ScottFeinberg.com

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywood News

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David O. Russell’s Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook will open The 2012 Savannah Film Festival, an annual event that this year will showcase similar awards contenders like Robert Zemeckis’ Flight, Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet, the crowd-pleasing musical comedy The Sapphires and Michael Haneke’s emotionally draining Amour.

The fest will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 27. It also will conclude with a 3D screening of DreamWorks Animation’s holiday blockbuster Rise of the Guardians.

Russell’s comedy has been building awards momentum since it took home the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The Hollywood Film Awards announced so far that it will recognize Robert De Niro with the Hollywood Supporting Actor award, as well as Russell with this year’s Hollywood Director Award. Expect them to be the first of many prestigious award nominations Silver Linings picks up as the season rolls along.

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By Sean O’Connell
Hollywood News

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My approach to the Toronto International Film Festival was slightly different from years past. Instead of pausing between screenings to comment on films as they played, I sprinted from one movie to the next, collecting impressions like a kid gathering colorful Easter eggs on a Sunday morning hunt.

As a result, I was able to cram 20 movies and a handful of engaging interview opportunities into my five-day Toronto stay. I left TIFF this year with a clearer picture of the ongoing Oscar race (but also acknowledge that there are still so many films left to debut … some of which we’ll see at the New York Film Festival later this month).

So, which movie helped their Oscar causes by screening in Toronto? Let’s run through the top titles, and see what kind of buzz they were able to generate.

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By Sean O’Connell
HollywoodNews.com

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We are bearing down on the Toronto International Film Festival! Last-minute interviews are being booked. Buzz out of Venice and Telluride dictates sudden schedule changes. For the most part, my TIFF calendar is locked and blocked. I give it until Friday morning before something wonderful blows the whole schedule to smithereens!

Two flights, a bus and a train will take me to Canada for one of the year’s most anticipated film festivals, a launch pad for most of the films we’ll be talking about all Oscar season. Which pictures will distance themselves from the crowded pack?

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By Rhett Bartlett

The Sapphires gained some credible reviews from its screening in Cannes.  It is the story of four aboriginal girls, who call themselves the music group The Sapphires, who travel to Vietnam to entertain the US soldiers.

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