The Hollywood Reporter's awards columnist surveys the field ahead of the fall film fests.

As the 75th Venice International Film Festival and the 45th Telluride Film Festival get underway, and with the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival just over the horizon, it's time to offer the first, and necessarily preliminary, survey of the most serious contenders for major Oscars, based on early screenings and sourcing. As the fests unfurl, there will undoubtedly be other contenders joining the list.

GLOSSARY  The following abbreviations denote the film festival(s) at which a film has screened and/or will be screening: SUND=Sundance, TRIB=Tribeca, CANN=Cannes, VENI=Venice, TELL=Telluride, TIFF=Toronto, NYFF=New York and LOND=London.

• Best Picture

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  22 July (Netflix) VENI, TIFF
  At Eternity's Gate (CBS Films) VENI, NYFF
  Backseat (Annapurna)
  The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix) VENI, NYFF
  Beautiful Boy (Amazon) TIFF
  Ben is Back (Roadside Attractions) TIFF
  Bird Box (Netflix)
  BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features) CANN
  Black Panther (Disney)
  Bohemian Rhapsody (Fox)
  Boy Erased (Focus Features) TELL, TIFF
  Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight) TELL, TIFF
  Capernaum (Sony Classics) CANN, TIFF
  Cold War (Amazon) CANN, TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  Colette (Bleecker Street) SUND, TIFF
  Crazy Rich Asians (Warner Bros.)
  Destroyer (Annapurna) TELL, TIFF, LOND
  Disobedience (Bleecker Street) TRIB
  Eighth Grade (A24) SUND
  Everybody Knows (Focus Features) CANN, TIFF
  The Favourite (Fox Searchlight) VENI, TELL, NYFF
  First Man (Universal) VENI, TELL, TIFF
  First Reformed (A24) VENI ['17], TELL ['17], TIFF ['17], NYFF ['17]
  The Front Runner (Sony) TELL, TIFF
  Green Book (Universal) TIFF
  The Hate U Give (Fox) TIFF
  Hereditary (A24) SUND
  Hotel Mumbai (Bleecker Street/ShivHans Pictures) TIFF
  If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna) TIFF, NYFF
  Isle of Dogs (Fox Searchlight) BERL
  Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street) SUND, CANN
  Life Itself (Amazon) TIFF
  Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
  Mary Queen of Scots (Focus Features)
  Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Paramount)
  The Old Man & The Gun (Fox Searchlight) TELL, TIFF, LOND
  Non-Fiction (IFC) TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  On the Basis of Sex (Focus Features)
  Outlaw King (Netflix) TIFF
  Peterloo (Amazon) VENI, TELL
  A Private War (Aviron) LOND
  Private Life (Netflix) SUND, NYFF
  A Quiet Place (Paramount)
  Roma (Netflix) VENI, TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  The Sisters Brothers (Annapurna) VENI, TIFF
  Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna) SUND
  A Star Is Born (Warner Bros.) VENI, TIFF
  Suspiria (Amazon) VENI
  White Boy Rick (Sony) TELL, TIFF
  Widows (Fox) TIFF, LOND
  The Wife (Sony Classics) TIFF ['17]
  Wildlife (IFC) SUND, CANN, TIFF, NYFF

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  Dumplin'
  Galveston TIFF
  High Life NYFF
  Icebox
  My Life on the Road
  The Public TIFF
  Red Joan TIFF
  Stan & Ollie LOND
  Vox Lux TIFF
  Trial by Fire TELL
  The Wedding Guest TIFF

