ABSTRACT
The awards “season” ends with the Academy Awards in the end of February or early March depending on the year. It unofficially begins with three late August/early September festivals–Venice, Telluride and Toronto. All three have become early showcases and litmus tests for a large number of films with awards in their headlights. The game has also changed dramatically with the advent of DVD screenings and the introduction of streaming some awards titles well in advance of their street dates. An Academy Awards campaign can cost anywhere from $500,000 to $15M depending on the scope of the movie and the pockets of Filmmakers' distributor. The design and audio visual content that are produced for an awards campaign can be quite different from the campaign created to open the movie to the general public. In the middle is Cannes; however, less a bellwether for English-speaking movies and more a highlight for future foreign language contenders.
