Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best Telluride predictor I know."
-Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
BAD NEWS ON THE ST. VINCENT AND VIOLENT YEAR FRONTS
"St. Vincent" photo via yahoo.com
Deadline.com reported yesterday that a Toronto World Premiere Gala is all but a done deal for "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray. I have been holding out some hope that it and Murray would make the trip to Telluride but if the Mark Fleming, Jr. report is accurate...it looks unlikely now.
And speaking of bad news...there's some buzz that J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" which I was thinking was a pretty good Telluride bet (and I was hoping would make the trip as well) may not be ready in time for the festival.
Gotta say that I'm bummed if both of these films miss the fest.
NEW INTERSTELLAR TRAILER
Much was made of the reveal at Comic Con last week by Christopher Nolan of a new trailer for his "Interstellar". The film remains a way way outside possibility for Telluride, although I've become all but convinced that it won't happen. Nevertheless, the new trailer can be accessed at the official Interstellar website by typing in the access code 7201969...the date U.S. astronauts landed on the moon. Here's the site:
I'm continuing to look at the French production houses that have had a Telluride Film Fest history and their current connections to films to attempt to uncover some of the other films that are possibles for a screening in the San Juans.
FRANCE 3 CINEMA
2003: Dogville, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004:
2005: Lemming, Live and Become, Cache
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
2008: I've Loved You So Long
2009: The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: The Artist
2012: Superstar, Amour
2013: The Past
Though France3 has had a larger profile than France2 at Telluride over the past few years, their pool of films this year seems thin with no one film standing out as a likely suspect.
Another Franco production outfit that has had persistent presence in Telluride is arte France Cinema. Their track record looks like this:
2003: Dogville
2004: The Weeping Meadow
2005: The Child, Cache, Paradise Now
2006: Day Night Day Night
2008: O'Horten
2011: Le Havre, Goodbye First Love
2012: No films at Telluride
2013: Le Maison de la Radio, The Lunchbox
After no Telluride presence in 2012, arte France Cinema came back in 2013 fairly strong. In 2014 their best chance at playing Telluride is the yet unannounced for any fall fest, Olivier Assayas' Cannes competition piece "Clouds of Sils Maria" starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz.
As we haven't seen it in Toronto's list yet, I am inching a little closer to thinking that it could actually play at Telluride and, perhaps a Juliette Binoche tribute?
CINECINEMA/CINE+
CineCinema changed over to Cine+ within the last three years or so but it's all the same. This production company has often been represented at Telluride over the last few years:
2005: Lemming, Live and Become
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
2008: With a Little Help from Myself
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, Inferno
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, Le Havre, The Artist
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack, Amour
2013: The Past, Blue is the Warmest Color, Le Maison de la Radio
Cine+ has four projects that they're involved in that could well make the Telluride playlist: "The Blue Room", "Bird People", "Two Days, One Night" and "Clouds of Sils Maria".
More tomorrow including this year's "Unified Clooney Theory"
Tuesday morning the Toronto International Film Festival announced its second wave of titles and again, reading between the lines, we can make some educated guesses about films that will have appeared at Telluride prior to TIFF...Here's what I can surmise:
In the Documentaries section:
There appear to be three or four of TIFF's announced docs that look to be Telluride bound:
Joshua Oppenhimer's "The Look of Silence"
Gabe Polsky's "Red Army"
Robert Kenner's "Merchants of Doubt"
These three appear solid as they are listed as Canadian Premieres. Ethan Hawke's "Seymour: An Introduction" is listed as an International Premiere and I can't find an instance of it having played yet anywhere else.
Frederick Wiseman's "National Gallery" which I had considered a real Telluride possibility, looks like it will not play at The SHOW.
In the Masters section it appears that we can plan to see Andrey Zvyaginsyev's "Leviafan" (Leviathan) as I have suspected since Cannes. It is listed as a Canadian premiere.
It also seems we can write off Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch...", "Jean Luc Goddard's "Goodbye to Language" and Michael Winterbottom's "The Face of an Angel" as they are all listed as either World or North American premieres.
In the Vanguard and Midnight madness sections there are a couple of films that are listed as International premieres but I'm not prepared to claim any status for them regarding Telluride. There are two films with Canadian premieres listed but they both played Sundance.
