BRITISH film Atonement has scored seven Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Its 13-year-old star, Irish schoolgirl Saoirse Ronan, is in the running for the title of Best Supporting Actress.

There was disappointment for Keira Knightley, who missed out on a Best Actress nomination, but veteran Julie Christie is shortlisted for her role as an Alzheimer's sufferer in Away From Her.

Daniel Day-Lewis picked up a best actor nomination for There Will Be Blood.

The other Best Picture contenders are legal thriller Michael Clayton, the Coen brothers' drama No Country For Old Men, Texan oil epic There Will Be Blood and teen pregnancy saga Juno.

Heavyweight offerings There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men lead the pack with eight nominations each.

Atonement's seven nominations are for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Music and Adapted Screenplay.

Christie will compete for the Best Actress crown with Cate Blanchett (for Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Laura Linney (The Savages) and Ellen Page (Juno).

Blanchett is a double nominee - her astonishing performance as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There is named in the Best Supporting Actress category, alongside Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton.

Day-Lewis, whose role as a turn-of-the-20th-century oil baron earned him a Golden Globe earlier this month, will go head to head in the Best Actor stakes with Johnny Depp (for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Tommy Lee Jones (In The Valley Of Elah), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) and George Clooney (Michael Clayton).

Legal drama Michael Clayton also has seven nominations in total, including Best Supporting Actor for British star Tom Wilkinson.

The Best Director category features few big names, and there is no place for Atonement's Joe Wright.

Instead the award will go to either Julian Schnabel (for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Jason Reitman (Juno), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men) or Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood).

The nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 22, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles.