An Education leads London Film Critics' nominees

The film has picked up seven nominations including actress of the year and best actress for rising star, for Carey Mulligan, and the Attenborough Award for British film of the year.

Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Andrea Arnold’s Cannes title Fish Tank, In The Loop, Armando Iannucci’s political satire, and Duncan Jones’s debut feature and Edinburgh winner Moon have also been nominated for in the best British film category.

Meanwhile, in the best film category are: Avatar, James Cameron’s 3d sci-fi adventure, which it cinemas this past weekend; Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, which has already found favour with critics in New York and Los Angeles; Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Grand Jury Prix winner A Prophet, Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air; and Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner, The White Ribbon. The nominations mirror the best director category.

A Prophet and The White Ribbon have also scored nominations for foreign language film of the year alongside Swedish horror film Let The Right One In, Laurent Cantet’s The Class and Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn.

Meanwhile, Sam Taylor-Wood, whose first feature Nowhere Boy is released on December 26, and State Of Play director Kevin Macdonald join Arnold, Iannucci and Jones in the best British director section.

The Critics’s Circle has also announced that it will award director Quentin Tarantino its highest honour, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Cinema.

The awards will take place on February 18 at the Landmark Hotel.

^{The full nominations are:}

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

A Prophet

The White Ribbon

Up In TheAir

Bright Star

An Education

Fish Tank

In The Loop

Moon

The Class

Katyn

Let the Right One In

A Prophet

The White Ribbon

Jacques Audiard - A Prophet

Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker

James Cameron – Avatar

Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon

Jason Reitman - Up in the Air

Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank

Armando Iannucci - In the Loop

Duncan Jones – Moon

Kevin Macdonald - State of Play

Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

George Clooney - Up in the Air

Tahar Rahim - A Prophet

Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man

Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds

Abbie Cornish - Bright Star

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air

Mo’Nique– Precious

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia

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

Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria

Helen Mirren - The Last Station

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank

Kristin Scott Thomas - Nowhere Boy

Michael Fassbender* - Fish Tank

John Hurt - 44 Inch Chest

Jason Isaacs – Good

Alfred Molina - An Education

Timothy Spall - The Damned United

Emily Blunt - Sunshine Cleaning

Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy

Rosamund Pike - An Education

Kierston Wareing - Fish Tank

Olivia Williams - An Education

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

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

Daniel Barber - Harry Brown

Armando Ianucci - In the Loop

Duncan Jones – Moon

Peter Strickland - Katalin Varga

Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

Quentin Tarantino