The Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild awards - in pictures

It's a case of another awards weekend, another award for Colin Firth, who adds the Screen Actors Guild statue to his groaning mantelpiece. Firth wins, yet again, for his turn as stuttering George VI in The King's Speech and is now the red-hot favourite to win this year's best actor Oscar Photograph: Startraks Photo / Rex Features/Startraks Photo / Rex Features

On this occasion, however, Firth is forced to share the glory. The King's Speech also wins for best overall cast, which means clearing some space for co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush too Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features/KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features

But The King's Speech did not have it all its own way - at least not quite. The SAG award for best actress went not to the woman who played the Queen, or the scullery-maid, or the flower seller outside Buckingham Palace. It went, instead, to the woman who played the neurotic ballerina in Black Swan. It went, in other words, to Natalie Portman Photograph: Picture Perfect / Rex Features/Picture Perfect / Rex Features

Other winners at the SAGs include Christian Bale, who seized the supporting actor trophy for his role in David O Russell's boxing drama The Fighter Photograph: Jim Smeal/BEI / Rex Features/Jim Smeal/BEI / Rex Features

Bale plays the role of Dicky Eklund, a wayward Boston-based pugilist, who promptly joined the actor on stage. Bale, for those still flummoxed by the actor's eerie impression, is the one on the left. Or is it the right? Photograph: Michael Caulfield/WireImage

Paz de la Huerta was last seen writhing naked on a bed and clutching her stuffed toy in Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void. No award for that, sad to say, although she came to the SAGs as a presenter, having tugged on a dress and swapped one toy for another Photograph: Startraks Photo / Rex Features/Startraks Photo / Rex Features

Outside on the red carpet, meantime, the celebrities came and went in an eye-blink. Look: here's Nicole Kidman, SAG-nominated for her role in a film about rabbits Photograph: Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features/Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features

Stragglers are advised to watch their step around trailing, dawdling Mila Kunis, who plays Natalie Portman's nemesis in Black Swan. Her mission today: to pose for the press and trip up all rivals Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage

And these rivals include Winona Ryder, who co-stars in Black Swan as a knackered, past-it prima-ballerina, all set to exit, stage left Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage

And here, perfectly complementing the red of the carpet, comes Jennifer Lawrence, fresh from her acclaimed role in Winter's Bone and with one eye fixed beadily on an Oscar Photograph: Startraks Photo / Rex Features/Startraks Photo / Rex Features

Annette Bening is an awards favourite for her role as a lesbian mum in The Kids Are All Right. But at the SAGs, and as if to prove that the movies are purely make-believe, Bening rolls up the carpet with her husband Warren Beatty Photograph: Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features/Matt Baron/BEI / Rex Features

Inside the Shrine auditoreum, the actors mingle and network and presumably squabble over the seating places. Here Andrew Garfield meets Susan Sarandon while their respective camps jockey furiously for position Photograph: Christopher Polk/WireImage

Just a month ago, the Coen brothers' True Grit was barely considered as an Oscar contender. Now it's one of the favourites, which at least guarantees stars Hailee Steinfeld and Jeff Bridges a top table at the SAGs - if not any actual awards Photograph: KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features/KeystoneUSA-ZUMA / Rex Features

Note to the invitees: the SAGs are not just about the SAGs. They are about the 'cocktail reception' too. Here we see Darren Legallo, Amy Adams, Sibi Bale and Christian Bale letting their hair down and pawing each each other as the drinks tray does the rounds Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Up on the stage, meanwhile, the actors are again assembling. Look: it's Armie Hammer, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg, making like a boy band at the one, lonesome microphone Photograph: Michael Caulfield/WireImage

And so another awards night wraps up with The King's Speech and Black Swan nosing ahead as we race towards Oscar. No sooner has the last prize been delivered when Natalie Portman and King's Speech director Tom Hooper make a bee-line for Harvey Weinstein, the behind-the-scenes conductor of the Hollywood awards circuit. The King's Speech leads, but there's all to play for. And the Academy Awards are still four weeks away .... Photograph: Christopher Polk/WireImage