The film, directed by Tom Collins and produced by Jackie Larkin of Newgrange Pictures, heads the list of nominees, which was announced today. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday February 17 in the Gaiety Theatre and will be broadcast "as live" on RTE at 9.30pm.

Its closest rival is the Lenny Abrahamson film Garage, which is nominated in eleven categories. Both features will compete for the prestigious Best Film Award, alongside the Jane Austen biopic Becoming Jane, Richard Attenborough’s Northern Irish-shot Closing The Ring and Paddy Breathnach’s horror hit Shrooms. Kings and Garage are also nominated in the Best Director, Script, Costume and Production Design categories amongst others.

One potential controversy involves director John Carney's superb US hit, Once, which seems to have fallen between the IFTA cracks. Despite its success at the Sundance Festival and the reception that greeted it in cinemas in the US, where it has become a word-of-mouth hit, effectively launching Glen Hansard of The Frames – who is the film's male lead – to a
new level of stardom globally, it has not received any nominations. In the 2007 awards, Hansard did receive a nomination for his music for the film, in what was IFTA's sole recognition for the film. That award finally went to Stephen McKeon for his soundtrack to The Tiger's Tail.

"It would seem extraordinary that such a powerful and successful Irish movie should only ever receive one nomination and no award," one industry source commented to Hot Press. "But it may just be that the one nomination last year meant that the film was considered not to be in the running on this occasion."

In the Best Music category this year, Pól Brennan of Clannad has been nominated for his work on Kings along with Stephen Rennicks for Garage. Also in the running are Horslips and 2FM man Jim Lockhart for Cré na Cille – an adaptation of Máirtín O Cadhain' novel, directed by Robert Quinn – and Stephen McKeon for his work on the TG4 series The Running Mate.

Maria Doyle Kennedy, who originally came to prominence as a singer and released her widely praised second solo album Mütter last year, has been nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her work on the TV series The Tudors, with Jonathan Rhys Myers leading the nominations in the Best TV Actor category.

The television entertainment category sees a strong emphasis on comedy, with RTE Two comprehensively leading the way, with Dan & Becs (Accomplice Television), Naked Camera (Scratch Films) and The Podge & Rodge Show (RTÉ) all featuring.