Hurt Locker

Avatar, The Hurt Locker lead Oscar nominations
THE awards streak for the Aboriginal romance Samson & Delilah finally ended as nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards were dominated by the sci-fi hit Avatar and the Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker.

The Australian film, which had dialogue in English and Warlpiri, was on the shortlist for best foreign language film but missed a nomination. Instead, two short-film makers flew the Australian flag when the Oscar nominations were announced by the actress Anne Hathaway in Los Angeles.

Click here for full list of nominations

The Sydney director Luke Doolan and producer Drew Bailey are up for best live-action short for Miracle Fish, about an eight-year-old boy who has a dream on his birthday.

It is Doolan's second triumph this week after the Australian feature film he edited, Animal Kingdom, won a jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.

Janet Patterson was also nominated – for the fourth time – for best costume design for Jane Campion's drama Bright Star.

Avatar and The Hurt Locker led the nominations with nine each, including best picture and best director for James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow. The former husband and wife will compete in the directing category with Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Jason Reitman (Up In The Air) and Lee Daniels (Precious).

The expanded list of 10 nominees, designed to broaden the Oscars' appeal beyond art-house (and often dark) movies, threw up some surprises for best picture. Up against the expected films – Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious and Up In The Air – are the sci-fi thriller Distict 9, the American football drama The Blind Side, the British drama An Education and the Coen brothers' blackly comic A Serious Man.