Kate Winslet has been pipped to the award for Best Actress by Tilda Swinton at the Evening Standard British Film Awards.

Winslet has recently enjoyed great success winning a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor's Guild gong for her portrayal as a former Nazi concentration camp guard in The Reader.

But it was Swinton's moving performance as Julia in Erick Zonca's kidnapping drama which clinched the Evening Standard prize.

Meanwhile, Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle was also unable to build on his recent successes for his heart-warming tale of a Mumbai orphan winning love and money through a gameshow.

Boyle was beaten to the Best Director award by Stephen Daldry for The Reader.

But Boyle had more luck in the US after being named best director by the Directors Guild of America.

Both Winslet and Boyle are tipped for further success in the upcoming British Academy Awards (Baftas) and the Academy Awards.

Hunger, a harrowing exploration of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands, won the coveted Best Film award.

The film by Steve McQueen dramatises the controversial events that took place at the Maze prison in the 1980s.

Unusually for an award ceremony, two people shared the gong for Best Actor.

Derek Malcolm, film critic of the Evening Standard, said: "This year we have really seen the British film industry come of age.

"We are seeing British films triumphing over big-budget Hollywood epics.

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