LONDON (AP) -- The space thriller "Gravity," the unflinching slavery saga "12 Years a Slave" and the crime caper "American Hustle" gained awards-season momentum Wednesday with stacks of nominations for the British Academy Film Awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars.
"Gravity" received nominations in 11 categories, including best picture; best director, for Alfonso Cuaron; lead actress, for Sandra Bullock; cinematography and special effects.
"12 Years" had 10 nominations, including nods for star Chiwetel Ejiofor, supporting performers Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender and director Steve McQueen.
"I continue to be immensely proud of the recognition this film is getting around the world," said British actor Ejiofor, who plays a free black man kidnapped into slavery in the 19th-century United States.
"There is, of course, something particularly special about receiving a BAFTA nomination from home."
David O. Russell's "American Hustle" also was nominated in 10 categories, while Somali hijacking story "Captain Phillips" received nine nods.
Liberace biopic "Behind the Candelabra" and "Saving Mr. Banks," which tells the story behind the film adaptation of "Mary Poppins," each got five nominations.
The nominations give an awards boost to several films, especially "Gravity," an astonishing 3-D technical achievement, and the wrenching "12 Years a Slave."
The list also demonstrates the increasing globalization of the movie business. "12 Years a Slave" is an American story with a British director and star. "Gravity" teams Hollywood stars Bullock and George Clooney with Mexican director Cuaron and British special-effects teams.
The British-picture category includes motor-racing film "Rush," which has an American director, Ron Howard, a British screenwriter in Peter Morgan and stars from Australia (Chris Hemsworth) and Germany (Daniel Bruhl, who has a supporting-actor nomination.)
The best-picture nominees are: "12 Years a Slave"; "Gravity"; "American Hustle"; "Captain Phillips"; and "Philomena," the story of an Irishwoman in search of the son she lost decades earlier.
The separate category of best British film pits "Gravity," ''Philomena" and "Saving Mr. Banks" against "Rush," biopic "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" and gritty parable "The Selfish Giant."
Best-actor nominees are Ejiofor; Leonardo DiCaprio for ode to excess "The Wolf of Wall Street"; Bruce Dern for road movie "Nebraska"; Christian Bale for "American Hustle"; and Tom Hanks for "Captain Phillips."
Bookies picked Ejiofor as the strong favorite to win.
"There is traditionally a slight British bias when it comes to the BAFTAs," said Joe Crilly, spokesman for bookmaker William Hill. "However, Ejiofor's performance in '12 Years' is so mesmeric that there needn't be this year."
In the best-actress category, Bullock is up against Judi Dench for "Philomena"; Amy Adams for "American Hustle"; Emma Thompson for "Saving Mr. Banks"; and Cate Blanchett for "Blue Jasmine."
Dench, 79, received the 15th British Academy acting nomination of her career — a record. She said she was "honored and thrilled to be in such fine company."
The British prizes, known as BAFTAs, will be awarded at London's Royal Opera House on Feb. 16.
In recent years, the British awards have helped underdog films including "Slumdog Millionaire," ''The King's Speech," and "The Artist" build momentum for success at the Oscars.
Last year, the Iran hostage drama "Argo" took the BAFTA for best film, and went on to win the best-picture Oscar.
