The actress is nominated in the leading woman category alongside Dame Maggie Smith for The Lady In The Van, Emily Blunt for her role in Sicario and Saoirse Ronan for her turn in Brooklyn.
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Amidst the controversy over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations this year, actor Idris Elba has won big at the London Evening Standard British Film Awards.
That film is now seen as chasing The Revenant for the best picture Oscar, following the latter’s victory at Saturday night’s Directors Guild Awards in the United States; the DGAs are traditionally reckoned to be a key Oscars bellwether.
“Game of Thrones” actress Maisie Williams won the Rising Star award.
The film is based on the novel by Irish writer Colm Toibin and has been adapted for the big screen by About A Boy screenwriter Nick Hornby, who is also up for an Oscar and a Bafta.
She was presented with the awards by Stanley Tucci, himself a major awards player this year as part of the ensemble drama Spotlight.
Elba, who is nominated for best actor for boy soldier drama Beasts Of No Nation, has held back from publicly speaking at length about the row.
Bennett’s most recent venture saw Maggie Smith cast as Miss Shepherd in his celebrated memoir, The Lady in the Van which tells the true story of how Miss Shepherd “temporarily” parked her van in Bennett’s driveway.
The special award went to Alan Bennett for his contribution to film. She first won 37 years ago for California Suite.
“Brooklyn” was named Best Film, and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” won the Glass Award for Blockbuster of the Year, and Anthony Daniels – who plays C3PO – accepted the honor, apolozising for not wearing his robotic suit.
It took the honour ahead of 45 Years, The Lobster and High-Rise.
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Emma Thompson was also triumphant, winning the award for comedy for her role as 77-year-old Cemolina in The Legend of Barney Thomson.