• Best Director

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Olivier Assayas (Non-Fiction)
  Ari Aster (Hereditary)
  Jacques Audiard (The Sisters Brothers)
  Susanne Bier (Bird Box)
  Bo Burnham (Eighth Grade)
  Damien Chazelle (First Man) — podcast
  Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians)
  Ethan Coen & Joel Coen (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
  Ryan Coogler (Black Panther)
  Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
  Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
  Paul Dano (Wildlife)
  Yann Demange (White Boy Rick)
  Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased)
  Asghar Farhadi (Everybody Knows)
  Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
  Dan Fogelman (Life Itself)
  Debra Granik (Leave No Trace)
  Paul Greengrass (22 July)
  Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria)
  Peter Hedges (Ben is Back)
  Matthew Heineman (A Private War)
  Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
  Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) — podcast
  Tamara Jenkins (Private Life)
  John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)
  Karyn Kusama (Destroyer)
  Nadine Labaki (Capernaum)
  Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
  Mimi Leder (On the Basis of Sex)
  Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
  Mike Leigh (Peterloo)
  Sebastian Lelio (Disobedience)
  David Lowery (The Old Man & The Gun)
  Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai)
  Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns)
  Adam McKay (Backseat) — podcast
  Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible — Fallout)
  Steve McQueen (Widows)
  Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)
  Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here)
  Jason Reitman (The Front Runner)
  Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You)
  Josie Rourke (Mary Queen of Scots)
  Bjorn Runge (The Wife)
  Julian Schnabel (At Eternity's Gate)
  Paul Schrader (First Reformed)
  George Tillman, Jr. (The Hate U Give)
  Gus Van Sant (Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot)
  Felix Van Groeningen (Beautiful Boy)
  Wash Westmoreland (Colette)

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  Jon S. Baird (Stan & Ollie)
  Brady Corbet (Vox Lux)
  Claire Denis (High Life)
  Emilio Estevez (The Public)
  Anne Fletcher (Dumplin')
  Melanie Laurent (Galveston)
  Trevor Nunn (Red Joan)
  Julie Taymor (My Life on the Road)
  Michael Winterbottom (The Wedding Guest)
  Edward Zwick (Trial by Fire)

• Best Actor

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Mahershala Ali (Green Book) — podcast
  Christian Bale (Backseat)
  Javier Bardem (Everybody Knows)
  Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) — podcast
  Steve Carell (Backseat)
  Steve Carell (Beautiful Boy)
  Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy) — podcast
  Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)
  Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate) — podcast
  Marcello Fonte (Dogman)
  Ryan Gosling (First Man)
  Jake Gyllenhaal (Wildlife) — podcast
  Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) — podcast
  Lucas Hedges (Ben is Back)
  Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased)
  Oscar Isaac (Life Itself)
  Oscar Isaac (Operation Finale)
  Hugh Jackman (The Front Runner)
  Brady Jandreau (The Rider)
  Rory Kinnear (Peterloo)
  John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)
  Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) — podcast
  Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns) — podcast
  Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) — podcast
  Joaquin Phoenix (The Sisters Brothers)
  Chris Pine (Outlaw King) — podcast
  Jonathan Pryce (The Wife)
  Robert Redford (The Old Man & the Gun)
  John C. Reilly (The Sisters Brothers)
  Lakeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You)
  John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman)

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie)
  Jack O'Connell (Trial by Fire)
  Robert Pattinson (High Life) — podcast
  John C. Reilly (Stan & Ollie)
• Best Actress

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)
  Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)
  Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)
  Sandra Bullock (Bird Box)
  Glenn Close (The Wife) — podcast coming soon
  Toni Collette (Hereditary)
  Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
  Viola Davis (Widows)
  Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)
  Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)
  Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Kindergarten Teacher)
  Kathryn Hahn (Private Life)
  Isabelle Huppert (Greta) — podcast
  Dakota Johnson (Suspiria)
  Felicity Jones (On the Basis of Sex)
  Nicole Kidman (Destroyer) — podcast
  Keira Knightley (Colette) — podcast coming soon
  Joanna Kulig (Cold War)
  KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk)
  Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
  Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace)
  Julianne Moore (Gloria Bell)
  Chloe Grace Moretz (The Miseducation of Cameron Post)
  Carey Mulligan (Wildlife)
  Maxine Peake (Peterloo)
  Michelle Pfeiffer (Where Is Kyra?)
  Rosamund Pike (A Private War)
  Julia Roberts (Ben is Back)
  Saoirse Ronan (Mary Queen of Scots) — podcast
  Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give)
  Hilary Swank (What They Had)
  Charlize Theron (Tully)
  Emma Thompson (The Children Act)
  Rachel Weisz (Disobedience)
  Olivia Wilde (Life Itself)

