With "The Birth of a Nation" winning the Sundance Film festival, 2016 already has its first Oscar contender.

Winning the Grand Jury Prize and the audience award can have many advantages, especially for filmmakers who are establishing themselves and who are making first films. Additionally, it brings buzz to the films and most of the time they are acquired for distribution.

This year "The Birth of a Nation" sold to Fox Searchlight for a historical $17.5 million and Searchlight has already promised to release it at the end of the year in time for awards.

Whether it actually gets nominated for Oscars is still up for grabs but there is definitely a chance. That is because several past Grand Jury winners have ended up getting Best Picture nominations or screenplay nominations. For example 2014's "Whiplash" went on to be the awards darling and won three Academy Awards. Similarly 2012's "Beasts of the Southern Wild scored four Oscar nominations including a surprising Best Picture nomination. Other Grand Prize Jury winners that have gone on to get Oscar nominations include "Winter's Bone," "Frozen River" and "Precious."

However, it is not always the case with Grand Jury winners. Last year's "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" was a popular Sundance film but did not manage to make money when it was released and was forgotten by the time Oscar season arrived. "Frutivale Station" had a similar fate. Even though it won a number of critics' awards the film did not register with Academy voters. The same happened with "Like Crazy," which was praised at Sundance but later went on to get mixed reviews when it was released in theaters.

"The Birth of a Nation" is looking to join "Whiplash" and "Beasts of Southern Wild" especially with Fox Searchlight behind the film. Fox has been successful for the past ten years in getting Best Picture nominees and winning the award three times. The company was behind Best Picture winners "Slumdog Millionaire," "12 Years a Slave" and "Birdman." This year the company has "Brooklyn" nominated and that film premiered at Sundance in the premieres section.

With "The Birth of a Nation" getting so much hype it is also important to look at the Grand Jury prize Documentary winner "Weiner." The film received rave reviews and was picked up by Sundance Selects. Sundance is known for its documentary competition and this film will likely get shortlisted especially with the Academy's preference to award documentaries about famous people.

Other films that could early Oscar contenders include "Manchester by the Sea," "Christine" and "Captain Fantastic."

Related