British BAFTA film nominations

RELATED NEWS 'Avatar' box office hits $1.3 billion worldwide For some, 3D movies is a pain in the head U2 tour tops annual rankings in North America Jackson 'Thriller' film picked for US registry 'Avatar,' Jackson death among 2009's major moments

Director James Cameron's 3D blockbuster fantasy film "Avatar" tied with British drama "An Education" and Iraq war movie "The Hurt Locker" with eight nominations each at the BAFTAs, Britain's main film awards.

Following are the nominees in the main categories:

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

Best director:

- Avatar - James Cameron

- District 9 - Neill Blomkamp

- An Education - Lone Scherfig

- The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow

- Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino

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

Leading 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

Leading 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

(Compiled by Paul Casciato, editing by Matthew Jones)

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare)