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As 2011 winds to a close and the announcement of Oscar nominations approaches, I thought it might be interesting to catch up with some of the films many thought, at one time or another, would factor into this year’s awards race but never did.

Some screened at festivals in search of a distributor but didn’t find one; others found a distributor, but the distributor decided it lacked the money, manpower or time to mount a campaign this year. Some had distributors before they were in the can and simply were not completed in time to be released this year; others were completed in time to be released this year, but their distributors had their hands full with other contenders and decided to hold them until next year.

It is important to remember that just because a film is not part of this year’s awards race doesn’t mean it won’t be part of next year’s. True, some of these titles will never be heard from again — but others could follow in the footsteps of, say:

• Crash, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2004, at which time it was picked up for U.S. distribution by Lionsgate and held for the following year; was released theatrically in May 2005; and, in March 2006, won the best picture Oscar.
• The Visitor, which premiered at Toronto in September 2007, at which time it was picked up for U.S. distribution by Overture and held for the following year; was released theatrically in April 2008; and, in February 2009, was represented at the Oscars in the best actor category.
• Lovely, Still, which premiered at Toronto in September 2008; was not picked up by a distributor until 2010, when Monterey Media decided to take a chance on it; and was released in theaters in September 2010.
• The Hurt Locker, which premiered at Toronto in September 2008, at which time it was picked up for U.S. distribution by Summit and held for the following year; was released theatrically in June 2009; and, in March 2010, won the best picture Oscar.
• The Debt, Everything Must Go, The First Grader, Girlfriend, Meek’s Cutoff, Sarah’s Key, Tabloid, The Way and The Whistleblower, all of which premiered at Toronto in September 2010; were subsequently picked up by various distributors; and were held for release until 2011.

Without further ado, here is the class of 2011:

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By Josh Abraham

This year’s winner of the Hollywood Fashion Awards – Best Dressed at Gala Ceremony: actress Michelle Williams.

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This morning, the IFP announced the nominees for the 21st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. It would be nice if I could tell you to read into the fact that:

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The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, will honor Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller with its 2011 Hollywood Director Award.

Miller is being recognized for his work on the critically acclaimed blockbusterMoneyball, which was adapted fromMichael Lewis’s best-selling novel and stars Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general managerBilly Beane. Miller will collect his statuette at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton on Oct. 24.

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The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, will honor Academy Award winner George Clooney with its 2011 Hollywood Actor Award.

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The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, will honor Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan with its 2011 Hollywood Supporting Actress Award. Mulligan is being recognized for her performance as an emotionally disturbed young woman who moves in with her sex-addicted brother in Shame, as well as for her portrayal of a young mother in need of protection in Drive. Additionally, Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Elle Fanning (Super 8), Amber Heard (The Rum Diary), Andrea Riseborough (W.E), Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), and Anton Yelchin (Like Crazy) will be the recipients of this year’s Hollywood Spotlight Award, which recognizes young up-and-comers for breakthrough performances. All of the aforementioned honorees will collect their statuettes at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton on Oct. 24, 2011.

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The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards has disclosed its 10 nominees for the 2011 Hollywood Movie Award, a category that celebrates the most popular film of the year as determined by the general public through voting on the Yahoo! Movies website. The winner will be honored at the Hollywood Film Awards gala ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton on Oct. 24, 2011.

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The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, will honor Golden Globe winner Letty Aronson with its Hollywood Producer Award for Midnight in Paris, Michel Hazanavicius with its Hollywood Breakthrough Director Award for The Artist, Oscar winner Diablo Cody with its Hollywood Screenwriter Award for Young Adult and two-time Oscar nominee Alberto Iglesias with its Hollywood Film Composer Award for both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Skin I Live In. All four individuals will collect their statuettes at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton on Oct. 24.

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The first half of last year — i.e. January through June — produced two of the 10 best picture nominees (“Winter’s Bone” and “Toy Story 3”), 1 of the 20 acting nominees (Jennifer Lawrence), and 1 of the 10 screenplay nominees (“Winter’s Bone”). The first half of this year, meanwhile, has produced a lot of very good flicks — among them “The Beaver” (Summit, 5/6, PG-13, trailer), “Hanna” (Focus Features, 4/8, PG-13, trailer), “Jane Eyre” (Focus Features, 3/11, PG-13, trailer), “Limitless” (Relativity, 3/18, PG-13, trailer), “The Lincoln Lawyer” (Lionsgate, 3/18, R, trailer), “Meek’s Cutoff” (Oscilloscope, 4/8, PG, trailer), “Rango” (Paramount, 3/4, PG, trailer), “Source Code” (Summit, 4/1, PG-13, trailer), and “Win Win” (Fox Searchlight, 3/18, R, trailer) — but nothing that seems likely to snag an Oscar nod come next January. This, of course, begs the question: which films will be the first serious Oscar contenders of 2011?

Here’s a look at the eight likeliest pre-Fall candidates…

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• 24 Frames: Steven Zeitchik spreads the word about last night’s not-so-”secret Hollywood screening” of David O. Russell’s much-anticipated boxing drama “The Fighter,” a month before its theatrical release, at Grauman’s Chinese Theater as part of the ongoing AFI Fest. (The film will next be screened on tomorrow evening in New York for east coast critics/pundits, who will then be treated to a Q&A with Russell and Mark Wahlberg, the film’s best actor hopeful.)
• Gold Derby: Tom O’Neil recounts the history of producer Scott Rudin (“The Social Network”) and studio chief Harvey Weinstein (“The King’s Speech”), who used to work together but had a falling out a few years ago. In 2008, the two bucked heads while gunning campaigning for Kate Winslet, who was eligible for both the Rudin-produced “Revolutionary Road” and the Weinstein-distributed “The Reader.” (The Academy ultimately nominated — and awarded — her the best actress Oscar for the latter.) This year, as Tom puts it, “not only are the superheroes of indie film production back in the same derby, but they’re [now] chief rivals for best picture.”
• First Showing: Alex Billington posts the “seductive” new theatrical poster for “Blue Valentine,” the new film from The Weinstein Company that stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, and that has been getting a lot of attention ever since the MPAA rather inexplicably gave it an NC-17 rating about a month ago. Billington writes that the poster makes him believe that The Weinstein Company — which reportedly considered appealing the rating and/or re-cutting and then re-submitting the film with the hope of getting a lower rating — “just said ‘fuck it’ and went all-out as spicy as they could… and I like it.”
• The Playlist: Simon Dang confirms that “Meek’s Cutoff,” a western directed by Kelly Reichart and starring Michelle Williams (which played at the Venice, Toronto, and New York film festivals before being acquired by Oscilloscope, the same studio that released the previous collaboration between the director and actress, “Wendy and Lucy“), will not be released in time to qualify for 2010 awards consideration, but rather on April 8, 2011. In related news, Williams, who is presently on the London set of “My Week with Marilyn,” tells a reporter: “After this movie, I’m taking some time off. I’m not working for another year.” (Check out Scott’s recent conversation with the actress.)
• Cinematical: Jacob Hall passes along the news that legendary actor Robert De Niro will be honored at the Golden Globe Awards on January 16, 2011 with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, which he himself co-presented just last year to his longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese. (In a related post, Tom O’Neil wonders why the Hollywood Foreign Press Association once again “snubbed” women and minorities for the honor. O’Neil writes that, upon hearing the decision, “Many of us award-watchers shrugged, thinking: ‘Great. Another old white guy!’” I beg to differ — I don’t think anyone would or should question the worthiness of De Niro for this sort of an honor.)
• The Hollywood Reporter: Lindsay Powers reports that Hollywood’s reigning east coast power-couple, director Darren Aronofsky (whose “Black Swan” will be released later this month) and Oscar winning actress Rachel Weisz (whose “The Whistleblower” was recently acquired for distribution by Samuel Goldwyn Films), have split after nine years of domestic cohabitation. The duo, who were engaged, will reportedly share joint custody of their four-year-old son.
• The Wrap: Steve Pond notes that the “Casino Jack” AFI Fest gala screening “was supposed to have been a festive occasion, given the fact that the screening would mark the Los Angeles premiere of a film in which director George Hickenlooper brought a comic, satiric touch to the tale of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, played with zest by Kevin Spacey,” but was instead a “more somber and emotional experience” because of Hickenlooper’s sudden death less than two weeks ago. Spacey, who was on hand at Grauman’s Chinese Theater to introduce the film, choked back tears as he said, “This one’s for you, George.”
• Company Town: Claudia Eller reports that “increased movie marketing costs” caused Lions Gate Entertainment to post a net loss of $29.7 million for the second-quarter of the fiscal year, despite the release of such films as the blockbuster “The Expendables,” which grossed $102 million domestically. The studio is currently pushing “For Colored Girls,” “The Next Three Days,” and “Rabbit Hole” for awards consideration.

Photo: Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale in “The Fighter.” Credit: Paramount.