Yesterday, South African filmmaker Darrell Roodt’s touching film about a young woman, played by Leleti Khumalo, coming to terms with Aids, has been nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language film, it was announced on Tuesday.
The Howard Hughes epic The Aviator leads Academy Awards contenders with 11 nominations, including best picture, as well as acting honours for Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda, and a directing slot for Martin Scorsese.
The boxing saga Million Dollar Baby and the JM Barrie tale Finding Neverland followed with seven nominations each, among them best-picture and acting nominations for Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank and Johnny Depp.
Eastwood also got a directing nomination for Million Dollar Baby.
The other best-picture nominees are the Ray Charles portrait Ray and the buddy comedy Sideways.
Along with Eastwood, Jamie Foxx also scored two nominations, as best actor for the title role in Ray and best supporting actor as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man in Collateral.
Foxx’s dead-on emulation of Charles has made him the front-runner in the lead-actor category.
Starring as aviation trailblazer and Hollywood rebel Hughes, DiCaprio has also been nominated for best actor. He and Foxx will compete against Depp as Peter Pan playwright Barrie in Finding Neverland, Eastwood as a cantankerous boxing trainer in Million Dollar Baby and Don Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda, starring as hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered refugees from the Rwandan genocide.
The best-actress category presents a rematch of the 1999 showdown, when underdog Swank won the Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry over Annette Bening, who had been the front-runner for American Beauty.
This time, Swank has been nominated as a bullheaded boxing champ whose life takes a cruel twist in Million Dollar Baby. Bening was chosen for Being Julia, in which she plays an ageing 1930s stage diva exacting wickedly comic revenge on the men in her life and a young rival.
Both actresses won Golden Globes for the roles: Swank for best dramatic actress, and Bening for best actress in a musical or comedy.
Also nominated for the best-actress Oscar are Catalina Sandino Moreno as a Colombian woman imperiled when she signs on to smuggle heroin in Maria Full of Grace; Imelda Staunton as a saintly housekeeper in 1950s Britain who performs illegal abortions on the side in Vera Drake; and Kate Winslet as a woman who has had memories of her ex-boyfriend erased in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Competing for the honours of best animated film are The Incredibles, Shrek II and Shark Tale.
THE COMPLETE NOMINATIONS
Actor in a leading role
Don Cheadle — Hotel Rwanda
Johnny Depp — Finding Neverland
Leonardo DiCaprio — The Aviator
Clint Eastwood — Million Dollar Baby
Jamie Foxx — Ray
Actor in a supporting role
Alan Alda — The Aviator
Thomas Haden Church — Sideways
Jamie Foxx — Collateral
Morgan Freeman — Million Dollar Baby
Clive Owen — Closer
Actress in a leading role
Annette Bening — Being Julia
Catalina Sandino Moreno — Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton — Vera Drake
Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett — The Aviator
Laura Linney — Kinsey
Virginia Madsen — Sideways
Sophie Okonedo — Hotel Rwanda
Natalie Portman — Closer
Animated feature film
The Incredibles
Shark Tale
Shrek II
Art direction
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
The Phantom of the Opera
A Very Long Engagement
Best director
Martin Scorsese — The Aviator
Clint Eastwood — Million Dollar Baby
Taylor Hackford — Ray
Alexander Payne — Sideways
Mike Leigh — Vera Drake
Best picture
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Sideways
Cinematography
The Aviator
House of Flying Daggers
The Passion of the Christ
The Phantom of the Opera
A Very Long Engagement
Costume design
The Aviator
Finding Neverland
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
Ray
Troy
Documentary feature
Born into Brothels
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Super Size Me
Tupac: Resurrection
Twist of Faith
Documentary short subject
Autism Is a World
The Children of Leningradsky
Hardwood
Mighty Times: The Children’s March
Sister Rose’s Passion
Film editing
The Aviator
Collateral
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
Ray
Foreign-language film
As It Is in Heaven
The Chorus
Downfall
The Sea Inside
Yesterday
Make-up
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
The Passion of the Christ
The Sea Inside
Music (score)
Finding Neverland
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Lemony Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
The Passion of the Christ
The Village
Music (song)
Accidentally in Love — Shrek II
Al otro lado del rÃÂÂo — The Motorcycle Diaries
Believe — The Polar Express
Learn to Be Lonely — The Phantom of the Opera
Look to Your Path (Vois sur ton chemin) — The Chorus
Short film (animated)
Birthday Boy
Gopher Broke
Guard Dog
Lorenzo
Ryan
Short film (live action)
Everything in This Country Must
Little Terrorist
7:35 in the Morning
Two Cars, One Night
Wasp
Sound editing
The Incredibles
The Polar Express
Spider-Man II
Sound mixing
The Aviator
The Incredibles
The Polar Express
Ray
Spider-Man II
Visual effects
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
I, Robot
Spider-Man II
Writing (adapted screenplay)
Before Sunset
Finding Neverland
Million Dollar Baby
The Motorcycle Diaries
Sideways
Writing (original screenplay)
The Aviator
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hotel Rwanda
The Incredibles
Vera Drake