Toronto, Venice, Telluride, and New York are all swirling with the film industry's elite as festival season gets underway. It's no secret that production companies use this time to find films as well as throw their own projects into the minds of Academy members so that by the time February comes, they'll be on Oscar ballots. A couple of a films (and people) are already making waves as they head to the next stop on their festival circuit, Telluride, Colorado.

By far, the biggest buzzed about film coming to Telluride is "Birdman," starring Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, and Ed Norton. The film is coming from glowing reviews at the Venice Film Festival, in which Indiewire called it, "so exciting, so moment-to-moment enjoyable that to expect profundity would be greedy. And yet it delivers on that level as well; the film is as thoughtful and smart as it is infectiously absurd."

Another film that's getting attention is Reese Witherspoon's "Wild." According to Deadline, "star Reese Witherspoon is heavily buzzed for a shot at a second Best Actress Oscar in this tale set in the great outdoors, a key reason a Telluride premiere was a natural." "Wild," which is based on the memoir "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" written by Cheryl Strayed, is about one woman's hiking journey in the wake of tragic life events. The plot alone easily sounds like Oscar-bait and with Witherspoon having already won before, one can be sure that the Academy will at least be watching.

Amongst plenty of the directorial elite, "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart has stepped behind the camera to bring "Rosewater" to Telluride. Unfortunately, that buzz might go away as the review by The Hollywood Reporter claims that the film "is capable but lacks urgency." Perhaps Jon Stewart is off to a good start, but still has some way to go. 

As the summer blockbuster films close this Labor Day weekend with "Guardians of the Galaxy" crowned king of the domestic box office, it looks like film fans can expect another exciting Oscar season.