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  Danielle Macdonald (Dumplin')
  Julianne Moore (My Life on the Road)
  Elisabeth Moss (Her Smell) — podcast
  Natalie Portman (Vox Lux) — podcast

• Best Supporting Actor

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Casey Affleck (The Old Man & the Gun) — podcast
  Riz Ahmed (The Sisters Brothers)
  Harry Belafonte (BlacKkKlansman)
  Dave Chappelle (A Star Is Born)
  Jason Clarke (First Man)
  Andrew Dice Clay (A Star Is Born)
  Russell Crowe (Boy Erased)
  Jamie Dornan (A Private War)
  Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman) — podcast
  Robert Duvall (Widows)
  Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased)
  Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)
  Robert Forster (What They Had)
  Ben Foster (Leave No Trace)
  Rupert Friend (At Eternity's Gate)
  Paul Giamatti (Private Life)
  Topher Grace (BlacKkKlansman)
  Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
  Michael Greyeyes (Woman Walks Ahead)
  Jake Gyllenhaal (The Sisters Brothers)
  Armie Hammer (On the Basis of Sex)
  Brian Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk)
  Nicholas Hoult (The Favourite)
  Oscar Isaac (At Eternity's Gate)
  Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk)
  Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther) — podcast
  Ben Kingsley (Operation Finale)
  Anders Danielsen Lie (22 July)
  Matthew McConaughey (White Boy Rick)
  Mike Myers (Bohemian Rhapsody)
  Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
  Alessandro Nivola (Disobedience)
  Sam Rockwell (Backseat) — podcast
  Michael Shannon (What They Had) — podcast
  Sebastian Stan (Destroyer)
  Christian Slater (The Wife)
  Justin Theroux (On the Basis of Sex)
  Tom Waits (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
  Dominic West (Colette)
  Ben Whishaw (Mary Poppins Returns)
  Alex Wolff (Hereditary)

• Best Supporting Actress

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Amy Adams (Backseat)
  Angela Bassett (Black Panther)
  Kathy Bates (On the Basis of Sex)
  Annette Bening (Life Itself)
  Blythe Danner (What They Had)
  Marina de Tavira (Roma)
  Elizabeth Debicki (Widows)
  Ann Dowd (Hereditary)
  Claire Foy (First Man) — podcast
  Vera Farmiga (The Front Runner)
  Ari Graynor (The Front Runner)
  Danai Gurira (Black Panther) — podcast
  Regina Hall (The Hate U Give)
  Siobhan Fallon Hogan (Private Life)
  Zoe Kazan (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs)
  Nicole Kidman (Boy Erased) — podcast
  Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
  Jennifer Jason Leigh (White Boy Rick) — podcast
  Nia Long (Roxanne Roxanne)
  Rachel McAdams (Disobedience)
  Emily Mortimer (Mary Poppins Returns)
  Elisabeth Moss (The Old Man & The Gun) — podcast
  Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther)
  Sarah Paulson (Bird Box)
  Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots) — podcast
  Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place)
  Sissy Spacek (The Old Man & The Gun)
  Emma Stone (The Favourite) — podcast
  Meryl Streep (Mary Poppins Returns)
  Tilda Swinton (Suspiria)
  Letitia Wright (Black Panther)
  Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)
  Michelle Yeoh (Crazy Rich Asians)

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  Jennifer Aniston (Dumplin')
  Laura Dern (Trial by Fire)
• Best Animated Feature

