2nd British Academy Film Awards

The 2nd British Academy Film Awards, known retroactively as the British Academy Film Awards, were given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) (known then as the British Film Academy) on 29 May 1949 at the Odeon Leicester Square, and honoured the best films of 1948.^[1] The awards for 1947 were presented at the same ceremony.^[2]

2nd British Academy Film Awards
Date	29 May 1949
Site	Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London
Highlights
Best Film	Hamlet
Best British Film	The Fallen Idol
Most awards	Hamlet, The Fallen Idol (1)
Most nominations	Hamlet, The Fallen Idol (2)
← 1st BAFTA Awards 3rd →

As with the awards for films from 1947, films from 1948 were eligible for the categories Best Film from any Source, British or Foreign and Best British Picture; these were won by Hamlet and The Fallen Idol, respectively. Additionally three new award categories were created: Best Documentary Picture, a "Special Award for work lying outside the feature and documentary fields", and the "United Nations Award for the best documentary or feature film illustrating one of the basic principles of the United Nation's [sic] Charter".^[1][3]

At the event, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also presented awards to British filmmakers for their work on Hamlet and The Red Shoes,^[1] in categories that they had won at the 21st Academy Awards.

Winners and nominees

British films The Fallen Idol and Hamlet received the awards for Best British Film and Best Film from any Source, respectively, and were additionally nominated in both categories; Louisiana Story received the award for Best Documentary; Atomic Physics received the Special Award for Film; and the United Nations Award was handed out to Atomic Physics, Hungry Minds and screenplay The Winslow Boy.

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface; the nominees are listed below alphabetically and not in boldface.^[3]

Best British Picture	Best Film from any Source
The Fallen Idol Hamlet Oliver Twist Once a Jolly Swagman The Red Shoes Scott of the Antarctic The Small Voice	Hamlet Crossfire The Fallen Idol Four Steps in the Clouds Monsieur Vincent The Naked City Paisan
Best Documentary Picture	Special Award for Film
Louisiana Story Farrebique Is Everybody Listening? Shadow of the Ruhr Those Blasted Kids Three Dawns to Sydney	Atomic Physics Bear that Got a Peacock's Tail The Cat Concerto[a] Divided World Gandhi's Funeral (Paramount British Newsreel) Norman McLaren Abstract Reel Rubens Your Children's Sleep

United Nations Award

The category is described as being for "the best film embodying one or more of the principles of the United Nations Charter in 1949". No winner was awarded.^[b]

• Atomic Physics
• Hungry Minds
• The Winslow Boy

See also

• 6th Golden Globe Awards
• 22nd Academy Awards

Notes

1. The 2011^[4] and 2023^[3] versions of the BAFTA website list The Cat's Concerto [sic] as a nominee for the 1949 Special Award. However, in the 1949 event brochure that is displayed on the BAFTA website, it is not listed under "Films Nominated For Awards".^[1]
2. Some versions of the user interface on the BAFTA website represent this only by omitting a gold "winner" icon,^[4] but the 2023 version of BAFTA's website explicitly states "No winner awarded this year".^[3]

References

1. "First Awards Brochure". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. Take a look inside the pages of the brochure for the British Film Academy Awards presented on 29 May, 1949, covering excellence in film from 1947-48. [The 13th brochure image on that page (archived copy), headed "The Academy Awards 1947-1948", features the note: "ERRATUM: Page 3. The day and place of the Awards Presentation was changed to Sunday, May 29th, at the Odeon Cinema, Leicester Square." The page shown in that image also notes the different award categories between 1947 and 1948, that Michael Balcon was Chair, and that Henry Moore sculpted the statuettes.]
2. "First Awards Brochure". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on 5 March 2023. See the third image on the webpage, headed "Order of Announcement of Awards", for the list of recipients of 1947 and 1948 awards.
3. "Film in 1949". British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
4. "Past Winners and Nominees - Film - Awards - The BAFTA Site". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011.

External links

• The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Official website