7 Days To Go – It’s Oscar Week!

Well fellow award geeks we’re in the final stretch and with only a week until the 83rd Academy Awards, many hands, including mine, are already sweaty in anticipation of the big night. I’m glad to say that this year has turned out to be a bonafide nail-biter and for the first time in many a golden moon, most of the categories still look to be in play. With seven days to go, Colin Firth winning Best Actor for THE KING’S SPEECH and Aaron Sorkin’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK taking home the statue for Best Adapted Screenplay seem to be the only sure bets to place at your Oscar Party.

For those of you still in the planning stage, click HERE for a complete guide to everything you’ll need to host a winning-Oscar party next Sunday: recipes, Oscar ballots, party play-along games and much more.

On Tuesday, February 22, the final polls close at 5 p.m. PT. Seeing as tomorrow is a holiday, unless AMPAS voters mailed their ballots in early, they’ll have to be hand delivered or run the risk of not being counted. In case you forgot, Anne Hathaway and James Franco are this year’s hosts.

Beginning this Tuesday, February 22, and continuing through Saturday, February 26, the eve of the Oscars®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present five public events celebrating the 83rd Academy Awards®.  Oscar Week events will feature screenings, film clips and discussions with filmmakers and artists whose work has garnered nominations in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary, Foreign Language Film, Makeup and Short Film categories.  All events will take place at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

2011 Oscar Week schedule:

Tuesday, February 22, 7:30 p.m.  (Doors open 6:30 p.m.)
Shorts!  The 2010 Animated and Live Action Short Film Nominees
Hosted by Kenneth Branagh, actor, writer, director, producer and four-time Oscar nominee

This event features screenings of all of the 2010 Oscar-nominated films in the Animated and Live Action Short Film categories, plus an onstage discussion with the filmmakers (schedules permitting). 

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2011/shorts-la.html

Wednesday, February 23, 7:30 p.m.  (Doors open 6:30 p.m.)
Docs!  The 2010 Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature Nominees
Hosted by Michael Apted, director and former Documentary Branch governor

This program will include film clips from each of the nominated documentary features and short subjects and panel discussions with the nominees (schedules permitting).

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2011/docs.html

Thursday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.  (Doors open 6:30 p.m.) 
Oscar-Nominated Animated Feature Symposium
Hosted by Tom Sito, animator and animation historian

The Animated Feature Symposium celebrates the nominated achievements in the Animated Feature Film category. The nominees (schedules permitting) will discuss their creative process and the development of their films, and present clips illustrating their techniques.

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2011/animated.html

Saturday, February 26, 10 a.m.  (Doors open 9 a.m.)
Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Symposium
Moderated by Mark Johnson, producer and Foreign Language Film Award Committee chair

The Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Symposium brings together the directors of the motion pictures nominated in the Foreign Language Film category to discuss their work and address such wide-ranging topics as art, politics and the challenges of their profession (schedules permitting).

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2011/foreign.html

Saturday, February 26, 2:30 p.m.  (Doors open 1:30 p.m.)
Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Symposium
Hosted by Leonard Engelman, Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch governor

Oscar Week’s culminating public event celebrates the nominated achievements in the Makeup category with film clips, photographs, models and onstage discussions with the nominees (schedules permitting).

http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2011/makeup-hair.html

Tickets to Shorts!, Docs! and the Animated Feature Symposium events are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID.  Tickets to the Saturday events – Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Symposium and the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Symposium – are free.  Tickets will be available on Tuesday, February 1, online at www.oscars.org, at the Academy box office (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or by mail.  Doors open one hour prior to the event.  All seating is unreserved.

Presenters and Performers:

• Annette Bening
Bening recently received her fourth Oscar® nomination for her leading role in “The Kids Are All Right.” She received her first nomination for her supporting role in “The Grifters” (1990) and received nominations for her leading roles in “American Beauty” (1999) and “Being Julia” (2004).

• Halle Berry
In 2001 Berry won the Best Actress Oscar® for her role in “Monsters Ball.”

•Cate Blanchett
Blanchett is a five-time Academy Award nominee, who took home the Supporting Actress Oscar® in 2004 for her performance as Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator.”

