REPORT: The countdown to a glittering Oscar ceremony begins

In its 85th edition, the prestigious Oscars ceremony will enter history on Sunday, according to British newspaper The Guardian, with the very first nomination of the Palestinian documentary film, “5 broken cameras” for Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat.          

This documentary competes with an Israeli documentary entitled “Gatekeeper” which features interviews, rather confession sessions, with former chiefs of Israel’s internal security service.    

"Beasts of the Southern Wild", nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture, is one the most unlikely contenders ever for Hollywood's top honors.           

Produced for just $1.5 million by a collective of first-time filmmakers who bunked in a fishing shack during the shooting, it is considered a long-shot to win the top Oscar, but it has already set a new standard for thrifty filmmaking in an industry that routinely spends 100 times more for a major picture.        

The film, set in the swamps of Louisiana near New Orleans, portrays the fierce pride and intimate, if dysfunctional, culture of a community on the furthest margins of society.          

The stars are a hard-drinking father and his young daughter, played by the now nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, whose performance made her the youngest-ever Best Actress nominee.        

Steven Spielberg's presidential movie "Lincoln" heads into Sunday's ceremony with a leading 12 nominations, followed by Ang Lee's shipwreck tale "Life of Pi" with 11, French Revolutionary musical "Les Miserables" and romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" with eight apiece, and Iran hostage drama "Argo" with seven.    
     
All five are competing for Best Picture, the top prize, in a tight race that has narrowed in recent weeks to "Lincoln" or "Argo" and will be the last to be announced on Sunday night.           

Producers of the three-hour Oscar telecast at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre are promising a faster-paced show and more face time with first-time host Seth MacFarlane, while honoring the best films not just of 2012 but also of decades past.          

The Oscar winners are chosen by some 5,800 movie industry professionals who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.        

The Academy Awards ceremony, in its 85th year, will be broadcast live on ABC television in the United States, and to more than 225 other nations.

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REUTERS/LBCI