With the major summer releases still months away, awards-season prognosticators are already building preliminary shortlists based on festival buzz, early screenings, and the accelerating volume of prestige releases that studios are positioning for fourth-quarter berths.
Cannes, which opens next month, is expected to set the tone for the season, as it reliably does. At least three films on the official selection list have been generating significant advance word among critics who attended press screenings, including an ambitious historical epic from a European auteur and an English-language debut from a Mexican director who won the Palme d'Or three years ago.
On the domestic front, the studio acquisition season at Sundance yielded a handful of films that distributors believe have genuine awards potential. A documentary examining the lives of women incarcerated in American prisons has screened for Academy members to strong response, while a small drama set in rural Appalachia generated one of the festival's most passionate receptions in years.
