LONDON (AP) 鈥� Atom-bomb epic leads the race for the British Academy Film Awards, with nominations in 13 categories including best film 鈥� eight more than its box-office rival, 鈥淏arbie.鈥�
Gothic fantasia received 11 nominations on the list announced Thursday, while historical epic and Holocaust drama 鈥� had nine each.
Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song's romantic feature "Past Lives" is nominated in three categories, including best film in non-English language, best original screenplay and best actor.
Other leading contenders include French courtroom drama boarding school comedy and Leonard Bernstein biopic with seven nominations each. Grief-flecked love story was nominated in six categories and class-war dramedy 鈥� in five.
鈥� one half of 2023鈥檚 鈥淏arbenheimer鈥� box office juggernaut, also got five nominations 鈥� including for Canadian star Ryan Gosling in the best supporting actor category 鈥� but missed out on a best picture nod.
The winners will be announced at a Feb. 18 ceremony at London鈥檚 Royal Festival Hall hosted by 鈥淒octor Who鈥� star David Tennant.
The prizes 鈥� officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards 鈥� are Britain鈥檚 equivalent of Hollywood鈥檚 and will be watched closely for hints of who may win at the Oscars on March 10.
The best film race pits 鈥淥辫辫别苍丑别颈尘别谤鈥� against 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥� 鈥淎natomy of a Fall鈥� and 鈥淭he Holdovers.鈥�
鈥淧oor Things鈥� is also on the 10-strong list for the separate category of best British film, an eclectic slate that includes 鈥沦补濒迟产耻谤苍,鈥� imperial epic 鈥淣apoleon,鈥� south London romcom 鈥淩ye Lane鈥� and chocolatier origin story 鈥淲onka,鈥� among others.
The best leading actor nominees are Bradley Cooper for 鈥淢补别蝉迟谤辞,鈥� Colman Domingo for 鈥淩ustin,鈥� Paul Giamatti for 鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥� Barry Keoghan for 鈥沦补濒迟产耻谤苍," Teo Yoo for 鈥淧ast Lives鈥� and Cillian Murphy for 鈥淥ppenheimer.鈥�
鈥淥辫辫别苍丑别颈尘别谤鈥� also received nominations for supporting performers Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr., as well as for Christopher Nolan's direction and screenplay.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be happier that the British Academy recognized so many of my collaborators on 鈥極ppenheimer,鈥� especially Chris Nolan," Murphy said. 鈥淲orking on the film was an experience I鈥檒l never forget.鈥�
The best leading actress contenders are Fantasia Barrino for 鈥淭he Color Purple,鈥� Sandra H眉ller for 鈥淎natomy of a Fall,鈥� Carey Mulligan for 鈥淢补别蝉迟谤辞,鈥� Vivian Oparah for 鈥淩ye Lane,鈥� Margot Robbie for 鈥淏arbie鈥� and Emma Stone for 鈥淧oor Things.鈥�
Harrowing Ukraine war documentary produced by The Associated Press and PBS 鈥淔rontline,鈥� is nominated for best documentary and best film not in the English language. Davis Guggenheim's "Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie," an intimate look at the Canadian movie star, is also nominated in the documentary category.
Meanwhile, Toronto-born musician Robbie Robertson, who died at age 80 last year, is nominated for best original score for his work on Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon."
Britain鈥檚 film academy introduced changes to increase the awards鈥� diversity in 2020, when no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.
The voting process was rejigged to add a longlist round in the selection before the final nominees are voted on by the academy鈥檚 8,000-strong membership of industry professionals.
Under the new rules, the director longlist had equal numbers of male and female filmmakers, but there is only one woman among the six best-director nominees, Justine Triet for 鈥淎natomy of a Fall.鈥� She is up against Andrew Haigh for 鈥淎ll of Us Strangers,鈥� Alexander Payne for 鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥� Bradley Cooper for 鈥淢补别蝉迟谤辞,鈥� Christopher Nolan for 鈥淥辫辫别苍丑别颈尘别谤鈥� and Jonathan Glazer for 鈥淭he Zone of Interest.鈥� 鈥淏arbie鈥� director Greta Gerwig was a notable omission, as was 鈥沦补濒迟产耻谤苍鈥�'s Emerald Fennell.
Fennell said that she was just happy 鈥渢here are so many women making such exquisite, beautiful work this year.鈥�
鈥淭he breadth from 鈥楤arbie鈥� to 鈥楶ast Lives鈥� to 鈥楢natomy of a Fall鈥� to 鈥楽altburn鈥� 鈥� these films are all of them so different, and so beautiful,鈥� she told The Associated Press
鈥淭hat is huge to me personally, to see all of these incredible women making such incredible work. That鈥檚 the thing that I hope that young women and girls will look and see.鈥�
BAFTA chair Sara Putt said that she was proud of the academy's work on diversity, but 鈥渢he playing field is not level.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e coming at this from a world that is not fair, in that sense," she said. "For every one film made by a woman, there are three films made by a man.
鈥淪o there鈥檚 a really long journey to go on.鈥�
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Hilary Fox contributed to this story.
Jill Lawless, The Associated Press
