Photo: From T to B:Hollyoaks actresses Sarah Lawrence (left) and Carly Stenson were among the hopefuls at the west London ceremony. EastEnders' Jessie Wallace, named the sexiest woman in Britain's soaps, arrived with her fiance Dave Morgan. The couple have announced they are expecting a baby. Natalie Cassidy, who plays Sonia Jackson, with fellow EastEnders actor James Alexandrou. Cassidy picked up the award for best dramatic performance by a young actor or actress. Charlie Brooks collected the title of best villain of the year for her role in killing off husband Barry and being framed for Laura's murder.

PART TEN

CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES AND HEATED DEBATES  OF THE YEAR

Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ.

In two hours, not a single Jew says anything intelligent - even a sentence, even half a sentence. All they say is the rantings and mantras of a mob. "The portrayal of the Jewish people - all of them - is simply horrible." It was a "simplistic, historically incorrect portrayal", he said. "Given the climate of unprecedented anti-Semitism throughout the world, this will further poison the atmosphere - poison the minds of young people." Mel Gibson, who co-wrote, directed and financed the film, denies the charges of anti-Semitism. Described as a conservative Catholic, he says the script for the film was the New Testament and his inspiration was the Holy Spirit. Gibson is criss-crossing America promoting the film to church groups and Christian colleges where the film is seen as a recruitment tool - a means of spreading the word among the unconverted.

The dean of California's Azusa Pacific University, Jon Wallace, said the movie "absolutely accurately portrays" what scripture says about the suffering of Jesus. It would encourage people who were unconvinced about the Bible to go home and read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, he said. Mel Gibson - who visited the college on Saturday - wanted the audience to be transformed by his film, Mr Wallace said. "I think he intended for people to sit in the audience, be exposed to the Biblical truth of who Jesus Christ is and experience transformation. "I think God will use this film for the Holy Spirit to allow people to be transformed - absolutely." Even the Pope has become involved. He was initially reported to have seen the film and liked it - only for the Vatican to backtrack, saying the Pope never comments on art. One thing this controversy guarantees is ticket sales. Experts predict Mel Gibson will recoup the $30m (£16m) he spent making this film in the first weekend of its release. In Hollywood, the film's star Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus, came to its defense. There were "certainly" going to be people who disagreed with the film, he said. "But this does not play the blame game. It does not condemn an entire race for the death of Christ." The film was a faithful representation of the gospels, and did not set out to be controversial, he said. "It was supposed to tell the truth. Not much has changed in 2,000 years - Jesus was [controversial] and they killed him. We all killed him, and he died for it." Jewish groups are urging Mel Gibson to add a postscript, pointing out that Christ died for all mankind. Currently, no such changes are planned.

The film about the crucifixion of Jesus has already drawn comments over its highly violent nature. Mr. Willis told BBC Radio Five Live the film was a "harrowing portrayal" and it was definitely not for the squeamish. But he said the violent scenes appeared to be justified because of the religious tone of the film. Gibson has directed The Passion of the Christ as a personal project, investing $15m of his own money in to it. Before showing it to journalists he screened it to many church leaders and Christian groups, including TV evangelists, to help market the film by word of mouth. But Jewish groups have accused the film of provoking anti-Semitism saying it blames the crucifixion of Christ entirely on the Jews. Jewish group the Anti-Defamation League is pressing for a post-script reminder to be added to the film along the lines of "Jesus died for the sins of all men". Mr. Willis said some Christian groups had called it the "greatest recruiting tool" for the faith, with one evangelist saying it would help spread the word. The Passion of the Christ is released in the US on 25 February, Ash Wednesday, and in the UK on 26 March. Telegraph critic John Hiscock wrote that there is "little respite" from violence in the film, questioning if adults would be able to endure the bloody scenes. A national evangelical organisation in the US is helping to sell tickets for screenings from its website. Pastors are also planning movie-related sermons to co-incide with its release on Ash Wednesday, on 25 February.

 The film, which documents the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, opens in the UK on 26 March. Pastor Cory Engel, of Harvest Springs Community Church in Great Falls, Massachusetts, said members of his church had raised $12,000 (£7,300) to stand by a box office and buy tickets for film-goers. But he denied that he was selling a movie. "This is a window of opportunity we have," said Engel. "Churches used to communicate by having a little lecture time on Sunday morning. People don't interact that way any more. "Here's a chance for us to use a modern-day technique to communicate the truth of the Bible," he said. Kyle Fisk, spokesman for the National Association of Evangelicals, added that churches were intending to use the film to share their faith "with people in their community who would never go into a church". The Passion of the Christ, which is being independently released, will be shown on 2,000 screens in the US - as many as a major studio film. However, the film has been dogged by controversy after Jewish groups complained the film could spark anti-Semitism by suggesting Jews were involved in Christ's death. But Catholic and Protestant groups say it sticks closely to Biblical texts. Romanian actress Maia Morgenstern, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, said those people who saw the film "will primarily see a work of art". And she praised Gibson for his professionalism and kindness. The film, which documents the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, opens in the UK on 26 March. "Mel Gibson is an artist, a director. He never imposed his religious convictions on anyone," Morgenstern said. The actress, who plays Mary, is well-known on both stage and screen in Romania but she is not a familiar face outside Europe. She said if the film did have a message, it is more about how people can be manipulated by their leaders.