So, ultimately, we believe we know at least four more titles that are probably Telluride bound after this morning's TIFF announcement.
You can check the entire list of new films announced this morning form TIFF here from IndieWire:
This week, I've been looking at the films coming with attachemnts to production companies in Europe that have had some presence at Telluride over the last decade or so. Monday and Tuesday it was the British and today and tomorrow I'll be looking at French production houses and the films that they have been a part of that might be Telluride bound.
CANAL+
Look at the history of Canal+ as a producer of films that played at Telluride over the last decade:
2003: The Barbarian Invasions, Dogville, Love Me If You Dare, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004: The Weeping Meadow
2005: The Child, Cache, Lemming, Live and Become
2006: Volver, Indigenes, The Page Turner
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Terror's Advocate, Jellyfish
2008: With a Little Help From Myself, I've Loved You So Long
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, Carlos, Of Gods and Men, The Princess of Montpensier
2011: Crazy Horse, Albert Nobbs, Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, The Artist, Le Havre
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack
2013: Blue is the Warmest Color", Le Maison de la Radio", "The Past"
There are a title or two that we can eliminate from the Canal+ canon as Telluride material based on what we know from Toronto's announcements. However, still in play are "Clouds of Sils Maria", "The Blue Room". "Bird People" and "Two Days, One Night".
STUDIO CANAL
Another French production outfit that sometimes plays at Telluride is StudioCanal. Look at their ten year Telluride track record:
2003: Young Adam, Love Me If You Dare
2004:
2005: Cache
2006: Indigines, Catch a Fire
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010: The Princess of Montpensier
2011:
2012: Love, Marilyn
2013: Inside Llewyn Davis
2014 seems to be a fairly sketchy title list for Studio Canal. "Before I Go to Sleep" starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth is a way, way outside shot. Also with a very outside shot "El Nino" starring Ian McShane. Nothing else on their schedule appears to be likely. This may be one of those years where StudioCanal just doesn't have a play at Telluride.
FRANCE2 CINEMA
Here are the films from France2 Cinema that have played Telluride in recent years:
2006: Indigenes
2009: A Prophet, Coco Before Chanel
2010: The Princess of Montpensier
2011: The Kid with a Bike
2012: Rust and Bone
2013: Blue is the Warmest Color
As you can see, about one film per year plays that has been co-produced by France 2. This year, their best chances are two Cannes films (and one of them is a pretty good chance, I think): "Two Days, One Night" and "Bird People". I have a strong feeling that "Two Days" makes the T-ride lineup.
This morning the Toronto International Film Festival announced its second wave of titles and again, reading between the lines, we can make some educated guesses about films that will have appeared at Telluride prior to TIFF...Here's what I can surmise:
In the Documentaries section:
There appear to be three or four of TIFF's announced docs that look to be Telluride bound:
Joshua Oppenhimer's "The Look of Silence"
Gabe Polsky's "Red Army"
Robert Kenner's "Merchants of Doubt"
These three appear solid as they are listed as Canadian Premieres. Ethan Hawke's "Seymour: An Introduction" is listed as an International Premiere and I can't find an instance of it having played yet anywhere else.
Frederick Wiseman's "National Gallery" which I had considered a real Telluride possibility, looks like it will not play at The SHOW.
In the Masters section it appears that we can plan to see Andrey Zvyaginsyev's "Leviafan" (Leviathan) as I have suspected since Cannes. It is listed as a Canadian premiere.
It also seems we can write off Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch...", "Jean Luc Goddard's "Goodbye to Language" and Michael Winterbottom's "The Face of an Angel" as they are all listed as either World or North American premieres.
In the Vanguard and Midnight madness sections there are a couple of films that are listed as International premieres but I'm not prepared to claim any status for them regarding Telluride. There are two films with Canadian premieres listed but they both played Sundance.
So, ultimately, we believe we know at least four more titles that are probably Telluride bound after this morning's TIFF announcement.
You can check the entire list of new films announced this morning form TIFF here from IndieWire:
Yesterday I began my annual recap of European Production companies that have had some history of films that make the T-ride program form year to year. I started with the Brits with a look at BBC Films, The British Film Institute and The UK Film Council. Today, we close the British review by taking a peak at Film4 and See-Saw Films.
