The Hurt Locker sweeps BAFTAs

Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, originally uploaded by Film Independent.

Photo: Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner of The Hurt Locker cast and crew.

The Hurt Locker was the BAFTA night's big winner taking six awards out of eight nominations, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow -- the first woman director to win the prize. It was a triumphant night for Bigelow, who beat ex-husband James Cameron, whose 3D epic Avatar was also nominated for eight prizes but won only two.

Bigelow, who at the start of the night ran down the red carpet to avoid questions from journalists about their duel, said the win was ‘really amazing and humbling… I would like to dedicate this to never abandoning the need to find a resolution for peace’.
The Hurt Locker won BAFTAs for Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Sound, Best film, and Best Cinematography.

The story of the film revolves around a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War. The story was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded with a US bomb squad in Iraq. The film stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as members of a US Army EOD unit in Iraq and follows their tour together as they contend with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and the tension that develops among them.

The film was shot in the Middle East, specifically in Jordan, within miles of the Iraq border. The title ‘The Hurt Locker’ is slang for being injured in an explosion, as in 'they sent him to the hurt locker'.