Here's a full rundown of this year's BAFTA nominations:
BAFTA Awards
Film in 2014
Film | Adapted Screenplay in 2014
Behind The Candelabra
Richard LaGravenese
12 Years A Slave
John Ridley
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Terence Winter
Philomena
Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
Captain Phillips
Billy Ray
Film | Animated Film in 2014
Despicable Me 2
Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
Monsters University
Dan Scanlon
Frozen
Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Film | British Short Animation in 2014
Everything I Can See From Here
Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
Sleeping With The Fishes
James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
I Am Tom Moody
Ainslie Henderson
Film | British Short Film in 2014
Keeping Up With The Joneses
Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
Orbit Ever After
Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
Island Queen
Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema
Room 8
James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
Sea View
Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot
Film | Cinematography in 2014
Inside Llewyn Davis
Bruno Delbonnel
Captain Phillips
Barry Ackroyd
Nebraska
Phedon Papamichael
Gravity
Emmanuel Lubezki
12 Years A Slave
Sean Bobbitt
Film | Costume Design in 2014
Behind The Candelabra
Ellen Mirojnick
American Hustle
Michael Wilkinson
The Invisible Woman
Michael O’Connor
The Great Gatsby
Catherine Martin
Saving Mr. Banks
Daniel Orlandi
Film | Director in 2014
Paul Greengrass
Captain Phillips
David O. Russell
American Hustle
Steve McQueen
12 Years A Slave
Martin Scorsese
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Alfonso Cuarón
Gravity
Film | Documentary in 2014
The Act Of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer
The Armstrong Lie
Alex Gibney
Tim’s Vermeer
Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks
Alex Gibney
Blackfish
Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Film | EE Rising Star in 2014
Dane Dehaan
Lupita Nyong’o
George Mackay
Will Poulter
Léa Seydoux
Film | Editing in 2014
Captain Phillips
Christopher Rouse
Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
12 Years A Slave
Joe Walker
The Wolf Of Wall Street
Thelma Schoonmaker
Rush
Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
Film | Film in 2014
12 Years A Slave
Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
American Hustle
Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips
Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
Philomena
Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward
Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Film | Film not in the English Language in 2014
Blue Is The Warmest Colour
Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
The Great Beauty
Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
The Act Of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Wadjda
Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
Metro Manila
Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier
Film | Leading Actor in 2014
Leonardo Dicaprio
The Wolf of Wall Street
Christian Bale
American Hustle
Chiwetel Ejiofor
12 Years a Slave
Bruce Dern
Nebraska
Tom Hanks
Captain Phillips
Film | Leading Actress in 2014
Amy Adams
American Hustle
Emma Thompson
Saving Mr. Banks
Cate Blanchett
Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock
Gravity
Judi Dench
Philomena
Film | Make-Up And Hair in 2014
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
The Butler
Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, Candace Neal
Behind The Candelabra
Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
American Hustle
Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
The Great Gatsby
Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
Film | Original Film Music in 2014
Captain Phillips
Henry Jackman
The Book Thief
John Williams
12 Years A Slave
Hans Zimmer
Gravity
Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks
Thomas Newman
Film | Original Screenplay in 2014
American Hustle
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Inside Llewyn Davis
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen
Nebraska
Bob Nelson
Film | Outstanding British Film in 2014
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
Saving Mr. Banks
John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
Philomena
Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
The Selfish Giant
Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
Rush
Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
Film | Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer in 2014
Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson
Good Vibrations
Kelly Marcel
Saving Mr. Banks
Kieran Evans
Kelly + Victor
Paul Wright, Polly Stokes
For Those in Peril
Scott Graham
Shell
Film | Production Design in 2014
The Great Gatsby
Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
American Hustle
Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
12 Years A Slave
Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
Behind The Candelabra
Howard Cummings
Gravity
Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard
Film | Sound in 2014
All Is Lost
Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
Captain Phillips
Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
Gravity
Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
Rush
Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse
Inside Llewyn Davis
Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff
Film | Special Visual Effects in 2014
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
Gravity
Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
Iron Man 3
Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
Pacific Rim
Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
Star Trek Into Darkness
Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton, Patrick Tubach, Roger Guyett
Film | Supporting Actor in 2014
Matt Damon
Behind the Candelabra
Bradley Cooper
American Hustle
Barkhad Abdi
Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl
Rush
Michael Fassbender
12 Years a Slave
Film | Supporting Actress in 2014
Jennifer Lawrence
American Hustle
Julia Roberts
August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong’O
12 Years a Slave
Sally Hawkins
Blue Jasmine
Oprah Winfrey
The Butler
