12 Years a Slave may have been just pipped to the post at this year's Oscar nominations, but there is consolation for Steve McQueen: his film dominates the longlist for the first ever Guardian Film Awards.

The awards, which aim to act as an antidote rather than an addition to the established slate of ceremonies, will be handed out at a winners-only event in London just after this year's Academy Awards. The awards reflect Guardian values in two ways: first in terms of categories - Best Actor, for instance, is open to both genders, reflecting Guardian practice of also referring to women by that term; Best Film doesn't discriminate between fact, fiction and foreign language. And, secondly, in devolving much of the voting responsibility to readers.

A longlist of 10 in each field was announced today; readers can vote online for their pick and the top five selected will progress to the shortlist, to be announced on 19 February. This will be voted on by a panel that includes Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, film critics Peter Bradshaw and Xan Brooks, Claudia Winkleman, host of the BBC Film Show, and the acclaimed documentary film-maker Adam Curtis.

The readers' favourite in each category will also count for a vote, and there are an additional two prizes to be decided solely by the public.

Said Peter Bradshaw: "The Guardian Film Awards offer a new slant on the awards season; they will be enjoyable, unpretentious, and user-friendly and let the reader and movie-goer connect more directly with the glittering prizes themselves."

Other categories include best scene, best line of dialogue, best marketing campaign, best cinema and biggest game-changer.

Steve McQueen's drama is nominated in eight categories on the longlist, with Paulo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty and Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra trailing on five apiece. The first Saudi film shot by a woman, Wadjda, is up for four awards, alongside Alexander Payne's Nebraska, Spike Jonze's Her and Richard Linklater's Before Midnight.

The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer's Oscar-nominated documentary about the Indonesian death squads of the 1960s, was named Guardian film of the year in 2013. Here, it's in the running for best picture, best director and biggest game-changer.

Philomena is up for two awards; it will be competing against Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa for best marketing campaign. Surprisingly, Coogan's Oscar-nominated drama beats his sitcom spin-off for a shot at the best line of dialogue award. Other contenders in that category include "Do you mind if I communicate with Alan post-verbally?" from the cyber-romance Her, and Cate Blanchett's cautionary wisdom from Blue Jasmine: "Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there's only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming."

The winners will be revealed on 7 March. Readers can have their chance to vote here.

Longlist

Best film

• The Great Beauty
• The Act of Killing
• The Selfish Giant
• Blue is the Warmest Colour
• Gravity
• 12 Years a Slave
• I Wish
• Behind the Candelabra
• Wadjda
• Before Midnight

Best actor

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Colour
• Paulina García, Gloria
• Waad Mohammad, Wadjda
• Toni Servillo, The Great Beauty

Best supporting actor

• Amy Adams, Her
• Michael Cera, This is the End
• Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Sylvia Kauders, Inside Llewyn Davis
• Jared Leto, The Dallas Buyers Club
• Giusi Merli, The Great Beauty
• Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
• Imogen Poots, The Look of Love
• June Squibb, Nebraska

Best director

• Spike Jonze, Her
• Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
• Richard Linklater, Before Midnight
• Haifaa Al-Mansour, Wadjda
• Clio Barnard, The Selfish Giant
• Nicolas Winding Refn, Only God Forgives
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• Paulo Sorrentino, The Great Beauty
• Hirokazu Koreeda, I Wish
• Alexander Payne, Nebraska

Best scene

• Alan Partridge lip-synching to Roachford in the car in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
• The opening scene of Gravity
• The first party in The Great Beauty
• Patsy returning with the soap in 12 Years a Slave
• Cate Blanchett giving advice to her nephews in Blue Jasmine
• The taping of Please Mr Kennedy in Inside Llewyn Davis
• The bedroom row in Before Midnight
• The opening scene of Post Tenebras Lux
• The cafe reunion in Blue is the Warmest Colour
• The struggle back to the car while overdosing in The Wolf of Wall Street

Best line of dialogue

I don't see a lot of money here.

Bud (F Murray Abraham) in Inside Llewyn Davis

What a story; everything but a fire in the orphanage.

Liberace (Michael Douglas) in Behind the Candelabra

She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate.

Irving (Christian Bale) in American Hustle

Something to eat and some rest; your children will soon enough be forgotten.

Mistress Ford (Liza J Bennett) in 12 Years a Slave

Anxiety, nightmares and a nervous breakdown, there's only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming.

Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) in Blue Jasmine

There's Woody's little sister, Rose. She was only 19 when she was killed in a car wreck near Wausa. What a whore!

Kate (June Squibb) in Nebraska

I think if Jesus was here now he'd tip you out of that fucking wheelchair and you wouldn't get up and walk.

Martin (Steve Coogan) in Philomena

I didn't just want to go to parties; I wanted to have the power to make them a failure.

Jep (Toni Servillo) in The Great Beauty

It's time for your enema.

Robot (Peter Saarsgard) in Robot and Frank

Do you mind if I communicate with Alan post-verbally?

Her (Scarlett Johansson) in Her

Best film festival

• Cannes
• Berlin
• Sundance
• Venice
• San Sebastian
• London
• Sheffield Doc/Fest
• Toronto
• SXSW
• Tribeca

Best marketing campaign

• Side Effects
• Philomena
• Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
• Anchorman: The Legend Continues
• Behind the Candelabra
• Enough Said
• Blue is the Warmest Colour
• The Place Beyond the Pines
• Robot & Frank
• World War Z

Biggest game-changer

• The Act of Killing
• Gravity
• Her
• 12 Years a Slave
• This is the End
• The Internship
• A Field in England
• Only God Forgives
• Upstream Colour
• Wadjda

Best cinema

Free readers' vote.

So-bad-it's-good film

Free readers' vote.

Lifetime achievement

Judges' vote.

• More information on this year's Guardian Film Awards