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Early Man (Lionsgate/Aardman)
  The Grinch (Universal/Illumination)
  Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Sony Animation)
  Incredibles 2 (Disney/Pixar)
  Isle of Dogs (Fox Searchlight) BERL
  Lu Over the Wall (GKIDS)
  Mirai (GKIDS)
  Next Gen (Netflix)
  Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (GKIDS)
  Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney)
  Sherlock Gnomes (Paramount)
  Smallfoot (Warner Bros.)
  Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony)
  Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (Warner Bros.)
  White Fang (Netflix)

• Best Documentary Feature

  THE FIELD (alphabetical)

  Always at the Carlyle (Good Deed)
  Believer (HBO)
  The Bleeding Edge (Netflix)
  Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Magnolia) TIFF ['17], NYFF ['17]
  Crime + Punishment (Hulu) SUND
  Dark Money (PBS) SUND
  Eating Animals (Sundance Selects) TELL ['17]
  Fahrenheit 11/9 (Briarcliff) TIFF
  Filmworker (Kino Lorber) CANN ['17], NYFF ['17]
  Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf (Argot)
  Free Solo (National Geographic) TELL, TIFF
  Generation Wealth (Amazon) SUND, BERL
  The Gospel According to André (Magnolia) TIFF ['17], TRIB
  Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (Kino Lorber) TIFF ['17]
  Hal (Oscilloscope) SUND, TELL
  Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Cinema Guild) SUND
  In Search of Greatness (AOS)
  Itzhak (Greenwich Entertainment)
  Jane Fonda in Five Acts (HBO) SUND
  John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (Oscilloscope)
  The Judge (self distributed) TIFF
  The King (Oscilloscope) CANN ['17], SUND
  King in the Wilderness (HBO) SUND
  Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy (Magnolia)
  Love, Cecil (Zeitgeist) TELL ['17]
  Love, Gilda (Magnolia) TRIB
  Maria by Callas (Sony Classics) TIFF
  McQueen (Bleecker Street) TRIB
  Minding the Gap (Hulu) SUND
  Monrovia, Indiana (Zipporah) VENI, TIFF, NYFF
  On Her Shoulders (Oscilloscope) SUND
  The Oslo Diaries (HBO) SUND
  Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (Focus Features) CANN
  The Price of Everything (HBO) SUND
  Quincy (Netflix) TIFF
  RBG (Magnolia) SUND
  Reversing Roe (Netflix) TELL, TIFF
  Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (HBO) SUND
  Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (MUBI) TRIB
  Science Fair (National Geographic) SUND
  Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (Greenwich Entertainment) TIFF ['17]
  The Sentence (HBO) SUND
  Shirkers (Netflix) SUND
  Skate Kitchen (Magnolia) SUND
  Spielberg (HBO) NYFF ['17]
  Studio 54 (Zeitgeist) SUND, TRIB
  They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (Netflix) VENI, TELL
  Three Identical Strangers (Neon) SUND
  Watergate — or, How We Learned to Stop An Out-of-Control President (History) TELL
  Whitney (Roadside Attractions) CANN ['17]
  Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features) SUND

  STILL SEEKING U.S. DISTRIBUTOR (alphabetical)

  American Dharma VENI, TIFF, NYFF
  Angels Are Made of Light TELL
  Aquarela VENI, LOND
  Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache CANN, TELL, NYFF, LOND
  The Biggest Little Farm TELL, TIFF
  Chef Flynn SUND
  The Dead and the Others [Brazil] CANN
  Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes TIFF
  The Elephant Queen TIFF
  Far from the Tree
  Ghost Fleet TELL
  Graves Without a Name TELL, TIFF
  The Great Buster: A Celebration VENI, TELL
  Kailash SUN
  Meeting Gorbachev TELL, TIFF
  Mountain
  Saving Brinton
  Screwball TIFF
  The Silence of Others BERL
  What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael TELL
  Women Making Films: A New Road Movie Through CInema VENI, TIFF