Editing

Jewish and Christian groups announced a lecture campaign earlier this week after fearing it could incite anti-Semitism. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Mel Gibson may be considering cutting the film's most controversial scene - in which a Jewish high priest declares a blood curse on Jews for the death of Christ. The newspaper stated that an unnamed "close associate" of director Gibson said he had decided to delete the scene. Jewish groups say the passage taken from the Gospel of Matthew 27: 25 was often used in medieval passion plays which sparked anti-Semitic feeling. But a spokesman for Gibson said he would not comment on the New York Times report. "It would be irresponsible of me to talk about a work in progress," said Alan Nierob. He did say the scene was absent from an early version of the film he saw but it was included in a screening shown to a group of evangelical Christian pastors in Florida last month.

Campaign against Gibson's Passion: Jewish and Christian groups have announced a lecture campaign after fearing Mel Gibson's upcoming film on Jesus could incite anti-Semitism.

The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee saw The Passion of the Christ, due out shortly, last week. "It undermines the progress that we've made in this country toward mutual respect and religious pluralism," said Rabbi David Elcott. Lectures, interfaith talks and other programs will be held. Critics of the film said they would explain how crucifix re-enactments in medieval times, which were called Passion Plays, had been used to incite violence against Jewish communities. The groups said they would not boycott cinemas or hold protests outside. "Artists have every right to create any kind of movie they want, but an audience has the absolute right to pass judgment on that," said Rabbi James Rudin. Gibson, a staunch Catholic, has always denied the film depicted Jews in a bad light. The campaign will come amidst heavy promotion of the film by Christian evangelists. Some, including TV preacher Billy Graham, praised the film's depiction of Christ's last hours. The Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College has published a study guide for people who watch the film, saying how Christian churches had come to reject charges of Jewish involvement in Christ's death.

The White House tried to halt the making and release of Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11, the film-maker alleged in Cannes on Sunday.

The director told a Cannes audience the Bush administration wanted to keep the film off screens in the run-up to November's US election. The film examines the Iraq war and alleges connections between the Bush and Bin Laden families. Fahrenheit 9/11 is to get its world premiere in Cannes on Monday. Film studio Disney had backed out of a deal to distribute the film in the US for political reasons, Moore says. He has given no evidence to substantiate his allegations, but said "someone connected to the White House" and a "top Republican" had put pressure on film companies not to release the film. Moore said the few who had seen the film had told him "the potential for this film to have an impact on the election was much larger than they thought". Undercover in Iraq: The film was originally scheduled to be released through Disney-backed independent studio Miramax, before Disney blocked it. It is now expected to be released through a third party. Disney accused Moore of engineering a dispute about the film's release to gain maximum publicity. It said it had blocked the film because it wanted to be impartial during the election, but strongly denied coming under any outside pressure. The director has already shown the film at test screenings in the Midwest of the US. "The reaction was overwhelming," he said. "People who were on the fence - undecided voters - suddenly weren't on the fence." No-one from the White House was available to comment on his remarks. Moore has also revealed that he had three undercover film crews embedded with US troops in Iraq. "I was able to sneak three different freelance crews into Iraq," he said on Saturday. The soldiers had "expressed disillusionment that they had been lied to", said Moore. The film from Iraq was a "very important" part of the documentary, he added. "It is certainly something the Bush administration does not want people to see," said Moore.

Controversial documentary-maker Michael Moore's intensely political new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, was screened for the world's media at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.

Photo: The film shows soldiers in Moore's deprived hometown of Flint, Michigan.

Disney has refused to release this film, other distributors also seem reluctant and - if Moore is to be believed - the White House wants to stop it being seen. The reason is if viewers take the film at face value, they will think George Bush is a fraudulent and possibly corrupt president who went to war in Iraq because of a half-baked motivation of grudge, greed and thirst for power. But this is a Michael Moore film and, while that does not mean he is wrong, it must be watched with a critical eye. Moore wants Bush removed from office. He is determined to have this film released before the US presidential election in November for that very reason.

