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Lincoln Townley Creates Custom Portraits of Honorees from the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards

18 October 2017
Lincoln Townley headshot 2017

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) is pleased to announce that British artist Lincoln Townley has created a suite of portraits in celebration of the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Award honorees – Aziz Ansari, Kenneth Branagh, Matt Damon, Ava DuVernay, Claire Foy, and Dick Van Dyke. 

Townley will generously donate his proceeds of these works of art, which will be sold immediately following the event. The contribution will support BAFTA Los Angeles’ ongoing educational and community outreach programming through their Access for All campaign. 

This year’s event will take place on Friday, October 27, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The event's title sponsor is AMD, and the ceremony presented by American Airlines and Jaguar Land Rover.  As part of a recently-launched ongoing partnership with IGN Entertainment, the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards will be livestreamed across IGN’s platforms that night.  British comedian Jack Whitehall returns as host.

“How lucky we are to have such an esteemed and internationally acclaimed artist like Lincoln returning to the Britannia Awards for another year,” said BAFTA Los Angeles CEO Chantal Rickards.  “We are incredibly grateful that he has once again created these beautiful portraits, and offered to donate his proceeds to support the philanthropic and education programs that lie at the heart of BAFTA’s work.” 

Townley’s efforts will enable the creation of the “Lincoln Townley Scholarship,” which will allow BAFTA Los Angeles to add a second High Flyers Scholarship - helping a student from South LA's George Washington Preparatory High School to make the transition to higher education. The High Flyers Scholarship was instituted in 2015 as part of BAFTA's ongoing commitment to the students of Washington Prep.

Described by Sir Michael Caine as “the next Andy Warhol”, Lincoln has emerged as one of the leading contemporary British artists of his generation. His distinctive style has earned him an international reputation and led to his work being exhibited in many of the world’s most prestigious galleries. A major retrospective of Townley’s ‘Originals’ work, which explores man’s desires, was held at sell-out shows at the Saatchi Gallery in London in October last year as well as the Powerhouse in Brisbane, Australia, this summer.

He is, however, best known for his ICONS, a collection of distinctive portraits featuring some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. When asked about his ability to capture the essence of the world’s greatest performers, Lincoln said, “These are powerful men and women. They have a quality about them that captivates us all. They’re like a canvas onto which we project our hopes, dreams and desires. It is testament to their skill and magnetism that they make this possible by opening their light and dark sides to us. We feel they belong to us and the pressures of being what we want them to be while sustaining a private identity of their own often pushes their resilience to the limit. They live life on the edge and that edge is what I’ve tried to capture in my portraits.”

With community and philanthropic outreach at the core of its value system, BAFTA Los Angeles is also announcing the hiring of Jennifer Anderson as Fundraising & Development Manager.  Jennifer will help to oversee the Los Angeles’ branch’s contributions to BAFTA’s overall goal of ensuring that talented people, from all backgrounds, are given an equal chance to shine and receive the vital encouragement they need.  BAFTA’s success relies on the generosity of individuals and organizations that care about the next generation of talent and the future of the film, games and television industries, and Anderson will use her experience to strengthen these relationships and shed light on the tremendous work being done to nurture up-and-coming stars.

Anderson brings 20 years of combined experience in both the entertainment industry and the non-profit space. She began her career with Spelling Television, went on to International Creative Management and then to the former William Morris Agency. Following this, she went into television production where her credits include "Las Vegas Garden of Love" for ABC Family and "Driving Force" for A&E.  Most recently, Anderson served as Major Gifts Officer for Heal the Bay, an environmental non-profit that serves as a champion for Los Angeles local beaches and ocean. Jennifer also serves as an executive board member for the Museum of Broadcast Communication, which houses the National Radio Hall of Fame.

The AMD British Academy Britannia Awards is BAFTA’s biggest event outside of the UK, where Brits and anglophiles alike come together in Los Angeles in celebration of exceptional members of the creative community who have dedicated their careers to advancing the art forms of the moving image in the US, UK and beyond. The AMD Britannia Awards are BAFTA Los Angeles’ highest accolades, recognizing both outstanding British talent, and exceptional international talent by virtue of their strong connection to British entertainment through their body of work. Known to be an enjoyable evening that captures a unique blend of sincerity and British irreverence, the evening also serves to celebrate the long-standing collaboration between the British and American industries. Proceeds from the event support BAFTA’s Access for All campaign, a range of impactful educational initiatives created to provide a foot-in-the-door and a pathway to success for talented individuals, uninhibited by background, demographics or personal circumstance.   World-renowned television and event production company Done + Dusted, who were recently appointed the new co-producers of the Virgin TV British Academy Television Awards, will produce the ceremony, with Event Management by MTA Events.

