This year's BAFTA nominations have been announced today ahead of the awards on 21st February, with a few pleasant (though not undue) surprises. The Hurt Locker appears in 3 major categories - best film, best director and best actor whilst Let The Right One In, A Prophet and The White Ribbon are all up for best film not in the English language. Perhaps most striking this year is the predominance of action movies in the main categories with Bigelow, Blomkamp, Cameron and Tarantino all up for best director. Notably absent from the major nominations is John Hillcoat's apocalyptic drama The Road, appearing only in the best cinematography category despite mostly glowing reviews. Less surprising is the love for An Education with 8 nominations including director, film and outstanding British film.

The full list of nominations is below.

Best Film
Avatar
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Precious
Up in the Air

Outstanding British Film
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
James Cameron, Avatar
Lone Scherfig, An Education
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel

Supporting Actor
Alec Baldwin, It's Complicated
Christian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress
Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'Nique, Precious
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy

Original Screenplay
The Hangover
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up

Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Film not in the English Language
Broken Embraces
Coco Before Chanel
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr Fox
Up

Cinematography
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
The Road

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
A Single Man
The Young Victoria


Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
Up in the Air

Make-Up & Hair
Coco Before Chanel
An Education
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Music
Avatar
Crazy Heart
Fantastic Mr Fox
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Up

Production Design
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Inglorious Basterds

Sound
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek
Up

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Star Trek

Short Animation
The Gruffalo
The Happy Duckling
Mother of Many

Short Film
14
I Do Air
Jade
Mixtape
Off Season

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson (directors/producers, Mugabe and the White African)
Eran Creevy (writer-director, Shifty)
Stuart Hazeldine (writer-director, Exam)
Duncan Jones (director, Moon)
Sam Taylor-Wood (director, Nowhere Boy)

Orange Rising Star Award
Jesse Eisenberg
Nicholas Hoult
Carey Mulligan
Tahar Rahim
Kristen Stewart