A Guide to Navigating Oscar Season

Each January when the Oscar nominations come out I inevitably hear people say “I’ve never heard of these movies.” Blockbusters occasionally break through, like Oppenheimer and Titanic, but it’s just as likely these days for smaller films like Anora or Moonlight to surprise with a Best Picture win.

So how is a normal movie fan expected to keep up with the Oscar race, see a few of these movies, and win your Oscar pool? To do that, we look to the film festival calendar.

The Sundance Film Festival has showcased independent films in Park City, UT for decades (although it’s moving to Boulder, CO in 2027). Movies like CODA, A Real Pain, and The Usual Suspects all debuted at this festival months before a wide release. Today this is one of the most accessible film festivals for regular audiences, with virtual passes available to watch from home.

The opposite of Sundance is Cannes, an elite international film festival basically impossible for non-press/industry to attend, held in the South of France each May. The winners of this film festival are always worth looking out for. Pulp Fiction was a notable winner of the Palm d’Or (their best picture) back in 1994. Anora and Parasite are recent winners.

The Fall film festivals are when things really start cooking in Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York. Movies that premiere at these festivals and win awards are great indicators of future Oscar glory.

Between the big film fests and wide theatrical releases are the smaller regional fests - aka, ones you actually may be able to afford to go to. They still get big directors and actors showing up in person, and you can see movies that aren’t released yet for as little as $20 at places like the Middleburg Film Festival in Northern Virginia.

And of course, if a movie is about World War II or a wicked witch of the West and it’s released in November or December, it’s probably being positioned as an Oscar contender.