Oscars 2016: 8 Awards Contenders To Look Out For At The London Film Festival

7. Carol

What Could It Win? Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Haynes), Best Actress (Mara or Blanchett), Several Technicals (Costume, Production Design) Biggest Hope: Best Actress (Blanchett) Because she's a two-time Oscar winner, so much of the hype around Carol centres on Cate Blanchett as the titular New York socialite, but it was actually Rooney Mara, as her younger love interest Terese, who bagged the coveted Best Actress award at Cannes (alongside Emmanuelle Bercot for My King), where the film made its premiere. Cannes is never the best festival to base Oscar hype on (Toronto, or indeed London, are better barometers), but Carol's incredibly strong reception still makes it a pretty strong favourite. Who gets the actress nom from the Academy will depend on who the Weinstein's choose to push (Blanchett is certainly the more showy, edging her ahead), but that's far from the only awards hope for Carol. Todd Haynes' direction, the requisite technical awards and, of course, Best Picture, all look like pretty fair nominations.