Mike Leigh'sVenice Golden Lion winner Vera Drake, Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education, Zhang Yimou's House Of FlyingDaggers and WalterSalles' The Motorcycle Diaries are among the shortlisted films for the Hollywood World andEuropean Awards presented by Screen International.

The winners willbe chosen by a panel of judges and announced at the Hollywood Awards Galaceremony in Los Angeles on Oct 18.

Screen teamed upwith the Hollywood Film Festival and its Hollywood Awards earlier this year tolaunch the World and European cinema awards, which will help to serve as anAcademy Awards launch pad for foreign languagecontenders as well as celebrating the best of world cinema in the heart ofHollywood.

The HollywoodWorld Awards cover pictures from Asia, Africa and Latin America and theshortlisted films are, in alphabetical order: Wong Kar Wai's 2046 (Hong Kong/China), Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron (South Korea), Zhang Yimou's House OfFlying Daggers (China),Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries (Argentina/Chile/Peru/US), Joshua Marston's Maria FullOf Grace (Colombia/US),Bong Joon-ho's Memories Of Murder (South Korea), Koreeda Hirokazu's Nobody Knows (Japan), Park Chan-wook's Old Boy (South Korea), Jia Zhang-ke's TheWorld (China), andTakeshi Kitano's Zatoichi (Japan).

The HollywoodEuropean Awards nominees presented by Screen and filmfestivals.com are:Francois Ozon's 5x2(France), Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education (Spain), Paolo Sorrentino's The Consequences Of Love (Italy), Faith Akin's Head-On (Germany/Turkey), Lukas Moodysson's AHole In My Heart(Sweden), Agnes Jaoui's Look At Me (France), Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer Of Love (UK), Andrei Zvyagintsev's The Return (Russia), Alejandro Amenabar's TheSea Inside (Spain), andMike Leigh's Vera Drake(UK).

The films wereselected by a blue ribbon panel of 15 judges including festival directors IreneBignardi and Sandra Hebron and film critics Derek Malcolm, Michel Ciment,Margret Koehler, Jonathan Romney and Allan Hunter. Films were eligible if theyhad been screened to the public between Sept 1, 2003, and Sept 30, 2004.

"ScreenInternational couldn't be prouder of the results of our first collaborationwith the Hollywood Film Festival on these two awards," Screen Internationaleditor-in-chief Colin Brown said.

"The 20nominated films demonstrate the enormous breadth, artistry and vitality ofworldwide cinema at this moment. These two awards will help celebrate thesefilms in Hollywood, which is one of Screen's editorial missions."

A third competition strand, the Hollywood Movie Of TheYear Awards, will be decided by the public at the Yahoo Movies website.

The 10 HollywoodMovie Of The Year Awards nominees here are Collateral by Michael Mann, Michel Gondry's EternalSunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, Zhang Yimou's Hero, Napoleon Dynamite by Jared Hess, Shrek 2 by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury andConrad Vernon, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, The Bourne Supremacy by Paul Greengrass, Walter Salles' The MotorcycleDiaries and ThePassion Of The Christ byMel Gibson.

"This year'sHollywood Film Festival continues its tradition of honouring the very besttalent within our community," festival co-chair Paula Wagner said in astatement.

"It is acelebration of all aspects of Hollywood filmmaking and the artists who help tocreate its lasting legacy on our culture,"

The festivalwill also present honours at the gala ceremony to Dean Robert Rosen of theUCLA's School of Theatre, Film and Television, Newmarket Films founder BobBerney, producer Mel Gibson, director Michael Mann, John Travolta, LeonardoDiCaprio and Annette Bening, breakthrough honourees Jamie Foxx, Keira Knightleyand director Zach Braff, screenwriter John Logan, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel,editor Sally Menke, composer Thomas Newman, visual effects artist John Dykstra,costume designer Albert Wolsky, production designer Stuart Craig, make-upartist Ve Neill, and casting director Debra Zane.

This year'sHollywood Film Festival will run from Oct 12-17 with a full line-up offeatures. As previously reported (Screendaily Sept 29),.the world premiere ofWendy Apple's film editing documentary The Cutting Edge will open the event and the NorthAmerican premiere of Shainee Gabel's family drama A Love Song For Bobby Long starring John Travolta and ScarlettJohansson will close it.