As movie releases go, it’s hard to think of a film that dealt with as many obstacles as Bong Joon-jo’s mesmerizing thriller Snowpiercer, which still has not seen by as many people as it should have been. (Thanks a lot, Harvey Weinstein, you mope.) The Snowpiercer oddities continue, though in a more positive light, now that Radius has preemptively jumped into Oscar season by mailing out “For Your Consideration” screeners to all Academy voters. They probably should have just released the film this way in the first place.

Though television’s awards season just ended Monday with the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, film is beginning its critical dominance over the rest of the year on the way to the 87th Academy Awards next year. Had The Weinstein Company actually given enough of a shit about Snowpiercer to present it in the best way possible, they would have put it on last year’s festival circuit heading into the 2014 Oscar race. But no, American audiences had to wait until it got pissed into a limited theatrical run and VOD release. Luckily, the film has received almost universal praise from critics all over the world—and is still holding onto a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes—so its chances at running a train on the Oscars aren’t completely in vain.