IRISH actors Barry Keoghan and Niamh Algar have been nominated in this year’s British Bafta film awards.
Animated film Wolfwalkers has also secured a nomination.
The contenders for the 2021 film awards, which were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic,were unveiled yesterday and feature a raft of performers from diverse backgrounds.
Keoghan was nominated for his role in Calm With Horses in the Supporting Actor category, while co-star Niamh Algar was nominated in the Supporting Actress category.
Wolfwalkers by Cartoon Saloon, a Kilkenny animation company, has been short-listed in the best animated film category.
Tomm Moore, who co-directed the animated adventure with fellow Kilkenny film-maker Ross Stewart, told RTÉ Entertainment: "I am surprised and delighted.
"I always feel it's amazing that we get nominated.
"I just feel lucky to be in the final three. As Father Ted said, 'Second-best priest isn't bad'."
Road movie Nomadland and coming-of-age drama Rocks lead the diverse nominations at the Bafta film awards, where four female film-makers are in the running for the best director prize.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts introduced a raft of changes to its film ceremony - including expanding the nominations for director, actor and actress from five to six - in response to a lack of diversity in last year's line-up.
Chadwick Boseman has received a posthumous Bafta nomination for his performance as an ambitious trumpeter in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
He died last August, aged 43, due to complications related to colon cancer.
Also nominated in the Best Actor category is Riz Ahmed for his role as a drummer who loses his hearing in Sound Of Metal, as well as Adarsh Gourav for The White Tiger, Tahar Rahim for The Mauritanian, Sir Anthony Hopkins for his turn in drama The Father, about a man slipping into dementia, and Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round.
The nominees in the Best Actress Bafta category are Bukky Bakray for Rocks, Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version, Vanessa Kirby for Pieces Of A Woman, Frances McDormand for Nomadland, Wunmi Mosaku for His House and Alfre Woodard for Clemency.
Female directors were entirely absent from the shortlist in 2020 but this year four of the six are women.
Krishnendu Majumdar, chair of Bafta, said: "This year's nominations showcase and celebrate the remarkable range of performances and nominees behind the camera from 50 films and we're delighted to recognise such high-quality work.
"We are also delighted to see the strength of British film shine through in all categories.
"After last year's nominations, we started the Bafta review process with the intention of levelling the playing field and introduced? a range of measures to ensure that all entered films were seen by our members and judged on merit.
"We hope today you can see some of those changes reflected in the breadth and depth of those nominated and we congratulate all our nominees."
The awards will take place on April 11.
