Over its illustrious history EIFF has started, or been part of, the prize-winning journey of many films but The Hurt Locker’s run of success is something of an award-strewn marathon, which may culminate at the Academy Awards on 7 March, where it's nominated in nine categories.

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, it had its first screening at the Venice Film Festival in September 2008, where it scooped the first of many awards. In fact, at last count the total stood at some 53 wins and almost the same number again of nominations.

Artistic Director Hannah McGill was suitably impressed at Venice to ensure that EIFF snagged the UK Premiere of the film, saying that, “Barry Ackroyd’s cinematography and Bigelow’s flair for sheer physicality combine to great effect giving the film a rare, street-level veracity.”

Kudos to Hannah for spotting two Oscar® nominees straight off the bat!

By the time the The Hurt Locker made it to Edinburgh, James Cameron’s Avatar, its main rival in many of the Academy Award categories, was still six months from release, and the subject of heightened speculation on whether it could match the three-dimensional hype.

As it turns out, the film’s respective directors will be battling it out in the most prestigious categories of Best Film and Best Director, in a tussle that's too close to call.

At the other end of the production spectrum is The Secret of Kells, which scooped the Standard Life Audience Award at EIFF 2009 and has been nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar®.

Tomm Moore’s story of the boy behind the Book of Kells is an independent production, which was some ten years in the making and, remarkably, is 95% hand-drawn.

In a category dominated by big-budget features from the studios, could it be that this Irish indie has enough charm to scoop a statuette?

We won’t know until 7 March, but it’s certainly a vindication of the EIFF programming team and audience’s impeccable taste.

The Hurt Locker is available to buy now on DVD. Visit www.thehurtlocker-movie.com to find out more.