Dolby takes over Oscars venue name

LOS ANGELES: The Hollywood venue that hosts the annual Oscars show was renamed the Dolby Theatre on Tuesday, after the audio pioneer gained naming rights previously held by bankrupt camera company Kodak.

Kodak pulled out weeks before this year's Academy Awards show in February, and talks have been ongoing to find a new backer for the venue, next to the iconic Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Britain-founded, California-based audio technology pioneer Dolby announced a deal with the CIM Group, which owns the Hollywood & Highland Center of which the Oscars venue is part, to put its name on the venue for the next 20 years.

"Dolby is a brand recognized around the world for creating the best, most life-like entertainment sound experiences in any environment," said Dolby Laboratories chief Kevin Yeaman.

"This partnership with CIM allows the Dolby Theatre to be not only the world-stage for the Academy Awards, but for Dolby innovations for decades to come," he added.

CIM Group co-founder Shaul Kuba added: "Dolby Laboratories has a long history in Hollywood and has made significant contributions to the entertainment industry. "It is a respected international brand and technology innovator. We are proud to welcome them as our partner on the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center," he said.

A bankruptcy court in February approved Kodak's request to cancel its contract with the until-then Kodak Theatre, ruling that it was "in the best interests of the debtors, their estates, their creditors and other parties."

The contract between Eastman Kodak and theater owner CIM was valued at $72 million -- $3.6 million per year for 20 years.

The theater, inaugurated in November 2001 with seating for 3,332, has hosted the Academy Awards since 2002.

Kodak, an iconic American firm that introduced generations of consumers to mass-market cameras, filed for bankruptcy in January. (AFP)

Showbiz is big business as Oscars hits town

HOLLYWOOD: The Oscars are big business for stars and filmmakers - but they also spell big bucks for limo firms, caterers, designers and thousands of others as Hollywood rolls out the red carpet.

In fact, the Academy Awards on Sunday are the climax of the annual awards season which generates fortunes for those behind the scenes in Tinseltown, who keep the champagne flowing, parties buzzing and posh frocks just right.

From the Golden Globes to the Grammys, the Screen Actors Guild ceremony to the Razzies, the awards shows -- and all those pre- and after-parties, keep everyone busy from November to February every year.

You don't have to go far to stumble on a red carpet in Hollywood - even outside awards season, film premieres regularly attract scrums of cameramen, photographers and fans spilling across sidewalks outside key movie theaters.

So a visit to the cinema can sometimes turn into a scramble through a melee created by an arriving celebrity, lensmen's flashlights and shouts of "Angelina, over here!" ricocheting around the cinema lobby.

But Angelinos are used to it, and many depend on it for their livelihoods, as - like the annual harvest elsewhere - the first two months of the year bring huge crops of orders for everything that surrounds the shows.

Tony Adzar, founder & CEO of Red Carpet Systems, is one of those reaping the benefits: in February, he sells twice as much carpet as he does in August, and his is only one of dozens of similar firms.

To get to the parties, people of course need limousines.

The larger companies, which have a fleet of maybe 25 luxury vehicles, are booked to capacity and are able to give their affiliates and subcontractors a lot of business.

ITS works closely with Sequoia Productions, which has organized Hollywood events for 23 years and produces the traditional post-Oscars soiree known as the Governors Ball.

The ball brings together the governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes the Oscars. On Sunday night, 1,500 people will attend.

For Sunday's ball alone, Sequoia employs 150 technicians, 400 catering staff and a management team of 30. The company unveiled its menu last week, chosen by Austrian celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, also an Oscars veteran.

Red Carpet provider Adzar said awards season is exhausting, but essential for his and many other businesses in Hollywood. (AFP)

Oscars foreign film shortlist includes Iran winner

LOS ANGELES: Oscars organizers unveiled Wednesday a shortlist of nine foreign language movies vying for an Academy Award next month, including an Iranian film which won a Golden Globe at the weekend.

The list, which also includes films from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Morocco, Poland and Taiwan, will be reduced to five nominees by next week, when all nominations for the February 26 Oscars show are announced.

"A Separation" by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi won the best foreign language film at the Golden Globe awards on Sunday, beating rivals from China, Spain and Belgium, as well as Angelina Jolie's directorial debut.

The Iranian win was welcomed by Iranians and by authorities in the Islamic republic.

