NYC Oscars Fans First to Glimpse this Year's Best Actress Statuette

Oscar fans in New York will be first in line to see the actual Oscar statuette to be presented to the Best Actress winner at the 82nd Academy Awards® on Sunday, March 7. The statuette will be part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Meet the Oscars®, New York," presented by Kodak, at The Shops at Columbus Circle at Time Warner Center. The exhibition will open Thursday, February 25, and run through Sunday, March 7. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.

"Meet the Oscars, New York" also will give movie fans the opportunity to have their picture taken holding an actual Oscar statuette. "Kodak is proud to partner with the Academy and to help bring the excitement of the Oscars directly to the movie-loving audience," said Kim Snyder, president and general manager of Kodak's Entertainment Imaging Group Division. "This partnership is natural fit for Kodak and a great way to celebrate Kodak's and the Academy's shared history in filmmaking."

The exhibition will feature a display of Oscars in various stages of completion, as manufactured by R.S. Owens & Company in Chicago. Also on display will be the miniature statuette that actress Judy Garland received for her screen performance as a juvenile in 1939, and the Scientific and Technical Award - an Oscar statuette - presented to the Eastman Kodak Company in 2007 "for the development of photographic emulsion technologies incorporated into the Kodak Vision2 family of color negative films."

On Friday, March 5, the statuette designated for this year's Best Actress will make its way back to Hollywood where it will be reunited with the rest of the Oscars to be presented on Sunday, March 7.

Oscar fans in Chicago will also have the opportunity to see an Oscar firsthand at "Meet the Oscars, Chicago," at The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue. "Meet the Oscars, Chicago" also will be open from Thursday, February 25, through Sunday, March 7.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.