Dench, Morgan, Etc. Win Evening Standard Film Awards

Judi Dench, Sacha Baran Cohen and playwright Peter Morgan are among this year's winners of the Evening Standard British Film Awards, which were presented on February 4th in London.

With the awards chosen by British film critics, the winners celebrated at The Ivy Restaurant.

Dench was awarded Best Actress for her work in Notes on a Scandal, while Cohen - who will play Pirelli in the upcoming film version of Sweeney Todd - received the Peter Sellers Award for Comedy for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Morgan, whose plays include the Broadway-bound Frost/Nixon, was honored with Best Screenplay for his work on two royally-themed movies: The Queen and The Last King of Scotland.

Other winners included Casino Royale's Daniel Craig as Best Actor, and The Queen director Stephen Frears (with the Alexander Walker Special Award).  United 93 was selected as Best Film.

Photo of Judi Dench by Retna Ltd.