Slumdog moves into pole position

Monday, January 26: Danny Boyle's low-budget drama Slumdog Millionaire (see trailer below) has become the frontrunner to win the 2009 best film Oscar after being picked as film of the year by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) at its annual awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday. The fact that its young cast -including Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor and Freida Pinto (pictured) - went on to win top prize at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday didn't do its Oscar chances any harm either.

The PGA title is considered a genuine indicator of Oscar success because many of the 3,000 PGA members also vote on the Oscars for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. No Country for Old Men won the PGA title last year before going on to win the Oscar best film.

The PGA only rewards producers, so it was Slumdog's Christian Colson who claimed the Daryl F Zanuck award for producer of the year. Other awards went to the producers of Wall-E (best animated film) and Man on Wire (best documentary). In the TV categories, Mad Men was voted best drama and 30 Rock best comedy.

Slumdog Millionaire's closest rival for best film Oscar on February 22 is thought to be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt. Bookies are heavily favouring Slumdog, and one Academy voter contacted by The First Post suggested that, despite Slumdog's violent content, which has surprised some cinema-goers expecting a classic feel-good movie, the beautifully shot film - on location in Mumbai - is a near-cert.

At Sunday's SAG ceremony, Kate Winslet repeated her Golden Globes success by winning the best supporting actress award for The Reader. Meryl Streep won best actress for Doubt, Sean Penn won best actor for Milk and the best supporting actor award went posthumously to Heath Ledger for his portrayal of the Joker in the Batman movie, The Dark Knight.

They were also handing out awards this weekend at the Sundance film festival in Utah. The 1980s Harlem drama Push, featuring the singer Mariah Carey and the comedienne Mo'Nique, won both the US cinema grand jury and audience awards.

The British film, An Education, written by Nick Hornby from a short memoir by the journalist Lynn Barber, won the world cinema audience award. It stars Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina and, as reported on The First Post last week, appears set to make a star of the young British actress Carey Mulligan. She plays a 16-year-old schoolgirl who falls for an older man.

LAST UPDATED 7:19 AM, JANUARY 26, 2009