FILM4
Film4 has been a fairly constant presence at Telluride over the past few years and often when they are represented, they're represented with multiple titles:
2006: Deep Water
2007: When Did You Last See Your Father, Brick Lane
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky, Hunger, Slumdog Millionaire
2009: No film
2010: Another Year, Never Let Me Go
2011: Shame
2012: No film
2013: Under the Skin, 12 Years a Slave, Starred Up
This year, Film4 is associated with many titles that have the potential to play at TFF #41 including the all but certain Mike Leigh film "Mr. Turner".
Also in the Film4 basket:
"Slow West", "Suffragette", "Jimmy's Hall" and "Carol".
There seem to be some questions about whether either "Suffragette" and "Carol" will be ready for a festival play. "Jimmy's Hall" screened at Cannes, so it's clearly ready and "Slow West" has been listed on IMDb in post-production since December...so you'd think it should be ready.
See-Saw has only been producing since 2009 but in that short time they have been a part of a few films that have made an impact at Telluride. The first film they were associated with that made a splash at The SHOW was "The King's Speech" in 2010. They were also involved with:
"Shame" in 2011 and
"Tracks" in 2013.
In 2014, See-Saw has involvement with two Michael Fassbender starring vehicles: Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" and John Maclean's "Slow West" (see above). Macbeth also stars Marion Cotillard and is listed as being in post-production by IMDb as of April. Could See-Saw be part of a Fassbender double play? Possibly.
Of the two, my guess is that "Slow West" might be the more likely play and that's based on nothing more than conjecture. Note this, however: Fassbender seemed to have a really great time in Telluride last year and he is an executive producer on the film.
And on a late note...it appears that Macbeth isn't ready to roll. See the Thompson on Hollywood story below.
Anne Thompson reported yesterday that The Weinstein Company has settles on release dates for a number of their films going into the fall. Among information to be gleaned are that both Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" and Saul Dibb's "Suite Francaise" are likely out of the running for 2014 and that means that they're unlikely for Telluride.
Looking at the release sked that Thompson includes in the story, it appears that TWC has three films positioned for the fall film fest/awards run: "The Imitation Game" which most think is on the Telluride program due to its classification last week by the Toronto film fest as a "Canadian" premiere. Additionally, Theodore Melfi's "St.Vincent" starring Bill Murray is set for late October and Tin Burton's "Big Eyes" starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz is set for Christmas Day.
Interestingly, Ned Benson's "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them" (the combination version of what was originally the two films subtitled "Him" and "Her" is set for a Sept. 19th release. Had it not played Toronto last year, I might be thinking about it as a Telluride possibility. Perhaps I shouldn't dismiss that possibility completely out of hand.
James Rocchi recently interviewed auteur Werner Herzog and The Playlist excerpted that back a week or two ago. In that post, The Playlist focuses on the upcoming "Queen of the Desert" starring Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, James Franco and Damian Lewis. As I am at about 95% certainty that it will play at Telluride in a month, I have linked that post here:
Steve Zeitchik of the Los Angeles Times sat down with Toronto International Film Festival Artistic Director Cameron Bailey recently to talk about the new Toronto premiere/screening policy. That interview went up yesterday. I have included the link here:
TIFF has clarified their intent about announcing additional films over the next few weeks. As previously reported, Vanguard and Masters sections will be announced today and additional Galas and Special Presentations are set to be announced in two weeks on Aug. 12. Organizers are also saying that they will have the schedule available on Aug. 19th.
It seems to me that the announcements on both of those dates will bring even more deductive information about the prospective Telluride lineup.
For those interested, I will attempt to post the Vanguard and Masters section announcement a little later today with some analysis where and if warranted.
The Toronto International Film festival will announce more titles tomorrow. According to sources, they will be announcing their Vanguard and Masters sections. I'm assuming that there will also be additional announcements regarding Galas and Special Presentations. That assumption is based on the fact that TIFF has done 20 Galas in each of the last three years and somewhere between 70 and 80 Special Presentations in that same time frame. Last Tuesday they announced 13 Galas and 46 Special Presentations. So, unless they have radically downsized, there are a lot more of that type of announcement to come as well and that's important to our attempt to sniff out Telluride-bound films.
