Oscar nominations Up.... and Up!

News came through yesterday afternoon that Up in the Air,  An Education and Up! are all (I was going to say 'up' AGAIN) for Best Picture among a record 10 contenders.

Word is the real battle will be between James Cameron's Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. Bigelow and Cameron (her ex-husband) are also nominated for Best Director and if she wins, it would, astoundingly, be a first for a woman director.

Up in the Air is nominated for numerous other Oscars, including Best Actor for Clooney while both female leads, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick, are runners in the best Supporting Actress category.

Burma VJ and The Cove are deservedly among the Best Documentary nominations. I caught Burma VJ on More4 last week, it's  riveting. Amazing scene from a street demonstration led by monks when the young reporter turns his small camera up to the surrounding buildings and there are people cheering from every single window. It's currently available to view on 4oD but if, like me, you suffer from rural (broad) bandwith poverty, much better to see it on the big screen at The Courtyard Hereford, either on or as part of the special day event Here Comes Everyone:) Citizen Journalism in the Digital Age. Makes a pretty compelling case for cit journalism.

And reactions from 2 British contenders in the Adapted Screenplay shortlist (from ScreenDaily.com):

Armando Iannucci, who co-wrote In The Loop with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell and Tony Roche: “I was having lunch with Steve Coogan when I heard. I still haven’t had my lunch today. It’s an entirely UK-funded film made for a British audience, so when we had the premiere in Sundance [2009] I was hoping they were going to laugh and it was tense when the lights went down. But gradually they did laugh. It doesn’t surprise me that American audiences have responded to it because we love US comedy like Jon Stewart and Seinfeld, which has very fast-paced dialogue. It was America that gave us fast-talking comedy.”

Nick Hornby, writer, An Education: “I read [Lynn Barber’s memoir in Granta] and loved it and because my wife [producer Amanda Posey] is a producer I showed it to her and didn’t think I would write it. When she started talking about possible writers I found myself becoming quite possessive of it. When Lone [Scherfig] got the directing gig she was incredibly sympathetic to the script. The period in which it is set was a bit before my time, but I carry it with me because it was my parents’ time and so much of that time shaped our culture.”

Full nominations list courtesy of Guardian Film