Toronto film festival - a step backwards

I'm going to hold my hands up and apologise. When I last posted about the Toronto Film Festival I indicated that the festival is terribly important when it comes to the oscar race. I still submit it is relevant but it's not as vital as I may have led you to believe. Yes, in 2007 four of the eventual Best Pic nominees showed at Toronto, but in the five years previous to that there hadn't been more than 2.

This year I wouldn't be surprised if just one of the eventual nominees came from Toronto. If we were to look at the films most prognoticators are bigging up right now they are mostly notable by their absence from the festival circuit; Australia, Body of Lies, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Milk, Revolutionary Road, The Road, The Soloist,The Changeling - although this is showing at New York and Venice. The Dark Knight and Wall-E have both already been released. It's only Miracle at St. Anna and the extreme longshot Blindness that have Toronto showings.

I guess we should make a space in our predictions for Spike Lee's latest joint.

Let me know what you think - will there be any Oscar noms coming from Toronto? Or is it almost an irrelevance.

Have i missed any major contenders (either showing at Toronto or not)?