Gamblers have taken to the Oscars in recent years with a dedication more suited to Las Vegas than Hollywood, and the odds-makers are quick to capitalise on the popularity of the event. So what exactly are the odds on this year’s awards?

Jeff Bridges is the firm favourite to take home the best actor Oscar, so favoured in fact that in order to win just $1 you will need to lay-out $6. In betting parlance, Bridges is a lock. This also means that there will be significantly better returns for betting on an outsider in this category, with George Clooney always a good option. His Up In The Air role of frequent flyer could provide a bonus at 13-1 odds, although Jeremy Renner from The Hurt Locker is closer to 28-1.

However, favouritism does not guarantee success at the Oscars, particularly when there are two strong candidates dominating the event. The Hurt Locker is favoured by most to take home a string of awards but Avatar remains the evening’s dark horse. These two are neck-and-neck in the best movie award, although Kathryn Bigelow remains well ahead of James Cameron in the best director gambling.

Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock appear to be engaged in the Academy’s other two-horse race for best actress, for The Blind Side and Julie & Julia respectively.

During his illustrious career, he also was a film critic, screenwriter, journalist, novelist and teacher. He was considered to be a important contributor to the post-war New Wave cinema. His work as a journalist had brought him to occupy the position of editor of French film journal Cahiers du Cinema from 1957 to 1963.

Rohmer made a total 24 motion pictures during a period of 50 years

Rohmer, born Maurice Scherer, was the director of the well respected Tales of Four Seasons.

His most acclaimed works include the string of films Six Moral Tales. My Night at Maud’s, the third in the series and filmed in 1969, propelled him to international fame.

Rohmer’s style was known to be almost completely devoid of action, with lengthy conversations between young, middle-class protagonists.

Born in Nancy, France, in 1920, Rohmer began as a literature professor, and extensively used his love of literary works in his film through out his film career.

In 1946, he published his novel, Elisabeth, under the pseudonym Gilbert Cordier.

He released his last film, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon, in 2007 at the Venice film festival.

Cinematon was initiated in 1978 and is made up of a series of three-and-a half minute clips from artists, philosophers, celebrities and journalists, as well as children.

Gerard Courant, the film’s author, said he originally wanted to record the thoughts of his artist friends.

For precisely three minutes and 25 seconds, people were encouraged to do as they please while the camera was rolling.

The movie, which is an ongoing cinematic project, is scheduled for a screening in Avignon later this month as well as one in Paris in January.

Featured in Cinematon include personalities such as film director Ken Loach, chess grandmaster Joel Lautier, actors Samuel Fuller and Roberto Benigni and former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam.

Courant filmed Gilliam in 1985 after a chance encounter at the Deauville film festival in France.

The film director reminisced of Terry Gilliam appearance in his film with reporters, saying the actor had used his 3 minutes and 25 seconds wisely. He started off at one of the cameras, then arrived into the shot. He had fun with the frame, entering and exiting, and even made a little ball of a 100 Franc note and ate it.

Courant said Gilliam never stopped fooling around with the square, and was excellent at keeping sight of the frame’s limit. Courant said the former Monty Python made a true sketch of his three minutes and 25 seconds.

The original plan was to make a film comprising of 100 short portraits which would be edited together for his project, but the idea proved so popular that he never stopped filming.

The production of the English-language £90 million movie endeavour is scheduled to begin in 2011, with Barrie Osborne at the elm, recently reported a Qatari media company called Almoor Holdings.

Almoor Holdings claimed that the movie, in which the Prophet Mohammed would not be portrayed, thus respecting the Islamic strictures, was in pre-production mode and discussions were being fostered between talent agencies, studios and distributors in both Britain and the United States.

Mr Osborne explained to reporters that this cinema project would become an international culture-bringing epic production.

He added that the film would provide information about the real meaning of Islam.

On October 31, Almoor Holdings started a international film fund worth £120 million as an investment for movie projects to counteract the reduced financings stemming from the financial crisis and has plans for Hollywood endeavours.

The company added that it desired the work with best international talent to contribute in the film project.

By setting up shop this year, Almoor wants to focus on international motion picture productions, Arabic productions and animation films and is positioning itself to take advantage of economic opportunities in the entertainment sector.

Known to be the world’s greatest exporter of liquefied natural gas, Qatar wants to transform itself into a real cultural hub in the Arabic Peninsula. The first Tribeca Doha Film Festival was held earlier this week and attended by regional and international stars, filmmakers, agents and film distributors.

Several thousands of Jackson fans stayed up late, got up in the middle of night and took a day off from work to witness the global premiere of This is It, the film produced from 100 hours of video footage taped at rehearsals for the failed London series of concerts.

To see the film in Los Angeles, hundreds of fans lined up at the steps of the Nokia theatre, the venue used for several Jackson rehearsals as well as his memorial.

Across the Pond, hoards more came together at Leicester Square, in London, while countless more fans from Australia to Brazil watched the event live vie the web.

Screenings were carried out in other cities including Johannesburg, Seoul, and Berlin before its formal launch on Wednesday.

The A-list movie actor Will Smith and the performer Jennifer Lopez accompanied Michael’s brothers in LA, but the rest of his family, including his three children, his sisters and mother were not spotted at the event.

Brother Jermaine said to journalists that the public will witness preparations to one of the greatest shows in history. But Jermaine also admitted that Michael was not at 100 per cent during the documentary shoots.

