The People's Telluride / Marcel and The Pros Make Some Noise / Wes Anderson Talks The French Dispatch

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

After Monday's surprising result in which Dean Fleischer Camp's Marcel the Shell with Shoes On topped the Pro's Telluride ratings, I was curious if that result would repeat with today's release of The People's ratings.

I asked for readers of MTFB to rate the films they saw over Labor Day weekend at TFF #48 on a 1-5 scale and submit that information to me.  I then complied the responses (over 40+ this year) and averaged them all to arrive at each film's ratings.  To make the cut, only films that received at least a third of the total number of respondents were included to insure the sampling size was sufficient. 18 films qualified for listing.  You'll see the results below after a brief trip down The People's Telluride memory lane.

The first People's Telluride was posted on Sept. 10, 2012.  The top ten films from that year's fest from the populist perspective were:

1) Stories We Tell- 4.80

2) Argo- 4.75

3) The Attack- 4.70

4) The Act of Killing-4.41

5) Wadjda-4.2

6) Amour 4.17

7) Barbara- 4.17

8) The Sapphires-4.11

9) Frances Ha-4.07

10) (Tie)The Hunt and Baraka - 4.00

In subsequent years the top ten were:

2013:

1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)

2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)

3) Gravity (4.40)

4) The Lunchbox (4.25)

5) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.15)

6) Nebraska (4.08)

7) All is Lost (4.06)

8) The Wind Rises (4.0)

9) Ida (4.0)

10) The Past (3.81)

2014:

1) The Imitation Game (4.73)

2) Birdman (4.46)

3) Wild Tales (4.23)

4) Foxcatcher (4.20)

5) Merchants of Doubt (4.04)

6) '71 (3.90)

7) Red Army (3.63)

8) Wild (Tie 3.50)

8) Escobar: Paradise Lost (Tie 3.50)

8) Mommy (Tie 3.50)

2015:

1) Room (4.47)

2) Spotlight (4.45)

3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)

4) Ixcanul (4.31)

5) Son of Saul (4.30)

6) Marguerite (4.23)

7) Black Mass (4.13)

8) Carol (4.02)

9) Rams (3.98)

10) Steve Jobs (3.86)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.37)

2) La La Land (4.33)

3) Maudie (4.29)

4) The Eagle Huntress (4.21)

5) Manchester by the Sea (4.18)

6) Arrival (4.13)

7) Bright Lights (3.90)

8) Frantz (3.89)

9) Toni Erdmann (3.80)

10) Sully (3.79)

2017:

1) Lady Bird (4.38)

2) The Shape of Water (4.22)

3) Darkest Hour (4.04)

4) Hostiles (3.99)

5) Faces Places (3.71)

6) Battle of the Sexes (3.68)

7) Lean on  Pete (3.66)

8) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (3.57)

9) The Other Side of Hope (3.45)

10) Wonderstruck (3.43)

2018

1) Roma (4.47)

2) First Man (4.34)

3) Shoplifters (4.29)

4) Boy Erased (4.23)

5) Free Solo (4.19)

6) Cold War (4.02)

7) White Boy Rick (3.88)

8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)

9) The Favourite (3.76)

10) The Front Runner (3.69)

2019:

1) The Two Popes (4.51)

2) Parasite (4.36)

3) Ford v. Ferrari (4.35)

4) Marriage Story (4.14)

5) Pain and Glory (3.81-Tie)

5) A Hidden Life (3.81-Tie)

7) Judy (3.80)

8) The Aeronauts (3.67)

9) The Report (3.66)

10) Motherless Brooklyn (3.64)

11) Lyrebird (3.62)

12) Waves (3.61)

13) Inside Bill's Brain (3.39)

14) Uncut Gems (3.22)

15) The Climb (3.07)

16) First Cow (3.02)

The  All Time Peoples Top Ten going into 2021:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)

2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture

3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture

4) The Attack (4.70) (12)

5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)

6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture

7) The Two Popes (4.51) (19)

8) Roma (4.47) (15) TIE Nominated Best Picture

8) Room (4.47) (18) TIE Nominated Best Picture

10) Birdman (4.46) (14) Won Best Picture

Also...here's were Best Picture Oscar nominees from Telluride have landed on the Peoples list for each year since it was started in 2012:

2012: Argo-4.75 (Winner) #2, Amour-4.17 #6

2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.55 #2 (Winner), Gravity-4.40 #3, Nebraska-4.08 #6

2014: Birdman-4.46 (Winner) #2, The Imitation Game-4.73 #1

2015: Spotlight-4.45 (Winner) #2, Room-4.47 #1

2016: Moonlight-4.37 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.33 #2, Manchester by the Sea-4.18 #5, Arrival-4.13 #6

2017: The Shape of Water-4.22 #2 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.38 #1, Darkest Hour-4.04 #3

2018: Roma-4.47 #1, The Favourite-3.76 #9

2019: Parasite- 4.36  (Winner) #2, Ford v. Ferrari  4.35 #3, Marriage Story  4.14 #4

Finally, here is the 2021 People's Telluride (with a film's averaged rating in parentheses). 

1) The Power of the Dog (4.63)

2) The Rescue (4.20)

3) Julia (4.18)

4) Belfast (4.12)

5) King Richard (4.06)

6) C'mon C'mon (3.93)

7) The Hand of God (3.83)

8) Cyrano (3,62)

9) A Hero (3.60)

10) Marcel the Shell (3.57)

11) The Duke (3.53)

12) Spencer-tie- (3.50)

12) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain-tie- (3.50)

14) The Lost Daughter (3.44)

15) Red Rocket (3.41)

16) Petite Maman (3.25)

17) The French Dispatch (2.50)

18) Encounter (2.43)

With this year's poll in, Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog joins the all time People's Top Ten at the #6 spot and bumps Birdman off the Top Ten list:

The all time People's Top Ten:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)

2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture

3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture

4) The Attack (4.70) (12)

5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)

6) The Power of the Dog (4.63)

7) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture

8) The Two Popes (4.51) (19)

9) Roma (4.47) (15) TIE Nominated Best Picture

9) Room (4.47) (18) TIE Nominated Best Picture

The Composite Telluride will go up on Monday!

