Which Sundance 2023 Films Could Get Oscar Nominations Tomorrow?

Right now, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival is going on. Tomorrow, the Oscar nominations will be revealed. I’m not currently doing much for Sundance this year, in part due to not being on the ground in Utah, and also just to focus on nomination morning. However, it got me thinking. Were there movies that played the festival last year that could be Academy Award nominees by this time tomorrow? The answer, of course, is yes.

In years past, Sundance has been hit or miss with an Oscar correlation, but they don’t tend to get shut out. Some years, a flick or two become big contenders in the Best Picture category. Other years, it’s mostly just documentaries. This time around, there’s a welcome mix of both, so even if there ultimately will only be a couple of titles nominated, they’re potentially coming in a handful of different categories…

The most likely nominee tomorrow is, of course, Past Lives. It seems very likely to be a Best Picture nominee, with a Best Original Screenplay (for Celine Song) nomination looking good as well. Whether it can also score in Best Director (also for Song) or in Best Actress (for Greta Lee) remains to be seen. That being said, you can mark it down for at least a few citations.

Beyond Past Lives, there’s two other films to really keep an eye on. Both are documentaries, too. They’re 20 Days in Mariupol and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. They’re not locks in Best Documentary Feature, but they do seem to be in good positions, with the former also a contender in Best International Feature. If you want to throw in a third possible nominee on this upper echelon, you can look at Flora and Son, which could definitely show up in Best Original Song for “High Life.”

If you want more movies to have on your docket, there are documentaries like Beyond Utopia, The Eternal Memory, and Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. There’s also flicks like Cassandro, Fair Play, and A Thousand and One that look likely to fall short, but are hoping for Oscar morning surprises. I wouldn’t bank on any of these, aside from the docs having a shot, but they show how plenty of Sundance titles did engage with awards season this year.

At the end of the day, we’ll know the score in less than 24 hours. For now, it remains to be seen just how well represented Sundance will be by the nominations. They won’t be ignored though, that’s for sure. Will 2024 be the same? We’ll find out next season…

Stay tuned to see which Sundance 2023 titles receive Oscar nominations tomorrow morning!