The searing historical drama “12 Years a Slave” took best picture honors at Sunday’s British academy awards in London, as well as best actor honors for Chiwetel Ejiofor as the real-life Solomon Northrup. In a twist that promises a nail-biting Oscar night on Feb. 3, the sci-fi epic “Gravity” took BAFTA’s best director award for Alfonso Cuaron, as well as five other trophies, more than any other film.

Most of “Gravity’s” wins were in technical categories, but most controversial was the BAFTA award for best British picture for a film. “Gravity” is considered by many as quintessentially American, with its pair of top Hollywood stars — Sandra Bullock and George Clooney — and the backing of Warner Bros.

“Gravity” qualified as British because it was filmed in England with an English crew, the lead producer is British, and the Mexican-born Cuaron is based in London. “12 Years a Slave,” which went into the evening a heavy favorite, has a British director, a British lead actor and two prominent London-based supporting actors, Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch.

“Gravity” and “12 Years” are widely considered to be locked in a tight three-way race for Oscar’s best picture with “American Hustle,” which took BAFTA awards for best supporting actress (Jennifer Lawrence, who beat out Oscar favorite Lupita Nyong’o of “12 Years”) and best original screenplay, as well as for makeup and hair.

BAFTA’s best actress honors went to Cate Blanchett, who played a deranged socialite in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” She is still considered a prohibitive favorite at the Oscars despite a personal attack by Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who claims she was sexually molested two decades by the filmmaker (who has denied the allegation).

Perhaps the evening’s biggest surprise was the best supporting actor award, which went to Barkhad Abdi as a terrorist in “Captain Phillips.” The Somali-born American’s debut performance triumphed over such veteran actors as Fassbender, Bradley Cooper (“American Hustle”), Daniel Bruhl (“Rush”) and Matt Damon (for the TV-movie “Behind the Candelabra,” which played in UK theaters). Abdi did not have to face his biggest Oscar competition, Jared Leto, who has won a shelf full of awards for playing a transsexual in the AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club.” Leto was not nominated by BAFTA and neither was the film’s male lead (and another Oscar frontrunner) Matthew McConaughey.

The BAFTA best actor win by Ejiofor seemed to extinguish speculation that Leonard DiCaprio might pull off an Oscar night upset for “Wolf of Wall Street,” which went home empty-handed Sunday afternoon. By contrast, DiCaprio’s other 2014 release, “The Great Gatsby,” took trophies for production and costume design.

The BAFTAs are the only major awards that take place between the start of Oscar voting (last Friday) and the polls, closing on Feb. 25. BAFTA’s best picture winner has matched Oscar’s every year since 2009.