MARCEL AND THE PROS MAKE SOME NOISE

Marcel the Shell (via Glamour.com)

On Monday,  the results of The Professionals' Telluride with surprise topper Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,  made a bit of noise around the film industry.  I'm sure most folks, maybe all folks, thought that the top film would The Power of the Dog or Belfast might top the list but no.  Marcel\, the little shell that could,  ended up on by .12 of a rating average point.

The result was, without much doubt, the biggest surprise that I can recall since I started doing The Pro's ratings in 2012.

The Twitterverse took notice with responses from Marcel director Dean Fleischer Camp responding as well as film journalists:

From Variety's Clayton Davis:

From Indiewire's Anne Thompson:

From Awards Watch's Erik Anderson:

Sasha Stone from Awards Daily:

The notice drove traffic to the blog in numbers that I don't see except in the runup to the festival itself every year.  Monday's post has become the most viewed post in MTFB history in just these past four days.

Thanks Marcel!

WES ANDERSON TALKS THE FRENCH DISPATCH

Director/writer Wes Anderson's interview with The New Yorker about his TFF #48 selection The French Dispatch about The New Yorker being an inspiration for the film.

Here's the link to that interview.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

The Professionals' Telluride / Beginning to Think About the Oscars / A New Page for MTFB / Awards from Venice /

THE PROFESSIONALS' TELLURIDE

A week removed from the conclusion of the 48th Telluride Film festival I present to you this year's Professionals ratings for TFF #48 films.  

A couple of notes by way of explanation.  The Pros were asked to rate then films they saw on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not-so-very-good and 5 being "fantastic".  Additionally, a film had to be rated by more than half of this year's panel of pros to make the list.

I am, as always, indebted to all of the industry professionals who took time from their crazy busy schedules to provide me their feedback.  I can't adequately express my appreciation.  And this year's panel of pros (in alphabetical order) are:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch

J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com

Clayton Davis/Variety

Peter DeBruge/Variety

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Marshall Flores/Awards Daily

Mark Johnson/Good as Gold

Dave Karger/TCM

Scott Menzel/We Live Entertainment

Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture

Eugene Novikov/Film Blather

Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com

Sasha Stone/Awards Daily

Anne Thompson/Indiewire

Anonymous

Here's the rundown of the Professionals ratings for each year since I started polling the Pros in 2012.

2019:

1) Parasite (4.75)

2) The Two Popes (4.42)

3) Marriage Story (4.40)

4) Waves (4.29)

5) A Hidden Life (4.20)

6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (4.17)

7) Ford v. Ferrari (4.11)

8) The Report (3.87)

9) Pain and Glory (3.83)

10) Uncut Gems (3.78)

11) Motherless Brooklyn (3.58)

12) The Climb (3.50)

13) Judy (3.13)

14) The Aeronauts (3.08)

15) The Assistant (2.75)

2018:

1) Roma (4.73)

2) First Man (4.17)

3) Cold War (4.14-tie)

3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)

5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)

6) The Favourite (3.90)

7) Watergate (3.60)

8) Border (3.50)

9) Destroyer (3.25)

10) Boy Erased (3.20)

11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)

12) White Boy Rick (3.06)

13) The Front Runner (3.05)

2017:

1) The Shape of Water (4.5)

2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)

2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)

2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)

5) Lady Bird (4.20)

6) First Reformed (4.0)

7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)

8) Darkest Hour (3.85)

9) Hostiles (3.79)

10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)

11) Loving Vincent (3.63)

12) Lean on Pete (3.50)

13) Wonderstruck (3.25)

14) Downsizing (3.10)

15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.82)

2) La La Land (4.58)

3) Things to Come (4.20)

4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)

5) Into the Inferno (3.92)

6) Sully (3.89)

7) Arrival (3.88)

8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)

9) Maudie (3.60)

10) Una (3.44)

11) California Typewriter (3.25)

12) Neruda (3.00)

13) Bleed for This (2.71)

14) Wakefield (2.67)

15) Norman (2.67)

2015:

1) Son of Saul (4.44)

2) Anomalisa (4.42)

3) Spotlight (4.41)

4) Steve Jobs (4.31)

5) Beasts of No Nation (4.27)

6) Carol (4.11)

7) 45 Years (4.06)

8) Taxi (4.00)

9) Black Mass (3.85)

10) Time to Choose (3.57)

11) Room (3.50)

12) Suffragette (3.49)

13) He Named Me Malala (2.83)

2014:

1) Birdman (4.72)

2) Foxcatcher (4.63)

3) ’71 (4.25)

4)  Wild Tales (4.20)

 5)  Leviathan (4.17)

 6)  Mr. Turner (4.10) 

 7)  The Imitation Game (4.06)

 8)  Mommy (3.92)

  9)  Two Days, One Night (3.90)

10) The Homesman (3.80)

 11)  Red Army (3.67)

 12)  Madame Bovary (3.30)

 13)  Wild (3.21)

 14)  Rosewater (3.06)

2013:

1) 12 Years a Slave (4.7)

2) Blue is the Warmest Color (4.4)

3) Gravity (4.35)

4) Tim's Vermeer (4.3)

5) Nebraska (4.3)

6) All is Lost (4.2)

7) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.1)

8) Starred Up (4.0)

9) The Past (3.9)

10) Labor Day (3.6)

11) Bethlehem (3.6)

12) Prisoners (3.5)

13) The Lunchbox (3.5)

14) Salinger (3.3)

15) The Unknown Known (3.3)

16) Palo Alto (3.2)

17) Tracks (3.2)

18) Under the Skin (3.1)

18) (tie) The Wind Rises (3.1)

20) The Invisible Woman (3.0)

2012:

1) Central Park Five-4.7

2) Argo-4.5

3) Stories We Tell- 4.3

4) The Sapphires 4.25

5) (Tie) Frances Ha and The Attack- 4.2

7) Rust and Bone- 4.0

8) The Iceman- 3.8

9) At Any Price- 3.7

10) (Tie) Amour and Baraka- 3.5

12) No- 3.4

14) (Tie) Hyde Park on Hudson and The Gatekeepers 3.0

15) Everyday- 2.8

 The Professionals' All Time Top Ten through 2019:

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)

2) Parasite (4.75) (19)

3) Roma (4.73) (18)

4) Birdman (4.72) (14)

5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)

6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)

7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)

8) La La Land (4.58) (16)

9) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)

9) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)

10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)

And finally...because MTFB is about to change its focus to the Oscar prospects for this year's crop of films from TFF...  Here's where Oscar nominees for Best Picture from TFF have landed each year according  to The Professionals:

2012: Argo-4.50 (Winner) #2, Amour-3.50 #10

2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.70 #1 (Winner), Gravity-4.35 #3, Nebraska-4.30 #5

2014: Birdman-4.72 (Winner) #1, The Imitation Game-4.06 #7

2015: Spotlight-4.41 (Winner) #3, Room-3.50 #11

2016: Moonlight-4.82 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.48 #2, Manchester by the Sea-3.95 #4, Arrival-3.88 #7

2017: The Shape of Water-4.50 #1 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.20 #5, Darkest Hour-3.85 #8

2018: Roma-4.74 #1, The Favourite-3.90 #6

2019: Parasite- 4.75 (Winner) #1, Marriage Story (4.40) #3, Ford v. Ferrari  (4.11) #7

So, finally...here are the results of this year's MTFB Professionals film ratings for TFF #48 (with the cumulative average in parentheses).  For a film to be counted for this year's listing, seven of the 15 respondents had to have rated it.  13films earned enough responses to be counted.

1) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (4.44)

2) The Power of the Dog (4.32)

3) Belfast (4.30)

4) Spencer (4.27)

5) Red Rocket (4.22)

6) The Rescue (3.93)

7) King Richard (3.92)

8) Bergman Island (3.79)

9) C'mon C'mon (3.65)

10) The Lost Daughter (3.48)

11) Cyrano (3.46)

12) The French Dispatch (3.05)

13) Encounter (2.71)

Three films had responses from six Pros and so just missed making the list: A Hero, Julia and Petite Maman.  The films with the most responses were: Belfast (15/15), The Power of the Dog (14/15), Cyrano, King Richard and The Lost Daughter (13/15).

Anyone have Marcel the Shell as their bet to take the top spot?  It's 4.44 rating is enough to move it into a tie for the 10th spot on the all time Professionals' list with Son of Saul.

The PEOPLE"S TELLURIDE ratings will be posted on Monday, Sept. 20th.

BEGINNING TO THINK ABOUT THE OSCARS

Now that TFF #48 has come and gone, it's time to do the annual transition of MTFB and think about how the films of this year's fest will be a part of the narrative of the 2021-22 Oscar season.

As usual, I'll be posting soon my own predictions about the Academy Awards, but I'll also be tracking the thoughts of some of the best awards  prognosticators in the business.

To that end, we start today with  a glance at Clayton Davis who is the Oscar brain at Variety.  In the coming weeks and months I'll also be tracking Oscar geniuses Sasha Stone/Awards Daily, Mark Johnson/Good as Gold (which is housed at Awards Daily), Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture, Erik Anderson/Awards Watch. Anne Thompson/Indiewire and others.

Soooo....here we go.

Clayton Davis currently has post-Telluride predictions in eight categories at Variety: Picture, Director, all four acting categories and the two screenplay categories.  His crystal ball suggests that TFF #48 films with Oscar nominations in those categories would be:

Belfast: Picture, Director/Branagh, Supporting Actress/Balfe and Dench, Supporting Actor/Hinds, Original Screenplay

The Power of the Dog: Picture, Director/Campion, Actor/Cumberbatch, Supporting Actress/Dunst, Adapted Screenplay

King Richard: Picture, Actor/Smith

C'mon C'mon: Picture, Original Screenplay

The Lost Daughter: Best Actress/Colman, Adapted Screenplay

Cyrano: Actor/Dinklage

Spencer: Actress/Stewart

The French Dispatch: Supporting Actor/Wright

That's a total of 20 predicted nominations in the "above-the-line' categories.

Other films/performers that are "next in line" as Davis puts it are:

Best Picture: Flee, Cyrano, The Lost Daughter, A Hero and Spencer

Best Director: Mike Mills/C'mon C'mon

Best Actress: Davis has Caitirona Balfe listed here depending on what category she lands in.

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon

Best Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis/King Richard, Jesse Buckley/The Lost Daughter, Gaby Hoffman/C'mon C'mon

Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog, Woody Nomrna/C'mon C'mon

Best Original Screenplay: King Richard, A Hero

A NEW PAGE FOR MTFB

Someone asked me during this year's festival if I had collected all of The Professionals and People's film ratings dating back to the first year I did it in 2012.  My answer was "Um...no".  

Then I thought that sounded like a good idea.  So as we roll into the next week or so where I reveal the results of this years Pros, Peeps and Composite ratings, I have added a new page as of this morning that records all of the results from each poll from 2012 to the present.  You'll find it on a page listed as "Film Ratings from Past Fests". 

I hope you find it fun and useful.

AWARDS FROM VENICE

No TFF film won the Golden Lion.  That top award went to Audrey Diwan's Happening.  But TFF #48 films did not go unrewarded in Venice.  

Jane Campion won the Silver Award for Best Direction for The Power of the Dog. Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God won the Silver Lion Special Jury Prize.  Maggie Gyllenhaal won the award for Best Screenplay for The Lost Daughter and Filippo Scotti was named Best Young Actor for his role in The Hand of God.

The complete rundown of Venice winners in all categories is linked here from Indiewire.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

The Thursday After / Blog Biz / What's Next? Posters / Teasers and Trailers / The People's Telluride

THE THURSDAY AFTER

So another TFF is in the books.  We arrived back home about 9:30 on Monday night.  I had planned to catch King Richard and attend the picnic and then leaving but decided at the last minute to head home early.  I hate that we missed the picnic and the chance to hobnob one last time but it also felt good to get home before midnight especially since I was back in my classroom on Tuesday.