In 2011 T-ride and TIFF shared 21 titles...8 were either Galas or Special Presentations. In 2012 the two fests shared 22 titles with 15 as Galas/Special Presentations and in 2013 they shared 23 films with 16 as Galas/Special Presentations.
In 2011 there was a higher concentration of T-ride films in the Contemporary World Cinema and Masters sections (9). Additionally, the two fests have commonly shared three or four documentaries.
We are already are assuming that two of the 13 Galas will have played Telluride first ("Foxcatcher" and "Wild") and five of the 46 Special Presentations ("99 Homes", "The Imitation Game", "Mr. Turner", "Rosewater", and "Wild Tales"). What that would mean in a "normal" year is that there are still about seven Galas and maybe 30-ish Special Presentations to be announce yet and that 8-10 of those additional films would play both festivals...but it's NOT a "normal" year.
All of this could be skewed this year as a result of TIFF's new "World/North American" premiere policy meaning that the Toronto program may not be as large as it customarily has been (and I have seen that suggestion in a couple of places) and/or there may not be as much overlap between the two fests as has been the norm.
At any rate, if past trends hold for the size of TIFF, they still have about a third of their program to announce as regards their Galas and Special Presentations and with TIFF's predilection to announce a film's premiere status, we'll probably be able to do some more Telluride guesswork based on what we hear tomorrow.
Finally, this note...I have a feeling that someone is going to test Toronto's mandate. I have no real reason for that, it's just an intuition but I'm thinking someone is going to attempt the Telluride "sneak preview" that is slated as a World/North American premiere at Toronto.
EUROPEAN PRODUCERS: THE BRITISH ARE COMING PART ONE.
For the last couple of summers I have included an analysis of certain European production companies focusing on the Brits and the French companies that are consistently connected to films that end up on the Telluride playlist. I'm doing it again this week beginning with some of the British companies.
BBC FILMS
Here's what I have been able to track down from the last half decade vis-a-vis BBC Films at Telluride:
2008: Millions
2009: Fish Tank, Bright Star, An Education
2010: The First Grader, Tamara Drewe
2011: We Have to Talk About Kevin
2012: Ginger and Rosa
2013: The Invisible Woman
Up until Tuesday, the best guess I would have had for Telluride from what BBC Films has in its stable this year would have been Alan Rickman's "A Little Chaos" but that was announced as TIFF's closing night film so that's off the table now. Perhaps the best BBC Film shot for Telluride this year is Michael Winterbottom's "The Face of an Angel" starring Kate Beckinsale and Daniel Bruhl.
Carol Morley's "The Falling" starring Greta Scacchi is also a possibility.
They have some involvement with the already assumed Telluride title "Mr. Turner". Additionally, BFI also has a hand in the above mentioned "The Falling". An additional title that might have some legs for Telluride is Debbie Tucker Green's "Second Coming" starring Idris Elba.
The best BFI shot this year is probably Ken Loach's Cannes competition piece "Jimmy's Hall" that's being distributed here in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics.
This British production house has an even more prevalent profile for Telluride over the past decade than BBC Films does, although they were shut out in 2012.
The UK Film Council track record over the past decade:
2003: Intermission, Touching the Void
2004: Enduring Love, Merchant of Venice
2006: Venus, The Last King of Scotland, Deep Water
2007: When Did You Last See Your Father, Brick Lane
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky
2009: Fish Tank, Bright Star
2010: Tamara Drewe, The King's Speech
2011: Shame, We Need to Talk About Kevin
2013: Under the Skin
Here's the thing...the UK Film Council has no film listed that seems remotely ready for a 2014 play date.
Tomorrow a look at Film4 and See-Saw Films...
RUMOR CENTRAL: VENICE
I'm doing the due diligence folks.
In an interview with Nancy Tartaglione published by Deadline.com last Thursday Venice head honcho Alberto Barbera told her that "He knows that there are five titles that will world premiere in Venice this year with the filmmakers immediately hopping a plane after the screening to get to Colorado."
