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As the British Film Industry looks forward to the biggest night of its year, we take a closer look at this year's nominees and ponder who will be taking home a golden BAFTA mask this year. Will it really be a one horse Lord of The Rings shaped race, or will this years ceremony have a few surprises in store?

On Sunday evening they will pass along the carpet dressed up to the nines in designer frocks and dinner jackets smiling for the cameras and signing autographs for their fans.

Once they've shook hands, answered questions and posed for snaps the movie industrys brightest stars will pass through the doors of the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square and take their seats in theatre. Maybe if there's time they will have quick peek inside their goodie bags whilst sipping on a glass of champagne as they relax back in their leopard print chairs and wait for the ceremony to begin. In due course the red curtains will open and Stephen Fry, Master of Ceremonies will no doubt crack a few jokes, and deliver a few witty one-liners before getting on with the job in hand.

As the evening progresses and the awards are presented, there are doubt to be some tears from both winners and losers. Someone is bound to thank everyone they know, and more than likely there will be a few poker faces from those losers who as they graciously smile and applaud the winner in their category are secretly thinking it should have been me.

M.C. STEPHEN FRY

She may only be nineteen years old, but she has the poise and grace of an actor with at least another decade under her belt. After giving consummate performances in two very different films this past year, and having recently been photographed alongside seasoned professionals such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore and Hilary Swank for a Vanity Fairs annual Hollywood issue, the world has little choice but to sit up and take notice of the luminous and extraordinary talent that is Scarlett Johansson. Marked out as one of the industrys hottest and most promising new talents, director Sofia Coppola called her "unique and here to stay", whilst Tracey Chevalier (author of Girl With A Pearl Earring), said, "The film [Girl With A Pearl Earring] belongs to her".

Scarlett Johansson is no newcomer though, her career began ten years ago when she debuted alongside Elijah Wood in North, and has since stared with Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer and in the Coen Brothers film The Man Who Wasnt There. Should Scarlett attend this Sundays BAFTAs as expected, she is sure to be crossing her fingers and taking a deep breath as the winner of the Best Actress award is read out.

Johansson missed out on a Golden Globe in the same category last month (to Diane Keaton), and surprising hasnt picked up an Academy Award nomination. So all her hopes will be firmly pinned on BAFTA night being her night. Scarlett should be able to relax back in her chair just a little bit, with two nominations in the same category (for her performance in Sofia Coppolas chaste love story about the unlikely relationship that develops between two Americans who meet in Tokyo hotel bar, and for her portrayal of Griet, the humble servant in nineteenth century Holland who inspired one of Johannes Vermeers most famous paintings), the odds are stacked in her favour, on the three other occasions where an actor or actress (Anthony Hopkins, Miranda Richardson and Geoffrey Rush) has received multiple nominations in the same year each walked away with an award. And this year she is in good company; Sean Penn has also secured two best actor nominations (for 21 grams and Mystic River).

The Cold Mountain camp will also be pinning their hopes on BAFTA coming through for them- Anthony Minghellas American Civil War epic was pipped to the post by Lord of the Rings: Return of the King at the Golden Globes last month and has despite seven nominations, been ignored by Oscar in the Best Picture and Best Director categories.

However the story of the war-weary soldier heading home to the woman he loves leads the BAFTA race with thirteen nominations and no doubt will be aiming for their last chance at a Best Film prize (BAFTA nominated for both Best Film and Best British Film), as well as hoping for glory in the acting categories- Renee Zellweger has already won a Golden Globe for her performance as Ruby, and is nominated for both a BAFTA and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, whereas Jude Law is also going for the double in the Best Actor category. Similarly Tim Burtons Big Fish, a film largely ignored in this years award season will be hoping to reel in some votes and take home a trophy or two.

After four Golden Globe nominations, the film went home empty handed last month, and picked up just one nod from Oscar (Best Music) when this years nominations were announced just over a week later. After mixed reviews, Big Fish is unlikely to be crowned Best Film, so hopes will be firmly pinned upon Albert Finney nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, although it wont be an easy ride, as he will be facing off against Sir Ian McKellan (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) and Golden Globe winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River).

