Though the summer movie-going season has come to an end, the best and busiest time of the year for Hollywood is just upon us with the arrival of the 76th Venice International Film Festival, followed by its Telluride, Toronto, and New York counterparts.

The world's oldest film festival, which concluded on Saturday in the Italian city of Venice, unveiled seven prestigious cinematic honors including the Golden Lion. Dubbed as the festival's top laureate, the Golden Lion was bagged by "Joker," signalling the official start of awards season, which will culminate at the upcoming February's Academy Awards.

At this year's Oscars, three Best Picture nominees made Venice bows and all three pocketed prizes in various categories. 

Among them is last year's Golden Lion winner – Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's black-and-white biographic "Roma," which went on to take home three Oscars, including Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film.

The festival this year was no different. For more than 10 days, it has seen the world premieres of many high profile awards contenders, featuring plenty of star power, from Noah Baumbach's latest drama "Marriage Story" starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, to Joaquin Phoenix vehicle "Joker."

Here are some of the highlights from one of the world's greatest film gatherings.

Will the super villain continue to make history?

The Batman villain standalone film "Joker" unquestionably is a milestone as it is the first big superhero movie to get a prime spot at a major film festival, and also the first to win the Golden Lion.

Todd Phillips' villainous epic debuted in competition at the prestigious film festival, receiving an eight-minute standing ovation after its premiere.

Its early reviews were mostly raves for Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Arthur Fleck, a miserable and mentally troubled man who then turned into the clown-faced desperado.

Phoenix's interpretation of the iconic and complicated role is also generating "awards talk" with many expecting him to be headed for the Oscar glory.

Venice festival director Alberto Barbera further stoked the awards buzz, saying that the comic adaptation is headed "straight to the Oscars."

Currently, the critical response to the film is overwhelmingly positive. It enjoys an average rating of 8.66 out of 10 points on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 9.6 on IMDb. 

On China's popular film rating and review site Douban.com, it garnered an extremely high score of 9.3.

The traditional season of superhero films seemingly has come to a close; however, for the DC and Warner Bros' release, the adventurous journey to the Oscars has just began.

Read more: Villain in Venice: Joaquin Phoenix goes from tragic to comic in 'Joker'

Controversial Polanski honored

It might be the biggest surprise that the runner-up Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Roman Polanski's "An Officer and a Spy," a dramatization of the notorious Dreyfus affair.

The controversial director, who fled to the U.S. back in 1978 after pleading guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, was not in attendance to accept the award, which was received on his behalf by his wife Emmanuelle Seigner.

The festival has come under fire with the inclusion of Polanski's new piece in its lineup. His win sparked further fury with some saying that they were shocked by the outcome.

The president of the Venice jury Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel, who refused to attend the film's red carpet premiere and clarified that she would keep an open mind while viewing it, boycotted a gala dinner for the French-Polish auteur.

Read more: Roman Polanski's Dreyfus affair film premieres at Venice amid controversy

'Well-deserved recognition of extraordinary career'

The winner of the Golden Lion had not been decided until the final evening. Two filmmakers, however, had been chosen as the winner of the prize for a long and illustrious career by the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia earlier.

The Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and British actress Julie Andrews were honored with the honorary awards for their lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival.

Almodovar's new work, which observes his reunion with veteran actors Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, is hailed by IndieWire as the filmmaker's "best and most personal movie in years."

Winning Banderas the Best Actor prize at this year's Cannes, the film is continuing its Oscars campaign in full with screenings at TIFF and NYFF.

The 83-year-old British actress, who once won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the beloved nanny in "Mary Poppins" in 1965, kissed the trophy, saying that "I consider myself so blessed to have spent a large part of my professional life in the cinematic arts."

Read more: Almodovar recognized with Venice film festival lifetime award

Julie Andrews gets lifetime achievement award in Venice

Netflix to make the Oscars cut

Following last year's win-win for Cuaron's "Roma," Netflix once again chose Venice as the debut stage for its recent most-anticipated productions.

Noah Baumbach's domestic drama "Marriage Story" made Venice bow to acclaim, then heading to the TIFF and NYFF.

It features Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver play a longtime couple, whose relationship is on the rocks and their marriage is falling apart.

The buzz around the Johansson and Driver-fronted film has been especially loud with many reviews praising the actors' "outstanding, stripped-raw performances."

"The Laundromat," helmed by Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh and starring a formidable cast including Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, and Antonio Banderas, is another Netflix-funded film that had been vying for the festival's Golden Lion honor.

The streaming giant also debuted David Michod-directed Shakespearian epic "The King" out of competition at Venice, of which the reviews were split. Variety described it has staged "a gloomy grandeur that sweeps you up" while IndieWire called the film "no crowning achievement."

Film star Timothée Chalamet has factored into the last two Oscar seasons with "Beautiful Boy" and "Call Me By Your Name" – the latter landed him a nomination, portraying the titular role of Henry V in the coming-of-age story.

It's noteworthy that though missing the annual Venice cinematic celebration, another Netflix production "The Irishman," which sees Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated return to gangster drama and reuniting with his "buddy" actor Robert De Niro, is hitting to the fall film festival circuit as the NYFF opener.

Undoubtedly, the following months will be a season-long awards campaign from Netflix, which hopes to repeat the achievements of "Roma" and to make the Oscar cut.

(Infographic by Jia Jieqiong, cover image by Liu Shaozhen)