Chilling: The film's conclusions are reached through a mixture of firm evidence, interesting information, moving scenes and tenuous theories. Starting with the presidential election in 2000, it firmly plants the idea that Bush's election - thanks to just 537 votes in Florida - was not exactly free and fair. The first conspiratorial link comes when he identifies the Fox News Channel employee who took the decision to report that Bush had won Florida on election night - when all other channels were reporting an Al Gore win - as Bush's first cousin. If true, it is an interesting piece of trivia - but hardly proof of a family plot to steal the presidency. He introduces 11 September with a blank screen and chilling audio of planes hitting the Twin Towers and the cries of those on the ground. Moore also has footage of Bush sitting in a school classroom, reading a children's book with pupils, for more than 10 minutes after being told the second plane had hit. The film-maker said this full footage had not been seen before because no-one had asked the teachers at the school whether they had captured it on camcorder. One of Moore's chief accusations is Bush allowed planes to pick up 24 members of the Bin Laden family and fly them out of the US in the days following the attacks - when all other aircraft were grounded. To back this up, he shows a document that seems to list them - and uses it as a base from which to explore the relationships between the Bush and Bin Laden dynasties.

"Little proof": They go back to Bush's military days, Moore says - and produces military records apparently showing the future president was in the Texas Air National Guard with a man who it says went on to sell a plane to one of Osama Bin Laden's brothers. When Bush was trying to make his way as a Texan oil magnate, this same man was hired by the Bin Ladens to invest their money in Texas, and he in turn invested money in Bush's company, the film says. Moore asserts that prominent Saudis invested in Bush's ailing companies to get access to his father, the former US president. But aside from the original military records, there is little proof to firm up links Moore goes on to make. The result is the oil and arms companies the Saudis invested in, and the Bush family and their inner circle have interests in, profited from the aftermath of 11 September, Moore says. Using a clip of former US head of counter-terrorism Richard Clarke talking about how Bush immediately wanted to find an Iraq link to the attacks, the film moves on to Afghanistan and Iraq. The Afghanistan section - including a screen shot of a BBC News Online story - is a claim that the military action in Afghanistan was really about laying a natural gas pipeline across the country. But the Iraq section is more substantial, and changes the film's direction - using interviews with US soldiers, footage of civilian suffering and highly moving testimony from bereaved parents of US servicemen. The film shows graphic footage of corpses of US soldiers being burnt, dragged behind a truck and strung up, and a scene of US soldiers apparently mistreating Iraqi prisoners.

Emotional interviews: All the while, persuasive army recruiters are followed as they try to sign up young people in Moore's deprived hometown of Flint, Michigan. So Moore went to Washington to try to persuade Congressmen to send their children to Iraq - the son of only one Congressman is in service there, Moore says. Moore himself appears less in this film than he has in his previous documentaries, leaving most of the talking to politicians, soldiers, parents, experts and assorted real Americans. There is highly selective editing, but the story is not totally one-sided. For example, there are soldiers in Iraq who believe in their mission, as well as those who say they are disillusioned. But the movie's conclusions - true or otherwise - and highly emotional interviews with bereaved parents and injured soldiers will have a big impact on audiences around the world.

PART ELEVEN

THE MOTION PICTURES GRAPEVINE

Pitt compares Troy with Iraq war

Troy stars Brad Pitt and Saffron Burrows have drawn parallels between the war in Iraq and the bloodshed between ancient nations in the film.

Pitt, who plays Achilles in the ancient Greek story, said at the film's opening in Cannes: "The themes that Homer had still resonate today." Burrows described a "terrible sense of deja vu about what the Trojans faced and what we're facing at the moment". The film, which opens in the US on Friday, has so far had mixed reviews. Troy, which cost $200m (£115m) to make, is based on Homer's Iliad and also stars Lord of the Rings' Orlando Bloom, Hulk star Eric Bana and British stars Julie Christie, Brian Cox and Peter O'Toole. The film was famously forced to move locations from Morocco to Mexico when film studio Warners decided Morocco was too dangerous when the Iraq war broke out. Pitt added that "mistakes and successes" from history were "there for us to learn from or ignore".

 "You cannot watch a historic story without being informed about what we're going through now," he said. "We're all after the same thing - this greater idea of common humanity and how do we get past these hatreds and resentments that have built between us." Burrows, who plays Andromache, wife of Troy's Prince Hector, said conflict between countries was "an eternal problem and it is entirely pertinent today". And the warmongering kings in the film, particularly brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus were reminiscent of "a fraternity in the world at the moment". Pitt also spoke of themes running through Hollywood, and said it was currently going through a phase of making grand historical tales. The movie trend came from "our collective consciousness", he said - but he added the film industry would probably soon be back to making baseball movies. But he added that starring in one ancient war movie was enough, saying: "I'm done with the skirt." But he added his wife Jennifer Aniston, the star of US sitcom Friends, liked his costume so much she asked him to take it home