18/01/2005 - These nominations include Achievement in Direction for Mike Leigh, the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the year, Actress in a leading role for Imelda Staunton

Mike Leigh’s Venice winner Vera Drake got the second most nominations for the upcoming Bafta Awards (12 February), ex aequo with Finding Neverland, and just after The Aviator (14 nominations) as announced today by the Orange British Academy Film Awards. A current hit at the UK box office with over £267,000 in just under 2 weeks, Vera Drake’s nominations include Achievement in Direction for Mike Leigh, the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the year, Actress in a leading role for Imelda Staunton, Actress in a supporting role for Heather Craney and Actor in a supporting role for Phil Davis. British actress Kate Winslet was twice nominated as Best actress for her roles in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Finding Neverland, and her fellow actress in the film Julie Christie was nominated in the Supporting Role category. Apart from Vera Drake, four other local productions and/or co-productions will compete for the Best British Film of the Year: Shaun Of The Dead, Dead Man’s Shoes, Harry Potter And The Prisoner of Azkabanand My Summer of Love.
In the nominations for a Carl Foreman Award for Special Achievement By a British Director/Producer or writer in their first feature film are Amma Asante, writer/director of A Way of Life, Andrea Gibb, writer of Afterlife, Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake, Nira Park, producer of Shaun Of The Dead and Shona Auerbach, director of Dear Frankie.

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The Foreign language films category will be hotly disputed by The Motorcycle Diaries (nominated nine times in total), The Chorus, A Very Long Engagement, Bad Education, and House of Flying Daggers.
Christophe Barratier’s The Chorus was nominated in two other categories for Best adapted screenplay and Best film music. The Awards ceremony produced by Initial (part of Endemol UK) and broadcast by BBC ONE on February 12th, will be hosted for the fifth time by Stephen Fry.