Iran's government initially slapped a ban on the movie as it was being made because Farhadi voiced support for fellow filmmakers labeled by authorities as "anti-regime".

But, following an apology from Farhadi that permitted "A Separation" to be completed, Tehran has come to embrace the movie, strengthening support for it as it picked up award after award in international festivals.

For the Oscars, a committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screened 63 movies between mid-October and January 13, before deciding on the final five-strong shortlist.

Further committee meetings will be held in Los Angeles and New York over this coming weekend, before the nominations are announced next Tuesday, January 24.

The selected films are:

-Belgium: "Bullhead," directed by Michael R. Roskam.

-Canada: "Monsieur Lazhar," directed by Philippe Falardeau.

-Denmark: "Superclasico," directed by Ole Christian Madsen.

-Germany: "Pina," directed by Wim Wenders.

-Iran: "A Separation," directed by Asghar Farhadi.

-Israel: "Footnote," directed by Joseph Cedar.

-Morocco: "Omar Killed Me," directed by Roschdy Zem.

-Poland: "In Darkness," directed by Agnieszka Holland.

-Taiwan: "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," directed by Wei Te-sheng. (AFP)

Stewart, Pattinson kiss at pre-Oscars party

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson celebrated the Oscars by sharing a kiss at a pre-Oscar party.

Stewart and Pattinson were two of the many celebrities in attendance at a Friday night party at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, according to Us Weekly.

A witness said: "They definitely kissed a few times."
The witness went on to say that the Twilight couple enjoyed dancing to the music as well.
"They went nuts for 'Empire State of Mind'!" said the witness.
Other stars present included Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry, Ryan Gosling and Natalie Portman.

How The King's Speech got an outside edge at the Oscars

The success of independent cinema at the Oscars is nothing new, but it's always a welcome sight. Sunday night's marginal triumph by The King's Speech over the studio's biggest heavy hitter, The Social Network, will have spread good cheer among the movie's many backers outside the studio system. The King's Speech is one of the moribund UK Film Council's last hurrahs, although there are quite a few forthcoming releases that will bear the stamp of the ill-fated funding body, such as Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.

The UK Film Council was one of several key elements on the project, along with UK financiers Prescience and Aegis, UK distributor Momentum Pictures and Australian distributor Transmission, whose sister company See-Saw, run by Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, came on board to produce with Gareth Unwin's Bedlam Productions, which had been a longtime champion of the project. That's quite a list and I'm not even sure it's comprehensive, but it illustrates a truism in independent film financing: the tougher the sell, the greater the number of investors. No studio would have gone near this because the project lacked brand recognition, wasn't part of a franchise and didn't offer clear merchandising opportunities.

And then, of course, there is Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar impresario extraordinaire whose apparently resurgent company did such a bang-up job distributing The King's Speech in the US. The film launched modestly in a handful of theatres last December and climbed from 43 to 700 theatres over the Christmas weekend, rising steadily after that. Heading into the final weekend before the Oscar nominations on 25 January, the movie played in 1,680 theatres, and by the time it emerged as the frontrunner on 12 nominations it was in 2,557.

It went on to gross more than half of its current $114m (£70m) running total in the so-called Oscar corridor between the day of nominations and the show itself. That's the Oscar bump in action and you see it with another success story, Black Swan, which amassed roughly one-fifth of its $103m running total in the same period. Both will continue to prosper now that they have gongs to their name. The King's Speech will go out as a PG-13, too, after Weinstein cut a few expletives from the original R-rated version. Colin Firth disapproves and thinks the movie should be seen "as is", and I wholeheartedly agree. Alas the gatekeepers in the US believe audiences must be protected from the brutal spectrum of the English language, even though they are happy to expose under-13s to a disgraceful level of on-screen violence week-in, week-out.

For some years now a movie's prospects outside the US have played a key role in assembling the financing and distribution. Central to this is the international pre-sale, whereby a company licenses distribution rights to a forthcoming project in return for a portion of the budget. In this regard kudos is due to FilmNation, the New York-based company run by the vastly experienced former Weinstein lieutenant Glen Basner. FilmNation handled international sales on The King's Speech and ensured it ended up in safe hands outside the US. To date the movie has grossed more than $130m outside the US, bringing worldwide ticket sales to around $245m.

Black Swan had a pretty tortuous route to the big screen, too, but when Fox Searchlight came on board as financing partner it knew a good thing and held on to worldwide distribution rights. It's been Hollywood's leading title in the international market for the past few weeks and so far has racked up $123m overseas and $226m worldwide.

