The feelgood and feelbad blockbusters of the moment, Chicago and Gangs of New York, may have dominated yesterday's announcement of the Bafta film award nominations, but the hitherto lower profile enjoyed by Stephen Daldry's second film The Hours got a significant boost ahead of the Oscars.

Chicago, the big-screen version of the smash-hit stage musical, tied with Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York with 12 nominations; while The Hours, an adaptation of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, loosely based around the life of Virginia Woolf, snapped at their heels with 11.

Daldry said the Bafta nomi nations and the positive reception in the US, where he picked up one of the production's two Golden Globe awards last week, proved the level of interest in a "grown-up film".

All four of the film's principal stars were nominated for Baftas, along with the screenwriter, David Hare. Nicole Kidman, up for best actress with Meryl Streep, said from New York: "I think that, above all, this acknowledges the tremendous talent of Stephen Daldry and David Hare.

"It was a joy to work with all of them on such rich material."

Chicago's domination of the Golden Globes was repeated in yesterday's Bafta shortlist. It recorded a best actress nomination for Renée Zellweger, while her co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones is up for best supporting actress.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, received nine nominations; but another Christmas hit, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was confined to the minor league with three nominations in technical categories and a further mention in the list for Orange film of the year - not a Bafta, but handed out at the Bafta ceremony.

Roman Polanski's The Pianist was a Bafta hit with seven nominations, but the latest James Bond movie, Die Another Day, failed to secure a nomination in any of the categories. Only its success at the box office propelled it into the Orange film award shortlist, the winner of which will be decided by a poll of cinema-goers.

Sir Ian McKellen, who presented the shortlist to the press at Bafta's headquarters yesterday, acknowledged a problem in defining a "British" film. "It's always a problem deciding what is a British movie. Harry Potter was written in this country, the movie was made in this country with a British cast and British producer, and yet there was an American director and all the money was foreign. Just imagine if all the profits from Harry Potter had stayed in this country. We could have had a thriving industry."

The Baftas, which are officially called the Orange British Academy Film Awards, will be held at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, London, on February 23.

The nominees

Best film

Chicago; Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist

Best British film

Bend it Like Beckham; Dirty Pretty Things; The Hours; The Magdalene Sisters; The Warrior

Best director

Rob Marshall, Chicago; Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York; Stephen Daldry, The Hours; Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Roman Polanski, The Pianist

Best actor

Adrien Brody, The Pianist; Nicolas Cage, Adaptation; Sir Michael Caine, The Quiet American; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York; Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt

Best actress

Halle Berry, Monster's Ball; Salma Hayek, Frida; Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Meryl Streep, The Hours; Renee Zellweger, Chicago

Best supporting actor

Chris Cooper, Adaptation; Ed Harris, The Hours; Alfred Molina, Frida; Paul Newman, Road to Perdition; Christopher Walken, Catch Me if You Can

Best supporting actress

Toni Collette, About a Boy; Queen Latifah, Chicago; Julianne Moore, The Hours; Meryl Streep, Adaptation; Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago

Make-up and hair

Chicago; Frida; Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Special visual effects

Gangs of New York; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Minority Report; Spider-Man

Best sound

Chicago; Gangs of New York; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist

Editing

City of God; Gangs of New York; The Hours; Chicago; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Costume design

Catch Me if You Can; Chicago; Frida; Gangs of New York; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Production design

Chicago; Gangs of New York; Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Road to Perdition

Cinematography

Chicago; Gangs of New York; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Pianist; Road to Perdition

Music

Catch Me if You Can; Chicago; Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Pianist

Best film not in English Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too); City of God (Ciudad de Deus); Talk to Her (Hable con ella); The Warrior

Original screenplay

Y Tu Mama Tambien; Dirty Pretty Things; Gangs of New York; The Magdalene Sisters; Talk to Her

Best adapted screenplay

About a Boy; Adaptation; Catch Me if You Can; The Hours; The Pianist

Special achievement in first feature film

Simon Bent, Christie Malry's Own Double Entry (writer); Lucy Darwin, Lost in La Mancha (producer); Asif Kapadia, The Warrior (writer and director); Duncan Roy, AKA (writer and director)

Best short film

Bouncer; Candy Bar Kid; Good Night; The Most Beautiful Man in the World; My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117; Rank

Best short animation

The Chub Chubs; The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside; Fish Never Sleep; Sap; Wedding Expresso