Two Irish-made films figure prominently in the nominations for the annual European Film Awards, which were announced yesterday.
Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes The Barley, received five nominations, and Neil Jordan's Breakfast On Pluto collected two.
Both productions are on the shortlist of six nominees for the most prestigious award, the European film of the year.
Cillian Murphy, who is from Cork, is nominated in the European actor of the year category for his performances in the leading roles of both films.
Murphy was nominated for a Golden Globe award in the US earlier this year for his portrayal of a young Irish transvestite in Breakfast on Pluto, which is based on the novel of the same name by Patrick McCabe.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which deals with the War of Independence and was filmed entirely on location in Co Cork last year, won the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes festival in May.
It went on to become one of the most commercially successful films released at Irish cinemas this year, with takings in excess of €2.7 million at the box-office, and it recently became available on DVD.
It received further nominations in the following categories of the European Film Awards: director of the year (Ken Loach), cinematographer of the year (Barry Ackroyd) and screenwriter of the year (Barry Ackroyd).
Leading the field with six nominations each are Pedro Almodovar's Spanish family drama, Volver, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others, dealing with life under state surveillance in 1980s East Germany.
Michael Winterbottom's controversial drama, The Road to Guantanamo, which centres on three British Muslims detained for two years at Guantanamo Bay and released without charge, received two nominations.
The European Film Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Warsaw on December 2nd.