On episode 168 of The AwardsWatch Podcast, AwardsWatch Executive Editor Ryan McQuade is joined by Editor-In-Chief Erik Anderson and AwardsWatch contributor Kevin L. Lee give their reactions to the best and worst films they saw for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Before the guys get into their Sundance discussion, they briefly give their thoughts on the ongoing conversations surround last week’s Oscar nominations. It was announced that the Academy would be doing an investigation into the campaign practices surrounding Andrea Riseborough’s nomination. We will know more in the coming days, but until then, Ryan, Erik and Kevin take a little time to talk about all the angles of this story and what could potentially happen. Moving on from there, the crew talk about the Sundance Film Festival, were there over 110 films featured across the in person and virtual programs. In our first look at the independent films releasing in 2023, there were a ton of fine films they may have not hit the mark entirely, but enough gems for a great discussion. First up is a discussion of a Sundance selection that just released in Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, which led to a balanced conversation of the positives and negatives of the film (you can read Kevin's review here). From there over a dozen of films are mentioned, there is plenty to look forward to within the next couple of months.  You can listen to The AwardsWatch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. This podcast runs 1h44m. We will be back next week talk about some new releases and potential a game. Till then, let’s get into it. Music: “Modern Fashion” from AShamaleuvmusic (intro), “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).