The Venice Film Festival kicks off today and that's as good as a starting gun: Awards season is here. And thus begins the first edition of this weekly column, which will guide you through the entire thing. READ MORE: 19 Films With the Most Awards Potential Over the next six weeks, Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York (which has supplanted itself as the full-on fourth member of the fall festival Oscar influencers) will offer the first look at dozens of films that may or may not factor into this year's race.