The glamour, gossip, competition, and general hoopla surrounding the Oscars distract from the core idea of the awards: to recognize artistic achievement by directors, actors, screenwriters, production designers, composers, and other craftspeople. Moving Image Source offers its own perspective on this year's Academy Awards nominees with original material published in the past year, including in-depth critical writing on nominated films and filmmakers, and exclusive interviews with nominees including production designer Rick Carter, actors Jeff Bridges and Stanley Tucci, animator Pete Docter, and documentary filmmakers Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser.

Avatar is nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Achievement in Directing for James Cameron, and Best Art Direction for Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair. Rick Carter was recently interviewed by David Schwartz for Moving Image Source:

"When I first read the script, the thing that I picked up on primarily was that it was like The Wizard of Oz meeting Apocalypse Now....We had things on Earth, then we went to Oz. But as you went deeper into Oz and met the guides, you not only met the Navi, but then you met their whole world of bioluminescence, which Jim described as phantasmagoric, a dream state. I think one of the things that the movie achieves is a sense of going in and out of a dream state, until the dream state wins. It's a hybrid movie in both form and content. It's a partially photographed, digitally photographed, live-action movie. Your sympathies and your empathies shift over the course of the movie, with the main character. It is like going to Oz, coming back and forth, until finally, Oz takes over..."

Read the rest of the interview: Best of Both Worlds: Production designer Rick Carter on the dream states of Avatar

Crazy Heart is nominated for three Oscars, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Jeff Bridges. To read Leah Churner's essay on country music in the movies, click here.

Bridges and the director of the film, Scott Cooper, spoke after a special Museum of the Moving Image screening. To listen to the interview, click here.

Up is nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen for writter/director Pete Docter. He spoke at a Museum of the Moving Image event following a preview screening of Up. To listen to the interview, click here.

Coraline is nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. Henry Selick, the writer-director, offered an in-depth, intimate look at his early days and his career as an animator in two programs presented by Museum of the Moving Image. To listen to the interview, click here.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is nominated for two Oscars, including Best Animated Feature Film for Wes Anderson. Last year, Moving Image Source published a series of video essays on the director.

Watch the videos: The Substance of Style: A video series on Wes Anderson and his influences, by Matt Zoller Seitz

A Serious Man is nominated for two Oscars, including Best Picture. Its composer, Carter Burwell, was recently interviewed by David Schwartz for Moving Image Source:

"Joel and Ethan had no suggestion about what the score should be. They just said, 'Well, this is what you've got. You've got Jefferson Airplane and F Troop and Sidor Belarsky.'"

Read the rest of the interview: Behind the Music: Composer Carter Burwell on his creative process and his favorite scores

Invictus is nominated for two Oscars, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Morgan Freeman. Moving Image Source published a series of articles and video essays on the director Clint Eastwood, who was honored at the Museum of the Moving Image 2009 Salute.

Kingdom of the Blind Pt 1: Revenge missions in the films of Clint Eastwood by Matt Zoller Seitz

Kingdom of the Blind Pt 2: Revenge missions in the films of Clint Eastwood by Matt Zoller Seitz

Double Feature: The fragility of innocence in Clint Eastwood's Changeling and Gran Torino by Chris Fujiwara

A Free Man: The tough questions of Clint Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart by Jonathan Rosenbaum

Food, Inc. is nominated for Best Feature Documentary. The Museum of the Moving Image presented the New York premiere, followed by a discussion with Eric Schlosser, whose bestseller Fast Food Nation inspired the film; Robert Kenner, the director; Alice Waters, the renowned chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California; Gary Hirshberg, the president of Stonyfield Farm, the world's leading organic yogurt producer; and Marcel Van Ooyen, the executive director of the Council on the Environment of New York City, which runs nearly 50 greenmarkets.

Julie & Julia is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for Meryl Streep.

"One watches Julie & Julia wishing for more of Julia (played by Meryl Streep) and realizing just how compelling a personality she was in her very zaniness and vital exuberance."

Read the rest of this article: Television That Tastes Good: The generous pedagogy of Julia Child and The French Chef by Dana Polan

The Lovely Bones is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Stanley Tucci.

In this informal conversation from 2008, Tucci discussed his art and craft with some friends.

Bright Star is nominated for Best Costume Design.

"Fanny is always a vision: resplendent in red Regency top hat and yellow feathers, or modeling her self-designed 'triple-pleated mushroom collar' (the first of its kind in Hampstead!). She is conspicuous, and therefore problematic, as is typically the case with Campion's women."

Read the rest of this article: Inconvenient Women: Fanny Brawne, Bright Star, and Jane Campion's conspicuous heroines by Jessica Winter

To hear the director, Jane Campion, speak after a preview screening for the Museum of the Moving Image, click here.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is nominated for two Oscars, including Best Art Direction.

The director, Terry Gilliam, discussed the unique adventure of making this movie, following a Museum of the Moving Image preview screening. To listen to the interview, click here.