Academy Award favourites Chicago, Gangs Of New York and The Hours dominated the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards.

Chicago and Gangs secured 12 nods each, while The Hours came in with 11. The following pack was led by The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers with nine nominations, with The Pianist on seven and Frida and Catch Me If You Can on four each.

The three frontrunners were all nominated in the category for best film and The David Lean Award for achievement in direction. Also nominated in both categories were The Pianist and Two Towers, the first instalment of which swept the board last year. Two Towers also led the nominations for the Orange film of the year, voted for by the public rather than members of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts.

With the BAFTA film awards increasingly dominated by US studios on the Oscar campaign trail, UK films were conspicuous by their absence. The Magdalene Sisters and Dirty Pretty Things managed nominations for screenplay (original), while About A Boy received a nod for screenplay (adapted).

"It's always a problem deciding what is a British film, " said Two Towers star Ian McKellen, who unveiled the nominations on Monday morning. "Harry Potter' It was made in this country...But all the money, all the money."

The Hours raised eyebrows for being nominated for the Alexander Korda award for the outstanding British film of the year. Although directed by the UK's Stephen Daldry, adapted by David Hare and partly shot in the UK, it was produced by the US' Scott Rudin and financed by Paramount Pictures and Miramax Films. Also in the category were Dirty Pretty Things, Bend It Like Beckham, Magdalene Sisters and The Warrior.

"At the moment, it feels like an international industry," said McKellen.

The winners will be announced February 23 at a ceremony hosted by UK actor Stephen Fry.

The Full List of Nominations

BEST FILM
Chicago Martin Richards
Gangs Of New York Alberto Grimaldi/Harvey Weinstein
The Hours Scott Rudin/Robert Fox
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Barrie M Osborne/Fran Walsh/Peter Jackson
The Pianist Roman Polanski/Robert Benmussa/Alain Sarde

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD FOR THE OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Bend It Like Beckham Deepak Nayar/Gurinder Chadha
Dirty Pretty Things Tracey Seaward/Robert Jones/Stephen Frears
The Hours Scott Rudin/Robert Fox/Stephen Daldry
The Magdalene Sisters Frances Higson/Peter Mullan
The Warrior Bertrand Faivre/Asif Kapadia

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD FOR SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT BY A DIRECTOR, SCREENWRITER OR PRODUCER IN THEIR FIRST FEATURE FILM
Simon Bent (Writer) Christie Malry's Own Double Entry
Lucy Darwin (Producer) Lost in La Mancha
Asif Kapadia (Director/Co-Writer) The Warrior
Duncan Roy (Director/Writer) AKA

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
Chicago Rob Marshall
Gangs Of New York Martin Scorsese
The Hours Stephen Daldry
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Peter Jackson
The Pianist Roman Polanski

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL)
And Your Mother Too (Y Tu Mama Tambien) Carlos Cuaron/Alfonso Cuaron
Dirty Pretty Things Steven Knight
Gangs Of New York Jay Cocks/Steven Zaillian/Kenneth Lonergan
The Magdalene Sisters Peter Mullan
Talk To Her (Hable con Ella) Pedro Almodovar

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED)
About A Boy Peter Hedges/Chris Weitz/Paul Weitz
Adaptation Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman
Catch Me If You Can Jeff Nathanson
The Hours David Hare
The Pianist Ronald Harwood

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Halle Berry Monster's Ball
Salma Hayek Frida
Nicole Kidman The Hours
Meryl Streep The Hours
Renee Zellweger Chicago

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Adrien Brody The Pianist
Nicolas Cage Adaptation
Michael Caine The Quiet American
Daniel Day-Lewis Gangs Of New York
Jack Nicholson About Schmidt

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Toni Collette About A Boy
Queen Latifah Chicago
Julianne Moore The Hours
Meryl Streep Adaptation
Catherine Zeta-Jones Chicago

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Chris Cooper Adaptation
Ed Harris The Hours
Alfred Molina Frida
Paul Newman Road To Perdition
Christopher Walken Catch Me If You Can

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM MUSIC
Catch Me If You Can John Williams
Chicago Danny Elfman/John Kander/Fred Ebb
Gangs Of New York Howard Shore
The Hours Philip Glass
The Pianist Wojciech Kilar

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
And Your Mother Too (Y Tu Mama Tambien) Jorge Vergara/Alfonso Cuaron
City Of God (Cidade Deus) Andrea Barata Ribeiro/Mauricio Andrade Ramos/Fernando Meirelles
Devdas Bharat Shah/Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Talk To Her (Hable con Ella) Agustin Almodovar/Pedro Almodovar
The Warrior Bertrand Faivre/Asif Kapadia

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Chicago Dion Beebe
Gangs Of New York Michael Ballhaus
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Andrew Lesnie
The Pianist Pawel Edelman
Road To Perdition Conrad L Hall

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Chicago John Myhre
Gangs Of New York Dante Ferretti
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets Stuart Craig
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Grant Major
Road To Perdition Dennis Gassner

COSTUME DESIGN
Catch Me If You Can Mary Zophres
Chicago Colleen Atwood
Frida Julie Weiss
Gangs Of New York Sandy Powell
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Ngila Dickson/Richard Taylor

EDITING
Chicago Martin Walsh
City Of God (Cidade Deus) Daniel Rezende
Gangs Of New York Thelma Schoonmaker
The Hours Peter Boyle
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Michael Horton/Jabez Olssen

SOUND
Chicago
Gangs Of New York
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
The Pianist

ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Gangs Of New York
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Minority Report
Spider-Man

MAKE UP/HAIR
Chicago Jordan Samuel/Judi Cooper Sealy
Frida Judy Chin/Beatrice D'Alba
Gangs Of New York Manlio Rocchetti

The Hours Ivana Primorac/Conor O'Sullivan/Jo Allen
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Peter Owen/Peter King

SHORT FILM
Bouncer Natasha Carlish/Sophie Morgan/Michael Baig-Clifford/Geoff Thompson
Candy Bar Kid Benjamin John/Shah Khan
Good Night Yoav Factor/Chun Sun-Young
The Most Beautiful Man In The World Hugh Welchman/Alicia Duffy
My Wrongs 8245-8249 And 117 Mark Herbert/Chris Morris
Rank Andrew O'Connell/David Yates/Robbie McCallum

SHORT ANIMATION
The Chub Chubs Jacquie Barnbrook/Eric Armstrong/Jeff Wolverton
The Dog Who Was A Cat Inside Andrew Ruhemann/Siân Rees/Siri Melchoir
Fish Never Sleep Gaëlle Denis
Sap Lucie Wenigerová/Kim Hyun-Joo
Wedding Espresson Jonathan Bairstow/Sandra Ensby/Lesley Glaister