34th British Academy Film Awards
Date	22 March 1981
Site	Grosvenor House Hotel
Hosted by	David Frost
Highlights
Best Film	The Elephant Man
Best Actor	John Hurt The Elephant Man
Best Actress	Judy Davis My Brilliant Career
Most awards	The Elephant Man (3)
Most nominations	The Elephant Man (7)
← 33rd BAFTA Awards 35th →

The 34th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 22 March 1981 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1980. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 1980.

There are no records, and no explanation, showing any nominations nor winner for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at this 34th film ceremony.^[1]

Winners and nominees

BAFTA Fellowship

Main article: BAFTA Fellowship

Abel Gance, Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema

Main article: BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award

Kevin Brownlow

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Best Film The Elephant Man – Jonathan Sanger Being There – Andrew Braunsberg Kagemusha – Akira Kurosawa and Tomoyuki Tanaka Kramer vs. Kramer – Stanley R. Jaffe	Best Direction Akira Kurosawa – Kagemusha Alan Parker – Fame David Lynch – The Elephant Man Robert Benton – Kramer vs. Kramer
Best Actor in a Leading Role *John Hurt – The Elephant Man* as Joseph Merrick** Dustin Hoffman – Kramer vs. Kramer as Ted Kramer Roy Scheider – All That Jazz as Joseph Gideon Peter Sellers – Being There as Chauncey Gardiner	Best Actress in a Leading Role *Judy Davis – My Brilliant Career* as Sybylla Melvyn** Bette Midler – The Rose as Mary Rose Foster Meryl Streep – Kramer vs. Kramer as Joanna Kramer Shirley MacLaine – Being There as Eve Rand
Best Screenplay Being There – Jerzy Kosiński Airplane! – Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker The Elephant Man – Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren and David Lynch Kramer vs. Kramer – Robert Benton	Best Cinematography All That Jazz – Giuseppe Rotunno The Black Stallion – Caleb Deschanel The Elephant Man – Freddie Francis Kagemusha – Takao Saito and Masaharu Ueda
Best Costume Design Kagemusha – Seiichiro Momosawa All That Jazz – Albert Wolsky Don Giovanni – Frantz Salieri Flash Gordon – Danilo Donati	Best Editing All That Jazz – Alan Heim The Elephant Man – Anne V. Coates Fame – Gerry Hambling Kramer vs. Kramer – Gerald B. Greenberg
Best Original Music The Empire Strikes Back – John Williams Breaking Glass – Hazel O'Connor Fame – Michael Gore Flash Gordon – Queen and Howard Blake	Best Production Design The Elephant Man – Stuart Craig All That Jazz – Philip Rosenberg The Empire Strikes Back – Norman Reynolds Flash Gordon – Danilo Donati
Best Sound Fame – Chris Newman, Les Wiggins and Michael J. Kohut All That Jazz – Maurice Schell, Chris Newman and Dick Vorisek Don Giovanni – Jean-Louis Ducarme, Jacques Maumont and Michelle Nenny The Empire Strikes Back – Peter Sutton, Ben Burtt and Bill Varney The Rose – Jim Webb, Chris McLaughlin, Kay Rose and Theodore Soderberg	Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles Judy Davis – My Brilliant Career as Sybylla Melvyn Debra Winger – Urban Cowboy as Sissy Davis John Gordon Sinclair – Gregory's Girl as Gregory Underwood Sônia Braga – Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands as Dona Flor
Best Short Animation The Three Inventors – Michel Ocelot Bio Woman – Bob Godfrey The Cube – Kamil Pixa Seaside Woman – Oscar Grillo	Best Short Film Sredni Vashtar – Andrew Birkin Box On – Lindsey Clennell The Dollar Bottom – Roger Christian Possessions – Andrew Bogle

Statistics

Films that received multiple nominations
Nominations	Film
7	The Elephant Man
6	All That Jazz
6	Kramer vs. Kramer
4	Being There
	Fame
	Kagemusha
3	The Empire Strikes Back
3	Flash Gordon
2	Don Giovanni
	My Brilliant Career
	The Rose

Films that received multiple awards
Awards	Film
3	The Elephant Man
2	All That Jazz
	Kagemusha
	My Brilliant Career

References

^ "BAFTA | Film in 1981". bafta.org. Retrieved 2024-02-01.

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