Last night celebs of the silver screen convened at the Royal Opera House in London, England to attend the 2010 British Academy Film Awards which are, essentially, the British Oscars. It THRILLS me beyond belief to pass along the news that The Hurt Locker took home the top prize, pretty much shutting out Avatar from all the big trophies. Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the BAFTA Best Director award and her film won 6 of its 8 nominations. Not too shabby, right? Here are a few photos from the red carpet arrivals and some deets about who won what at last night’s BAFTAs:

The inevitability of a major Oscar-night skirmish between Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” and James Cameron’s “Avatar” continued to grow over the weekend. The Iraq war film won six of the eight categories in which it was nominated at Sunday night’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. Cameron’s 3-D fantasia was shut out of the major categories, as ex-wife Bigelow became the first woman to take the BAFTAs’ Best Director honor.” The film about a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq also won Best Picture, Cinematography, Editing, Sound and Original Screenplay (for screenwriter Mark Boal). Bigelow dismissed talk of a rivalry with Cameron, saying she was “real honored” to be nominated alongside her former husband. Cameron shouldn’t feel bad, also swept in the major categories was Quentin Tarantino, whose Nazi drama “Inglourious Basterds” got blanked with the exception of a Best Supporting Actor win for the amazing Christoph Waltz. “Avatar” did manage to notch wins for Best Production Design and Special Visual Effects. Jason Reitman’s downsizing drama “Up in the Air” won for Best Adapted Screenplay, beating out such serious competition as “District 9,” “An Education,” “In the Loop” and “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” English actors had a good night, with Colin Firth winning Leading Actor honors (over “Crazy Heart” strummer Jeff Bridges) for his role in “A Single Man” as a college professor struggling to find the meaning of life after the death of his longtime partner. Newcomer Carey Mulligan took home the Leading Actress prize for her lauded breakout role in “An Education.” Both drew healthy applause, but one of the loudest ovations on the red carpet came for Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame. The Los Angeles native took home the night’s only audience-voted award, the Orange Rising Star prize, in which she aced out Mulligan, Jesse Eisenberg (“Zombieland”), Nicholas Hoult (“A Single Man”) and Tahar Rahim (“A Prophet”). Continuing a string of pre-Oscar wins, Mo’Nique won the Best Supporting Actress award for her harrowing work as a harsh mother in “Precious.” Duncan Jones, the son of British rock icon David Bowie, won the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for his trippy space film “Moon,” and “Up” won the trophy for Best Animated Film and Best Score for Michael Giacchino.

Damn!! This is amazing news for Bigelow and The Hurt Locker! I knew that the film would do well at the BAFTAs but I did not expect it to practically pull off a clean sweep. I truly hope this bodes well for the film’s performance at the Academy Awards here in Hollywood, CA next month. Wow … just … wow. After the jump, check out some photos from the BAFTA press room and see some photos of some of the winners with their coveted awards …

LOL!! Even when Kristen Stewart wins she looks miserable. And, I’m sorry, but Mikey Rourke looks like a homeless man who wandered out of a plastic surgeon’s office and into the BAFTA press room. He should never comb his hair back like this … never. Congrats goes out to all the BAFTA winners … I’d say many of these awards are well-deserved (tho, no offense to K. Stew but I would’ve chosen Nicholas Hoult from A Single Man/Skins to win the Rising Star award). I believe the Academy Awards is the next awards show on the schedule … I can’t wait to see who will win on Hollywood’s biggest night.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]