'The Power Of The Dog' continued it's awards season dominance at last nights BAFTA awards, with the moody Netflix western securing the big prizes of the night.

The Jane Campion western took home awards for Best Film and Best Director, while 'Dune' carried out a near-sweep of the technical categories.

Campion herself was not present at the ceremony, which led to star Benedict Cumberbatch accepting the award on behalf of the New Zealand director.

'The Power Of The Dog' has become the film to beat in this year's awards season, with the film now hotly-tipped to pick up Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars later this month.

There were high Irish hopes heading into the ceremony, with 3 Irish actresses nominated in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, but Ariana DeBose has continued her runaway success through awards season with her performance in 'West Side Story' picking up yet another major award on the road to Oscar glory.

Arian DeBose picked up yet another award for her turn in 'West Side Story'

Jessie Buckley, Caitríona Balfe and Ruth Negga were among DeBose's competitors in the category, but DeBose's awards season momentum has carried her to yet another award.

DeBose has won essentially every major award up to this point, and the BAFTAs proved no different.

Ciaran Hinds also failed to pick up an award for Best Actor In a Supporting Role, with the 'Belfast' star losing out to Troy Kotsur for 'CODA', which has become an unlikely awards season contender for Apple.

'CODA' also picked up a win in Best Adapted Screenplay.

Will Smith's path to an Oscar also continued to pick up pace, with the Fresh Prince himself picking up the Best Actor in a Leading Role for his turn in sports drama 'King Richard'.

Benedict Cumberbatch accepted the BAFTA for Best Director on behalf of his director Jane Campion

Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' picked up the prize for Best Original Screenplay, with the 'Boogie Nights' and 'Phantom Thread' auteur now poised to finally pick up an Oscar for his coming-of-age comedy set in 70s California.

'Belfast' had perhaps the most realistic hopes of an Irish prize on the night, and Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical film took home the prize for Outstanding British Film.

'Belfast' was the early awards season front-runner following its win Peoples Choice Award win at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In previous years, winners of that particular award at TIFF became an instant Oscar front-runner, but the momentum has shifted in favour of 'The Power Of The Dog' in recent weeks.

'Dune' was the big winner of the night with 5 awards, most notably picking up awards in Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer and Best Cinematography, mirroring the sweep of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' in the technical categories during the 2016 awards season.

The BAFTA awards formerly had a reputation as being a decent prediction of how Oscar night would shape out, but in recent years the awards body have favoured giving left-of-centre nominations and wins.

None of the actresses nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars were nominated for a BAFTA, which resulted in TV legend Joanna Scanlan picking up the award for Best Actress In a Leading Role for 'After Love'.

The BAFTAs are the last major awards ceremony before the Oscars, with the Oscars themselves taking place in the early hours of March 28th for Irish audiences.