The 85^th Academy Awards, hosted by Seth MacFarlane will be one of the BEST Academy Awards Shows in several years. There is an exciting mix of international talent, surprising new artists, many of our favourite stars and directors, a tight race for many of the awards, and a glamorous, sophisticated fashion look that has been missing lately. The show will move along briskly and Adele (Skyfall) will bring her famous voice to the affair. There will be another appearance by Sacha Baron Cohen (Les Misérables) on the Red Carpet and who knows if he can live up to his antics of last year?

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Joaquin Phoenix in a tough race for Best Actor (The Master) will make a big effort to cooperate with the evening despite his distaste for these affairs. Best Director will be an interesting race as the world heavy weights line up; Ang Lee, David O. Russell, Steven Spielberg, Michael Haneke and newcomer Benh Zeitlin. The impact of digital media and the huge interest in short film has lead Youtube to cave to Academy pressure to remove all the web uploads for the Animated Short films this week and just the trailers are left. Disney’s “Paperman” is the frontrunner.

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Disney is likely to win Best Animated Feature Film of the Year for “Brave”. The competition for Live Action Short Film has stolen hearts around the world, as has the remarkable line up for the Best Foreign Film. Quvenzhane Wallis is the youngest actress to be nominated for a Best Actress (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Emamanuelle Riva (Amour) is the oldest. We hope that the young actors from the war torn countries of Africa and Afghanistan Fawad Mohammadi Kabul, Afghanistan Buzkashi Boys and Rachel Mwanza (War Witch), who have brought such fascinating tales of hope to the world may come to the Oscars this year. Extraordinary achievements were accomplished in Costume design (Anna Karenina), makeup (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) and Anthony Hopkins was superb as Hitchcock.  Academy Award winner Roger Deakins brought a touch of magic back to the Bond franchise as Judi Dench made her final exit as “M”.

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 BEST FILM & Total Oscar Nomination Count:

• “Amour” – 5 - Emamanuelle Riva – Best Actress

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• “Argo“ – 6 – best adapted screen play, original score, film editing

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• “Beasts of the Southern Wild“ – 2 – Best Actress - Quvenzhane Wallis

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• “Django Unchained“ - 5 - Christoph Waltz – Best Supporting Actor

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• “Les Misérables“ – 8 - Hugh Jackman - Best Actor

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• “Life of Pi“ – 11 – music – Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri

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• “Lincoln“ – LEADS WITH 12 DANIEL DAY LEWIS MAY GET HIS 3^RD BEST ACTOR

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• “Silver Linings Playbook“ - 8 – Bradley Cooper Best Actor, Jennifer Lawrence Best Actress

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• “Zero Dark Thirty” – 4 - Jessica Chastain – Best Actress, original screenplay

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TIFF has maintained its 34-year status as the most accurate indicators of success at Oscar time. 

-Moira Romano