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For a number of years Bombay Sapphire have championed the work of independent film makers with its Imagination Series film competition. Headed up by Oscar-winner Geoffrey Fletcher the competition had its greatest success at this year’s BAFTA awards when James W. Griffiths and Sophie Venner won the Best Short Film award for their stunning Room 8 (which you can, and should, see here).

This week the winning directors converged on the Tribeca Film Festival for an event celebrating the last round of winning entrants and their films. We had the chance to speak with the directors about their influences and their journey to the final film with the Imagination Series.

Film 1: Reflections

Director: Anthony Khaseria

Synopsis: A beautiful couple in beautiful surroundings – it should have been the start of the ultimate love story. But a romantic meal turns dark and fantastical when they discover a hidden mirror which shows their true reflection.

BAFTA is partnering for the second year with specialist distributor The Independent Cinema Office (Ico) to bring film fans the BAFTA Shorts Tour 2014, the theatrical release of BAFTA’s 2014 animated and live short nominees. Ranging from the weird to the wonderful, this year’s nominees showcase up and coming British talent, showing what they can do when time is not on their side.

Orbit Ever After (2013)

Directed by Jamie Stone

This is a sci-fi comedic short starring Thomas Sangster, known for his roles in Love Actually and Nanny McPhee, as youngster Nigel. Having spent his life in space under the watchful eye of his cautious parents (Mackenzie Crook and Bronaugh Gallagher), he finds himself falling in love with a girl orbiting Earth the wrong way. Regardless of his overprotective parents, Nigel soon decides to sacrifice everything to be with the one he loves. Sweet and amusing, its bittersweet ending does little to diminish its charm.

We Are What We Are | The Book Thief | Non-Stop | Ride Along | As The Palaces Burn | Unforgiven | Funny Face

We Are What We Are (18)

(Jim Mickle, 2013, Us) Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner. 103 mins

The story of an archaic backwoods family with very good reasons for their insularity, this spends such a long time laying out its twisted domestic set-up, it's almost as if it's in denial about being a horror movie (remade from a Mexican original). It's a wise decision. If you don't know the family's Big Secret already, it would be a shame to spoil it; let's just say it pulls the story into real shock and gore territory.

The Book Thief (12A)

(Brian Percival, 2013, Us/Ger) Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson. 131 mins

A smart but syrupy wartime tale that traverses well-trodden territory – from The Reader to Life Is Beautiful – as a young girl is adopted by goodly Germans,...

Short films by Michael Pearce, Ben Mallaby and Bafta-winner James W Griffiths are among the highlights of this collection

Bafta has begun an enjoyable new tradition in recent years: releasing its nominated short films as a feature-length package. The curate's egg is mostly very engaging. The prize this year went to Room 8, directed and co-written by James W Griffiths, a disturbingly surreal account of what happens when a man, played by Tom Cullen, shares a cell in a Soviet-style prison in eastern Europe. It's smart work, but my favourite is Island Queen, an excellent, laidback piece directed by Ben Mallaby, starring its writer Nat Luurtsema as a twentysomething who's bored with living on a small island, whose best mate Danny (Sam Pamphilon) is not-so-secretly in love with her and who decides to be a proper grownup by having a baby through sperm donation. Could Luurtsema and Mallaby develop this to feature length,...

Celebrating the top films from the past year, the 2014 Ee British Academy Film Awards took place in London, England tonight (February 16).

Snagging wins in the Best Supporting Actor/Actress categories were Barkhad Abdi ("Captain Phillips") and Jennifer Lawrence ("American Hustle"), respectively.

Meanwhile, Cate Blanchett and Chiwetel Ejiofor took home trophies for Best Actress and Best Actor. In addition, "We're the Millers" star Will Poulter was recognized in the Ee Rising star category.

The Best British Film went home to the cast and crew of "Gravity," while "12 Years a Slave" scored the prize for Best Film.

Check out the full list of 2014 BAFTA winners below!

Best Film

Winner 12 Years A Slave - Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen

American Hustle - Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon

Captain Phillips - Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca

Gravity - Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Philomena - Gabrielle Tana,...

News Simon Brew 17 Feb 2014 - 06:31

Gravity, 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle lead this year's collection of BAFTA Film Award winners. Here's the full list...

Last night, lots of people headed off to London's Royal Opera House, where Stephen Fry hosted the British Academy Film Awards. That's the BAFTAs to you and us.

