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And last but not least is this past week’s Florence Foster Jenkins, the Meryl Streep biopic about the famously bad singer. While I can see some Globes traction for it, I don’t think Oscar voters will go for it. Critical reviews have been decent, but the movie has its sentimental moments. Would they give Hugh Grant a career nomination? Perhaps, as the supporting categories can be thin.

There’s really nothing out there so far. In a sense that’s good news: you haven’t missed anything. In a sense it’s bad: there’s a lot to see still.

Oh, and no, sorry, Suicide Squad isn’t going to make it in either.

The State of the Race So Far: Sundance and Cannes

By now you should be intimately familiar with the story of Sundance and Cannes - at the very least one or two of their screenings make the Best Picture lineup, with others seriously in contention (last year, Brooklyn made it from Sundance to the race, and Carol traveled from Cannes but fell just short of the top list).

Of course we all heard of how Birth of a Nation won at Sundance and will win this year at the Kodiak to end the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. If it does get in, expect nominations for Screenplay, Director and Actor for Nate Parker as well. And if anything else, recent conversations about rape allegations surrounding Nate Parker should convince you that he expects to be in the spotlight come this season.

The other much-talked about race-relations story this year is Loving, the true story of the Supreme Court case/couple that brought down the remaining anti-miscegenation laws in the country. This showed at Cannes to standing ovations, and could be headed for acting nods for Ruth Negga, who plays the titular man’s wife, as well as Mr. Loving himself, Joel Edgerton.

The other big Sundance movie that people are talking about is Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester By the Sea, starring Casey Affleck as a man who has to take care of his nephew after his brother days. With Matt Damon as one of its producers, you know there will be a strong push for this one and, like the other movies I’m listing from Sundance and Cannes - expect to see them in the fall festival line-up as well.

The French do love Kristen Stewart as we know from the past, and this year’s Personal Shopper (about an obvious topic) was no exception. I expect her to be in the conversation again, and maybe even show up at festivals, but it may just be that her American brethren are not as ready to take her seriously comme les Francais. It’s not necessarily a Best Picture movie but if you’re looking for acting nominations, this may be one.

Finally, Cannes winner I, Daniel Blake, about the intricacies of British bureaucratic welfare states, may resonate in an elections season, though Palme D’Or winners rarely if ever resonate with American audiences to the degree needed to land an Oscar nomination. So, unless they really do go for the easy #OscarsSoWhite out, I don’t think we have seen our Best Picture winner in the festivals yet.

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