Last week we reported that Fox Searchlight had picked up The Surrogate, Ben Lewin's study of disabled poet Mark O'Brien, at the Sundance Film Festival. The Surrogatewent on to take the audience award at the Utah event. We haven't seen the picture. We haven't talked to anybody who has. But, noting the subject matter, we hereby predict that, this time next year, John Hawkes will be cradling an Oscar nomination for his lead performance.

Meanwhile, showing out of competition at Sundance, James Marsh's Shadow Dancer, a tale of the Troubles starring Andrea Riseborough and Clive Owen, received extremely positive reviews.