The BAFTAs used to be one of those ceremonies where people sent speeches to be read by other people, but these days, it seems really quite posh. Most of the nominees seemed to be in attendance, even those who didn't win, and if it carries on at this rate, the BBC may actually show us the whole event, rather than editing it down to two hours, to be shown a further two hours after it actually took place.

Anyway, the big winners turned out to be Gravity, which snared six gongs, American Hustle, which got three,...

After claiming the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty also won the BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. The other nominations in this category were The Act of Killing by Joshua Oppenheimer, Blue Is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche, Metro Manila by Sean Ellis and Wadjda by Haifaa Al-Mansour.

12 Years a Slave won the BAFTA for Best Film while Gravity took home 6 BAFTAs including Best British Film, Best Director and Best Special Visual Effects.

Complete list of awards:

Best picture: 12 Years a Slave

Best British film: Gravity

Best director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Best actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Best actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Best supporting actor: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Best supporting actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Best original screenplay: American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer, David O Russell

Best adapted screenplay: Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope

Best foreign language film: The Great Beauty,...

All the Baftas winners (and nominees) as they come in through the night

Best picture

Winner: 12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Best British film

Winner: Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Best director

Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

David O Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best actor

Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Best actress

Winner: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Emma Thompson, Saving Mr Banks

Best supporting actor

Winner: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Daniel Brühl, Rush

Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

Best supporting actress

Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Sally Hawkins,...

With two weeks to go until the 86th Academy Awards are handed out in Hollywood, all eyes were on London as the Ee British Academy Film Awards were announced Sunday evening from the Royal Opera House.

12 Years A Slave was named Best Film with Chiwetel Ejiofor winning leading actor. Gravity won six awards including British Film, Director, Original Music, Cinematography, Sound and Special Visual Effects, while American Hustle won three BAFTAs for Original Screenplay, Make Up & Hair, and Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence.

Leading Actress was presented to Cate Blanchett for playing the title role in Blue Jasmine – her third BAFTA win ­– and in his feature film debut Barkhad Abdi won Supporting Actor for Captain Phillips.

Hosted by Stephen Fry, the ceremony featured a live performance from multi-platinum-selling artist Tinie Tempah and Mercury Prize nominee Laura Mvula.

Dame Helen Mirren was the recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship, Outstanding British Contribution...

Steve McQueen talks about modern slavery as 12 Years A Slave wins best film; Cate Blanchett dedicates her BAFTA to Philip Seymour Hoffman; Barkhad Abdi says Greengrass believed in him before he believed in himself.Click here for the full list of winners

Host Stephen Fry welcomed the star-studded crowd by saying the BAFTAs are “the greatest night of the British film calendar, if there is such a thing.” He joked that there were “faces so familiar you want to lick them.”

He welcomed guests including Prince William, President of the Academy, into “the plush womb of the resplendent Royal Opera House” in Covent Garden, London.

Fry got Leonardo DiCaprio to blow a kiss into the camera.

Tinie Tempah and Laura Mvula kicked off the show with a duet of Heroes, and Tempah set the mood for a lively evening by high-five-ing Prince William.

Outstanding British Film

Oprah Winfrey, nominated for The Butler, presented the Outstanding...

Steve McQueen talks about modern slavery as 12 Years A Slave wins best film; Cate Blanchett dedicates her BAFTA to Philip Seymour Hoffman; Barkhad Abdi says Greengrass believed in him before he believed in himself.

Host Stephen Fry welcomed the star-studded crowd by saying the BAFTAs are “the greatest night of the British film calendar, if there is such a thing. “ He joked that there were “faces so familiar you want to lick them.”

He welcomed guests including Prince William, President of the Academy, into “the plush womb of the resplendent Royal Opera House” in Covent Garden, London.

Fry got Leonardo DiCaprio to blow a kiss into the camera.

Tinie Tempah and Laura Mvula kicked off the show with a duet of Heroes.

Oprah Winfrey, nominated for The Butler, presented the Outstanding British Film prize to Gravity. Producer David Heyman said the prize was “beyond belief and best of all it recognises everybody involved with the film, we...

12 Years A Slave wins best film; Cate Blanchett dedicates her BAFTA to Philip Seymour Hoffman; Gravity rakes in awards for Best Director, British Film, Sound, Music, Cinematography and VFX awards; Barkhad Abdi is surprise winner of Supporting Actor, Coogan and Pope win for Philomena’s Adapted Screenplay;

Host Stephen Fry welcomed the star-studded crowd by saying the BAFTAs are “the greatest night of the British film calendar, if there is such a thing. “ He joked that there were “faces so familiar you want to lick them.”

