The BAFTA Nominations Are In!

Its good to be in the camp of Space thriller Gravity which took home 11 BAFTA (The British Academy of Film & Television Arts) nominations today putting it just ahead of many other top film contenders in 2013 at Britain’s top film honors, while 12 Years of Slave and American Hustle are still in contention by staying in the running with 10 categories.

Gravity  which stars Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, was shortlisted in categories including best film, actress, & director for Alfonso Cuaron;  best sound and visual effects, and outstanding British film were no surprises given the film’s topics and much-discussed filmmaking techniques since its release in the Fall of last year.

The nomination for top British film gave Gravity the edge over many of its’ film rivals which are topping much of the award ceremonies during this Season in the US, including the slavery drama 12 Years of Slave and clitic-darling Her.

Other films competing for the BAFTA best film award is the David O’ Russell con-men caper American Hustle,  true-life sea-thriller Captain Phillips, and the Dame Judi Dench, star-leading Philomena – of which is the only film in the Top 5 not nominated for Best Director.

Acting noms went to American Hustle, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Blue Jasmine and Saving Mr. Banks with Meryl Streep’s performance being looked at as an oversight in August: Osage County and being blamed for a late release date in the season as a primary downfall.

While he BAFTAs don’t have necessarily a completely solid record in predicting which films go on to scoop the biggest movie honors at next month’s Academy Awards,  many tend to see duplicates.

The awards ceremony for the BAFTAs, formally called the EE British Academy Film Awards, takes place in London on February 16.

Nominees are below:

Best Film
Nominees:
12 Years a Slave (2013)
American Hustle (2013)
Captain Phillips (2013)
Gravity (2013)
Philomena (2013)

Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year
Nominees:
Gravity (2013)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013)
Philomena (2013)
Rush (2013/I)
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
The Selfish Giant (2013)

Best Actor
Nominees:
Christian Bale for American Hustle (2013)
Bruce Dern for Nebraska (2013)
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips (2013)

Best Actress
Nominees:
Amy Adams for American Hustle (2013)
Sandra Bullock for Gravity (2013)
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine (2013)
Judi Dench for Philomena (2013)
Emma Thompson for Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Best Supporting Actor
Nominees:
Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips (2013)
Daniel Brühl for Rush (2013/I)
Bradley Cooper for American Hustle (2013)
Matt Damon for Behind the Candelabra (2013) (TV)
Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Best Supporting Actress
Nominees:
Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine (2013)
Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle (2013)
Julia Roberts for August: Osage County (2013)
Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
Oprah Winfrey for Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013/I)

David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction
Nominees:
Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013)
Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips (2013)
Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
David O. Russell for American Hustle (2013)
Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Best Screenplay (Original)
Nominees:
American Hustle (2013): Eric Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine (2013): Woody Allen
Gravity (2013): Alfonso Cuarón
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Nebraska (2013): Bob Nelson

Best Screenplay (Adapted)
Nominees:
Behind the Candelabra (2013) (TV): Richard LaGravenese
Captain Phillips (2013): Billy Ray
Philomena (2013): Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
12 Years a Slave (2013): John Ridley
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Terence Winter

Best Cinematography
Nominees:
Captain Phillips (2013): Barry Ackroyd
Gravity (2013): Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013): Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska (2013): Phedon Papamichael
12 Years a Slave (2013): Sean Bobbitt

Best Editing
Nominees:
12 Years a Slave (2013): Joe Walker
Captain Phillips (2013): Christopher Rouse
Gravity (2013): Mark Sanger
Rush (2013/I): Daniel P. Hanley, Mike Hill
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Thelma Schoonmaker

Best Production Design
Nominees:
American Hustle (2013)
Behind the Candelabra (2013) (TV)
Gravity (2013)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
12 Years a Slave (2013)

Best Costume Design
Nominees:
American Hustle (2013)
Behind the Candelabra (2013) (TV)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
The Invisible Woman (2013)
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Original Music
Nominees:
The Book Thief (2013): John Williams
Captain Phillips (2013): Henry Jackman
Gravity (2013): Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks (2013): Thomas Newman
12 Years a Slave (2013): Hans Zimmer

Best Make Up/Hair
Nominees:
American Hustle (2013)
Behind the Candelabra (2013) (TV)
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013/I)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Best Sound
Nominees:
All Is Lost (2013)
Captain Phillips (2013)
Gravity (2013)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Rush (2013/I)

Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects
Nominees:
Gravity (2013)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Pacific Rim (2013)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

Best Film not in the English Language
Nominees:
The Act of Killing (2012): Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013): Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
The Great Beauty (2013): Paolo Sorrentino, Francesca Cima, Nicola Giuliano
Metro Manila (2013): Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
Wadjda (2012): Haifaa Al-Mansour, Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner

Best Animated Feature Film
Nominees:
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Monsters University (2013)
Frozen (2013/I)

Best Documentary
Nominees:
The Act of Killing (2012)
The Armstrong Lie (2013)
Blackfish (2013)
Tim’s Vermeer (2013)
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks (2013)

EE Rising Star Award
Nominees:
Dane DeHaan
George MacKay
Lupita Nyong’o
Will Poulter
Léa Seydoux

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Nominees:
Saving Mr. Banks (2013): Kelly Marcel
Good Vibrations (2012): Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson
Kieran Evans: Kelly + Victoria
For Those in Peril (2013): Paul Wright, Polly Stokes
Shell (2012/I): Scott Graham

Best Short Animation
Nominees:
Everything I Can See From Here (2013): Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Sam Taylor, Friederike Nicolaus
I Am Tom Moody (2012): Ainslie Henderson
Sleeping with the Fishes (2013/II): Yousif Al-Khalifa, Sarah Woolner, James Walker

Best Short Film
Nominees:
Island Queen (2012): Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema

Keeping Up with the Joneses (2013): Michael Pearce, Selina Lim, Megan Rubens

Orbit Ever After (2013): Jamie Magnus Stone, Chee-Lan Chan, Len Rowles

Room 8 (2013): James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner

Sea View (2013): Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot

~ Matt Miles, 24/7 Contributor
Producer of Fresh Roasted Films