10 nominations each for 'Roma' and "The Favourite' in prestigious Academy awards

Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's semi-autobiographical black-and-white drama, "Roma", and Yorgos Lanthimos' dark comedy, "The Favourite", have topped the 91st Academy Awards nominations with 10 nods each. "Roma", Cuaron's memoir of childhood set in 1970s Mexico City, scored nominations in best picture, best director (Cuaron), best actress (Yalitza Aparicio), best supporting actress (Marina De Tavira), best foreign language film, cinematography (Cuaron), original screenplay, sound mixing, sound editing and production design categories.

The film has also created history by becoming the first Netflix project to get nominated in the best picture category where it will compete with "Black Panther", "The Favourite", "Vice", "Green Book", "A Star Is Born", "BlacKkKlansman" and "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Black Panther", the Marvel blockbuster, became the first superhero film to be nominated in the best picture category.

Curaon, who has previously won the Best Director Oscar for his space-survival drama "Gravity", will be vying for his second Academy Award. He will go up against Spike Lee, ("BlacKkKlansman"), Pawel Pawlikowski, ("Cold War"), Yorgos Lanthimos, ("The Favourite") and Adam McKay, ("Vice"). Lanthimos' "The Favourite", which revolves around 18th century British monarch Queen Anne, has bagged nominations in best actress (Olivia Colman), best supporting actress (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz), original screenplay, costume design, film editing, production design and cinematography categories, apart from best picture and best director nods.

For the Best Actress trophy, Colman is pitted against Glenn Close (The Wife), Lady Gaga ("A Star Is Born"), Melissa McCarthy ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?") and Aparicio for "Roma". The two films are closely followed by Adam McKay's political satire "Vice" and Bradley Cooper's directorial debut "A Star Is Born" with eight nominations each.

Starring Christian Bale as former US Vice President Dick Cheney, "Vice" will be competing in the categories -- best director, best actor, best picture, best supporting actress (Amy Adams), best supporting actor (Sam Rockwell), original screenplay, film editing and makeup and hairstyling. Bale, who previously won best supporting actor Oscar in 2011 for "The Fighter" has received his fourth Oscar nomination. He faces a tough challenge from Cooper ("A Star Is Born"), Rami Malek ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), Viggo Mortensen ("Green Book") and William Dafoe ("At Eternity's Gate").

The eight nods, which "A Star Is Born" has received, also includes best adapted screenplay, original song, cinematography, best supporting actor (Sam Elliot) and sound mixing. In the best supporting actress category, Adams is nominated alongside Marina De Tavira ("Roma"), Regina King ("If Beale Street Could Talk") and Stone and Weisz for "The Favourite".

Rockwell, who has been nominated in the best supporting actor category for the second consecutive year, will face off against Mahershala Ali ("Green Book), Adam Driver ("BlacKkKlansman), Elliott ("A Star Is Born") and Richard E Grant ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?"). Both Rockwell and Ali have previously won Oscars for their supporting act in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (2018) and "Moonlight" (2017) respectively. Cuaron, who has led the award season with "Roma", will face a stiff challenge from Poland's "Cold War" in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Other films nominated in the section are "Shoplifters" (Japan), "Capernaum" (Lebanon) and "Never Look Away" (Germany).

The Best Animated Film category is once again dominated by Disney and Pixar with "The Incredibles 2" and "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs", Sony's Golden Globe-winner "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and Japanese animation "Mirai" are also competing for the trophy. India-set short film "Period. End of Sentence" produced by Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, has also received an Oscar nod in the Documentary Short Subject category. For the Original Song Oscars, Gaga is the front-runner with "Shallow". "Black Panther's" "All the Stars" is also nominated in the category.

In the Original Score section, "Black Panther" is nominated alongside "BlacKkKlansman", "If Beale Street Could Talk", "Isle of Dogs" and "Mary Poppins Returns". The Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday by Kumail Nanjiani And Tracee Ellis Ross. The 91st Academy Awards will be held on February 25. No host has been decided for the ceremony yet, after Kevin Hart stepped down following a controversy over his old homophobic tweets.

(With inputs from agencies.)