The Circuit

It's pretty brave these days to introduce yet another award.  But sure enough, tonight arrives a late-in-the-day press release from Santa Barbara fest, announcing the creation of the Virtuoso Awards, to be given out to (who else) young Oscar nom hopefuls Casey Affleck, Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy, Ellen Page, and Amy Ryan. 

Suspiciously on the heels of Palm Springs' latest announcement, it's just the kind of thing that pricks a journalist's ears.  As I mentioned in a weekly feature, it's no news that fests compete with each other.  But it's something else to see it in action at the news desk.  The dueling announcements from these two fests are as seasonally predictable as the leaves turning red -- 

1. PS lunges with Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, and Marion Cotillard. 
2. SB parries with Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones (and a throw-in for indie street cred, Ryan Gosling). 
3. PS lashes back with Jerry Weintraub and Daniel Day-Lewis. 
4. There was this strange moment where they shot at each other. 
5. PS got a hyphenate with Helen Hunt. 

And then it arrives, by mail no less - a quad-folded, glossy brochure from Palm Springs, packed with 13-plus celeb-heads and a choice LA Times quote stretched across its length:

"A huge, glittering affair, the Palm Springs International Film Festival has burst into a serious A-list star scene."

Take that, SB!  

And who’s winning so far?  If you're counting, it's Marion Cotillard.