The autumn isn’t just the season for “Twilight,” horror movies and cartoons about video games. It’s also the time for critically-acclaimed indie films to get their moment in the spotlight. Though these movies don’t have the widest release schedule, they offer an eclectic mix of stories and performances. And more often than not, they provide the year’s first glimpse into future Academy Award winners.

You can take a look at all the upcoming indie, documentary and foreign-language films in the slideshow below. And make sure to check out Moviefone’s week-long 2012 Fall Preview.

  • “The Inbetweeners Movie”

    <strong>Release Date: </strong>September 7 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, Joe Thomas <strong>What’s It About?</strong> The popular British sitcom about suburban teenagers gets a finale movie, where the gang of friends embarks on a debaucherous vacation in Crete. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> The film was a massive comedy hit in the UK and now it’s bringing its Anglo take on “American Pie” antics stateside.

  • “Hello I Must Be Going”

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> September 7 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Melanie Lynskey, Blythe Danner <strong>What’s It About?</strong> A recent divorcee moves back in with her mother and begins a steamy romance with a younger man. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> If you only know Lynskey as the crazy “Rose” on “Two and a Half Men,” you’re missing out on one of the most under-rated actresses working today.

  • “Toys in the Attic”

    <strong>Release Date: </strong>September 7 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> The voices of Forest Whitaker, Joan Cusack and Cary Elwes <strong>What’s It About?</strong> The Land of Evil has kidnapped Buttercup the Doll and its up to her toy friends Teddy, Sir Handsome the Marionette and a mechanical mouse to save her. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> A truly inventive and trippy-looking stop-motion animated film from one of the Czech Republic’s most creative filmmakers will make this a visual adventure for the kid at heart.

  • “War of the Buttons”

    <strong>Release Date: </strong>September 21 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Laetitia Casta, Guillaume Canet <strong>What’s It About?</strong> Lebrac, a small child leads a play war between two groups of friends at the same time that his feelings grow for Violette, a Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> The last two French-language movies that mega-producer Harvey Weinstein brought over to the U.S. were the Oscar-winning “The Artist” and the global box-office hit “The Intouchables.”

  • “The Other Dream Team”

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> September 28 <strong>What’s It About?</strong> This documentary looks at the Grateful Dead-sponsored Lithuanian basketball team that endured under a Soviet regime to place third at the 1992 Olympics. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> Come on, what made-up story could be more interesting than this true-life tale?

  • “The Oranges”

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> October 5 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester, Catherine Kenner, Allison Janney, Oliver Platt, Adam Brody <strong>What’s It About?</strong> The Walling and Ostroff clans are helpful and friendly neighbors… until everyone discovers that the troublesome daughter of one family (Meester) is having an affair with the patriarch of another (Laurie). <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> Did you take a look at that cast?

  • “Middle of Nowhere”

    Release Date: October 12 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Emayatzy Corinealdi, David Oyelowo <strong>What’s It About?</strong> A devoted wife drops out of med school to care for her husband who has been sentenced to jail for eight years. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> Since its premiere at Sundance, this intimate drama has become a major hit at film festivals.

  • “The Sessions”

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> October 26 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> John Hawkes, William H. Macy, Helen Hunt <strong>What’s It About?</strong> A man who has spent his whole life in an iron lung asks for help from his priest and therapist to help him lose his virginity. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> If the premise sounds too crazy to believe, you should know it’s inspired by the director’s own upbringing as a child stricken with polio.

  • “Rust and Bone”

    <strong>Release Date:</strong> November 16 <strong>Who’s In It:</strong> Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts <strong>What’s It About?</strong> An unemployed fighter begins an intense, erotic relationship with a killer whale trainer who has suffered an accident and been bound to a wheelchair. <strong>Why We’re Excited:</strong> Between Cotillard’s performance and the fact this is the follow-up film from the writer/director of “A Prophet,” this could be serious Oscar material.

EARLIER:
The Must-See Action Movies This Fall

The Must-See Romance

The Must-See Drama

The Must-See Family Films

The Must-See Horror