These are astonishing and rare numbers for specialty film, but what's so gratifying is that because both movies got made for a price and were expertly released in the US and overseas, they're profitable. The rumour doing the rounds at the recent Berlin film festival was that Weinstein is plotting a sequel to The King's Speech called The Windsors at War. Harvey and his cohorts are keeping mum about that right now as they focus on this year's movies, which include Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in the Oscar hopeful My Week With Marilyn.

Credit : The Guardian UK

Actress Melissa Leo's true grit leads to Oscar

As the supremely competent Detective Kay Howard on "Homicide: Life on the Street," Ms. Leo famously refused to make herself look glamorous. She told Terry Gross on NPR's "Fresh Air" that she didn't use makeup on the show because her male colleagues didn't.

When she was unceremoniously dumped from "Homicide" at the end of its fifth season, Ms. Leo said collateral damage from her then-messy personal life and the flinty realness of her Kay Howard character marked her as damaged goods on a show belatedly striving for higher ratings.

Unable to find a steady network gig after "Homicide," Ms. Leo entered what she described to Ms. Gross as a career dry spell. She reprised her role as Kay Howard in "Homicide: The Movie" in 2000, but by then she had set her eye on the big screen, where the perception of being a "gritty gal" didn't work against her.

Ms. Leo had a series of small roles in small movies, the most memorable in "21 Grams" (2003) until her star turn as an impoverished trailer park mom turned illegal alien smuggler in "Frozen River" (2008).

Ms. Leo got her first taste of major industry respect that year when she was nominated for more than a dozen awards, including the Oscar for best actress in "Frozen River."

"Homicide" creator David Simon took a second look at the actress NBC fired in 1997 and hired her to play ACLU lawyer Toni Bernette in HBO's post-Katrina drama, "Treme."

When Ms. Leo signed on to play Alice Ward, the mother of boxers Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Christopher Bale), she became the spark that ignited "The Fighter" whenever she was on screen. Despite being only a decade older than Mr. Wahlberg, Ms. Leo learned enough from observing the real Alice Ward to make her role as his mother work.

On Sunday, Ms. Leo capped an extraordinary year by winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Fighter."

Having cleaned up more than half the regional critics' honors already, she was, justifiably, the front-runner. Still, hearing her name called on Hollywood's most prestigious night was not the kind of industry respect Ms. Leo was used to.

A self-promotional Oscar campaign in which she took out trade ads had landed her in hot water a few weeks ago. There was some talk that an industry backlash might deny her the coveted award.

Perhaps Ms. Leo was more relieved that the pessimists were wrong about her chances than she was surprised at her win when she uttered the first televised f-bomb in the history of the Oscars during her acceptance speech.

The censors caught it in time, but the happy outburst landed her a spot in Oscars infamy alongside the streaker who interrupted David Niven's speech during the 1974 broadcast.

Calculated or not, Ms. Leo's exuberance provided an otherwise dull show with one of its few genuinely interesting moments.

My affection for Ms. Leo began when I visited the set of "Homicide" in 1996. I interviewed the entire cast, but my time with the actress was particularly memorable.

Unlike the character she played, Ms. Leo had a wicked sense of humor. She was also far more attractive and articulate in person than her laconic character on TV.

Hours after our interview, our paths crossed again on the sound stage. That's when she insisted on taking me to where the cast and crew hung out for lunch. She escorted me around the set like an old friend instead of a nosy fan pretending to be a journalist.

When Colin Firth, 50, won his own Oscar for best actor Sunday, he quipped, "I have a feeling my career just peaked."

Ms. Leo, also 50, probably isn't giving much thought to the "curse" said to befall actresses trying to find meaty roles after they land an Oscar. She has been fortunate enough to never have been a pretty ingenue waiting for the phone to ring, so her hustling will never end.

Instead of peaking, Melissa Leo is just getting started.


Credit : Pittsburgh Post Gazette

2011 Academy Awards " The Winners "

With another year's ceremony having come and gone, the 2011 Academy Awards announced the big winners during a glitzy ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night (February 27).

Taking home the top prize of Best Picture at the Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosted event was "The King's Speech," which ended up winning a total of four Oscar trophies.

As for the actor/actress categories, the Academy bestowed Best Actress honors upon Natalie Portman for her work in "Black Swan" while Colin Firth landed Best Actor accolades for his role in "The King's Speech".

