Emilia Perez star Zoe Saldana dedicates Bafta gong to trans nephew

By Lynn Rusk and Hannah Roberts, PA

Zoe Saldana has dedicated her Bafta best supporting actress gong for Emilia Perez to her trans nephew after the Netflix film won two awards at the ceremony.

The Spanish language musical film follows a fearsome Mexican cartel leader (Karla Sofia Gascon) who enlists Rita (Saldana), an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so she can live as her true self, a woman called Emilia.

At a press conference, Saldana said she wanted to dedicate the prize to “my nephew, Eli, who is the reason, they (trans people) are the reason, I signed up to do this film”.

 

She added: “So as a proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”

Earlier, the 46-year-old Avatar actress was emotional on stage and said that the award was “so validating” and “a true honour”, after she took home the same prize as she won at the Golden Globes.

She added: “This was a creative challenge of a lifetime, how do you begin to even approach a film that just defies categorisation, and you start by taking the lead of (director) Jacques Audiard.”

Saldana then swore after saying she was being given a countdown, and added: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds and I hope Emilia Perez did something like this, because voices need to be heard, just not my English accent.”

The film also picked up the award for best film not in the English language, having been the second-most nominated title at this year’s Bafta film awards, with 11 nominations in total.

Accepting the prize, the film’s French director Audiard said he was “touched”, and said the prize “was for everyone who worked tirelessly on this film”.

He also paid tribute to his fellow nominees, Ireland’s Kneecap and Brazil’s I’m Not There.

Audiard added that “he would like to thank the wonderful talents”, and also named his “dear Zoe”, and “Selena” (Gomez), who played the wife of the crime boss.

The film uses song, dance and bold visuals to tell its story, and features original songs written by French singer-songwriter Camille and composer Clement Ducol.

The multi-award nominated film, which was the toast of the awards season, became mired in controversy after Gascon apologised for a number of tweets that she posted prior to the film’s release.

After the tweets were brought to light, the actress apologised and maintained that she had not been “racist” in Instagram posts.

Gascon, 52, who was the first transgender actress to win the Cannes Film Festival Award for best actress, was nominated for best actress but did not attend the ceremony.

The film won the Jury Prize and best actress, which was shared by its four female leads, at the Cannes Film Festival.

At the Golden Globes, the operatic musical was the big winner of the night with four gongs, among them best motion picture for a musical or comedy, best non-English language film, Saldana taking home best supporting actress for a motion picture, and Camille, Ducol and Audiard winning best original song.

The awards also saw Gascon nominated for best actress for a motion picture musical or comedy, becoming the first trans woman to be nominated for the gong.