There might still be another month left to the summer, but before we know it, Hollywood will be turning its attention to the Oscar race. That means movies at the theater will be much more serious than they have been lately. No one has time for superhero teams, explosions, earthquakes or raunchy comedy. It’s time to turn your attention to movies that mean something!

The official start of the awards season is the trio of festivals in September. Some will gather in Telluride, Colorado from Sept. 4-7 to see a line-up that no one knows until the day before. Others can head north of the border to the Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 10-20. The third is the Venice Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 2-12.

Later in September, there’s the New York Film Festival, organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which is becoming increasingly more important in the awards discussion. This year’s festival runs from Sept. 25-Oct. 11.

Many of the movies that are screened at these four festivals wind up in the awards discussion. After critics and the industry sees them, we’ll get a select group that we all end up talking about for weeks until we get bored of them. These discussions often have a negative impact on the films themselves. Does anyone want to talk about Birdman or Boyhood after spending three to four months of only debating the merits of these two completely different movies?

Anyway, some of the films that will be screened don’t even have trailers or wide release dates. And even though I haven’t seen them, there’s still plenty to be excited about. Here’s 10 titles that stick out to me.

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