He welcomed guests including Prince William, President of the Academy, into “the plush womb of the resplendent Royal Opera House” in Covent Garden, London.

Fry got Leonardo DiCaprio to blow a kiss into the camera.

Tinie Tempah and Laura Mvula kicked off the show with a duet of Heroes.

Oprah Winfrey, nominated for The Butler, presented the Outstanding British Film prize to Gravity. Producer David Heyman said the prize was “beyond...

12 Years a Slave wins Best Film; Gravity leads with six.

Check out Wendy Mitchell’s report on what the winners said Here

Winners in numbers…

Gravity: 6American Hustle: 312 Years A Slave: 2The Great Gatsby: 2Blue Jasmine: 1Philomena: 1Captain Phillips: 1Rush: 1

The winners are in bold, followed by the nominees.

Best film

12 Years A Slave (Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen)

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British film

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

Actress

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Judi Dench (Philomena)

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks)

Supporting actor

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)

Daniel Bruhl (Rush)

Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

Matt Damon (Behind the Candelabra)

[link...

Screen is at the ceremony in London and posting the winners Now!

Refresh the page for updates…

Check out Wendy Mitchell’s live report on what the winners are saying Here

Winners in numbers (so far)…

Gravity: 5American Hustle: 3The Great Gatsby: 212 Years A Slave: 1Philomena: 1Captain Phillips: 1Rush: 1Frozen: 1

Just added Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

The winners are in bold, followed by the nominees.

Best film

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British film

Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Actor

Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Bruce Dern (Nebraska)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

Actress

Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Judi Dench (Philomena)

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks)

Supporting actor

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)

Daniel Bruhl (Rush)

[link...

Welcome, gorgeous people, to the biggest night in British Film. We’re here at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and we’ll be liveblogging as the night rolls on.

12 Years a Slave, Gravity, American Hustle, Captain Phillips and Philomena have the majority of nominations and are all competing for Best Picture. It is an undeniably strong year for British Film and we’re grateful for a spotlight as wide and as bright as this one to be shone this evening.

If you haven’t already checked out our BAFTA competition, do so now - the prizes are worth £700. Blimey.

We’ll be updating this liveblog minute by minute until my fingers fall off with the most recent update being shown at the top of the top so do keep refreshing.

Great to have you with us.

- – - – - -

We’re at the end of another BAFTA...

British live action and animated shorts to screen in cinemas from 28 February.

BAFTA has revealed that a feature-length package of films nominated in the British Short Film and British Short Animation categories at this year’s Ee British Academy Film Awards will screen in UK cinemas from Feb 28 and will tour internationally.

Selected screenings will be followed by a Q&A with nominated filmmakers who will discuss their working process and creative inspirations. The activity is part of BAFTA’s ongoing work to spotlight British-based filmmaking talent.

Following the first-ever theatrical release of nominated shorts in 2013, BAFTA is partnering for a second year with specialist distributor the Independent Cinema Office (Ico), which will handle all UK theatrical bookings, and the British Council, which will tour the nominated films internationally through their network of offices in 110 countries.

The UK-wide rollout of BAFTA Shorts 2014 begins with a special screening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (Ica) in London on Feb...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards and Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" led the pack with 11 nominations including Best Film, British Film (who knew "Gravity" was a British movie?), Director for Cuaron, Screenplay for Cuaron and his son Jonas, and Actress for Sandra Bullock.

The biggest snub in my humble opinion was "Dallas Buyers Club" which appeared nowhere on the nominations list. Apparently, the British Academy did not deem Matthew McConaughey or Jared Leto award-worthy!

The BAFTA Awards will take place on Feb. 16 at the Royal Opera house in London. Will "Gravity" emerge as the victorious movie that night? And by the way, "Gravity" was my No. 1 favorite film of 2013!

Here's the complete list of BAFTA nominations:

Best Film

12 Years A Slave Anthony Katagas,Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen

American Hustle Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison,...

Early this morning saw the announcement of the nominations for the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards for 2013. For the most part, they look like all of the other guild nominations we’ve seen over the past month or so (including all five director nominees who were just nominated for the DGA’s top award), but there are a few interesting differences to take note of.

First off, Philomena has a much stronger presence here, but given that it is a British film, it’s hardly surprising. You may also notice a lot of love for Behind the Candelabra, a film that was only shown on TV in the States, making it ineligible for theatrical awards.

