Baftas put DiCaprio and The Revenant in Oscars’ frame

he called ‘‘not just a film, but an epic journey we all went on’’.

‘‘We put our heart and soul into this movie . . . It’s up to the world now and voters to decide,’’ he said at a post-ceremony news conference.

The best-actress trophy went to Brie Larson as a mother trying to shield her son from a terrible reality in Room. She won out over Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl, Cate Blanchett for Carol, Maggie Smith for The Lady in the Van and Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn.

Supporting performer prizes went to Mark Rylance, a softspoken Soviet agent in Bridge of Spies, and Kate Winslet, an Apple executive in Steve Jobs.

Winslet dedicated the prize to ‘‘all those young women who doubt themselves’’, recalling that she once had been told to go for ‘‘the fat-girl parts’’. ‘‘Look at me now!’’ Winslet said. The Revenant beat several hotly tipped awards contenders, including Steven Spielberg’s Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies and Todd Haynes’ lesbian romance Carol. Each had nine Bafta nominations, but Bridge of Spies won only for Rylance’s performance, while Carol was shut out.

Irish emigrant saga Brooklyn was named best British film, a distinct category, while the documentary prize went to Amy, a powerful portrait of the rise and fall of singer Amy Winehouse.

George Miller’s dystopian thrill ride Mad Max: Fury Road took four prizes: editing, production design, costume design, and hair and makeup.

Two leading Oscar contenders also won awards: Spotlight, the drama about newspaper reporters investigating sex abuses in the Catholic Church, for original screenplay; and financialcrisis dramedy The Big Short for adapted screenplay.

On a crisp, cool London winter evening, hundreds of fans gathered to watch the stars arrive at the Royal Opera House. Among the arrivals were nominees DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Fassbender, Blanchett, Spielberg, Winslet, and Star Wars’ action hero John Boyega.

The movie awards season has been dominated by debate about why the film industry remains dominated by white men. All the acting nominees for the Oscars both this year and last have been white.

The Baftas are slightly more diverse, with two black actors nominated – Boyega and Idris Elba, a supporting-actor contender for Beasts of No Nation. Pioneering black American actor Sidney Poitier – the first black best-actor Oscar winner, in 1963 – received a lifetime achievement award, the Bafta fellowship.

A group called Creatives of Colour Network organised a protest beside the red carpet against a lack of racial diversity in show business. Demonstrators rallied under the hashtag #baftablackout, and distributed leaflets declaring the awards ‘‘male, pale and stale’’.

The head of the British film academy said she supported the protesters’ aims.

‘‘Our industry isn’t diverse enough, so the pool of people to draw award winners from isn’t diverse enough,’’ chief executive Amanda Berry told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Like Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British film academy says it will work to make sure its 6500 voting members become a more diverse group.

On the red carpet, Boyega said he was glad the issue was being aired. ‘‘I just think a larger conversation is being had and I think that’s a very, very positive thing,’’ he said.