TELLURIDE #40 PEDIGREES
I'm always very interested to trace the lineage of the films that play at the festival each year as I believe that there are clues to their inclusion that can then be used to increase the precision in attempting to divine the festival lineups in the future. To that end, I thought I'd take a few minutes and spend a few words on this year's crop of films included in the main program, the sneak previews and a few of The Backlot films.
For example, take a look at "The Usual Suspects", directors who have appeared at TFF with some frequency. This year that included: Phillipe Claudel/"Before the Winter Chill", Agneizska Holland/"Burning Bush", Werner Herzog/"Aguirre: The Wrath of God" and "Death Row: Milam and Fratta", Jason Reitman/"Labor Day", Alexander Payne/"Nebraska", Asghar Farhadi/"The Past", Errol Morris/"The Unknown Known", Mark Cousins/"A Story of Children and Film" and "Here Be Dragons", Steve McQueen/"12 Years a Slave" and Denis Villenueve/"Prisoners".
"The Cannes Connection": As is usually the case, there was a strong Cannes presence at this year's edition of Telluride including: "All is Lost", "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "The Lunchbox", "Manuscripts Don't Burn", "The Missing Picture", "Nebraska", "The Past", "Jodorowsky's Dune" and "A Story of Children and Film". 10 Cannes films in all made the trek across the Atlantic to be at Telluride.
"The Berlin Connection": The overlap between Telluride and Berlin was a little larger this year than usual: "Fifi Howls with Happiness", "Gloria", La Maison de la Radio" and "Slow Food Story". Four films played both fests.
"The Distributors": Five "Indie" distributors plus Warner Brothers accounted for 14 films.
The biggest footprint (as usual) belonged to Sony Pictures Classics with five films: "The Invisible Woman", "The Lunchbox", "The Past", "Tim's Vermeer" and "Jodorowsky's Dune".
The Weinstein Company and their offshoot Radius-TWC had three: "Tracks", "The Unknown Known" and "Salinger" which, you may have heard, was a last minute replacement for "Philomena".
Fox Searchlight had "12 Years a Slave" and Roadside Attractions had "All is Lost" and "Gloria".
Sundance Selects had "Blue is the Warmest Color".
Warner Brothers, which had "Argo" at Telluride in 2012 added "Gravity" and "Prisoners' to the T-ride lineup this year.
"The Toronto Connection": As has been the case for a number of years, there was a tremendous overlap between Telluride and various sections of the Toronto International Film Festival. I count 22 films that played both places: "The Lunchbox", "12 Years a Slave", "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Burning Bush", "Gloria", "Gravity", "Ida", "The Invisible Woman", "Labor Day", "The Past", "Prisoners", "Starred Up", "Tracks", "Under the Skin", "The Wind Rises", "Jodorowsky's Dune", "Tim's Vermeer", "A Story of Children and Film", "The Unknown Known", "Manuscripts Don't Burn", "Bethlehem" and "Palo Alto".
"The New York Connection": Again, there is normally a significant overlap between the two fests. This year from NY's original announced list of "main slate" films, they will share: "All is Lost", "Blue is the Warmest Color", "Burning Bush", "Gloria", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "The Invisible Woman", ""The Missing Picture", "Nebraska" and "The Wind Rises". New York has also reportedly added "12 Years a Slave" for a total of 10 films playing both fests.
And then there's the unusual...There was a greater overlap this year between Venice and Telluride than in most years as the two fests shared six films: "Bethlehem", "Gravity", "Tracks", "Under the Skin", "The Unknown Known" and "The Wind Rises". In a normal year these two festivals would share an average of three films. The maximum number of shared films between Telluride and Venice since 2005 has been four so 2013 was extraordinary.
Add all this to the database to be used when we get ready to start thinking about the 41st Telluride Film Festival.
NEW GURUS OF GOLD
Movie City News posted a new Gurus of Gold Best Picture chart early this morning. It reflects the thinking of their 15 Oscarologists after Telluride, Venice and Toronto. The MCN people had the Gurus vote in a different fashion for this edition, choosing a Top Eight without ranking and then a Next Seven, also without ranking. "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity" were unanimous Top Eight choices. Also mentioned on either or both charts: "Nebraska", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "All is Lost", "Labor Day", "The Lunchbox", "Blue is the Warmest Color", and "Prisoners". TFF #39 documentary from Sarah Polley "Stories We Tell" is also mentioned.
Here are those results:
http://moviecitynews.com/2013/09/gurus-o-gold-post-venicetelluridetoronto/
NEBRASKA DROPS A TRAILER AND A POSTER
Any number of websites trumpeted the appearance of an official trailer for Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" on Tuesday. I've included the trailer here and links to multiple posts that had the news:
Thompson on Hollywood: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/nebraska-trailer-alexander-payne-bruce-dern
The Playlist: http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-brand-new-trailer-for-alexander-paynes-nebraska-plus-new-pics-poster-20130917
The Hollywood Reporter: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alexander-paynes-nebraska-trailer-bruce-630491
Rope of Silicon: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-two-clips-nebraska-humor-meets-family-negativity/
FirstShowing: http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/must-watch-alexander-paynes-nebraska-trailer-starring-will-forte/
Additionally, Rope of Silicon reported that "Nebraska" will open a week earlier than had been planned. The film is now set to open on Nov. 15. Here's that ROS post:
Days after winning the Audience Award at Toronto (And finishing #1 in The Pros Telluride Ratings and the Combo Ratings and #2 in The People's Telluride ratings), Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" continues to make noise. IndieWire collected the votes of nearly three dozen critics from Toronto and posted the results on Tuesday. "12 Years" was named Best Narrative Feature, Best Direction, Best Lead and Supporting Performances and Best Ensemble. Here's the link to the Top Five in a number of categories.
http://www.indiewire.com/survey/best-films-and-performances-from-tiff-2013/
TFF #40 films in addition to "12 Years" fared very well including "Gravity", "Under the Skin", "Tim's Vermeer", "The Unknown Known", "Jodorowsky's Dune", "Blue is the Warmest Color" and others.
IndieWire's Steve Greene provided some context for the CriticWire findings in this post:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/indiewires-2013-tiff-critics-poll-12-years-a-slave-and-gravity-lead-winners-continue-their-impressive-post-premiere-runs#
More on Monday...Have a fantastic weekend...
No comments:
Post a Comment