The complete list of 2011 Academy Awards winners is as follows:

Best Picture
"Black Swan," Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
"The Fighter" David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
"Inception," Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
"The Kids Are All Right," Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
"127 Hours," Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
"The Social Network," Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán, Producers
"Toy Story 3" Darla K. Anderson, Producer
"True Grit" Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
WINNER: Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

Actor in a Supporting Role
WINNER: Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
WINNER: Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
WINNER: Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Animated Feature Film
"How to Train Your Dragon" Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
"The Illusionist" Sylvain Chomet
WINNER: "Toy Story 3" Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
WINNER: "Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
WINNER: "Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Costume Design
WINNER: "Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Directing
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Tom Hooper
"The Social Network," David Fincher
"True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)
"Exit through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
WINNER: "Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
WINNER: "Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Film Editing
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
WINNER: "The Social Network"

Foreign Language Film
"Biutiful," Mexico
"Dogtooth," Greece
WINNER: "In a Better World," Denmark
"Incendies," Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria

Makeup
"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot
"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
WINNER: "The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
WINNER: "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
WINNER: "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)
"Day & Night," Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
WINNER: "The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)" Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)
"The Confession," Tanel Toom
"The Crush," Michael Creagh
WINNER: "God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
WINNER: "Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
WINNER: "Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
WINNER: "Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"127 Hours," Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
WINNER: "The Social Network," Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3," Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"Another Year," Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception," Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right," Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Screenplay by David Seidler

Hollywood illusionists sweep season of stupidity under Oscars red carpet

As the year's best films are honoured, Hollywood is ready to launch another season of recycled drivel. But there are signs that intelligent, low-budget moves can succeed at the box office

The men from the American Turf and Carpet company were busy putting the final touches to their crowning achievement. Frantically cutting and taping their way along the middle of what in normal times is Hollywood Boulevard, they covered their creation with plastic sheeting as they went, as much to protect it from the feet of tourists as from the elements.

"What's going on?" asked a startled Chris Miller, visiting for the week from northern Colorado. On being told this particularly shabby stretch of Hollywood was being transformed for its starring role hosting the Oscars, and that beneath the plastic sheeting lay the hallowed red carpet, he squirmed in mock excitement. "I can feel the power," he exclaimed.

Around him caterers hustled by, bearing platters of food to be offered to nominees after the event at the annual Governor's Ball, hosted this year not by one of their own, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger having departed, but by the decidedly budget-conscious Jerry Brown. Japanese TV crews choreographed elaborate news presentations, corralling some of the sidewalk performers stationed outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre as extras: Elvis seemed too busy to help, and Jacko wouldn't stop whooping, but Toy Story's Woody played along.

Beneath them all, the red carpet squeaked and crackled under its plastic cover, waiting for the moment when it would be revealed in all its pristine glory, ready to help the delicately inflated egos of the world of movies float past adoring crowds before entering the Kodak theatre, which, despite the best efforts of some of the most talented special effects people in Hollywood, cannot disguise the fact that it is a shopping mall attached to a hotel.

But illusion and artifice are the charm and business of Hollywood, its pompous glitz fulfilling our most base fears and aspirations. And this year the illusionists are pulling off their trick once again, congratulating themselves on an undeniably fine crop of intelligent, thought-provoking, handsomely crafted films while preparing to unleash the customary torrent of drivel on audiences deluded into believing that a pair of plastic glasses will make a dud look like a classic.

This year's season of stupidity really kicks into gear in the US in May as successive weekends bring audiences Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hangover 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Green Lantern, Cars 2 and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. By early July any remaining sentient filmgoers will possibly never want to go to the movies again. And we won't have even got to The Smurfs, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World or Final Destination 5.

Proof that all this trickery and chicanery works came last week courtesy of the suits at the Motion Picture Association of America, who announced that global box office takings hit a record high of $31.8bn in 2010. The fact that the number of tickets sold in the US declined by 5% was glossed over by the news that revenues had stayed the same, thanks to the growth of 3D. That's the way the money goes: fewer tickets at higher prices. The situation has not escaped the attention of the critics, who have been mustering their fury and sorrow to unleash a series of attacks on the state of things. The lengthiest diatribe comes in the current US issue of GQ magazine, where film writer Mark Harris rails against the branding of Hollywood studio movies, a trend that prizes brand recognition and marketing over originality.

