20 Movies Which Could Win Oscars In 2022

The Sundance Film Festival is traditionally the launching pad for independent films which hope to score big at the Oscars, though maintaining momentum for more than a year is extremely challenging, often resulting in hopeful smaller movies eventually falling by the wayside.

But the big success out of this year's mostly-digital Sundance was CODA, Sian Heder's coming-of-age drama about an of-hearing girl (Emilia Jones) growing up with an entirely deaf family.

Though predictable, Heder's film is a tender crowd-pleaser with massive mainstream potential, hence why Apple paid a stonking $25 million for the distribution rights - a record for Sundance.

Time will tell whether it can pull a Promising Young Woman and sustain steam from Sundance to the Oscar podium, but if Apple invests sufficient money in a strong awards campaign, it's easy to see it scoring nods for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Actress (Jones).

A Best Picture win would be surprising, but Adapted Screenplay or Actress aren't at all out of the question if it picks up enough general audience support.