Theres no doubt that the decision to move the ceremony in 2001 so that it took place in February before the Academy Awards was specifically done with the aim of maximising BAFTAs importance and kudos in Hollywood as a major player in the movie making world and to cement the British Academys position as the largest globally recognised international film awards ceremony outside of the United States. Last years BAFTA ceremony was broadcast worldwide to over a billion people, and its widely accepted that together with the Golden Globes, the two award shows give a pretty strong and accurate indication of who will walk away with Oscar statuettes.

Given that after the top dogs at the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Science decided to move the Oscars back a month, there is only a fortnight between the two ceremonies, all eyes will be on BAFTA. The decision to move the BAFTA ceremony back three weeks was to avoid clashing with the annual Academy Award nominees lunch which was originally due to take place the day after on Monday 9th February. Duncan Kenworthy, chairman of BAFTAs film committee said that the change of date was made "with the best interests of the film industry as a whole in mind"

Conflicting diary dates arent the only problem the BAFTAs have had this season, the ceremony faced potential disaster last autumn after the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) ruled that no preview DVDs of new films could be sent to voters of any awards except the Oscars, because of fears that they would be pirated. Jack Valenti, President of the MPAA justified the introduction of the ban, explaining that half of the screeners sent out in 2002 were copied.

At the time, Mr Kenworthy said that the decision was "an extraordinary act of injustice which singles out the British Academy and the British industry for damage". He did concede last month that the ban didnt prove to be a total catastrophe, but added that it was hard to say whether thats because the ban was overturned on time, or because our members managed to find their way to these films", concluding that some BAFTA members who lived outside London had been unfairly penalised because they had not been able to get to screenings of some short listed films.

To top it off, BAFTA faced a final bump in the road last December after it emerged that a technical problem on its voting website had led to errors and omissions.

Now, a week before the ceremony and all the problems smoothed out, BAFTA is preparing for its biggest night of the year and excitement is brewing in the British camp with a brethren of homegrown stars hoping to win. Albert Finney, Paul Bettany, Emma Thompson, Anne Reid and Bill Nighy have all received nominations. Of her Best Actress nod for her performance in The Mother, Reid said it was unreal, and when asked to comment on her chances of winning she said, "I probably would say nil but then how do you know?" Similarly, commenting on Bill Nighys performance as jaded rock star hoping for success second time around, Duncan Kenworthy (producer of Love Actually) said, "Its strange to say that at the age of 52 Bill Nighy has made a career-making performance. Suddenly he is on the list of every casting director in Hollywood.

Love Actually have passed under the radar of the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards but it was a smash at the box office and was one of the most success British films released last year. With three BAFTA nominations, (Best Actress and Actor in a Supporting role, Emma Thompson and Bill Nighy, and The Alexander Korda Award for the Outstanding British Film of the Year), this sugar-coated romantic comedy is not to be sniffed at, "Normally comedies arent thought to be award fodder, and Im for Richard Curtis who wrote and directed this film Duncan Kenworthy notes.

Whether or not you are a fan of Tolkiens transfer onto the big screen, there is no arguing with the impact Peter Jacksons retelling of the Lord of The Rings trilogy has had on the movie making industry. The trilogy has already collected more than a handful of awards, and the final instalment is currently the third most successful film of all time (behind Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone) raking in $972.7m at the box office. This figure is set to top $1bn once the film is released in Japan this month.

BILL & SCARLETT: Lost in Translation

GANDALF THE WIZARD

After cleaning up at the Golden Globes and winning all four of the awards it was nominated for, Return of the King leads the Oscars race with eleven nods from the Academy and is likely to take home a sizable chunk of the twelve BAFTA nominations it has received. As with the previous two Lord of the Rings films, Return of the King has received the majority of its nominations in the technical categories- although this year BAFTA has bestowed on the hobbit filled film its first nomination in an acting category, to Sir Ian McKellan as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his portrayal of Gandalf the Wizard. McKellan is no stranger to award show success but he says, "Im looking forward to the ceremony. With so much outstanding competition, it will be an exciting evening". Im sure Scarlett Johansson would agree