Stephen Frears' TheQueen leads thenominations for the ninth British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), nominated inseven categories including Best British Independent Film, Best Director andBest Actress for Helen Mirren.

Kevin Macdonald'sThe Last King Of Scotland and Shane Meadows' This Is England each followed with six nominations.

Other multiplenominees included Ken Loach's Cannes winner The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Andrea Arnold's Red Road and Roger Michell's Venus.

This year's BIFAsjury is headed by Sandy Lieberson and also includes Reuben Barnes, MartinChilds, Anne V Coates, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Alan Cumming, Leo Davis, AnnaFriel, Jason Isaacs, Mick Jones, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, Damien O'Donnell,Kelly Reilly, Martin Sherman and Colin Salmon.

The BIFAs werecreated by Raindance and are now run by newly appointed directors Johanna vonFischer and Tessa Collinson.

To be eligiblefor nomination, a film must be intended for theatrical release, had a publicscreening or release in the UK or at a UK film festival from Dec 1 2005 to Nov30 2006. Films can't be funded by a single studio or they must have a budget of$15m (£8m) or less. A film must be majority co-produced by a British company,receive the bulk of its funding from the UK or qualify as British under DCMSstandards.

The awards willbe presented Nov 29 at London's Hammersmith Palais.

Best BritishIndependent Film
The Last KingOf Scotland
The Queen
Red Road
This Is England
The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Best Director
Kevin Macdonald, The Last King Of Scotland
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Michael Caton Jones, ShootingDogs
Shane Meadows, This Is England
Ken Loach, The WindThat Shakes The Barley

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker,The Last King Of Scotland
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Cillian Murphy, The Wind That Shakes The Barley
Tony Curran, Red Road
James McAvoy, The Last King Of Scotland

Best Actress

Helen Mirren, TheQueen
Kate Dickie, Red Road
Frances de la Tour, The History Boys
Robin Wright Penn, Breaking & Entering
Juliette Binoche, Breaking & Entering

Best SupportingActor/Actress
Martin Compston, Red Road
Leslie Phillips, Venus
Vanessa Redgrave, Venus
Joseph Gilgun, This Is England
Stephen Graham, This Is England

Most PromisingNewcomer (On Screen)
Jodie Whittaker, Venus
Thomas Turgoose, This Is England
Samuel Barnett, The History Boys
Harry and Luke Treadaway, Brothers Of The Head
Dominic Cooper, The History Boys
Rafi Gavron, Breaking & Entering

Best Screenplay
Alan Bennett, The History Boys
Peter Morgan, The Queen
Hanif Kureishi, Venus
Shane Meadows, This Is England
Peter Morgan & Jeremy Brock, The Last King Of Scotland

Best ForeignIndependent Film
Volver
Hidden (Cache)
The Beat My Heart Skipped
Brick
Hard Candy

Douglas HickoxAward for Best Debut Director
Menhaj Huda, Kidulthood
Paul Andrew Williams, London To Brighton
Andrea Arnold, Red Road
Tom Vaughan, Starter For Ten
Caradog W James, Little White Lies

Best BritishDocumentary
The Road to Guantanamo
Blindsight
The Great Happiness Space
The Pervert's Guide To Cinema
Unknown White Male

Best TechnicalAchievement
The Last King Of Scotland, cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle
This Is England,original music by Ludovico Einaudi
The Wind That Shakes The Barley, cinematography by Barry Ackroyd
The Queen, make-up byDaniel Phillips
The Queen, productiondesign by Alan MacDonald

Best Achievementin Production
London To Brighton
Kidulthood
Shooting Dogs
The Road To Guantanamo
Severance

Best BritishShort
Cubs
Ex Memoria
The 10th Man
Who I Am & What I Want
At the End of the Sentence

The RaindanceAward
The Ballad of AJ Weberman
London To Brighton
Scenes Of A Sexual Nature

Best 15-SecondShort
Chrysanthemums The Word
What's The Point'
Fate And Mr McKinley
Death Of The Dinosaurs
Ah, Youth

The Variety UKPersonality Of The Year
Helen Mirren