The Toronto International Film Festival is known as the festival that begins awards season. This year a number of features will play at the festival in hopes of attracting raves reviews and garnering awards buzz.

TIFF has seen the premieres of the Oscar winners "The King's Speech," "Argo," "12 Years a Slave," "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Brokeback Mountain." It is rare to see a film win the Oscars without a screening at the festival circuit.

As always, the TIFF will be charged with some previously screened pictures. "Foxcatcher" will try to continue to garner buzz after winning Best Director at Cannes. The film has been on the awards radar for a number of months and if it performs as well as it did at Cannes, then it could easily be on its way to the Oscars.

"Map to the Stars" will also play at TIFF. However, the film will try to gain momentum after it garnered a mixed reception at Cannes. The film, however, won Julianne Moore a Best Actress award and that had pundits talking about her for awards.

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures will also try and gain momentum with the Sundance winner "Whiplash." Ever since it won the top prize at Sundance, the film has garnered buzz for J.K. Simmons' performance and a TIFF slot will bring the actor's performance to the forefront. The company will also bring "Mr. Turner," which also won big at Cannes. Like "Whiplash," the movie has a striking performance from its leading man, Timothy Spall, and there will be a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding the feature.

Fox Searchlight will unspool "Wild" starring Reese Witherspoon. The Jean-Marc Vallee film has been on the radar ever since the director's last film "Dallas Buyers Club" won two Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture. Based on the first trailer, it is obvious that all the attention will be centered around Witherspoon. However, if the movie is met with rave reviews, it could easily become a dark horse that evolves into a front runner.

Fox will also showcase "The Drop," starring Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini. While the film's trailer did not indicate a deep Oscar run, the company is looking to get Gandolfini a posthumous Oscar nomination and a spot in Toronto will definitely get the attention the film needs.

The Weinstein Company's sole selection "The Imitation Game" will also try to garner attention for awards. The Weinsteins have long been leaders of the awards game and it is obvious that this is the film they will most likely back during Oscar season. The feature is based on real events and has a very promising cast, which could easily garner awards buzz. Additionally, it is a period film and the Academy loves this genre.

Other promising awards contenders include the Warner Bros. release "The Judge," "The Good Lie," and the Sony Pictures release "The Equalizer."

A number of films will try to enter the race late since they do not have distribution. TIFF has served as a platform to showcase breakout films and sometimes these films have gone on to win big at the Oscars. A few years ago, "Slumdog Millionaire" premiered at the festival without a distributor and quickly went on to win the Best Picture Oscar. This year, there are a couple of promising films that could be that surprise hits.

The closing night film, "A Little Chaos," could easily become a big Oscar contender if it has success at TIFF. The film not only stars Oscar favorite Kate Winslet but it also has the historical elements that the Academy likes to award on many occasions.

Ed Zwick has never been nominated for an Oscar but his films have garnered multiple awards. This year he will bring "Pawn Sacrifice" about Bobby Fisher. The movie looks promising especially since it was written by Steven Knight who recently had huge success with "Locke."