Bafta bonanza for Brokeback Mountain

GAY cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain was the big winner at last night's Baftas ceremony, taking four awards.

The film, which tells the story of a secret love affair between a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy, scooped Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Direction and Actor In A Supporting Role awards.

The awards are yet another boost for director, Ang Lee, who adapted the film from a short story after seven years in which other directors toyed with, but ultimately turned down the possibility of making the movie.

British actress Rachel Weisz lost out in the Actress In A Leading Role category to American star Reese Witherspoon for her performance in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line.

Weisz's co-star Ralph Fiennes lost out in the Actor In A Leading Role to Capote star, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Memoirs of a Geisha, which tells the story of the transformation of a penniless child into an accomplished geisha, won three awards.

Crash, the low-budget racial drama set in modern-day Los Angeles, won two awards, the same number as Walk the Line.

Shameless star James McAvoy won the first prize of the night - the Orange Rising Star award, which is voted by the public.

"This is doubly special because the audience voted for it and it's nice the audience get a say in Britain's biggest awards ceremony," he said.

McAvoy dedicated the award to "my beautiful fiancee", his Shameless co-star Anne-Marie Duff.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the latest movie from Aardman Animations, was the surprise winner of the British Film of the Year category.

It beat favourites The Constant Gardener and Pride and Prejudice in the category.

The latest screen version of Jane Austen's classic romance took one award for British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film, with Joe Wright - who started in TV five years ago and was reported not to have seen any of the previous productions of Pride and Prejudice - taking the gong.

While the best actress and best actor prizes went to US stars, there was some success on the British side in the Actress in a Supporting Role title.

Zambian-born British star Thandie Newton took the award for her portrayal of a well-heeled African-American woman who is sexually assaulted in the drama Crash.

The 33-year-old beat fellow British star, Pride and Prejudice actress Brenda Blethyn, to take her first Bafta.

BAFTA winners

* Best film: Brokeback Mountain.

* Best director: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain.

* Best actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote.

* Best actress: Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line.

* Best supporting actor: Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain.

* Best supporting actress: Thandie Newton in Crash.

* Best original screenplay: Crash.

* Best adapted screenplay: Brokeback Mountain.

* Academy Fellowship: David Puttnam.

* Best foreign language film: De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrete.

* Best British Film: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.