In pictures: Bafta-nominated films

  • Published

The Bafta film award nominations were announced on 9 January, 2015. Here are the main nominees.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Image source, Film company

Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel topped this year's nominations with 11 citations. The offbeat drama stars best actor nominee Ralph Fiennes as a concierge at a luxury hotel between the first and second World Wars. It is Anderson's most successful film to date, taking more than $100m at the international box office, since its release last March.

The Theory of Everything

Image source, Liam Daniel

British film The Theory of Everything tells the story of the romance between physicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife Jane, and how his developing illness impacted on their relationship. The pair remain close friends and share three children despite the breakdown of the marriage. Eddie Redmayne, whose performance has won praise from Hawking himself, is one of the favourites to win the best actor award.

Birdman

Image source, Alison Rosa

Birdman is a visceral satire of the showbusiness world directed by Babel's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The stylish, stylized film stars Michael Keaton as an actor who made his name playing a superhero while he attempts to make his comeback on Broadway, amid floundering egos and cross-generational bickering.

The Imitation Game

Image source, Jack English

The Imitation Game is the tale of World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing and how he helped crack the Enigma machine, effectively bringing about the end of war. Benedict Cumberbatch has been nominated for leading actor, while Keira Knightley scored a nomination for supporting actress.

Boyhood

Image source, Film company

Boyhood - a coming of age tale from Before Sunrise director Richard Linklater - took 12 years to make . It follows the development of a boy from his childhood to his late teenage years. Newcomer Eller Coltrane was captured on film from six to 18-years-old, alongside his fictional family Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and Linklater's own daughter Lorelei.

Whiplash

Image source, Film company

Whiplash first captured critics' hearts when it was released as a short film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It won both the Short Film Jury Prize and the finance for a feature film version. An autobiographical tale from 29-year-old director Damien Chazelle, it tells the story of an aspiring jazz drummer and his hard-nosed teacher and mentor, played by JK Simmons.

Nightcrawler

Image source, Film company

The directorial debut of writer Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler - which earned four Bafta nominations - stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a Los Angeles thief who finds work shooting footage of crime scenes and accidents and selling it to news channels. Trouble ensues when he begins to tweak the footage to make it more dramatic.

Interstellar

Image source, Film company

Much has been written about Christopher Nolan's visually dazzling space epic Interstellar, starring two former Oscar winners Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. The film earned four nominations on the Bafta shortlist, but all in technical categories.

Mr Turner

Image source, Film company

There was considerable disappointment over Timothy Spall's omission from the best actor shortlist for his role as artist JMW Turner in Mike Leigh's film. Spall spent years researching the role of the enigmatic artist, even learning to paint. The film - which had been expected to find favour with British Bafta voters - picked up four nominations in the design categories.