best director and Jean Dujardin was named best actor.
A Separation, which follows a marital conflict in Tehran, won best foreign film, best screenwriter and best supporting actress for Sareh Beyat.
We Need To Talk About Kevin won British film of the year.
In a surprise move, Meryl Streep shared the best actress award with Anna Paquin, for her role in the little-seen film Margaret. Neither actress was present at the awards.
However, both The Artist’s Dujardin and Hazanavicius were at the BFI Southbank event in London.
When asked for the reason why he thought the movie had been so successful, Hazanavicius said: “Maybe because it’s a simple love story. It’s universal. And there’s a cute dog. People love cute dogs.”