Yet for decades the studio system has been about the business of entertainment, a subdivision of the leisure industry, rather than the art of film-making. Sometimes there has been a happy, if freak, collision of the two, but generally they are distinct sectors of an occasionally intersecting universe. This year, with the solid, some would say spectacular, showing of the Oscar best picture nominees, many involved in making the sorts of films that critics fear are lost express the hope that the industry has turned a corner.

"I like to think it's turning around," says Gary Gilbert, a producer on The Kids Are All Right, one of this year's best picture nominees. "I think the major studios' priorities are the huge, tentpole films, and they have the attitude that instead of financing the production of independent movies they would prefer to see the finished article at a festival and have the opportunity to buy it."

The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko's lesbian-family-artificial-insemination-reunion drama, is the sort of film that on paper sounds as though it should command the smallest of niche audiences. But it has grossed $29.5m at the US box office after being bought by Focus Features for $4.8m. Not bad for a $4m production budget.

Even getting that budget together was a struggle, says Gilbert: "It was excruciating. It didn't all come together until one or two days before principal photography started. It was very, very shaky ground."

The performance of Cholodenko's film has been repeated, and in some cases surpassed, by the other best film nominees. Most notable is The King's Speech, which, with the help of Harvey Weinstein, has turned its $15m production budget into a global box office take of $237.5m. For perspective, that figure puts The King's Speech at number 340 on the all-time worldwide box-office chart, two places above Saturday Night Fever. Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, made for $13m, has taken $204m worldwide, while The Fighter, with a budget of $25m, has grossed $105.6m. These are indeed heady times in the world of independent film.

For Alix Madigan, a producer of Winter's Bone, another low-budget best picture nominee, which has seen its $2m budget recoup $8m worldwide, this year's crop of films – particularly their financial success – could provoke the studios to re-examine their role.

"These films have paved the road for a greater allowance for adult fare and a branching away from branded entertainment," she says. "It's an exciting time and hopefully the studios will take note of that and steer their development slates more towards the sort of films that have done well this year."

Part of that resurgence was seen at this year's Sundance festival, the Robert Redford-led indie film gathering held each year in the snow of Park City, Utah, which eased the birth of Reservoir Dogs and The Blair Witch Project. After a few years in the doldrums, Sundance 2011 saw a return to, if not the glory years, then a vibrant marketplace. "Films with few stars and complicated stories were being sold for big advances," says Madigan. "That was a very heartening thing, to see because we didn't see it last year."

She cautions, however, that the independent sector has been here before. "The one big hope I have," she says, "is that this is not some big bubble and we all revert to the dark years of independent film."

For GQ's Harris and other critics, one of the Hollywood studio films that took the industry down a path from which it has never recovered was Top Gun, that seemingly inoffensive piece of pap that ushered in the era of the concept movie in 1986, the film genre that boasted a plot that could be summarised in 12 words. The people who grew up on Top Gun, asserts Harris, now run the movie business and their principal interest in a movie is its bottom line, not its aesthetic. "Man, I loved Top Gun," says film distributor Tom Quinn. "What's wrong with Top Gun? But I also loved Black Swan. I can't wait to go on the Black Swan rollercoaster. I can't wait to see what happens a couple of years from now. Will everyone take up dancing? Will suicide rates among young ballerinas go up?"

Quinn is a senior vice-president of Magnolia Pictures, which distributes foreign, documentary and American independent films in the US. You'd expect him to be in a state of anxiety over his business, but he isn't. On the contrary, like many in the US independent sector he is optimistic that new audiences are being drawn to intelligent film-making and that they are finding ways of seeing the films.

"People bemoan the industry, but it hasn't changed," he says. "What is growing is a much younger audience that is more familiar with many more ways to view films." He gives an example: Black Death, a British independent horror movie about the plague starring Sean Bean. It hasn't been released in cinemas in the US yet, but Quinn has put it out on VOD – video on demand streamed over the internet. "We launched it four weeks prior to its theatrical release at the same price as the theatre ticket," he says. "It's taken $1m in less than 10 days."

For Quinn and his company, the business model is that of sport. "If you're a sports fan who follows the local team, you watch them online, you follow them on your phone, you listen to radio commentary in the car. Why can't entertainment be consumed in the same way? There are now 65m homes with VOD. We could never replicate that on 35mm prints. It's changed the economics of our business, and made it feel like a business that can work."

Credit : guardian.co.uk