However, aside from that, just about all the major players are here. Gravity leads the pack with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, and Best Actress. 12 Years a...

It’s already an amazing awards show season, and the 2014 BAFTA Awards just released their own list of worthy contenders.

Not surprisingly, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock's “Gravity” is at the front of the pack with a whopping 11 nods including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, and Best Original Music.

Following close behind, “American Hustle” and “12 Years A Slave” each have 10 chances at glory, and “Captain Phillips” will compete in nine categories.

Meanwhile, Michael Douglas and Matt Damon's flamboyant flick “Behind the Candelabra” is tied with Tom Hanks’ “Saving Mr. Banks,” each receiving five mentions.

And of course, everyone has been talking about the previously announced hopefuls for the fan-voted Ee Rising Star Award- Dane DeHaan, George McKay, Will Poulter, Lea Seydoux, and Lupita Nyong’o.

The Ee British Academy Film Awards is slated to go live from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London on Sunday,...

It’s already an amazing awards show season, and the 2014 BAFTA Awards just released their own list of worthy contenders.

Not surprisingly, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock's “Gravity” is at the front of the pack with a whopping 11 nods including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Director, and Best Original Music.

Following close behind, “American Hustle” and “12 Years A Slave” each have 10 chances at glory, and “Captain Phillips” will compete in nine categories.

Meanwhile, Michael Douglas and Matt Damon's flamboyant flick “Behind the Candelabra” is tied with Tom Hanks’ “Saving Mr. Banks,” each receiving five mentions.

And of course, everyone has been talking about the previously announced hopefuls for the fan-voted Ee Rising Star Award- Dane DeHaan, George McKay, Will Poulter, Lea Seydoux, and Lupita Nyong’o.

The Ee British Academy Film Awards is slated to go live from the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London on Sunday,...

Awards season is here, whether you’re ready or not. On Jan. 7, the nominees were announced in London for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Film Awards — and all our favorite stars are nominated.

Gravity is leading this year’s race with 11 BAFTA nominations, followed by American Hustle that 12 Years a Slave both landing 10 each. Read the full list below, and then tune in to the BAFTAs on Feb. 16.

BAFTA Film Award Nominations — Full List

Best Film

12 Years A Slave Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen

American Hustle Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon

Captain Phillips Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca

Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Philomena Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward

Outstanding British Film

Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón

Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson

Philomena Stephen Frears,...

The nominations for this year’s Ee British Academy Film Awards were announced today (January 8) by actors Helen McCrory and Luke Evans.

Gravity led the way with 11 nominations. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle were each nominated in ten categories. Captain Phillips has nine nominations, while Behind the Candelabra and Saving Mr. Banks were nominated five times.

Philomena, Rush and The Wolf of Wall Street have four nominations. Blue Jasmine, The Great Gatsby, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska have each been nominated three times. The Act of Killing, The Butler and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug have two nominations apiece.

Gravity is nominated in the following categories: Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director for Alfonso Cuarón, Original Screenplay, Original Music, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Sound and Special Visual Effects. Sandra Bullock is nominated for Leading Actress.

12 Years a Slave is nominated for Best Film, Director for Steve McQueen, Adapted Screenplay,...

A full list of nominations for this year's Baftas. The 67th Bafta award ceremony will be held at London's Royal Opera House on Sunday 16 February

• Baftas 2014: Gravity leads the pack

• The nominees - in pictures

This list will be updated as the nominees are confirmed.

Best picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Best British film

Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Best director

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best actor

Christian Bale, American Hustle

Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Best actress

Amy Adams, American Hustle

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Judi Dench, Philomena

Emma Thompson, Saving Mr Banks

Best supporting actor

Barkhad Abdi,...

BAFTA Awards 2014: ‘American Hustle,’ ‘Gravity,’ and ’12 Years a Slave’ tops (photo: BAFTA 2014 nominees Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence in ‘American Hustle’) Nominations for the 2014 BAFTA Awards were announced a little while ago. As usual, British Academy of Film and Television Arts have placed their focus on Big English-Language Productions — i.e., Hollywood and Anglo-Hollywood fare. (I mean, Gravity, Rush, and Saving Mr. Banks are considered "British" productions here.) Small British films and non-Hollywood productions have been — once again as usual — all but ignored. The 2014 BAFTA winners will be announced on February 16. Best Film: 12 Years A Slave Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen; American Hustle Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon; Captain Phillips Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca; Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman; Philomena Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward. Best British Film: Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón; Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom Justin Chadwick,...