• Best Foreign Language Film

  OFFICIAL SUBMISSIONS (alphabetical)

  Birds of Passage [Colombia] CANN, TELL, TIFF, LOND
  Border [Sweden] CANN, TELL, TIFF
  Crystal Swan [Belarus]
  Eldorado [Switzerland] TELL
  The Family [Venezuela]
  Girl [Belgium] CANN, TELL, TIFF
  I Am Not a Witch [United Kingdom]
  I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History As Barbarians [Romania]
  The Interpreter [Slovakia]
  Never Look Away [Germany] (Sony Classics) VENI, TIFF
  Shoplifters [Japan] CANN, TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  Take It or Leave It [Estonia]
  The Wild Pear Tree [Turkey] CANN, TIFF
  Wonderful Losers: A Different World [Lithuania]

  POTENTIAL SUBMISSIONS (alphabetical)

  3 Faces [Iran] CANN, NYFF
  The Accused [Argentina] VENI, TIFF
  The Angel [Argentina] CANN, TIFF
  Asako I & II [Japan] TIFF, NYFF
  Ash Is Purest White [China] CANN, TIFF, NYFF
  At War [France] CANN
  Ayka [Kazakhstan] CANN
  Baby [China] TIFF
  Burning [South Korea] CANN, NYFF
  Capernaum [Lebanon] CANN, TIFF
  Capri-Revolution [Italy] VENI
  Cold War [Poland] CANN, TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  Daughter of Mine [Italy] BERL
  The Dead and the Others [Brazil] CANN
  Divine Wind [Algeria] TIFF
  Dogman [Italy] CANN, TELL, TIFF, LOND
  Dovlatov [Russia] BERL, TELL
  Euphoria [France] CANN
  Eva [France] BERL
  Everybody Knows [Spain] CANN, TIFF
  A Faithful Man [France] TIFF, NYFF
  The Fall of the American Empire [Canada] (Sony Classics) TIFF
  A Family Tour [China] NYFF
  La Flor: Primera Parte [Argentina] NYFF
  The Gentle Indifference of the World [Kazakhstan] CANN
  Girls of the Sun [France] CANN, TIFF
  Grass [South Korea] NYFF
  The Guilty [Denmark] SUND
  Happy as Lazzaro [Italy] CANN, NYFF, LOND
  The Harvesters [South Africa] CANN
  The Heiresses [Paraguay] BERL
  Hotel by the River [South Korea] TIFF, NYFF
  Hidden Man [China] TIFF
  Husband Material [India] TIFF
  The Image Book [France] CANN, TIFF, NYFF
  Joy [Austria] LOND
  Khibula [Georgia]
  Knife + Heart [France] CANN
  Leto [Russia] CANN
  Little Tickles [France] CANN
  Long Day's Journey Into Night [China] CANN, NYFF
  Loro [Italy] TIFF
  Manto [India] CANN, TIFF
  Maya [France] TIFF
  Mug [Poland] BERL
  Museum [Mexico] BERL
  My Favourite Fabric [Syria] CANN
  One Last Deal [Finland] TIFF
  Our Time [Mexico] VENI, TIFF
  Pig [Iran] BERL
  The Prayer [Berlin] BERL
  Rafiki [Kenya] CANN, TIFF
  Roma [Mexico] VENI, TELL, TIFF, NYFF
  Season of the Devil [Philippines] BERL
  Shadow [China] VENI, TELL, TIFF, LOND
  Sorry Angel [France] CANN, NYFF
  The Stillness [Argentina] VENI, TIFF
  Sunset [Hungary] (Sony Classics) VENI, TIFF, LOND
  Tel Aviv on Fire [Palestine] VENI, TIFF
  Too Late to Die Young [Chile] TIFF, NYFF, LOND
  U – July 22 [Norway] BERL
  Yomeddine [Egypt] CANN