Sir Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical film Belfast, starring Jude Hill, Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe, has received six nominations for this year's British Academy Film (Bafta) Awards.
The film is nominated in the Best Film, Outstanding British Film and Original Screenplay categories, while Balfe and Ciaran Hinds received nominations in the Best Supporting Actress and Actor categories respectively for their roles.
Ruth Negga has also been nominated alongside Balfe for her role in Passing, as well as Jessie Buckley for her part in The Lost Daughter.
Sci-fi epic Dune and The Power Of The Dog lead the nominations, with the former claiming 11, including Original Score, Casting, Cinematography and Best Film. However, the film, directed by Denis Villeneuve, received no nominations in the performance categories.
New Zealand director Jane Campion’s dark western, The Power Of The Dog, has received eight nominations, among them Best Director, Best Film, and three nominations across the acting categories.
Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars as gritty rancher Phil in the film, is nominated in the leading actor category, with his co-stars Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee both nominated in the supporting actor category.
Other supporting actor nominees include West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Troy Kotsur for Coda and 11-year-old Woody Norman for C’mon C’mon, making him this year’s youngest nominee.
Hollywood star Will Smith is among the first time nominees in the performance categories this year, with a leading actor nomination for his role in King Richard, in which he stars as the father of tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams.
Also nominated in the leading actor category alongside him is Mahershala Ali for Swan Song, Adeel Akhtar for Ali & Ava, Leonardo DiCaprio for Don’t Look Up and Stephen Graham for Boiling Point.
Nominees in the leading actress category include Lady Gaga for House Of Gucci, Alana Haim for Licorice Pizza, Emilia Jones for Coda, Renate Reinsve for The Worst Person In The World, Joanna Scanlan for After Love and Tessa Thompson for Passing.
Absences in the final list for the leading actress category include Olivia Colman and Kristen Stewart, while in the supporting categories Jamie Dornan and Kirsten Dunst also did not secure a shortlist nomination.
Elsewhere, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, the latest Bond instalment No Time To Die and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story all have five nominations.
Licorice Pizza is a coming-of-age story starring Cooper Hoffman, the son of the late acting giant Philip Seymour Hoffman.
On this year’s nominees list, in the performance categories, 19 out of 24 nominees are first-time Bafta film nominees with all of the talent in the supporting actor category also all first-time nominees, according to Bafta.
This year’s directing category includes an equal split of male and female directors, with Campion, nominated for The Power Of The Dog, featuring alongside Julia Ducournau for Titane and Audrey Diwan for Happening, and Anderson nominated for Licorice Pizza, Aleem Khan for After Love and Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi for Drive My Car.
Belfast and No Time To Die, which marked Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 are the most nominated British films on the list, Bafta said, while nominees Buckley, Thompson and Negga were all previously nominees for the EE Rising Star Award.
Less than a third of acting nominations have gone to non-white performers – down sharply from a record two-thirds last year, but still above historic levels.
A majority of acting nominations have gone to non-British performers, in keeping with recent years.
Bafta chair Krishnendu Majumdar said: “This year’s nominations showcase a remarkable range of creative work in front of and behind the camera.
“We know that by celebrating outstanding achievement today, we are inspiring future generations for years to come. Two years ago, we launched a wide-ranging review into our voting, membership and campaigning processes and I want to thank the Bafta members and the wider industry for embracing these changes.
“Our goal is to level the playing field for awards entries so that more films and the true diverse range of exceptional creative talent in the UK and internationally is represented and celebrated.”
The Bafta film nominations were announced by AJ Odudu and Tom Allen from Bafta’s London headquarters.
This year the annual film awards celebrates its 75th anniversary and will see Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson host the ceremony being held at London’s Royal Albert Hall on March 13th.
The 2021 ceremony, hosted by Dermot O’Leary and Edith Bowman, was a largely virtual ceremony broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall, with only the hosts and presenters appearing in person.
