LONDON CRITICS' CIRCLE NOMINATIONS

Best Picture

·         The Artist

·         Drive

·         A Separation

·         Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

·         The Tree of Life

Best Director

·         Asghar Farhadi (A Separation)

·         Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

·         Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)

·         Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

·         Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

·         George Clooney (The Descendants)

·         Jean Dujardin (The Artist)

·         Michael Fassbender (Shame)

·         Ryan Gosling (Drive)

·         Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

·         Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)

·         Anna Paquin (Margaret)

·         Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)

·         Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

·         Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

·         Simon Russell Beale (The Deep Blue Sea)

·         Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)

·         Albert Brooks (Drive)

·         Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

·         Michael Smiley (Kill List)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

·         Sarek Bayat (A Separation)

·         Jessica Chastain (The Help)

·         Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus)

·         Octavia Spencer (The Help)

·         Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Best Screenplay

·         Asghar Farhadi (A Separation)

·         Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne and Jim Rash (The Descendants)

·         Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

·         Kenneth Lonergan (Margaret)

·         Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

The Sky 3D Award for Best Technical Achievement

·         Manuel Alberto Claro – cinematography (Melancholia)

·         Paul Davies – sound design (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

·         Maria Djurkovic – production design (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

·         Dante Ferretti – production design (Hugo)

·         Alberto Iglesias – original score (The Skin I Live In)

·         Chris King and Gregers Sall – editing (Senna)

·         Joe Letteri – visual effects (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

·         Cliff Martinez – original score (Drive)

·         Robert Richardson – cinematography (Hugo)

·         Robbie Ryan – cinematography (Wuthering Heights)

Best Documentary

·         Cave of Forgotten Dreams

·         Dreams of a Life

·         Pina

·         Project Nim

·         Senna

Best Foreign Language Film

·         Mysteries of Lisbon

·         Poetry

·         Le Quattro Volte

·         A Separation

·         The Skin I Live In

The Attenborough Award for Best British Film

·         The Guard

·         Kill List

·         Shame

·         Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

·         We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Performance by a British Actor

·         Tom Cullen (Weekend)

·         Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method / Shame)

·         Brendan Gleeson (The Guard)

·         Peter Mullan (Tyrannosaur / War Horse)

·         Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Best Performance by a British Actress

·         Olivia Colman (The Iron Lady / Tyrannosaur)

·         Carey Mulligan (Drive / Shame)

·         Vanessa Redgrave (Anonymous / Coriolanus)

·         Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

·         Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea)

The Virgin Atlantic Award for Best Breakthrough British Filmmaker

·         Richard Ayoade (Submarine)

·         Paddy Considine (Tyrannosaur)

·         Joe Cornish (Attack the Block)

·         Andrew Haigh (Weekend)

·         John Michael McDonagh (The Guard)

Best Young British Performer

·         John Boyega (Attack the Block)

·         Jeremy Irvine (War Horse)

·         Yasmin Paige (Submarine)

·         Craig Roberts (Submarine)

·         Saoirse Ronan (Hanna)

The Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film

                Nicolas Roeg

Always good to see support for Tinker Tailor, no matter how expected that support may be. Somewhat disappointed to see a lack of support for Shame, though - it seems perhaps too many critics are turned off my its difficult theme, a shame in itself, that those paid to critique filmmaking can't even understand and appreciate some of the material they watch. Carey Mulligan misses out on a supporting Actress nomination but secures a British Actress nomination instead, in which she has the capability to win. Sometimes I wonder if LCC voters don't get mixed up with some of their choices and don't know whether or not actors and actresses can be nominated for both the main acting categories and the British ones. Clearly they can - Gary Oldman, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael Fassbender (he isn't actually British, though) all managed it.

No love at all here for Harry Potter, and very little for War Horse. Instead, in an excellent year for British independent filmmaking, smaller contenders make potentially important appearances. One curious exclusion is in the technical achievement category: Emmanuel Lubezki, having been nominated for and won every award for which he has been eligible this year for his work on The Tree of Life, misses out on a mention here. Other cinematographers show up instead - Manuel Alberto Claro, Robert Richardson and Robbie Ryan, all of whom certainly deserve these nominations.