Former Team GB Olympic volleyball player Savanah Leaf’s drama feature Earth Mama was named Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at last night’s Bafta Film Awards.
The Film 4-backed film, adapted by Leaf from her short film The Heart Still Hums, centres on a pregnant single mother with two children in foster care who fights to reclaim her family with the support of her community.
The film’s producer, Shirley O’Connor, praised the first-time director’s dedication to ensuring the difficult material was approached sensitivity.
“Savanah was so thorough in interviewing every HoD to make sure not only were they creatively right for the project, but that they had the right energy to support all these non-actors who were going to be on set, who were not necessarily going to feel comfortable … sharing personal stories,” she said.
Collecting the Bafta Fellowship, actor and director Samantha Morton, who grew up in care, spoke of the importance of the diversity of on-screen representation.
In her speech, she said that watching Ken Loach’s film Kes had been a transformative experience.
“Seeing poverty and people like me, my life and my family on the screen, I recognized myself,” she said. “Representation matters.”
Morton’s directorial debut, 2008’s The Unloved, was a love letter to her younger self, she said.
“The stories we tell have the power to change people’s lives. Film changed my life. It transformed me and it led me here today.”
Thanking casting directors, directors, and the Nottinghamshire Television Workshop for years of “unwavering support”, Morton dedicated her award to “every child in care today, or who’s been in care, or is suffering or who didn’t survive.”
Two National Film & Television School-backed projects won in the Short categories. Best British Short Animation went to Ross Stringer’s coming-of-age story Crab Day, while Yasmin Afifi and Elizabeth Rufai’s graduation film Jellyfish and Lobster was named Best British Short Film.
Best Documentary went to Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath and Michelle Mizner for 20 Days in Mariupol.
Film 4 Productions won nine awards at the ceremony, with three for Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, including both Outstanding British Film and Best Film Not in the English Language, and Poor Things picking up five including best actress for Emma Stone and best production design.
Meanwhile, How to Have Sex actor Mia McKenna-Bruce won the EE Rising Star Award.
"Film 4 Productions is a small company in a land of giants, but it really values creativity and new talent, as proven by winning the BAFTA for both Rising Star and Outstanding Debut," said Channel 4 chief marketing officer Zaid Al-Qassab.
"The brilliant Jonathan Glazer and Yorgos Lanthimos have worked with Film 4 for many years and are the best in the business."
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was the big winner of the night, with seven Baftas including Best Film, Best Director and both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
