Olivia Colman’s win caps consecutive successful Oscars for Film4

Olivia Colman’s Oscar win for best performance by an actress in a leading role for The Favourite capped another successful awards season for Film4.

Colman’s win was the 35th Oscar in Film4’s 37-year history and marks the third time in four years a Film4-backed film has produced the best actress winner, following Frances McDormand’s win for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Brie Larson’s in 2016 for Room.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek comments: “At Film4 we are privileged to be a fundamental part of this quintessentially British triumph. Olivia Colman is a one-off and tonight here in Hollywood her riveting performance in The Favourite was rightly rewarded. We are thrilled for her, Yorgos Lanthimos and everyone involved in the film.”

Film4’s Oscar history:

  • Film4 films have produced 138 Oscar nominations and 35 wins in the organisation’s 37-year history.
  • In the last 11 years, Film4 films have picked up 69 nominations winning 19 Oscars.
  • Biggest Oscar winner – Slumdog Millionaire with 8 wins.
  • Most nominated films – The Favourite and Slumdog Millionaire with 10, closely followed by 12 Years a Slave and Howards End with 9 apiece.
  • Most Film4 nominations in one year - 15 in 2016 and 1993, followed by 13 in 2019.
  • Most recent winners – Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2018.

The Favourite, Film4’s third collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, has been steadily accruing awards since launching at the Venice Film Festival, where it collected the Grand Jury Prize and Olivia Colman picked up her first Best Actress Award. It led the BAFTAs winning seven awards from 12 nominations. Olivia Colman has won a BAFTA, Golden Globe, a BIFA, a National Society of Film Critics Award and was crowned Actress of the Year by the London Critics Circle. 

The Favourite had gone into this year’s Academy Awards as joint leader with 10 nominations, while another Film4-backed film Cold War had three.