'12 Years A Slave' nabs best film prize at BAFTA 2014 awards

British director Steve McQueen's '12 Years A Slave' took home two of the biggest awards of the night but it was Alfonso Cuaron's 'Gravity'

that dominated the BAFTA, winning six of the 11 honours it was nominated for. '12 Years A Slave' won BAFTA for best film and McQueen in his speech said that there were "21 million people living in slavery as we sit here now." Chiwetel Ejiofor won the best actor for the film. Ejiofor paid tribute to McQueen, and said that the award really belonged to the helmer. "It's yours. I;m going to keep it, but it is yours," he said.

Cuaron took the director prize for 'Gravity'. He said that he considered himself to be part of the British film industry as he had lived in the UK for 13 years, and had made half of his films in the country. "I guess I make a very good case for curbing immigration," he joked. The space drama also won best British film, best cinematography, best sound, best original music and best special visual effects.  The honor for leading actress went to Cate Blanchett for 'Blue Jasmine'. She dedicated the award to "the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman". "You raised the bar so very high So, Phil, this is for you, you bastard. I hope you are proud," she said. David O Russell's con-artist caper 'American Hustle' took three awards including Jennifer Lawrence for supporting actress, best original screenplay and best make-pp and hair.  The BAFTA for British short animation was taken by James Walker, Sarah Woolner and Yousif Al-Khalifa for 'Sleeping With the Fishes' and the award for British short film went to James W Griffiths and Sophie Venner for 'Room 8'.

Disney's 3D film 'Frozen' took the award for animated film. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee thanked the 600-strong cast and crew behind the production. The glitzy award ceremony last night also paid tribute to Peter O' Toole, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Shirley Temple and Saul Zaentz, who all died in the past year.  BAFTA, which was hosted by Stephen Fry, were attended by Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Christian Bale, Oprah Winfrey, Sandra Bullock, Amy Adams, Michael Fassbender, Steve Coogan, Sally Hawkins, Lupita Nyong'o, Daniel Bruhl, Emma Thompson, Bradley Cooper, Bruce Dern and Judi Dench.