Michael's Telluride Film Blog : Venice/Hot Rumors/Cloud Atlas/More on The Master Trailer

Hope you're having a great Thursday...

VENICE

The Venice Film Festival announced its lineup early today. Here it is via The Playlist:

Opening Film (Out Of Competition)
"The Reluctant Fundamentalist," Mira Nair (U.S.,Qatar)

Competition
"To The Wonder," Terrence Malick (U.S.)
"Something in the Air," Olivier Assayas (France)
"Outrage:Beyond," Takeshi Kitano (Japan)
"Fill The Void," Rama Bursztyn and Yigal Bursztyn (Israel)
"Pieta," Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
"Dormant Beauty," Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
"E' stato il figlio," Daniele Cipri (Italy)
"At Any Price," Ramin Bahrani (US, UK)
"La Cinquieme Saison," Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth (Belgium, Netherlands, France)
"Un Giorno Speciale, " Francesca Comencini (Italy)
"Passion," Brian De Palma (France, Germany)
"Superstar, " Xavier Giannoli (France, Belgium)
"Spring Breakers," Harmony Korine (US)
"Thy Womb," Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
"Linhas de Wellington," Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal, France)
"Paradise: Faith," Ulrich Seidl (Austria, France, Germany)
"Betrayal," Kirill Serebrennikov (Russia)

Out Of Competition
"L’homme qui rit," Jean-Pierre Ameris (France-Czech Republic)
"Love Is All You Need," Susanne Bier (Denmark-Sweden)
"Cherchez Hortense", Pascal Bonitzer (France)
"Sur un fil…," Simon Brook (France-Italy)
"Enzo Avitabile Music Life," Jonathan Demme (Italy-US)
"Tai Chi 0," Stephen Fung (China)
"Lullaby To My Father," Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Switzerland)
"Penance" (Shokuzai), Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)
"Bad 25," Spike Lee (US)
"O Gebo e a Sombra," Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal-France)
"The Company You Keep," Robert Redford (US)
"Shark (Bait 3D)," Kimble Rendall (Australia-Singapore-China)
"Disconnect," Henry-Alex Rubin (US)
"The Iceman," Ariel Vromen (US)

Out Of Competition: Special Events
"Anton’s Right Here" dir Lyubov Arkus (Russia)
"It Was Better Tomorrow" dir Hinde Boujemaa (Tunisia)
"Clarisse," Liliana Cavani (Italy)
"Sfiorando il muro," Silvia Giralucci and Luca Ricciardi (Italy)
"Carmel," Amos Gitai (Israel-France-Italy)
"El impenetrable," Daniele Incalcaterra and Fausta Quattrini (Argentina-France)
"Witness: Libya," Michael Mann (US)
"Medici con l’Africa," Carlo Mazzacurati (Italy)
"La nave dolce," Daniele Vicari (Italy-Albania)

Orrizonti (Horizons)
"Wadjda," Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia-Germany)
"The Paternal House," Kianoosh Ayari (Iran)
"I Also Want It", Alexey Balabanov (Russia)
"Gli Equilibristi," Ivano De Matteo (Italy-France)
"L’intervallo," Leonardo Di Costanzo (Italy-Switzerland-Germany)
"Winter of Discontent," Ibrahim El Batout (Egypt)
"Tango Libre," Frederic Fonteyne (Belgium-France-Luxembourg)
"The Cutoff Man", dir Idan Hubel (Israel)
"Fly With The Crane," Li Ruijun (China)
"A Hijacking," Tobias Lindholm (Denmark)
"Leones," Jazmin Lopez (Argentina-France-Netherlands)
"Bellas Mariposas," Salvatore Mereu (Italy)
"Low Tide," Roberto Minervini (US-Italy-Belgium)
"Boxing Day," Bernard Rose (UK-US)
"Yema," Djamila Sahraoui (Algeria-France)
"Araf - Somewhere In Between," Yesim Ustaoglu (Turkey-France-Germany)
"The Millennial Rapture," Koji Wakamatsu (Japan)
"Three Sisters," Wang Bing (France-Hong Kong-China)

If past history is any guide, you can expect about 3 of these titles to also appear at Telluride and your best bets would likely be : Mire Nair's "The Reluctant Fundamentalist", andOlivier Assassyas' "Something in the Air". Perhaps Susanne Bier's "Love is All You Need".

Additionally, it doesn't appear to me that Venice's choices really undermne anything I've been contemplating as Telluride possibilities.

It may reduce "Something in the Air's" chances a bit...maybe enough for it to change positions on Monday's "Ten Bets" list...

Here is some analysis of this morning's announcement from the Blogosphere:

The Playlist:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/paul-thomas-andersons-the-master-leads-venice-line-up-terrence-malick-brian-depalma-harmony-korine-also-included-20120726

Deadline.com

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/venice-film-festival-lineup-malick-redford/

The Wrap:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/venice-film-festival-unveils-line-films-malick-de-palma-and-demme-49411

The Hollywood Reporter:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/venice-film-festival-terrence-malick-brian-de-palma-354875

HOT RUMORS

It's an interesting read...I'm talking about Deadline.com's post dissecting the Oscar potential of the Toronto lineup of Galas and Special Presentations that were announced on Tuesday. Why?

Because of the hints, rumors and such concerning our festival in the Rockies that's now only 5 weeks away.

Here's the link: http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/toronto-film-fest-what-looks-good-for-oscar/

Now, allow me to spoil the article by relaying the pertinent portions of text...

First, there's the "Cloud Atlas" info:

"It’s also known that Warners screened this for Telluride consideration but we will have to wait and see if it shows up there too."

Three things here...First, I think "Cloud Atlas" doesn't really sound like a Telluride-y film, BUT, I'm pretty hot to see it AND Warner's must think it's very special to make the pitch.

And second, we now have an answer to the question concerning which of the "majors" was exhibiting their wares for Telluride during the L.A. Film Fest...or, at least we can make that guess. It may be wrong, but putting 2 and 2 together and that's what you get...

Third, it makes you wonder if "Cloud Atlas" is the ONLY thing WB pitched...other films in their stable that they might have additionally had some interest in promoting for T-ride include: Ben Affleck's "Argo", Robert Lorenz's "Trouble with The Curve" and Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby".

Intriguing, isn't it?

Next, there's this nugget from the same story:

"The Sundance hit, The Sessions (formerlyThe Surrogate) should be

a winner for (Fox) Searchlight with strong award-calibre performances from Helen Hunt and John Hawkes. The studio also wanted it to play Telluride but that fest doesn’t like going second to Sundance..."

Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again...T-ride excepted "An Education" from the "No Sundance" rule...so, perhaps, might they again for "The Sessions"?

It's at least a possibility...

And finally, toward the end of the story came this little tidbit:

"Where’s Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master rumored for all three Fall fests? Stay tuned . It’s only the beginning."

Rumored for "ALL THREE FESTS" including Telluride??? That's at least a little ray of sunshine about the possibility.

But we now know from the Venice announcement that "The Master" isn't playing there and Toronto doesn't seem likely to add it after their Galas and SPecial Presentations announcement...so that only leaves Telluride as the last remaining possible of the "three". Fingers still crossed.

All of it making me kind of dizzy...of course it could all be bunk...and not a bit of this makes me think you'll see any of these films added to the "Ten Bets" list next Monday...but wouldn't it be COOL?

Anyway, since this is what we start with today, we'll keep the focus on a couple of films mentioned above...

LATE EDIT: VENICE OFFICIALS SAY THEY HAVE ONE MORE COMPETITION FILM TO ANNOUNCE...

CLOUD ATLAS