Fest stuff:

I saw fewer films (even with the extra day) this year than normal.  Chalk it up to a more leisurely approach to the fest.  In order of preference they were:

The Power of the Dog

Belfast

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Cyrano

Land of Gold

Julia

The French Dispatch

The Velvet Underground

BLOG BIZ

With the addition of The Card Counter to the program that meant that MTFB went 24/25 for the Final Bets with an additional couple of correct predictions from the "Other Possibles" category: Bergman Island and Unclenching the Fists.

The single miss was The First 54 Years.

Additionally, from the original Ten Bets list back in June, MTFB had eight titles on that list that played the fest.  Here's a re-look at those predictions from June 24:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

5) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

6) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love

7) Cow/Arnold

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Blonde/Dominik

10) The Story of Looking/Cousins

Don't discount the possibility of: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Missed on Nightmare Alley and Blonde.  From the "possibility" list that also made the TFF #48 lineup: Julia and Petite Maman.  Without backtracking...that might be the best initial Ten Bets since I started predicting in that manner.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Professionals and the People's Telluride film ratings will coming in the next week or so.  After they post I'll do what I call the Combination Telluride.  As is the usual case, I'll also begin to talk about the Oscar season with the focus being on the films that played at TFF #48.

Also, per suggestion of an MTFB reader, I'm going to work on adding a section that contains all of the ratings that I have compiled over the years.

POSTERS

***BELFAST

***THE CARD COUNTER

***THE HAND OF GOD

***BERGMAN ISLAND

***C'MON C'MON

***ENCOUNTER

TEASERS AND TRAILERS

***BELFAST

***BERGMAN ISLAND

***C'MON C'MON

***ENCOUNTER

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".  This years People's cutoff date is SUNDAY, SEPT. 12TH.

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Full Report on Thursday / Notice / The People's Telluride

FULL REPORT ON THURSDAY

The Pattersons left Telluride earlier than normal yesterday as we high-tailed it out of town around 11:00 am (MDT).  We had planned to catch the early screening of King Richard at The Chuck then hitting the Labor Day Picnic but, for whatever reason...just weren't feeling it.

Made it to the house at 9:22 pm (CDT).

I'll have some deets and such about the weekend in Thursday's regular post.

Meanwhile, It's picture day today at Guymon High School...

NOTICE

Scott Menzel of We Live Entertainment reported on social media Monday that his wife had tested positive in Telluride for Covid.  Menzel stated that she had met all the fests requirements for participation.  Some attendees might want to consider testing.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".  This years People's cutoff date is SUNDAY, SEPT. 12TH.

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

Monday TBAs / Sunday for Me / My Monday / The People's Telluride

 MONDAY TBAs

Monday TBAs and Seminar Info

Palm 4:00 PM C’mon C’mon

Galaxy 4:15 PM Belfast

Werner Herzog 1:15 PM A Hero 4:30 PM Becoming Led Zeppelin

Chuck Jones’ Cinema 4:15 PM Torn

Sheridan Opera House 1:00 PM The Electrical Life of Louis Wain 3:15 PM The Duke 6:00 PM The Card Counter

Nugget 1:00 PM Petite Maman 3:00 PM Bergman Island 6:30 PM  Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Masons Hall Cinema 3:45 PM Calling Cards 6:00 PM West Indies

Pierre 1:30 PM Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song 4:15 PM Cow

Backlot 1:30 PM Bernstein’s Wall 4:00 PM Edna 6:00 PM Stay Prayed Up

Noon Seminar, Town Park FREE Sponsored by Participant Moderated by Noah Cowan

Recreating the Real: What does it mean to restate an event and to reimagine a known figure from the past?  

Panelists: Kristen Stewart. Pablo Larrain, Jeffrey Wright, Joe Wright, Haley Bennett, Will Sharpe

SUNDAY FOR ME

We created a slow-paced day that had us at the third screening of Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog with Q+A afterwards led by John Horn and featuring Campion, Benedict Cumberbatch, Korsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee.  We followed that with a look at Land of Gold from director Jon Else and featuring T-ride favorite Peter Sellars.

It was a glorious day.

Campion's The Power of the Dog is likely to be regarded as her masterwork.  It's truly a wonderful piece of film making.  Kudos Kudos to the troupe of Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.  Their work is stellar.  Also props to Johnny Greenwood's score.

As to Land of Gold...Peter Sellars is an American Treasure.  Tell him I said so when/if you see him.

MY MONDAY

Short and sweet. I'm going to try to catch King Richard at 9:00 am at The Chuck and then head to the picnic.  Say hello if you run into me.

After the ice cream, I'm headed back to the Oklahoma Panhandle so I can be in my classroom on Tuesday morning.

I gotta say, I loved being back in Telluride for this Fest!!!

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

Sunday TBAs / Saturday's Reckoning / Probable for Sunday/ The People's Telluride

 SUNDAY TBAs

The Werner Herzog Theatre

9:45 PM - THE FRENCH DISPATCH (sneak preview)

Sheridan Opera House

6:15 PM - THE CARD COUNTER (sneak preview)

Masons

4:00 PM - BERNSTEIN’S WALL  10:00 PM - STUDENT PRINTS

Le Pierre

1:15 PM - PETITE MAMAN  10:00 PM - DEAR MR. BRODY (sneak preview)

Abel Gance Open Air Cinema

8:30 PM - BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN (sneak preview)

Town Park Theater

8:45 PM - ENCOUNTER

SATURDAY'S RECKONING

JULIA- Fair

MARCEL THE SHELL WITHE SHOES ON- Great

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND- No

PROBABLE FOR SUNDAY:

The Power of the Dog and The Same Storm.  I was planning on seeing The Electrical Life of Louis Wain at the Zog at 9:00 this morning but they wiped it out to add a screening of The French Dispatch.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

Saturday TBAs / Friday Was a Light Day / Saturday Plans

 SATURDAY TBAs

At the Galaxy: 9:30 am The French Dispatch and 9:45 pm Becoming Led Zeppelin

At the Mason Hall: 10:00 pm Great Expectations

And by the by...still have a high level of confidence that Paul Schrader's The Card Counter makes the program.

