Big-name stars Dame Judi Dench and Chiwetel Ejiofor are not the only ones carrying British hopes at this year's Oscars, with more than a dozen contenders looking to make it one of the most successful years yet for the UK film industry.

Mark Gill and Baldwin Li are hardly household names but their 13-minute film The Voorman Problem, starring Tom Hollander and Martin Freeman, could win them an Oscar. They are short-listed for Short Film (Live Action) .

Malcolm Clarke, whose The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life is nominated for the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject, now lives in Canada but learned his trade at the BBC and Granada TV.

The London-based team behind the special effects in outer-space drama Gravity are widely tipped to bring the Oscar for Visual Effects back home.

Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave leads the UK charge. The film, based on the true story of a free New Yorker kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south, picked up nine nominations including best film, best actor for Ejiofor and best director for McQueen.

Ejiofor faces competition for the best actor statuette from Welsh actor Christian Bale for American Hustle among others.

Dame Judi Dench's ­performance in Philomena, based on a true story, sees her nominated for the best actress award. The film is also short-listed for best picture and Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope are nominated for best adapted screenplay.

Londoner Sally Hawkins is nominated for best supporting actress for Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

Another of 12 Years A Slave's stars, Michael Fassbender, is nominated for best supporting actor.

Captain Phillips, made by director Paul Greengrass, who launched his career on World In Action, is one of nine contenders for best film.

Irish rockers U2 are ­nominated for best original song for Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom but its star Idris Elba missed out on the nominations.