This year's Academy Award nominations have been announced and it's a successful day for the Irish!
Killarney's Jessie Buckley has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her part in the film The Lost Daughter. Buckley will be competing against big Hollywood names including Judi Dench in Belfast, Kirsten Dunst in The Power of the Dog, Ariana DeBose for West Side Story and Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard.
Belfast received a number of nominations throughout the categories including the big prize for Best Picture where it will be up against Coda, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog and West Side Story.
Writer/director of Belfast, Kenneth Branagh is also nominated for Best Director alongside Ryusuke Managuchi for Drive My Car, Paul Thomas Anderon for Licorice Pizza, Jane Campion for Power of the Dog and Steven Spielberg for West Side Story.
The film is also included in the Best Original Screenplay category with Don't Look Up, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and The Worst Person In The World also looking to take home the prize.
Van Morrison's song "Down To Joy" that features in Belfast is also nominated for Best Original Song. Also included in this category is Beyonce for her song "Be Alive" from King Richard, Billie Eilish for "No Time To Die" from the most recent James Bond movie of the same name, Lin Manuel Miranda's "Dos Oruguitas" from Disney's Encanto and Diane Warren's "Somehow You Do" from Four Good Days.
https://youtu.be/u6R_flCWidw
The nominations for Belfast mean that Kenneth Branagh has set a new Oscars record being nominated in 7 different Academy Award categories throughout his career.
Unfortunately it was disappointment for Ruth Negga and Caitríona Balfe as they lost out on nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category for their respective roles in Passing and Belfast.
The major category of Actress in a Leading Role includes Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter, Penelope Cruz in Parallel Mothers, Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos and Kristen Stewart in Spencer.
Actor in a Leading Role will be a toss up between Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos, Benedict Cumberbath in The Power of the Dog, Andrew Garfield in Tick, Tick...Boom!, Will Smith in King Richard and Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth.
The winners will be announced on Sunday March 27th.
