Silent movie The Artist leads Bafta nominations

Silent movie The Artist leads this year's Baftas with 12 nominations, including best film and best director.



Its two stars, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, are in the running for best actor and actress.



British Cold War-era spy movie Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is close behind The Artist, with 11 nominations.



Meryl Streep is nominated for best actress in The Iron Lady, with George Clooney among best actor hopefuls.



Streep and Bejo are up against Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn, Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Help's Viola Davis.



Clooney and Dujardin take on Brad Pitt for Moneyball, Gary Oldman for Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy and Shame's Michael Fassbender.



Martin Scorsese's Hugo has nine nominations - Scorsese gains a nod for best director, while his other recent film, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, is up for best documentary.



Other movies in the running for best film are Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy, The Descendants, Drive and The Help.



Drive's Nicolas Winding Refn, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy's Tomas Alfredson and Lynne Ramsey - We Need To Talk About Kevin - are nominated for best director.



Five films will battle it out to be named oustanding British film at the awards ceremony next month - My Week With Marilyn, Senna, Shame, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and We Need to Talk About Kevin.



Senna, about the life of Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, is also up for best documentary.



Actors turned directors Ralph Fiennes and Paddy Considine are recognised in the outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer category, for Coriolanus and Tyrannosaur respectively.



Joe Cornish is also nominated for Attack the Block, alongside Richard Ayoade for Submarine and Will Sharpe for Black Pond.



Abi Morgan's The Iron Lady, which has four nominations in total, is cited for best original screenplay, as is The Artist - written by its director Hazanavicius - John Michael McDonagh's The Guard, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig's Bridesmaids and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.