For our 13th season, we’re walking through various awards categories over the decades.

Starting with films from the 1930s, we'll be selecting an awards category (or two) from each decade in which the film selection piqued our curiosity for one reason or the other. Sometimes, it's a year with an insanely strong line-up. How did voters ever decide which to select? Other times, it's the fact that certain films didn't get nominated that made us want to look at the nominees. There are certain films we wanted to discuss that our members had suggested they'd like to hear us talk about. And sometimes, it's the simple fact that we're not that familiar with the nominees but think they sound like interesting films worthy of conversations.

So without further ado, here are the films and series.

SERIES 01: 1940 Academy Awards • Best Picture
We've discussed a lot of films from 1939 as we've run our 1939 series several times. Even though there were 10 films nominated for Best Picture, we have already discussed six of them: Gone With the Wind; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Ninotchka; Stagecoach; and The Wizard of Oz. How will the remaining four fare?

SERIES 02: 1947 Academy Awards • Best Writing, Screenplay
In a year that pits The Best Years of Our Lives against The Killers, we felt there was plenty to discuss. Plus, we get David Lean and Roberto Rossellini. And how awkward will Anna and the King of Siam feel through today's eyes? Plus, we'll try to sort out what the Academy was doing with their early writing categories – Screenplay, Original Screenplay, and Original Story.

SERIES 03: 1952 Academy Awards • Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
There was a real draw for us to talk about Strangers on a Train, Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire. The fact that we also get to talk about a movie called The Frogmen is a bonus. Not to mention the classic A Place in the Sun. Seemed like an exciting list to us!

SERIES 04: 1965 BAFTAs • Best Film From Any Source
The Oscars dominated film awards in the early part of the 20th century, but we're jumping across the pond for this lineup. We've already discussed Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb a while back, so only have three nominees to discuss from this lineup. Largely, it was John Frankenheimer's The Train that drew us to this list but they all sound worthy of conversation.

SERIES 05: 1976 Hugo Awards • Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are a literary award for science fiction and fantasy that started in 1953, but they've been giving out awards for best dramatic presentation, ie. films and such, since 1958. This set of four films was a no-brainer for us.

SERIES 06: 1988 Academy Awards • Best Effects, Visual Effects
Considering the number of films that could have been nominated this year, it's a big surprise that only two films were nominated by the Academy – Innerspace and Predator. Because of that, we've asked our members to vote on two more films from a list of nearly 30 to flesh this category out a bit.

SERIES 07: 1996 Razzie Awards • Worst Director
We're looking at two categories in the 90s, but that's really because we wanted to touch on the Razzies, and this year's set of films seemed perfect for us. What a wild list!

SERIES 08: 1998 NAACP Image Awards • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture
We only have four films to talk about here, but that's because Soul Food received two nominations. We also get to talk about Jackie Brown and Eve's Bayou. It's going to be a great series!

SERIES 09: 2002 Film Independent Spirit Awards • Best Cinematography
We've already covered Memento in a past series. We definitely wanted to get Mulholland Dr. on our list. The fact that we also get to talk about Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a film with Tilda Swinton, and a bonkers indie astronaut movie too? Sounded like an interesting lineup to us!

SERIES 10: 2013 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards • Best Actor
Ah, horror awards. We're big fans of the Saturn Awards, but were drawn to this set of films at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards because of The Grey, but really they all sound like great films to discuss.

SERIES 11: 2023 DGA Awards • Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film
We end our year with a set of recent films, all of which were nominated in many other awards ceremonies. These five give us a wide range of things to discuss.

Lots of amazing films to discuss. We're looking forward to the conversations we'll be having over the next year as we dig into each of these films, but then also how we feel the options played out. We'll also be covering more films in our member bonus episodes that perhaps should have been nominated in some of these categories.

Hopefully, you’ll find some movies on here that you’d like to watch or revisit! We hope to have included something for everyone. So add these to your own Watchlist so you can get a head start.

Episodes for Season 13 start dropping weekly for members on July 27th and for everyone else a week later on August 3rd.

As of now, all of these should be pretty easy to find, but remember – if you don't see it streaming anywhere and can't find copies to check out from your local library, try using Scarecrow Video’s rent-by-mail program.

So what series are you excited about? Let us know your thoughts below!