Ridley Scott's Gladiator leads the race for the 2001 film awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which are lent extra significance this year with a pre-Oscar date on February 25.

Gladiator, which has grossed $444.7m worldwide, racked up 15 nominations, including film, original screenplay, cinematography, sound and the achievement in special visual effects categories. Oliver Reed, who died during the film's production, has also received a nomination in the supporting actor category, as has the film's Joaquin Phoenix.

Breakout UK hit Billy Elliot took 14 nods, as did Ang Lee's Mandarin-language opus Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Crouching Tiger, the most successful foreign-language picture of all time at the UK box office, has received nominations in the best film and best non-English language film categories.

Like Gladiator's Reed vs Phoenix battle, both Lee Hall and Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot's writer and director respectively, received nods in the most promising newcomer to British film category. Also nominated are Pawel Pawlikowski, whose Last Resort is in the running for an award in the outstanding British film of the year category; Simon Cellan-Jones, director of Some Voices, and Mark Crowdy, producer of Saving Grace and Sorted.

Despite Steven Soderbergh receiving two best director nods for Erin Brockovich and Traffic, only Erin Brockovich has garnered a best film nomination. Brockovich received six nominations in total, including a nod for Julia Roberts for her leading role in the film.

Traffic, meanwhile, was also nominated for four awards, including best adapted screenplay.

FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS:

FILM:
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe/Ian Bryce)
Billy Elliot (Greg Brenman/Jon Finn)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Bill Kong/Hsu Li-Kong/Ang Lee)
Erin Brockovich (Danny De Vito/Michael Shamberg/Stacey Sher)
Gladiator (Douglas Wick/David Franzoni/Branko Lustig)

THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD FOR THE OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR:
Billy Elliot (Greg Brenman/Jon Finn/Stephen Daldry)
Chicken Run (Peter Lord/David Sproxton/Nick Park)
The House Of Mirth (Olivia Stewart/Terence Davies)
Last Resort (Ruth Caleb/Pawel Pawlikowski)
Sexy Beast (Jeremy Thomas/Jonathan Glazer)

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD FOR THE MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER TO BRITISH FILM:
Stephen Daldry
Lee Hall
Pawel Pawlikowski
Simon Cellan-Jones
Mark Crowdy

ORANGE AUDIENCE AWARD 2001 SHORTLIST:
Billy Elliot (UIP)
Charlie's Angels (Columbia Tristar)
Chicken Run (Pathe Pictures)
Dinosaur (BVI)
Gladiator (UIP)
Mission: Impossible 2 (Paramount)
Stuart Little (Columbia Tristar)
The Grinch (UIP)
What Lies Beneath (Twentieth Century Fox)
X Men (Twentieth Century Fox)

THE DAVID LEAN AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION:
Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
Erin Brockovich (Steven Soderbergh)
Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)

SCREENPLAY (ORIGINAL):
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)
Billy Elliot (Lee Hall)
Erin Brockovich (Susannah Grant)
Gladiator (David Franzoni/John Logan/William Nicholson)
O Brother Where Art Thou' (Ethan Coen/Joel Coen)

SCREENPLAY (ADAPTED):
Chocolat (Robert Nelson Jacobs)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (James Schamus/Wang Hui-Ling/Tsai Kuo-Jung)
High Fidelity (D V De Vincentis/Steve Pink/John Cusack/Scott Rosenberg)
Traffic (Stephen Gaghan)
Wonder Boys (Steve Kloves)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Juliette Binoche (Chocolat)
Kate Hudson (Almost Famous)
Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich)
Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry)
Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot)
Russell Crowe (Gladiator)
Michael Douglas (Wonder Boys)
Tom Hanks (Cast Away)
Geoffrey Rush (Quills)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Judi Dench (Chocolat)
Frances McDormand (Almost Famous)
Lena Olin (Chocolat)
Julie Walters (Billy Elliot)
Zhang Zi Yi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Benicio Del Toro (Traffic)
Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich)
Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot)
Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator)
Oliver Reed (Gladiator)

THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC:
Almost Famous (Nancy Wilson)
Billy Elliot (Stephen Warbeck)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tan Dun)
Gladiator (Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerrrard)
O Brother Where Art Thou' (T-Bone Burnett/Carter Burwell)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Bill Kong/Hsu Li-Kong/Ang Lee)
The Girl On The Bridge (Christian Fechner/Patrice Leconte)
Harry, He's Here To Help (Michel Saint-Jean/Dominik Moll)
In The Mood For Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
Malena (Mario Cotone/Harvey Weinstein/Giuseppe Tornatore)

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Billy Elliot (Brian Tufano)
Chocolat (Roger Pratt)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau)
Gladiator (John Mathieson)
O Brother Where Art Thou' (Roger Deakins)

PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Chocolat (David Gropman)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Yip)
Gladiator (Arthur Max)
O Brother Where Art Thou' (Dennis Gassner)
Quills (Martin Childs)

COSTUME DESIGN:
Chocolat (Renee Ehrlich Kalfus)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Yip)
Gladiator (Janty Yates)
The House Of Mirth (Monica Howe)
Quills (Jacqueline West)

EDITING:
Billy Elliot (John Wilson)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Squyres)
Erin Brockovich (Anne V Coates)
Gladiator (Pietro Scalia)
Traffic (Stephen Mirroine)

SOUND:
Almost Famous
Billy Elliot
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
The Perfect Storm

ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS:
Chicken Run
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
The Perfect Storm
Vertical Limit

MAKE UP/HAIR:
Chocolat
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Gladiator
The Grinch
Quills

SHORT FILM:
Going Down (Soledad Gatti-Pascual/Tom Shankland /Jane Harris)
Je T'Aime John Wayne (Luke Morris/Toby MacDonald /Luke Ponte)
The Last Post (Lee Santana/Dominic Santana)
Shadowscan (Gary Holding/Justine Leahy/Tinge Krishnan)
Sweet (Rob Mercer/James Pilkington)

SHORT ANIMATION:
Cloud Cover (Lisbeth Svarling)
Father And Daughter (Claire Jennings/Wille