The 2016 ceremony took place on Friday, October 28 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and was hosted by British actor and comedian Ben “Doc Brown” Smith.  Ang Lee was honored with the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing presented by the GREAT Britain Campaign, Samuel L. Jackson was honored with the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, Ricky Gervais was honored with the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy, Ewan McGregor was honored with the Britannia Humanitarian Award, Felicity Jones was honored with the British Artist of the Year presented by Burberry, and Jodie Foster was honored with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film presented by the Arya Group.  World-renowned television and event production company Done + Dusted produced the ceremony, with Event Management by MTA Events.

BAFTA’s other key events include the highly-anticipated TV Tea on September 16, 2017, the BAFTA Tea Party in January and the EE British Academy Film Awards in London on February 18, 2018.

For further information:
Elyse Weissman at SLATE PR
T (310) 461-0114
E [email protected]

For tickets, interested parties should contact: [email protected]

For more information on Lincoln Townley’s work, please contact:
Mark Moss - [email protected]

About BAFTA

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a world-leading independent arts charity that brings the very best work in film, games and television to public attention and supports the growth of creative talent in the UK and internationally. Through its Awards ceremonies and year-round programme of learning events and initiatives – which includes workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK, USA and Asia – BAFTA identifies and celebrates excellence, discovers, inspires and nurtures new talent, and enables learning and creative collaboration. For advice and inspiration from the best creative minds in working in film, games and television, visit www.bafta.org/guru. For more, visit www.bafta.org.  

BAFTA Los Angeles serves as a bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities. Its commitment to professional and community education is at the heart of all activity, including an inner-city outreach programme, screenings, seminars, Behind Closed Doors series, Q&As, scholarships for British students studying in the US, and a Heritage Archive project, which preserves in-depth interviews with the industry's leading talents for future generations. BAFTA Los Angeles celebrates and promotes excellence through its annual Britannia Awards, Awards Season Film and Television Tea Parties and the Student Film Awards. www.bafta.org/losangeles

About AMD

For more than 45 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies ― the building blocks for gaming, immersive platforms, and the datacenter. Hundreds of millions of consumers, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research facilities around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees around the world are focused on building great products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, and Facebook and Twitter pages.

About American Airlines Group

American Airlines and American Eagle offer an average of nearly 6,700 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in more than 50 countries. American has hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C. American is a founding member of the oneworld® alliance, whose members serve more than 1,000 destinations with about 14,250 daily flights to over 150 countries. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL. In 2015, its stock joined the S&P 500 index. Connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines.

About Jaguar

Jaguar is a premier manufacturer of luxury sedans, sports cars and SUVs offering unparalleled design with tremendous performance. The company's vision throughout its storied 80 year history has been simple: To produce beautiful, fast cars that are desired the world over. Jaguar strives to provide a world class ownership experience to every owner. Today's Jaguar lineup consists of the Jaguar XE and XF sports sedans, the XJ full-size luxury sedan, the two-seat F-TYPE sports car and a line of performance SUVs, the E-PACE and F-PACE. Jaguar designs, engineers and manufactures exclusively in the United Kingdom, at the Castle Bromwich and Solihull manufacturing plants in the British Midlands. Jaguar is fully engaged with sustainability initiatives and social concerns with continuous involvement in environmental and community programs.

About Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is the UK’s largest automotive manufacturer, built around two iconic British car brands: Land Rover, the world’s leading manufacturer of premium all-wheel-drive vehicles; and Jaguar, one of the world’s premier luxury sports sedan and sports car marques. The company employs over 40,000 people globally, with 330 in the U.S. and supports around 275,000 more through our dealerships, suppliers and local businesses. Manufacturing is centered in the UK, with additional plants in China, Brazil, India and Slovakia. At Jaguar Land Rover we are driven by a desire to create class-leading products that deliver great customer experiences. The largest investor in R&D in the UK manufacturing sector, we have invested £12 billion (USD$15.7 billion) in the last five years and in the current year alone will spend over £3.5 billion (USD$4.5 billion) on new product creation and capital expenditure. Last year Jaguar Land Rover sold over 583,000 vehicles in 136 countries, with nearly 80 percent of our vehicles produced in the UK being sold abroad.