FRIDAY WAS A LIGHT DAY

Saw Belfast early and it is great!

Saw The French Dispatch in the evening and was disappointed.  I love Wes Anderson's body of work but this is 1/3 of a film.

SATURDAY PLANS

Probably Julia, Marcel the Shell and Power of the Dog...maybe King Richard.

Belfast is terrific!

Belfast

 BELFAST

I rarely do this kind of thing but...

Kenneth Branagh's Belfast is magnificent.  I think its his best writing/directing of his career.  Super work from the entire cast with special shout outs to Caitriona Balfe, Ciaran Hinds and Jude Hill.  It should be in the Oscar convo for many categories.  I hope it is. 

Last two Telluride films I have felt this strongly about were Nomadland and Lady Bird.  That's great company.

And if you haven't caught it yet; do so before the weekend is over.

That's it.  That's the post.  Go see it.

TBAs for Friday / If You're Counting / The People's Telluride

 TBAs FOR FRIDAY

At the Galaxy: 9:45 pm The Duke

At the Werner Herzog (The Zog): 9:15 am Nuclear Family, 6:30 pm The French Dispatch, 9:15 pm King Richard

At the Chuck Jones: 6:45 pm The French Dispatch

At the Masons Hall: 4:00 pm Dear Mr. Brody, 10:00 pm Cow

The Nugget and The Le Pierre:  As I write this late Thursday night there is confusion as the Program Guide lists both The Nugget and The Le Pierre as having TBAs late Friday.  However the SHOW app    has no mention of a TBA for The Nugget but A Hero (scheduled at 9:30 pm and Citizen Ashe (scheduled at 9L45 pm) at The Le Pierre.  Based on the two TBAs spatial appearance on the paper Program Guide, my best guess is that A Hero is at The Le Pierre and Citizen Ashe is at The Nugget.

IF YOURE COUNTING...

As of Thursday night (with announced TBAs) I went 23/25 on the Final Bets but I'm still betting that The Card Counter shows up as TBA later thus weekend.  If that happens I'll have gone 24/25 missing only on The First 54 Years.  

Additionally, I can also semi-count Bergman Island and Unclenching the Fists which I had as "Also Possibles".  Kind of also feel like I can count Andrea Arnold's Cow which was a Bet or an "Also Possibles" for 10 straight weeks and then I dropped it on the Final Bets.

Another note: if The Card Counter plays that means 8 of 10 of the original Ten Bets from back at the end of June made the lineup.  Worst case: Ten Bets #1 went 7/10 and that's before any announcements from other fests that reveal premiere status.  

My horn-tooting is dome now.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

Day One of TFF #48/ The French Dispatch Will Sneak / Program Link

 DAY ONE OF TFF #48

My normal first day would not include driving but because U.S. 50 has a five mile construction zone between Gunnison and Montrose, the wife and I have to travel through the backdoor.  That means an added couple of hours.  So, yesterday we made it to South Fork and stopped there for the night.  We're making the last four hours of the journey this morning.  

My expectation is that we'll catch one of the films in the post-Colorado Ave. Feed time slot.  Choices there are the Dinklage Tribute with a World Premiere Cyrano screening or World Premieres of King Richard, Belfast  C'mon C'mon or The Same Storm.  Might chose any of them.

If I still have any spunk (shout out to the late Ed Asner) I might try to get in Louis Wain.  We'll see.

THE FRENCH DISPATCH WILL SNEAK

Eagle eyed friend of the Blog Chris Schneider pointed out last night that The Watch, the printed guide t the fest, reveals that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a sneak addition to the program at some point this weekend,  Here's the pic Chris included with his Tweet alerting me and the TFF Twitterverse that the film would play:

The Program Guide has nine TBA slots on Friday.  As the saying goes, you do the math.

PS...I am fully expecting The Card Counter to show upas well at some point this weekend after its bow at Venice.

PROGRAM LINK

This is the link to the electronic version of the TFF #48 program.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

TELLURIDE #48 LINEUP OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED

TELLURIDE #48 LINEUP OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED

Two years after the last live Telluride Film Festival, The SHOW has been announced for 2021.  Here's that lineup:

Telluride, CO (September 1, 2021) – Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, today announces its official program selections for the 48th edition of the Telluride Film Festival. TFF’s celebration of artistic excellence brings together cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, and artists to discover the best in world cinema in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. TFF will screen more than 80 feature films, short films and revival programs representing 29 countries, along with special artist Tributes, Conversations, Panels, Student Programs and Festivities. Telluride Film Festival takes place Thursday, September 2 - Monday, September 6, 2021.

 

The 48th Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films to play in its main program, the SHOW: 

 

•              THE AUTOMAT (d. Lisa Hurwitz, U.S., 2021) In person: Lisa Hurwitz 

•              BECOMING COUSTEAU (d. Liz Garbus, U.S., 2021) In person: Liz Garbus

•              BELFAST (d. Kenneth Branagh, U.K., 2021) In person: Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan

•              BERGMAN ISLAND (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany/Sweden, 2021) In person: Mia Hansen-Løve

•              BITTERBRUSH (d. Emelie Mahdavian, U.S., 2021) In person: Emelie Mahdavian, Colie Moline

•              C’MON C’MON (d. Mike Mills, U.S., 2021) In person: Mike Mills, Gaby Hoffman, Molly Webster

•              CITIZEN ASHE (d. Sam Pollard, Rex Miller, U.S./U.K., 2021) In person: Sam Pollard, Rex Miller

•              COW (d. Andrea Arnold, U.K., 2021) In person: Andrea Arnold

•              CYRANO (d. Joe Wright, U.K., 2021) In person: Joe Wright, Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Erica Schmidt, Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner

•              THE DUKE (d. Roger Michell, U.K., 2021) In person: Roger Michell, Helen Mirren

•              THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN (d. Will Sharpe, U.K., 2021) In person: Will Sharpe, Benedict Cumberbatch

•              ENCOUNTER (d. Michael Pearce, U.S., 2021) In person: Michael Pearce

•              FAUCI (d. John Hoffman, Janet Tobias, U.S., 2021) In person: John Hoffman, Janet Tobias, Steven Wakefield, Peter Staley

•              FLEE (d. Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Denmark, 2021) In person: Jonas Poher Rasmussen

•              HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A JOURNEY, A SONG (d. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, U.S., 2021) In person: Dan Geller, Dayna Goldfine, Sharon Robinson,

•              THE HAND OF GOD (d. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2021) In person: Paolo Sorrentino, Teresa Saponangelo, Luisa Ranieri, Filippo Scotti

•              A HERO (d. Asghar Farhadi, Iran/France, 2021) In person: Asghar Farhadi

•              JULIA (d. Julie Cohen, Betsy West, U.S., 2021) In person: Julie Cohen, Betsy West

•              KING RICHARD (d. Reinaldo Marcus Green, U.S., 2021) In person: Reinaldo Marcus Green

•              THE LOST DAUGHTER (d. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Greece/U.S./U.K./Israel, 2021) In person: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, Ed Harris

•              MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (d. Dean Fleischer-Camp, Jenny Slate, U.S, 2021) In person: Dean Fleischer-Camp, Jenny Slate

•              MUHAMMAD ALI (d. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon, U.S., 2021) In person: Sarah Burns, David McMahon, Rasheda Ali, Michael Bentt 

•              NUCLEAR FAMILY (d. Ry Russo-Young, U.S., 2021) In person: Ry Russo-Young, Sandra Russo, Robin Young

•              PETITE MAMAN (d. Céline Sciamma, France, 2021) In person: Céline Sciamma

•              THE POWER OF THE DOG (d. Jane Campion, Australia/New Zealand, 2021) In person: Jane Campion, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons

•              PROCESSION (d. Robert Greene, U.S., 2021) In person: Robert Greene, Dan Laurine, Ed Gavagan, Mike Foreman, Michael Sandridge, Joe Eldred, Tom Viviano, Terrick Trobough

•              THE REAL CHARLIE CHAPLIN (d. James Spinney, Peter Middleton, U.S., 2021) In person: James Spinney, Peter Middleton

•              RED ROCKET (d. Sean Baker, U.S., 2021) In person: Sean Baker, Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, Ethan Darbone, Brittney Rodriguez, Suzanna Son

•              THE RESCUE (d. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, U.S./U.K., 2021) In person: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Mitch Torrel, Thanet Natisri

•              RIVER (d. Jennifer Peedom, Australia, 2021)

•              THE SAME STORM (d. Peter Hedges, U.S., 2021) In person: Peter Hedges, Noma Dumezweni, Mary-Louise Parker

•              SPEER GOES TO HOLLYWOOD (d. Vanessa Lapa, Israel/Austria/Germany, 2021) In person: Vanessa Lapa

•              SPENCER (d. Pablo Larraín, U.K./Germany/Chile, 2021) In person: Pablo Larraín, Kristen Stewart

•              TORN (d. Max Lowe, U.S., 2021) In person: Max Lowe, Conrad Anker, Jennifer Lowe-Anker, Isaac Lowe-Anker, Sam Lowe-Anker

•              UNCLENCHING THE FISTS (d. Kira Kovalenko, Russia, 2021) In person: Kira Kovalenko

•              THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (d. Todd Haynes, U.S., 2021) In person: Todd Haynes, Ed Lachman

 

The 2021 Silver Medallion Awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, will be presented to Oscar nominated actor Riz Ahmed (with ENCOUNTER), Oscar winning filmmaker Jane Campion (with THE POWER OF THE DOG), and Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Dinklage(with CYRANO). Tribute programs include a selection of clips, the presentation of the Silver Medallion, and a screening of the aforementioned films. 

 

Barry Jenkins, this year’s Guest Director, serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions. He has curated the following special selections: 

 

•              WEST INDIES (d. Med Hondo, France/Mauritania/Algeria, 1979)

•              CHOCOLAT (d. Claire Denis, France, 1988)

•              LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (d. Isaac Julien, U.K., 1989)

•              GARDEN (d. Ruthie Shatz, Adi Barash, Israel, 2003) In person: Adi Barash, Ruthie Shatz

•              KAHLIL JOSEPH: SELECTED WORKS In person: Kahlil Joseph

•              RUSSIAN ARK (d. Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia, 2003)

 

Additional film revival programs include THE APACHES OF ATHENS (d. Dimítrios Gaziadis, Greece, 1929), and FRAGMENT OF AN EMPIRE (d. Fridrikh Ermler, USSR, 1929), the latter of which will follow a presentation of the Special Medallion award to film scholar Annette Insdorf. The Special Medallion is given to celebrate a hero of cinema who preserves, honors and presents great movies.

 

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room featuring behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians, and filmmakers will screen the following programs:

 

•              ANDREI TARKOVSKY: A CINEMA PRAYER (d. Andrei Tarkovsky, Italy/Russia/Sweden, 2019)

•              BERNSTEIN'S WALL (d. Douglas Tirola, U.S., 2021) In person: Douglas Tirola

•              DARK FRAMES (d. Tom Thurman, U.S., 2021) In person: Tom Thurman

•              EDNA (d. Eryk Rocha, Brazil, 2021) In person: Eryk Rocha

•              JOYCE CAROL OATES: A BODY IN THE SERVICE OF MIND (d. Stig Björkman, Sweden, 2021)

•              LAND OF GOLD (d. Peter Sellars, U.S., 2021) In person: Jon Else, Peter Sellars

•              SONGS FOR DRELLA (d. Ed Lachman, U.S., 1990) In person: Ed Lachman

•              STAY PRAYED UP (d. D.L. Anderson, Matt Durning, U.S., 2021) In person: D.L. Anderson, Matt Durning, Phil Cook, Lena Mae Perry

•              THE STORY OF LOOKING (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2021)

•              THREE MINUTES – A LENGTHENING (d. Bianca Stigter, Netherlands, U.K., 2021)

•              THE VILLAGE DETECTIVE: A SONG CYCLE (d. Bill Morrison, U.S., 2021) In person: Bill Morrison

 

Special Screenings will play throughout the Festival including the short film LEAD ME HOME (d. Jon Shenk, Pedro Kos, U.S., 2021) with both filmmakers in person; a new cut of THE OUTSIDERS (d. Francis Ford Coppola, U.S., 1993) presented by Coppola and Matt Dillon; THE RAIN PEOPLE (d. Francis Ford Coppola, U.S., 1969) with Coppola in person; EL GRAN FELLOVE (d. Matt Dillon, U.S., 2020) presented by Dillon; and MISSISSIPPI MASALA (d. Mira Nair, U.S., 1991) with Nair in person. 

 

Additional Festivities will take place throughout the Festival including THE TOUCH (d. Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1971); a gallery of Laurie Anderson’s Covid-19 Zoom lectures entitled: SPENDING THE WAR WITHOUT YOU; and a Poster Signing with previously announced 2021 poster artist Luke Dorman of Meow Wolf.

 

“We have prepared for just about anything this year,” said executive director Julie Huntsinger. “Attending Telluride is always an adventure: the altitude, the weather, and the travel requirements to get here are not for the faint of heart. But the past two years have led us to a moment where we truly understand the phrase anything is possible, and we are ready. We have heard the incredible excitement from our film community about our ability to reconvene in the beautiful Telluride setting and are just as thrilled to pick up where we left off. We are full of gratitude and anticipation to head back to our favorite activity – sitting in the dark and watching the very best works our cinematic leaders have created – and find ourselves more in love with film than ever. 

 

Telluride Film Festival’s shorts program, Filmmakers of Tomorrow, includes three sections: Student Prints, Calling Cards and Great Expectations from 18 emerging filmmakers from around the globe. 

 

Telluride Film Festival’s Student Programs present students the opportunity to experience film as an art and expand participants’ worldview through film screenings and filmmaker discussions. The Student Symposium provides 50 graduate and undergraduate students with a weekend-long immersion in cinema. The City Lights Project brings together 15 high school students and five teachers from three schools to participate in a concentrated program of screenings and discussions. The FilmSCHOLAR program, created in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin, gives young film scholars and aspiring critics the opportunity to immerse themselves in a weekend of cinema and learn from some of the best in the field. University Seminars allow university professors to travel with students to the Festival and participate in special programming throughout the weekend.

 

Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. Eight Conversations take place between Festival guests and the audience about cinema and culture, and four outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of Festival guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public. 

 

Corporate and institutional support at Telluride Film Festival plays a dynamic role in the life of the Festival and underscores the Festival’s commitment to quality, adventure, and distinction in the art of cinema. TFF is honored to feature some of the world’s most renowned consumer and entertainment brands. We are filled with gratitude for their unique contributions and for exceptional long-term relationships with Turner Classic Movies, Meyer Sound, Netflix, Amazon Studios, National Geographic, ARRI, Participant Media, Universal Studios, 30 West and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

 

For more information about Telluride Film Festival, or to download the 2021 program guide, please visit: www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

NOTES:

***Surprises this morning include the inclusion of Roger Michell's The Duke, a film that was on the announced TFF #47 list for last year.

***Kenneth Branagh's Belfast was apparently a very late addition to the lineup as Toronto had announced it as a World Premiere most of us they play with trying to guess the lineup had dismissed it as a Telluride possibility.

Tributes are for Jane Campion, Peter Dinklage and Riz Ahmed as I hinted at by initials a couple of days ago.

Films that are high on my list: 

The Power of the Dog

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

The Rescue

C'mon C'mon

King Richard

A Hero

Flee

The Hand of God

Belfast

LATE BREAKING: PRE-LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT: Tributes / FFC Returns with Restorations / Fauci Doc Goes to TFF / Buzz Buzz Belfast / Then There's This...

LATE BREAKING:  PRE-LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT

The Telluride Film Festival will reportedly reveal its lineup for 48th edition at 12 noon (EDT) today.  Look for that here at that hour.

TRIBUTES

After I hinted at them yesterday Erik Anderson reported at Awards Watch that the three TFF #48 tributes are:

Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog

Peter Dinklage/Cyrano

Riz Ahmed/Encounter and Flee

Here's Anderson's reportage.

FFC RETURNS WITH RESTORATIONS

Mike Fleming writing for Deadline.com writes that:

"I hear he (Coppola) will be at Telluride this weekend to unveil restored versions of his films The Rain People, and The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. After doing the work and feeling at peace with those past great films, as Coppola holds court at that festival, I expect the dominant conversation will be about how he is looking forward, toward Megalopolis."

So add The rain People and The Outsiders to your list as probable titles to be announced later today.

The complete Deadline post is here.

FAUCI DOC GOES TO TFF

According to Deadline.com's Pete Hammond, Nat Geo's documentary about Dr. Anthony Fauci will be a part of the Telluride lineup.  Will the Good Doctor be in the San Juans/  That would blow my mind.

Here's a look at the trailer for the doc from YouTube:

BUZZ BUZZ BELFAST

Late buzz is that Kenneth Branagh's Belfast could land in Telluride over this Labor Day weekend.  Billed as a World Premiere for the Toronto Fest, something would need to be off for this to be true.  On the other hand, the buzz is pretty loud.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

Jason Osiason of Fantastic Film Fans tweeted this late yesterday afternoon:

If that doesn't get you excited about this weekend, I don't know what would.

I'll add anything more to update here prior to the lineup announcement...if there IS anything more to post.

LATE BREAKING: Trailer for The Velvet Underground / Hints for Tributes / App's A Happenin'

LATE BREAKING

Here are some tidbits with just a bit more than 24 hours before the TFF #48 lineup is revealed 

TRAILER FOR THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

I expect that we'll see this title when the lineup is revealed tomorrow.  Here's the recently released trailer for Todd Haynes documentary about The Velvet Underground from YouTube:

 HINTS FOR TRIBUTES:

Tribute recipients initials:  J.C., P.D. and R.A.

APP'S A HAPPENIN'

The App for the 48th edition of The SHOW became available for download last night.  Of course, there's no info accessible as yet.  That won't become available until sometime after the lineup is officially announced on Wednesday morning.

FINAL BETS / The Guests and Tributes / Cousins Looking Trailer / Crazy Thoughts / Lists of the Fall Films That Are Must-Sees / The People's Telluride / Can You Say Hurricane Nora?

 FINAL BETS...

Here we are TFF fans. The program should drop on Wednesday.  The forecast looks wet (***see below) so make sure you bring an umbrella.

Here, without any guarantee of accuracy are my Bets for what will be revealed on Wednesday.

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) The Card Counter/Schrader

3) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

4) Spencer/Larrain

5) A Hero/Farhadi

6) C'mon, C'mon/Mills

7) The Hand of God/Sorrentino

8) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi

9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

10) Julia/Cohen and West

11) Becoming Cousteau/Garbus

12) Cyrano/Wright

13) Petite Maman/Sciamma

14) King Richard/Green

15) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine

16) Encounter/Pearce

17) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

18) The First 54 Years/Mograbi

19) The Lost Daughter/Gyllenhaal

20) Three Minutes-A Lengthening/Stigter

21) Flee/Rasmussen

22) Red Rocket/Baker

23) The Story of Looking/Cousins

24) The French Dispatch/Anderson

25) The Same Storm/Hedges

Other Possibles: Prayers for the Stolen,  Last Exit: Space, Unclenching the Fists, A Chiara, The Starling, Bergman Island.

For me...hot titles are French Dispatch, Power of the Dog, Card Counter, C'mon C'mon, Louis Wain, Hand of God, Flee, King Richard and A Hero.  That could change.  If The Starling SHOWS...it'll probably go on my list.

THE GUESTS AND TRIBUTES

I have no way of knowing who will and won't physically be in Telluride this week.  In a non-Covid world there are a number of cool candidates who could be on the guest list and in consideration for Tributes.  So, I'm approaching this as if it were a non-Covid year though I expect that the numbers of talent in town may be smaller as a result of the pandemic and could we see some folks remotely?  

Nevertheless, looking at the feature films that I have on the Final Bets we could see the following around Telluride this week:

The Power of the Dog: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee

The Card Counter: Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Willem Dafoe

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy

Spencer: Kristen Stewart, Sally Hawkins

A Hero; Asghar Farhadi

C'mon C'mon: Joaquin Phoenix

Cyrano: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennet, Ben Mendelsohn, Kelvin Harrison, Jr.

King Richard: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis

Encounter: Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer

The Lost Daughter: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson

Red Rocket: Simon Rex

The Starling: Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, Kevin Kline, Timothy Olyphant

The Same Storm: Mary Louise Parker, Elaine May

Then there is the cast of The French Dispatch: Bill Murray, Timothee Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro and so many more.

Hot prospects for Tributes: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Campion, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, Asghar Farhadi, Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Dinklage, Will Smith, Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Olivia Colman, Melissa McCarthy, Kevin Kline, Elaine May, Joe Wright, Sally Hawkins, Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Benicio Del Toro.

COUSINS LOOKING TRAILER

From the very first Ten Bets post back on June 24th I have been all but certain that Mark Cousins would be presenting something for Telluride.  On that first Ten Bets I listed The Story of Looking although through the summer two other Cousins' projects seemed like they might be possible as well (The Storms of Jeremy Thomas and an updated Story of  Film: A New Generation).

It looks as if Looking will almost certainly land this week in the San Juans and, honestly, I wouldn't be all that surprised if one or both of the others also play.

You can have a preview of The Story of Looking as a trailer for the documentary was released yesterday.  Here it is via YouTube:

CRAZY THOUGHTS: (Warning: These never pan out): Dune, Nightmare Alley, Don't Look Up, Soggy Bottom, The Tender Bar, Eternals, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

LISTS OF THE FALL FILMS THAT ARE "MUST SEES"

The last week, prior to the start of the fall film fest onslaught, any number of outlets posted/published "must see" and "hot titles" lists.  So how hot do we think the TFF #48 lineup is?  Let's review which suspected TFF titles made which lists:

Film Stage's 50 Films to See This Fall includes: The Card Counter, The Velvet Underground, Bergman Island, The French Dispatch, Spencer, The Power of the Dog, Flee, The Lost Daughter, A Hero., C'mon C'mon, Red Rocket.

Time's 23 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2021 includes: The Card Counter, The French Dispatch, Spencer, The Power of the Dog, King Richard

Indiewire's 23 Must See Films at Venice, Toronto and New York includes: Bergman Island, The Card Counter, Flee, The Hand of God, The Power of the Dog, Red Rocket, The Rescue, Spencer, The Velvet Underground

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

***CAN YOU SAY HURRICANE NORA?

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/27/nora-hurricane-tropical-storm-colorado-surge-moisture/

LAST WORD FOR TODAY:

I'll keep on top of things this next couple days.  If anything breaks of interest I'll post here and Tweet it.  I will post the lineup here on Wednesday when it drops.  Of course, I'll be posting a few things along the way including TBAs and what I'm up to.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

SPECIAL PRE-TFF #48 FRIDAY EDITION: Power of the Dog Teaser and Poster / Spencer Teaser and Poster / Schrader on The Card Counter / Visions of Cyrano / Awards Watch Talks TFF Films

 SPECIAL PRE-TFF #48 FRIDAY EDITION

Preface: Just too many things piled up yesterday to let dangle until Monday's regularly scheduled MTFB post...so here are quick hits about some of the things that popped on Thursday.

POWER OF THE DOG TRAILER AND POSTER

Teaser:

Poster:

SPENCER TEASER AND POSTER

Teaser:

Poster:

SCHRADER ON THE CARD COUNTER

Two Posts!

From Indiewire.

From The Playlist.

VISIONS OF CYRANO

Vanity Fair's has stills from Cyrano.  Here are a couple:

The entire vanity Fair spread is linked here. 

AWARDS WATCH TALKS TFF FILMS

Erik Anderson's Awards Watch posted a Telluride-centric piece with a view toward guessing/predicting the lineup.  It lines up well with what I've been talking about of late with some interesting additional notes.

Among the films he lists as "Most Likely" he includes three that I don't necessarily have as sure things on my list: Bergman Island, Blue Bayou and Red Rocket.

Otherwise, here's the link to Erik's entire T-ride post from yesterday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays