.

Final stop: the 85th Academy Awards (maybe).

We may be many months from the biggest awards show of the year and three months from the start of awards season, but the awards buzz is beginning.

Every year, such buzz begins at film festivals. With Sundance and Cannes earlier in the year, both can be tricky predictors for the Oscars. But the fall film festival season can have a better record.

Danny Boyle started his Oscar run two years ago at the Telluride Film Festival, the first of the major fall festivals.

Telluride

It was there, in that small Colorado ski resort town, that “Slumdog Millionaire” debuted. Six months later, the Boyle-directed, feel-good film would take home the Academy Award for Best Picture. A year later, “The King’s Speech” premiered to similar buzz and went on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

At Telluride this year, during the long Labor Day weekend, festivalgoers were treated to 25 feature films.

One film, an unofficial part of the program known as a “Sneak Preview,” was Ben Affleck’s newest film “Argo.” Opening on Oct. 12 in the U.S., the film premiered on Aug. 31 to very good reviews. Affleck stars, along with Bryan Cranston and John Goodman, in an international thriller “based on a declassified true story.” Affleck last directed 2010′s “The Town,” for which Jeremy Renner received a supporting actor Oscar nomination.

Other films that played well included “Amour,” which features two retired music teachers facing the journey to the end of their lives; “The Attack,” a film by Michael Haneke (director of Oscar-nominated foreign film “The White Ribbon”) that chronicle a Tel Aviv surgeon who discovers a chilling secret about his wife after a suicide bombing; “Ginger and Rosa,” two teenage girls in London in the 1960s during the Cuban missile crisis; “Piazza Fontana,” which tells of the 1969 bombing of a major bank in Milan and the aftermath; and “Stories We Tell,” where Sarah Polley films a documentary about her family.

Venice

The Venice Film Festival, the world’s oldest (69 years and running) and one of the most prestigious festivals, began on Sept. 1 and wrapped up Saturday, Sept. 11. The Leone d’Oro (Golden Lion) is awarded to the best film screened at the festival and Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s mother-son drama, “Pietà,” won the award. It is the first Korean film to win the top prize.

Paul Thomas Anderson won the best director award for his highly anticipated film, “The Master,” out in the U.S. on Sept. 21. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix shared the best actor prize. “The Master” was the only American film to win this year.

Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” won The Golden Lion in 2010.

Toronto

“Argo” was subject even more good buzz after its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Reviews called the film “Mr. Affleck’s coming-of-age moment as an actor-director,” according to the New York Times.

The festival, which runs Sept. 6 through Sept. 16, is also a good indicator of initial buzz for Oscar bait. “The King’s Speech” was the People’s Choice Award winner in 2010, the major prize for the festival voted by festivalgoers.

Thus far, TIFF has screened a few buzzed-about films including “Cloud Atlas” from the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tyker (out in the U.S. on Oct. 26) and “The Master.” Two movies that played well to critics and audiences alike were “The Silver Lingings,” from director David O. Russell, and “The Sessions,” starring John Hawkes and Helen Hunt with Ben Lewin directing.

Toledo Free Press Lead Designer and Film Editor James A. Molnar blogs about all things Oscar at TheGoldKnight.com. Watch him discuss movies on “WNWO Today” around 5:50 a.m. on Fridays.

Tags: Academy Awards, argo, awards season, buzz, cloud atlas, Film, film festivals, James A. Molnar, Movies, Oscars, telluride film festival, The Gold Knight, the master, The Oscars, toronto international film festival, venice film festival

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2012 at 11:52 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Film, Star, The Gold Knight.
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Toledo is looked at by neighboring cities as slow, country, and very behind the times. Can this be said about the hip hop artists here as well? Do they not work just as hard for the top spot as an artist in a major city? Obviously they do, because several of them have signed recording contracts in the last few months.

But … because it’s Toledo, a lot of people will have a hard time believing that an artist from here can “make it.” It’s a catch-22: being from Toledo, you have to work twice as hard to reach the top, but when you accomplish something, people doubt you because of where you’re from.

When someone dares to go against the grain of what’s popular or socially accepted, they’re often called “haters.” If someone has the nerve to go against the grain and question a situation, instead of sparking thought-provoking conversation, they are immediately shut down for the fear of a new truth emerging. This could very well be the case with the Toledo artists who have recently acquired major recording contracts.

The artists who have gotten signed didn’t have the most buzz in the city, and the usual formula for success is to have your city behind you, so it was mighty peculiar that these specific artists got signed. In 2012, is a record label really going to give a deal to an artist who doesn’t already have a movement? The money isn’t flowing the way it used to, so there’s very little room for artist development and an even smaller budget for promotion. So is it really possible that an artist without those two key components can really sign a major deal?

But on the other hand, there are plenty of artists who have gotten deals that didn’t necessarily have a huge buzz beforehand. A friend of mine is a manager for a young R&B group, Dollhouse, and they just got signed to Universal without a huge buzz. Who had heard of J. Cole before he was signed to Roc Nation? So perhaps, with enough talent, the label will believe in an artist enough to sign him/her and put the necessary tools in place to create a strong buzz.

Toledo seems to be torn by this. There even seems to be some animosity amongst the artists who have gotten signed. Some have digital distribution deals, some have album deals, but everyone has questions. How did he get a deal? Who would ever sign her? That’s not a real record deal; why are you lying to everyone?

My question is simple: why are you so quick to judge something you know nothing about? Have you seen any of these artists’ recording contracts? So how do you know it’s not legit? In my next article, I’ll be speaking to each artist from Toledo (and southeast Michigan) and asking him or her everything that every Toledoan wants to know. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion as to whether these record deals are legit or not. Until then, can we try to support each other? Is that so hard to do?

Tags: artist development, buzz, Hip-Hop, lilD, recording contract, The Word I Heard

This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Music, Star, The Word I Heard.
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