• Jeff Bridges
Last year, Bridges took home the Best Actor Oscar for his leading role in “Crazy Heart.”

• Sandra Bullock
Last year, Bullock took home the Best Actress Oscar for her leading role in “The Blind Side.”

• Robert Downey Jr.
Downey earned Oscar nominations for his leading performance in “Chaplin” (1992) and his supporting role in “Tropic Thunder” (2008).

• Tom Hanks
Hanks won consecutive Oscars in 1993 and 1994 for his leading performances in “Philadelphia” and “Forrest Gump.” He also has been nominated for his leading roles in “Big,” “Saving Private Ryan” and “Cast Away.”

• Hugh Jackman
Jackman served as host of the 81st Academy Awards telecast in 2009.

• Nicole Kidman
Kidman is nominated this year for her lead performance in “Rabbit Hole.” She took home the Best Actress Oscar in 2002 for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.” Kidman also received a nomination in 2001 for her lead performance in “Moulin Rouge.”

• Jude Law
In 1999 Law received his first Oscar nomination for his supporting performance in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” He received his second nomination in 2003 for his lead performance in “Cold Mountain.”

• Zachary Levi
Levi and Mandy Moore will perform “I See the Light” from the animated film “Tangled.”

• Alan Menken
Menken, who is nominated for writing the music for “I See the Light” from the animated film “Tangled, will accompany singers Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi on the piano.

• Mandy Moore
Moore and Zachary Levi will perform “I See the Light” from the animated film “Tangled.”

• Randy Newman
Newman will perform his nominated song “We Belong Together” from the animated film “Toy Story 3.”

• Gwyneth Paltrow
Paltrow will perform “Coming Home” from the film “Country Strong.”

• A.R. Rahman
Rahman and Florence Welch, of Florence + the Machine, will perform “If I Rise” from the film “127 Hours.”

• Marisa Tomei
Tomei has received three nominations and won an Oscar in 1992 for her supporting role in “My Cousin Vinny.”

• Florence Welch
Welch and A.R. Rahman will perform “If I Rise” from the film “127 Hours.”

• Oprah Winfrey
Winfrey was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in “The Color Purple” and served as executive producer of 2009 Best Picture nominee “Precious.”

•Reese Witherspoon
In 2005 Witherspoon received her first Oscar nomination and took home the award for her leading performance as June Carter in “Walk the Line.

Movie fans, your “All Access” pass for Oscar Night® is now available on Oscar.com (www.oscar.com/all-access), the official online home of the 83rd Academy Awards®.  This new interactive feature will provide an experience to the online audience during the live Oscar® show never before available.

Beginning at 3:30 p.m. PT, Sunday, February 27, all Oscar.com visitors will experience Oscar’s red carpet through multiple camera positions capturing celebrity arrivals, glamorous fashions, and press activity.  During the telecast, users may visit the show’s control truck, check out the backstage “Thank You Cam” at which winners continue their acceptance remarks, and watch and listen as the winners take questions from the world’s press in the interview room.

For a premium Oscar Night experience, users may register ($4.99) for additional, exclusive viewing opportunities.  Multiple “360 cams,” a groundbreaking technology that users control with the click/drag functionality of the computer mouse, will be positioned throughout the red carpet, the Kodak Theatre and the Governors Ball, the Academy’s celebration immediately following Academy Awards. On the red carpet, users will be able to watch Oscar nominees and presenters mixing and mingling as they enjoy the pre-ceremony champagne reception.  Inside the Kodak Theatre, viewers will see the presenters’ hair and makeup area, watch the guests interact during commercial breaks and see the Academy’s official winner portrait area. The access continues at the Governors Ball, where users will be able see Oscar winners arriving at the party and having their statuettes being affixed with nameplates.

Designed to be perfect companion to the Oscar telecast, over the course of the evening “All Access” users will have the ability to choose from more than 24 strategically placed cameras throughout the venue.

iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can also get their own ultimate insider’s view with the new Oscar Backstage Pass App.  Available for download at the App Store (www.itunes.com/appstore) for $0.99, the Oscar Backstage Pass app includes the same features as “All Access” without the “360 cam” technology. 

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2010 will be presented on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.  The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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