Nominations for London Film Critics' Circle Awards held in aid of NSPCC

London Film Critics' Circle honours Tarantino with Dilys Powell Award

British film An Education leads the nominations in the 30th Annual London Film Critics' Circle Awards

The London Film Critics' Circle will award Quentin Tarantino its highest honour, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema, at the 30th Critics' Circle Film Awards on 18 February 2010 at the Landmark Hotel in aid of the NSPCC.

British film An Education leads the list of nominees announced today (Monday 21 December) with seven nominations for its superb British cast, including Actress of the Year and British Actress of the Year for rising star and hot favourite Carey Mulligan. 

Hollywood faces Europe in the Film of the Year category as the biggest studio film ever, Avatar, is pitted against two Cannes prize winners, A Prophet and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon.

French Film A Prophet secures an extraordinary five nominations in total, including Screenwriter of the Year (Thomas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard), Actor of the Year (Tahar Rahim), Director of the Year (Jacques Audiard) and Foreign Language Film of the Year.

Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam war film Apocalypse Now wins the London Film Critics' Circle best film of the last 30 years.

London Film Critics' Circle Committee Chair Jason Solomons said: "I'm thrilled that Quentin Tarantino will be coming to accept the Dilys Powell Award.

"He is currently the most passionate and exciting director in America, always engaged with the future and the history of cinema, his life blood. His award is for daring to keep cinema fresh and vital as an art form."

"The fascinating nominations list this year reflects the wide range of tastes of British critics and great diversity of first-class film making which is now taking place around the world, with Britain playing a major role. The list suggests there could be some very surprising and refreshing results come February."

Dilys Powell Award winner Quentin Tarantino said: "This is such an honour. I have always relished discussing my work with film critics and I totally respect their differences of opinion about my work. Debate is what keeps cinema alive.

"Britain has a great tradition of film criticism and for all my work to be recognised among the great past recipients of this award is really exciting."

Ends

For more information and press accreditation to attend the 30th London Film Critics' Awards please contact the NSPCC media office on 020 7825 2739 or 020 7825 2602

30th London Critics' Circle Film Awards

Nominations: 21 December 2009

Awards: 18 February 2010,The Landmark, London

FILM OF THE YEAR
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
A Prophet
The White Ribbon
Up in the Air

THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Bright Star
An Education
Fish Tank
In the Loop
Moon

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
The Class
Katyn
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
The White Ribbon

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
James Cameron - Avatar
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank
Armando Iannucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones - Moon
Kevin Macdonald - State of Play
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Tahar Rahim - A Prophet
Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Abbie Cornish - Bright Star
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Mo'Nique - Precious
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Tom Hardy - Bronson
Christian MacKay - Me and Orson Welles
Andy Serkis - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Kristin Scott Thomas - Nowhere Boy

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Michael Fassbender* - Fish Tank
John Hurt - 44 Inch Chest
Jason Isaacs - Good
Alfred Molina - An Education
Timothy Spall - The Damned United

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning
Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy
Rosamund Pike - An Education
Kierston Wareing - Fish Tank
Olivia Williams - An Education

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche - In the Loop 
Thomas Bidegain & Jacques Audiard - A Prophet
Joel & Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon
Nick Hornby - An Education

THE NSPCC AWARD: YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Aaron Johnson - Nowhere Boy and Dummy
George MacKay - The Boys Are Back 
Bill Milner - Is Anybody There? and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Saoirse Ronan* - The Lovely Bones

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Daniel Barber - Harry Brown
Armando Ianucci - In the Loop
Duncan Jones - Moon
Peter Strickland - Katalin Varga
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

DILYS POWELL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN CINEMA
Quentin Tarantino

30TH ANNIVERSARY AWARD: BEST OF OUR WINNERS SINCE 1980
1.  Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1980)
2.  Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1994)
3.  The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2007)
4.  Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
5.  Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)
6.  Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1990)
7.  L.A. Confidential (Curtis Hanson, 1997)
8.  Fargo (Joel Coen, 1996)
9.  Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1989)
10. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983)

* Please note: Irish actors/film-makers are eligible in all British categories

Notes to Editors

About the Critics' Film Circle
The London Critics' Circle, the film section of the Critics' Circle, has over 100 members who write for newspapers and magazines published all over the United Kingdom. Many of whom also appear on national and local radio and television.

About the NSPCC
The NSPCC is the UK's leading children charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. The NSPCC's vision is to end cruelty to children FULL STOP. The NSPCC runs projects and services across the United Kingdom and Channel Islands, including ChildLine, the UK's free, confidential 24-hour helpline for children and young people. The NSPCC helps over 10,000 children and their families every year.