Today marks the opening of the 31st Annual Toronto International Film Festival, which I will be covering for In Contention.

Every year, some films open here and fall flat while others start their expected Oscar campaigns. Still more start their runs out of nowhere. This is the hour when some films rise up, others fail and Oscar procrastinators are challenged with separating hype from reality. The technical races are no different from the so-called “major” races in this regard.

So let’s look at what I consider to be the ten biggest question marks of this year’s festival.

1. What is the fate of “All the King’s Men?”

This is possibly the biggest question mark of the festival. Despite having a star-studded cast and being the adaptation (by an Oscar winner) of a prestigious book, Steven Zaillian’s “All the King’s Men” has been significantly delayed and was rumored to have suffered a troubled shoot. That said, Sean Penn certainly seems to be reaching for Oscar in the trailer (it’s a role the Academy would eat up if the film is good), and two of Penn’s co-stars, Jude Law and Kate Winslet, will have other high-profile Oscar releases that could certainly help.