News Ryan Lambie 8 Jan 2014 - 07:57

The nominations for this year's BAFTA film awards have been announced. And we've got them all for you right here...

In a live broadcast streamed this morning, the British Academy announced its nominees for this year's BAFTAs. We didn't have the time or the money to get hold of a tuxedo in time for the event, but we did manage to put on an extremely posh dressing gown.

The winners of the coveted metal BAFTA face will be announced next month, but for now, take a look at the list of nominees below, and see how your favourite films, actors and filmmakers of last year tallies with the Academy's. There are few genuine surprises among the choices, but we're guessing that Frozen's a shoo-in for best animation.

Best Film

12 Years A Slave Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen

American Hustle Charles Roven,...

This morning in London the nominations for the 2014 BAFTA awards were announced. Gravity leads the way with 11 nods closely followed by 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle with 10 apiece. Also performing well are Captain Phillips with 9, Saving Mr. Banks and Behind the Candelabra each get 5 and Rush, The Wolf of Wall Street and Philomena come in with 4 each.

The 67th annual awards ceremony will take place on Sunday the 16th of February at the Covent Garden Opera House, hosted once again by Stephen Fry and we’ll be on hand to live blog the results as they come in on the night.

The one award whose nominations we know already is the Ee Rising Star Award – you can find out more about the five nominees here.

Here is the full list of nominations, see you all on the 16th?

—————-

Best Film 12 Years A Slave Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner,...

Updated With Analysis: Gravity leads the pack with 11 nominations; 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle follow closely with 10.

Captain Phillips has nine nominations. Behind the Candelabra and Saving Mr. Banks have five each.

Philomena, Rush and The Wolf of Wall Street have four nominations. Blue Jasmine, The Great Gatsby, Inside Llewyn Davis and Nebraska have each been nominated three times. The Act of Killing, The Butler and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug have two nominations apiece.

Full list of nominees below.

The nominations didn’t offer any huge surprises, but there are some notable developments.

Dallas Buyers Club was shut out of the BAFTA nominations, which might have been expected for Matthew McConaughey for lead actor and Jared Leto for supporting. Idris Elba missed out on a mention for his role as Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom; as did James McAvoy for the low-budget Filth or Robert Redford for All Is Lost. [link...

Here’s the new Viewfinder List, the entertainment industry survey which polls studio executives, producers and creatives for their top 10 short films, commercials and/or music videos. This is similar to The Black List, as the Viewfinder List honors short form content and the directors who made them. The list was created by producer Jeff Schroeder, Aaron Schmidt (Langley Park Pictures) and Patrick Chu (FilmNation). In recent years, some of the shorts have been optioned and some of their directors have gotten jobs — and hey, the attention never hurts. This year’s top vote-getter, Fool’s Day, was directed by Cody Blue Snider, the son of Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. Here is the website where it is possible to watch the shorts: Related: Viewfinder List 2012 Viewfinder List 2011 Votes: 17 Fool’s Day, directed by Cody Blue Snider Agents: Wme – Roger Green, Solco Schuit Managers: Circle of Confusion – Zach Cox Votes: 15 Noah,...

Online film competitions have become a prime source of new talent. Film makers, who in previous years would had few options to have their work seen and judged, have an instant audience of millions.

Bombay Sapphire’s Imagination Series has produced some fine work, and takes its hook from Oscar winner Geoffrey Fletcher whose screenplay provides a direction for each film.

With the same sparse script filmmakers are invited to let their imaginations run wild and the diversity of visions is exactly what the organisers were hoping for.

We spoke to Fletcher last year before the winning entries were announced and we’ve included some of the entries below (the rest can be found here) to show the variety of winning shorts. Room 8, in particular, is a masterpiece.

HeyUGuys: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. We actually spoke about a year ago when the first...

We’ve been following the short film competition from Bombay Sapphire for some time now. Named The Imagination Series the competition gives filmmakers the chance to have their interpretation of a script written by Oscar winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher made in a short film.

The competition is now entering its second year and Adrien Brody has just been announced as one of the judges for this year’s event. The format remains the same: go to www.imaginationseries.com to view the script from Fletcher and find more information about how to submit your own concept to the judges. The competition closes on the 4th of August 2013 and as well as having your concept made into a short film it will play at the Tribeca Film Festival next year.

We spoke to Geoffrey Fletcher and fellow judge Nancy Schafer last year to get an idea of what they were looking...