It’s always an interesting scramble, to watch the studios jockey for position to reach the coveted "Best of" lists that populate the papers and pour millions into magazines to promote what they believe to be their prize-worthy pics. Some are more mainstream (Ray, Finding Neverland are both carrying quite the buzz and are being spilled onto screens everywhere), while others are the dark horses, with budgets barely large enough to create, much less pay for promotion.

While the big studios are hogging the spotlight, many more smaller, intimate films may not see the light of the projection booth in the area, so here is a list of what’s lurking below the radar during the next few months. Lock and load, movie-lovers.

November 26

A Very Long Engagement | The director and star of the much-loved Amelie tell a different tale of love, set in France at the close of World War I. A young girl’s fiancée has disappeared, he is apparently one of five French soldiers believed to be court martialed, and her resulting search to find him. Her adventures are alternately moving, passionate and amusing as she seeks the truth.

Straight-Jacket (2) | Set in the 50s, romantic leading man Guy Stone is forced to marry a studio secretary to conceal his homosexuality. Sally has no idea her marriage is a sham, though, and turns Guy’s life upside-down. Directed by Richard Day, who helmed the critically acclaimed Girls Will Be Girls.

December 3

The House of the Flying Daggers | Master filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s film has already drawn comparisons to the Academy-Award winning Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon with his period martial arts epic. Daggers is more than its title suggests, though, as it also focuses on a Romeo-and-Juliet pair of lovers who are caught in the middle of feuding kingdoms.

Conspiracy of Silence (1) A controversial, modern-day thriller, set in Ireland, following real-life events in the Catholic Church. After a local priest’s suicide, residents begin to question the vow of chastity.

After Midnight | With nods to both silent films and True Romance, Midnight follows Martino, a shy night watchman and movie junkie and his run-in with a young fast-food employee who is on the lam from the cops and a wicked boyfriend.

December 17

The Sea Inside (3) | Janvier Bardem is generating Oscar talk for his role as Ramón Sampedro, a quadriplegic who spent 30 years fighting for his right to die. The film gathered quite the following at the Toronto International Film Festival where it played earlier this season.

Open My Heart
Maria is a hooker who has a very obsessive relationship with her younger sister, Caterina, who is only allowed to leave their cramped apartment for dance classes. Suddenly, though, young Caterina meets the school’s chief instructor and sparks fly, not only romantically, but with her insanely jealous sister, Maria.

The Woodsman (4) | In what has been called the role of his career, Kevin Bacon, stars as a convicted child molester and his attempt to re-enter society. Kyra Sedgwick stars as a neighbor who tries to overlook his past. Rapper-turned-actor Mos Def co-stars as a cop who follows his every move. Based on the play of the same name.

December 29

A Love Song for Bobby Long | Scarlett Johansson plays a jaded teen who heads back to the Big Easy upon hearing of her mother’s death. When she enters her childhood home, she discovers two men eking out an existence. John Travolta plays a former professor of literature and Gabriel Macht co-stars as his protégée.

In Good Company | Paul Weitz, writer of Chuck & Buck and About a Boy, enlists Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson (again!) for this tale of domestic dilapidation. Quaid plays Dan Forman, a man demoted and forced to now answer to a boss half his age (Grace). To make matters worse, one of his two daughters announces her teen-age pregnancy, while the other has fallen for his new supervisor.