An enthusiastic Jackson is shown in the film meticulously crafting his steps and singing some of his most famous tracks for the 50 planned gigs which had been scheduled for the O2 Arena in London last July.

Music distributor Sony claimed that the film matinees for Wednesday had already outdone the movie for the initial evening screenings. Sony disbursed $60 million for global rights to the documentary.

Worldwide box office estimates for the two-week run of ‘This Is It’ vary between US$100 million to US$600 million.

The 15 day big screen extravaganza is scheduled to take place in several locations across the capital, featuring talent from the UK as well as internationally recognised film talent.

The London Film Festival this year showcases 191 features and 113 short films at 17 different venues.

Thanks to a nearly £2m of Lottery funding, this year’s edition is financially supported by its long-time contributor the UK Film Council.

Festival programmer Michael Hayden said the injection of funds has given organisers the chance to grow the festival.

He added that the extra money gives the Festival the opportunity to host awards and gala screenings plus it boosts the efforts of the event to make it the festival of festivals.

During past editions, small imaginative and innovative prizes had been awarded to film makers, but the funds from the Lottery will ensure for the first time that the festival will close in grand style with a proper award ceremony.

The festival opens with the world premiere of ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ , the Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s.

Other notable film not to miss this year is ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’, a comedy about the American military, starring George Clooney, Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor.

Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit is celbrated this year to mark the animation series’ 20th anniversary. Also, Trafalgar Square is set to present a string of free screenings of short films.

London film buffs will have the opportunity to rub shoulders with some Hollywood royalty, as Julianne Moore and Clive Owen are scheduled to hold public question and answer sessions at the BFI on the Southbank.

Previous editions of the festival had struggled to sell all the tickets to screenings but organisers are hoping with the increase in theatres and extra money support, its interesting mix of world cinema will pull in record audiences.

Toronto’s Cuppa Coffee Studios are planning to create a series of 20 episodes of a show titled Gordon Ramsay, At Your Service, according to media reports.

Cuppa Coffee Studios contacted the British celebrity chef, notorious for his hair-trigger temper, with the project and he immediately jumped for it.

President of Cuppa Coffee Adam Shaheen said via a release that the show will consist of a half-hour comedy skit taking the essence of who Ramsay is and have some fun with it.

Gordon Ramsay, who has already garnished an important TV experience starring in cooking shows Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen, is preceded by a reputation of frequently using profanity-laden insults.

Shaheen is currently attempting to workout TV deals with international broadcasters and will also try to sell the show at MIPCOM, an international television and film marketing convention, scheduled for Cannes between October 5 and 9.

In America, the documentary has been accounting for 80% of all online ticket booking service transactions following its launch date on Sunday.

The demand has eclipsed the numbers for other major upcoming big budget cinematic projects such as The Twilight  Saga: New Moon, staring Robert Pattinson.

Movie theatres in the US have already sold out all of their allocated tickets for the documentary, which is scheduled for release on October 28.

Sony Pictures  has claimed that the historic demand for the Jackson movie tickets had also been experienced around the world.

In the UK, Vue Cinemas claimed they had sold an excess of 30,000 tickets only during the first day of sale and that the present trend indicated no sign of slowing down.

Directed by Jackson dance choreographer Kenny Ortega, This Is It has been put together using over 100 hours of behind-the-scenes video footage of the mega star as he practiced his various songs and routines for his planned comeback shows at the O2 in London.

The film is scheduled for general release in two weeks.

Director of The Wrestler, Darren Aronofsky, will co-produce and direct the movie which will feature the 2006 armed robbery at Kent’s Securitas Depot which yielded £53m in cold hard cash.

The Securitas depot robbery took place in the night of 22 February 2006, between 01:00 and 02:15 AM, an operation which was responsible for the theft of the largest sum of cash in Britain’s crime history.

During the heist, a further £153m had to be left behind as the getaway van proved to be too small.

Subsequently, some of the money was recovered through various police operations and five individuals were charged and jailed for their part in the robbery, during which the manager of the depot as well as his family had been kidnapped and held at gunpoint.

In a partnership involving XYZ Films and Time, the cinematic feature will stem from Howard Sounes’ book Heist: The Inside Story of the World’s Biggest Robbery.

The movie will also be based on adaptations of articles published in Time.

Last year, Aronofsky’s The Wrestler set the stage for Mickey Rourke’s Oscar win for best actor for his role as Randy “The Ram” Robinson.

Writers have returned to the original books authored by AA Milne and are basing the new movie on five never released on film Pooh tales which will be stitched together for the new animated feature production.

Disney-Pixar’s chief creative officer John Lasseter said Winnie the Pooh has already been one of his favourite comic book characters. He claimed that people viewed Winnie the Pooh as being only for little kids but two recent screenings of Disney of Pooh films made a theatre full of adults laugh hysterically.

Lasseter claimed the artistic team will remain faithful to previous films by using only water-colour backgrounds and Burny Mattinson, who previously authored on Pooh movies, would be the lead story artist.

The news was announced in London to Disney staff and reporters and there was an old-school style as Lasseter talked about Disney-Pixar’s upcoming project. The initial 30 minutes of Disney’s first hand-designed animation film in five years, The Princess and the Frog, was screened as a finale to the presentation.

But of course most of what Disney-Pixar creates will be computer-animated and 3D. Toy Story 3 will tell the tale of Andy, as he is sets out for college and has to pack all of his old toys.

There will also be a sequel to Cars in which the characters voyage to Europe, speed down Germany’s autobahns, get stuck in roundabouts in France and drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road in the UK.