Edward Berger mentioned the Ukraine war whilst accepting his BAFTA Award despite being advised not to.
The 53-year-old director collected the Best Adapted Screenplay for his 'All Quiet on the Western Front' - which is set during the closing days of World War I and is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque - and explained that there are "no heroes" in war as he compared mentioned the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia almost exactly one year ago.
Speaking live on stage at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday (19.02.23), he said: "How did this happen?! Thank you so very much. We drove over here and someone said to me in the car 'Whatever you do, don't mention the war!' Well, I already broke that rule! So we shot this movie in the Czech Republic, with a largely Czech crew, in a country that had been invaded twice by Germany. We made this movie with many French and German actors and one Austrian actor, our lead Felix Kammerer, thank you, without you, we wouldn't be here. We had a camera crew from England whose grandfathers had fought in the war. And today, there's a different war, in Ukraine. In five days, it will be the one-year anniversary and there are no heroes in that, or in any war.
Edward - whose screenplay fought off competition 'Living' 'The Quiet Girl 'She Said' and 'The Whale' - concluded his acceptance speech by thanking the "neighbouring" countries as well as the awards body themselves.
He said: Thank you so much BAFTA, thank you to Netflix, our neighbours, thank you so much to the Czech Republic."
