Studio 23 Airs the 85th Academy awards via satellite

CEBU, Philippines - The race for the Oscars intensifies with all the forecasts and predictions.  And the winners of the highly-anticipated 85th Academy Awards will finally be revealed this Monday (Feb 25) in the awards ceremony to be held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California. Watch its via satellite airing on Philippine free-to-air TV, 11 AM-2PM, on Studio 23.

Hosted by “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, this year’s Academy Awards created much buzz online after netizens talk about the chances of early bets bringing home the shiny, gold-plated Oscar statuette. 

Will Anne Hathaway win Best Supporting Actress for “Les Miserables?” Will Ben Affleck feel vindicated after being snubbed for the Best Director category if and when his movie “Argo” takes home the Best Picture Award? Or will Kathryn Bigelow, who was also shut out by the Academy for best director, have the last laugh if and when her Best Picture nominated film “Zero Dark Thirty” wins an Oscar?

Still the force to reckon with this year is Steven Spielberg’s civil war saga, “Lincoln,” leading the pack with 12 nominations, including best picture, best director and acting nods for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. It is followed by the heartwarming story about a shipwreck survivor and a tiger in the “Life of Pi,” with eleven nods and eight each for musical “Les Miserables” and romantic comedy “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Other nominees for the coveted Best Picture award include old-age love story “Amour”; the independent hit “Beasts of the Southern Wild”; the epic western film “Django Unchained”; “Les Miserables”; “Life of Pi”; “Silver Linings Playbook”; and the historical drama film about the greatest manhunt on the world’s most dangerous man, “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Meanwhile,  Daniel Day Lewis (“Lincoln”); Denzel Washington (“Flight”), Hugh Jackman (“Les Miserables”), Bradley Cooper (“Silver Linings Playbook”), and Joaquin Phoenix (“The Master”) battle it out for the Best Actor honor, while Naomi Watt (“The Impossible”), Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”), Quvenzhané Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) compete for Best Actress.

The controversial race for the Best Director category is a toss-up among director David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”); Ang Lee (“Life of Pi”); Steven Spielberg (“Lincoln”); Michael Haneke (“Amour”); and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”).

Watch the 85th Academy Awards via satellite this Monday (Feb 25), 11 AM to 2 PM on Studio 23. (FREEMAN)