Gravity conquers BAFTA nominations

Despite strong competition from its US rival 12 Years A Slave, Gravity leads Britain’s BAFTA.

LONDON:

Space thriller Gravity grabbed 11 BAFTA nominations on Wednesday, putting it just ahead of the pack at Britain's top film honours, while 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle are in the running in 10 categories.

Gravity, starring Oscar-winning actors Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, was shortlisted in categories including Best Film, Best Actress, Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron, Best Sound and Visual Effects, and Outstanding British Film.

The nomination for Outstanding British Film gave Gravity the edge over US rivals in a highly competitive year in which the unflinching slavery drama 12 Years A Slave, from British director Steve McQueen, is topping many US award nomination lists.

This film is heading the nominations across the Atlantic for the January 12 Golden Globe awards and is a favorite for the Oscars on March 2. Its British lead actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, is also nominated for the BAFTA Best Actor prize.

Ejiofor, 36, gained recognition as the lead in the 2002 dark crime thriller Dirty Pretty Things, but his role in 12 Years A Slave as a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery has thrust him into the limelight, garnering him multiple award nominations.

“I continue to be immensely proud of the recognition this film is getting around the world. There is, of course, something particularly special about receiving a BAFTA nomination from home,” Ejiofor said in a statement.

Other films competing for the BAFTA Best Film award are ’70s con-men caper American Hustle, Somali pirate thriller Captain Phillips, and the heart-tugging adoption drama Philomena.

Of these five films vying for the top prize, all but Philomena are also competing for the Best Director award.

The BAFTAs have had a patchy record in predicting which films go on to scoop the biggest movie honours, the Academy Awards, although the main winners in London in the past two years, The Artist and Argo, stormed to a Best Picture victory at the Academy Awards in their respective years.

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

Following is a list of nominees for the main categories:

Best Film

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British Film

Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Best Director

Steve McQueen/ 12 Years A Slave

David O. Russell/ American Hustle

Paul Greengrass/ Captain Phillips

Alfonso Cuaron/ Gravity

Martin Scorsese/ The Wolf of Wall Street


Best Film not in the English language

The Act of Killing

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Great Beauty

Metro Manila

Wadjda


Best Documentary

Joshua Oppenheimer/ The Act of Killing

Alex Gibney/ The Armstrong Lie

Gabriela Cowperthwaite/Blackfish

Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler/ Tim's Vermeer

Alex Gibney/ We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

Best Animated Film

Despicable Me 2

Frozen

Monsters University

Original Screenplay

Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell/American Hustle

Woody Allen/ Blue Jasmine

Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron/ Gravity

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen/Inside Llewyn Davis

Bob Nelson/Nebraska

Best Leading Actor

Bruce Dern/Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor/12 Years A Slave

Christian Bale/American Hustle

Leonardo Dicaprio/The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks/Captain Phillips

Best Leading Actress

Amy Adams/American Hustle

Cate Blanchett/Blue Jasmine

Emma Thompson/Saving Mr Banks

Judi Dench/Philomena

Sandra Bullock/ Gravity

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi/Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper/American Hustle

Daniel Bruhl/Rush

Matt Damon/Behind the Candelabra

Michael Fassbender/12 Years A Slave


Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence/American Hustle

Julia Roberts/August: Osage County

Lupita Nyong'O/12 Years A Slave

Oprah Winfrey/The Butler

Sally Hawkins/Blue Jasmine

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2014.

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