It’s becoming clear my idea of the perfect job trawling the world attending film festivals would be more exhausting than I initially imagined. As soon as one festival closes another opens, and while a number of the same films have dominated since the Cannes Film Festival earlier in the year the list of Oscar contenders continues to lengthen.

By now a list of must-see films should include at the very least Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Descendants, A Dangerous Method, Carnage, Melancholia and Shame. The Oscar campaigns really heat up over the next few months but one race is already showing signs of stiff competition; Best Actress.

While the industry (the female contingent anyway) often bemoans the lack of good roles for women, this year commentators can’t stop talking about the ladies and their extraordinary performances. Kirsten Dunst in Melancholia, Kate Winslet in Carnage, Keira Knightley in A   Dangerous Method, Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn, and the Olsen twins younger sibling Elizabeth Olsen in Martha Marcy May Marlene, have all got the Oscar pundits talking. And let’s not forget a few of the old pros; Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs (about a woman living as a male waiter in male-dominated 19th Century Ireland) and Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady (yes, a biopic of the one and only, Margaret Thatcher).

Toronto International Film Festival this year gave its planned title the boot, preferring to call 2011 “The Year of the Woman” in recognition of the strong contingent of female directors who are showing their work. Sarah Polley with Take This Waltz, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, and Tanya Wexler’s Hysteria have all been critically acclaimed. Madonna may not be accompanied by as much critical praise, but as the director of W.E, (the evocative take on the King Edward VIII/Wallis Simpson affair) she has certainly brought plenty of star power to the festival circuit this year.

The New York film Festival closed on Sunday evening with a screening of Alexander Paynes’ The Descendants, staring George Clooney, and the surprise announcement that Richard Pena, The Film Society of Lincoln Center Program Director and head of the NYFF selection panel, would be stepping down after 25 years at the end of 2012’s 50^th NYFF.

That wasn’t the only piece of news to catch the mainstream media’s attention; George Clooney stole the show on closing night, debuting his new girlfriend, actress and former WWE wrestler Stacy Keibler, on the red carpet. Now that’s the way to promote your new film, and just in time for its screenings this week at the 55^th BFI London Film Festival.