Directed by Martin McDonagh, who lost out on the Best Direction award to Edward Berger, who directed Netflix war epic All Quiet on the Western Front.
Kerry Condon took home Best Supporting Actress, beating out the likes of Angela Bassett and Jamie Lee Curtis. Meanwhile, Barry Keoghan won for Best Supporting Actor. Keoghan won against his own co-star Brendan Gleeson, who was also nominated in the same category.
Banshees fans, unfortunately, didn’t get to see Colin Farrell win Best Actor – that instead went to Austin Butler for his role as Elvis Presley.
The film did win Best British Film, which drew some confusion from Irish watchers. McDonagh acknowledged this in his acceptance speech, saying “best what film?”. The film was placed in the British category due to being financed by Film4, a British company. McDonagh did mention Rosie, one of the donkeys who played a pivotal role in the film, saying she was from Stoke-on-Trent.
The winner of Outstanding British Film is The Banshees of Inisherin! @bansheesmovie @searchlightuk #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/YjSDORFIsy
— BAFTA (@BAFTA) February 19, 2023
The Banshees crew weren’t the only Irish award winners on the night, however. Northern Irish short film An Irish Goodbye won the award for British Short Film, while Richard Baneham was part of the group who took home the award for Special Visual Effects for their work on Avatar: The Way of Water.
Baneham, a Tallaght native and Ballyfermot College alum, already won an Oscar for his work on the first film in the Avatar franchise.
The Oscars are coming up next month, with virtually all of the Irish BAFTA winners and nominees being nominated for the corresponding Oscars. In addition, Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin is nominated – the first film as Gaeilge to be so.
Colin Farrell, who is again up against Butler in the Best Actor category, will surely be hoping to take home the gold on Oscars night.