2008 Oscar Nominations

The 80th annual Academy Awards are due on February 24th and the nominees were announced today by previous winner Kathy Bates and Academy President Sid Ganis. A couple of films yet to be on general release in the UK are included in various categories, with the front runners being No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

The favourite for the best actor award is British thespian Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance in historical epic There Will Be Blood. Cate Blanchett has been nominated in both the best actress and best supporting actress categories. Amongst Blanchett's contenders in the best supporting actress category is a 13-year-old Irish newcomer, Saoirse Ronan, who wowed critics with her performance in Atonement. Other British hopefuls Keira Knightley and James McAvoy both failed to earn a nomination.

Here is a shortlist of the nominations:

Best picture
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best director
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood

Best actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Best actress
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

Best supporting actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best supporting actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best foreign language film
Beaufort - Israel
The Counterfeiters - Austria
Katyn - Poland
Mongol - Kazakhstan
12 - Russia

Best animated feature film
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Best adapted screenplay
Atonement
Away from Her
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best original screenplay
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Best music (score)
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma

Best music (song)
Falling Slowly - Once (performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
Happy Working Song - Enchanted (performed by Amy Adams)
Raise It Up - August Rush (performed by Jamia Simone Nash and Impact Repertory Theatre)
So Close - Enchanted (performed by Jon McLaughlin)
That's How You Know - Enchanted (performed by Amy Adams)

Best documentary feature
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

Best documentary short subject
Freeheld
La Corona (The Crown)
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Best visual effects
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Best cinematography
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best art direction
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

Best animated short film
I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
My Love (Moya Lyubov)
Peter & the Wolf

Best short film
At Night
Il Supplente
Le Mozart des Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Best costume design
Across the Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie en Rose
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Best make-up
La Vie en Rose
Norbit
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Best sound mixing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Sound editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Best film editing
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood