A NOTE FROM SCOTT With the 82nd Venice, 52nd Telluride and 50th Toronto film festivals and the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards now in the rearview mirror, the focus of the awards-industrial complex — journalists, publicists and talent — has shifted fully to the race to the 98th Oscars.

Since our last check-in, Chloé Zhao ’s Hamnet (Focus) solidified its frontrunner status by winning Toronto’s audience award , with Frankenstein and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (both Netflix) placing second and third, respectively. Toronto’s audience award is often predictive of best picture Oscar traction — Chariots of Fire , American Beauty , Slumdog Millionaire , The King’s Speech , 12 Years a Slave , Green Book and Zhao’s 2020 film Nomadland all won the former and went on

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