(Reuters):

Babel, a movie that explores cultural gaps among people around the world, earned seven nominations for Golden Globe awards yesterday, more than any other film, including one for best film drama.

Joining Babel for top movie drama were crime thriller The Departed, which earned six nominations, British royals movie The Queen, adultery film Little Children and surprise choice Bobby, which looks at events on the day former United States presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated.

Highly-touted Dreamgirls, which scored five nominations overall, was nominated for best movie musical or comedy, along with road movie Little Miss Sunshine, summer hit The Devil Wears Prada, recent smash Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and another surprise choice, Thank You For Smoking.

The Golden Globe awards are given out annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are a key indicator of which movies will compete for the Academy Awards, the film industry's top honours.

Nominees for best actor in a film drama were topped by Leonardo DiCaprio for two movies, Blood Diamond and The Departed. He is joined by Peter O'Toole for Venus, Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happiness and Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland.

The nominees for best actress in a film drama were Penelope Cruz for Spanish film Volver, Maggie Gyllenhaal for Sherrybaby, and three British actresses, Kate Winslet in Little Children, Helen Mirren for The Queen and Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal.

Golden Globe winners will be named in a ceremony in Beverly Hills on January 15, 2007. The Oscars are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and those winners will be named on February. 25.