Rich Peppiatt dedicated his EE BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut to those "fighting" for their culture.
The writer and director was at the helm of the film 'Kneecap' - which charts the rise of the Irish hip-hop trio - and actually picked up the award on the 15th anniversary of him meeting his wife, who eventually convinced him to Belfast.
Speaking live on stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday (16.02.25), he joked: "An awful time to get pins and needles in your leg, really bad timing! I'm absolutely honoured to be standing here. 15 years ago today, I met my wife, and a decade later, she convinced me to move to Belfast. Within two weeks, I met Kneecap and now I'm standing here.
"It's about how everyone should have their language respected, their culture respected and their homeland respected, and this award is dedicated to everyone out there who is fighting that fight."
He was presented the award by 'Emilia Perez' star Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldana and the 'Only Murders in the Building' actress seemingly had a moment of confusion when opening the envelope when she appeared unsure which line to read out.
Just prior to that, 'Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' was awarded the BAFTA for Best Children’s and Family Film, seeing off competition from 'Flow' 'Kensuke’s Kingdom'' The Wild Robot'.
The stop-motion franchise returned to screens last Christmas for the first time in over a decade, and the category was a new addition to the ceremony.
Creator Nick Park said: "It's such a wonderful privilege to be working at Aardman every day with such obscenely talented people, I'm so lucky to have a wonderful cast."
'Dune: Part Two' was given the first award of the night, and took home the BAFTA for Special Visual Effects, having beaten 'Better Man', 'Gladiator II 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Wicked' in the process.
