The Awards Season Starts for Movies Quvenzhané Wallis at the Gotham Independent Film Awards. At 2:30 p.m. on a normal Monday, Quvenzhané Wallis would be in math class, or reading. But this past Monday, Ms. Wallis, the 9-year-old star of "Beasts of the Southern Wild," was in the private dining room of an elegant Upper East Side restaurant, twirling around in her glittery black-bow flats. She'd had a few bites from a plate of plain pasta and then was taken to meet the host of the lunch, the director and artist Julian Schnabel. They posed for a photo: he in his trademark pajamas, she in her party dress. A few hours later Ms. Wallis was posing again, on a red carpet at the Gotham Independent Film Awards. She worked the press line with Benh Zeitlin, the 30-year-old director of "Beasts," expertly answering questions about the journey of this low-budget movie from the bayou where it was shot to the Sundance Film Festival to the Hollywood big time. Clad in another twirly number Ms. Wallis has adopted some aspects of movie-star professionalism (another film is already in the can), but she doesn't yet have a wardrobe stylist for her dresses. "My mom picks them out," she explained. I just dance in them. "Beasts of the Southern Wild," the fantastical story of a little girl, her domineering father and the water-bound community that both protects and endangers them, picked up two prizes at the Gothams, both collected by Mr. Zeitlin, a first-time feature filmmaker based in New Orleans. On Tuesday the film earned more nominations from the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the West Coast answer to the Gothams. In between there were daylong interview sessions followed by evenings of professional hobnobbing masquerading as fun. Toward the end of a party that Fox Searchlight, the studio distributing "Beasts," gave on Tuesday, Ms. Wallis did pull a publicist away to dance in a corner. It's the start of what will be a surreal few months for the tight-knit young "Beasts" crew members, as they traverse a glittery world of handlers, studio bosses and awards-season experts, all eager to translate the love for this handmade indie film into a slew of shiny Academy Awards, to be handed down on Feb. 24. This year's Oscar race is already setting itself apart with its pronounced best-picture factionalism. There are ardent fans of "Lincoln," like my colleague A. O. Scott, whose review called Steven Spielberg's take "a rough and noble democratic masterpiece"; others call it boring. "Argo," Ben Affleck's rollicking Hollywood-true story of a rescue during the Iranian hostage crisis, has earned good will, but how will it hold up against "Zero Dark Thirty," another factual geopolitical thriller but one that's grittier? That eagerly awaited film, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, comes courtesy of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, who made the Oscar-winning "Hurt Locker." All three films tackle serious subjects with visual savvy and finely wrought performances. Also, notable facial hair. Traditionally, though, some Oscar voters and certainly many moviegoers prefer feel-good stories with a twist, which has made David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook," a sharp comedy about unstable souls finding peace, a favorite. "Life of Pi," Ang Lee's adaptation of the best-selling parable about a boy, a boat and a tiger, could also count in that category. Then there is "Beasts," with its nonprofessional cast and rough-hewed look. At the opposite end of the spectrum is "Les Misérables," a big-budget production with a built-in fan base, a host of big-name stars (Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe), and a director, Tom Hooper, with a gilded track record ("The King's Speech"). Add in wild cards like "The Master," Paul Thomas Anderson's latest auteurism; "Flight," anchored by Denzel Washington's bravura performance as an alcoholic pilot; and "Moonrise Kingdom," Wes Anderson's biggest box-office and sweetest tale yet. The contenders add up to a stylistic and conceptual mix that for people like me, in the trenches of daily Oscar coverage in my role as the Carpetbagger, makes this season one of the most exciting in recent memory. As yet there is no "Artist"- or "King's Speech"-style groundswell, no narrative that pits a lean "Hurt Locker" against an ambitious "Avatar." Instead, with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the governing body that hands out the statuettes, allowing as many as 10 best picture nominees, there is a shortlist of at least a half-dozen front-runners - also good news for fans who love to argue the choices, and for theater owners who can program them. As veteran prognosticators put it - with a sadly cynical note of surprise - there are just a lot of good movies this year. The Academy has also decided to keep things interesting by, yet again, changing the procedure on its nearly 6,000 voting members. It has moved up the nominations process by two weeks, resulting in a pileup of screening parties and Q.-and-A. sessions, as studios rush to get their films and stars in front of potential voters. For Oscar hopefuls this means a breakneck schedule of appearances. Ms. Wallis, Mr. Zeitlin and other Beasties were off to Los Angeles by midweek to repeat the circuit of red carpets and earnest congratulations. So far they are still keeping things real. "They didn't really give us the same sort of handling that you probably normally get," Mr. Zeitlin said, over a drink - a free drink, he noted gleefully - at the Fox party on Tuesday. Because I think the strength of what people like about the movie is that it is from this other place, and it is different. "We were never able to pitch the film or spin it in any way," he added. "When we financed the film and when we made it, we said, "We're going to be ourselves, and we're going to bet on the movie." "