Martha, Jac a Sianco, S4C’s powerful film about family inheritance and heartbreak in Ceredigion, has been nominated for eight major prizes at the 2009 Bafta Cymru awards, including Best Film, Best Actress for Sharon Morgan and Best Actor for Ifan Huw Dafydd.

The nominations are among a record total of 47 received by the Channel for a wide range of productions.

Other S4C drama productions rate highly in the nominations list. Con Passionate, which follows the trials and tribulations of a male voice choir, and city drama Caerdydd, have both been nominated for the Best Drama Series/Serial for Television award. Both series have also been nominated for Best Screenwriter award: Siwan Jones for Con Passionate and Roger Williams for Caerdydd. Gangster drama Y Pris has been shortlisted for a range of awards including Best Director of Photography: Drama and Best Director: Film/Drama.

Shelley Rees, who stars in the drama series Dau Dyˆ a Ni, has also been nominated in the Best Actress category, while Ryland Teifi, who plays Peter in Caerdydd, has been nominated in the Best Actor category.

Teen drama Rownd a Rownd is nominated in the Best Youth Programme category, alongside S4C magazine show Uned 5 and music programme Bandit. Uned 5 presenter Mari Lovgreen, winner of the Bafta Cymru Best Newcomer award in 2006, has been nominated in the Best Presenter category.

S4C factual programmes are also prominent. Natur Cymru, the channel’s landmark series about Welsh landscape and nature, has been nominated in the Best Factual Programme and Best Camera: Not Drama categories. An episode in the Afon documentary series, focusing on the river Yangtzee, has also been nominated in the Best Camera: Not Drama category.

Current Affairs series Y Byd ar Bedwar and documentaries Rygbi: Y Gêm Agored and America 08: Dewi Llwyd ar Daith have also been nominated.

S4C has received a range of nominations for its musical programmes. Its broadcast of Welsh National Opera’s production of Falstaff – Yr Opera, starring Bryn Terfel, and Nodyn, presented by Elin Fflur, have been nominated in the Best Music Programme and Best Lighting Director – Not Camera categories. Gala Operatig y Faenol has been nominated in the Best Sound and Best Lighting Director – Not Camera categories. The Grand Slam concert has also been nominated in the Best Lighting Director – Not Camera category.

Y 7 Magnifico a Matthew Rhys, which saw a number of Welsh stars learn cowboy skills on an Arizona ranch, has been nominated in the Light Entertainment category.

Nadolig Plentyn yng Nghymru, based on Dylan Thomas’ classic short story A Child’s Christmas in Wales, has been shortlisted for the Best Animation award. Elephants, an animation short by Sally Pearce, who won an S4C scholarship to attend the National Film and Television School at Beaconsfield, has been nominated in the Best Short Film category.

Children’s animation Holi Hana, which won the award for Best Animation at last year’s Bafta Cymru awards, has been nominated in the Best Children’s Programme Category, alongside children’s bedroom makeover show, Hip neu Sgip.

Three S4C productions, Byw yn yr Ardd, Cwm Glo Cwm Gwyrdd and Lle Aeth Pawb? have been nominated in the Best Graphic Design category.

Rhian Gibson, S4C’s Director of Commissioning, said, "To receive 47 nominations at this year’s Bafta Cymru awards, across a wide range of genres including drama, documentary, news and current affairs, children and light entertainment, is a major achievement.

"I’m particularly pleased that Martha, Jac a Sianco, S4C’s much-antipicated adaptation of Caryl Lewis’ award-winning novel about three middle-aged siblings and their struggle for independence following the death of their mother, has received so many nominations.

"This landmark film reflects S4C’s fiction strategy of providing authors and directors with a platform with which to challenge audiences with innovative and original content "A number of other S4C drama productions have also been shortlisted, as well as programmes covering a range of genres made by talented teams in the independent sector, BBC Wales and ITV Wales."