Venice has announced 55 films and opens Aug. 27th (two days before Telluride) with Alejandro Inarritu's "Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance". Count that as one of the five. Also count Ramin Bahrani's "99 Homes" as another. So what might the other three be?
I'll eat my hat if Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Look of Silence" isn't one of them.
Best bets after that (at least as far as I can guess them) are:
Xavier Beauvois' "La Rancon de la Glorie" ('The Price of Fame") starring American actor Peter Coyote.
Peter Bogdanovich's "She's Funny That Way" (the now re-titled "Squirrels to the Nuts") starring Imogen Poots, Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson.
Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence".
Lisa Cholodenko's HBO mini-series "Olive Kitteridge" which stars Bill Murray and Frances McDormand. It would pair nicely if Murray's "St. Vincent" also comes to town and maybe Ms. McDormand would be inclined after her husband was one of Telluride's tribute recipient's last year..Joel Coen.
Ulrich Seidl's documentary "In the Basement".
Of course, all of this speculation could be 100% wrong...
The Toronto International Film Festival announced late Friday morning that "The Judge" starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall. What are we to make of this?
What makes the announcement curious is that we already knew that "The Judge" was going to play Toronto as a World Premiere and as a Gala which presumably means that they had the talent all lined up when they announced the film on Tuesday. So why wasn't it announced as the opener then?
A couple of reasons come to mind. It could be as simple as having to have cleared dates with all the people involved in the film. Maybe Downey or Duvall had to move some things around to accommodate the opening night date. OR...TIFF was after a BIG FISH or two that they just couldn't reel in.
That second option is certainly possible. Brad Brevet/Rope of Silicon reporting on the story yesterday wrote:
"Now it turns out they announced the film, just not the fact it going to serve as the opener. Which easily leads us to believe that were hoping for something else but didn't get it."
So, what if scenario #2 is correct? What could the BIG FISH have been that may be a Telluride play?
Leading candidates would likely be:
"Unbroken"
"Fury"
"Interstellar"
"Big Eyes"
"A Most Violent Year"
"St. Vincent"
I'm looking forward to next Tuesday when we're also supposed to hear another wave of titles chosen for Toronto. That could give us some further clues to ponder.
BEST OF THE WEEK
TEN BETS 2014 #5
A segment each week where I guesstimate the ten films I think are most likely to be in the Telluride lineup when it's announced.
We start off with anew "Ten Bets" that takes into account the information we think we gleaned from the Toronto and Venice announcements earlier this week.
Here are last week's Ten Bets:
10) Wild
9) Red Army
8) Foxcatcher
7) The Look of Silence
6) Leviathan
5) The Roosevelts
4) Two Days, One Night
3) Mr. Turner
2) Queen of the Desert
1) Birdman
Now, here's the new Ten Bets:
10) Leviathan
9) Two Days, One Night
8) Rosewater
7) The Imitation Game
6) Wild Tales
5) Queen of the Desert
4) Wild
3) Birdman
2) Mr. Turner
1) Foxcatcher
Note: I still have a pretty good feel that the films ghat dropped off the Ten Bets this week will likely play (i.e. "The Look of Silence", "The Roosevelts" and "Red Army"). I'm still not convinced that "99 Homes" makes the journey from Venice to Telluride. Scheduling might give us a clue.
PARSING TORONTO'S ANNOUNCEMENT
The Toronto International Film Festival announced the first wave of films for their lineup this morning. It may tell us some things about Telluride...and Venice (which announces their big guns Thursday).
Before I attempt to take this apart, a couple of caveats...
1) We believe that Toronto is going to follow their own announced policy of labeling films "World" or "North American" premieres to the extent that those films will not play Telluride and/or Venice earlier.
2) That they have the information from the distrib/producer types in order to make that call.
That said, here's what we "know" from this morning's announcement:
Selected Toronto Galas and their premiere status:
"Foxcatcher" Canadian Premiere
"The Judge" World
"Riot Club" World
"Wild" International
Select Special Presentations and their premiere status:
"99 Homes" Canadian
"Coming Home" North American
"The Drop" World
"Eden" World
"Force Majeure" North American
"The Good Lie" World
"The Imitation Game" Canadian
"Love and Mercy" World
"Manglehorn" North American
"Maps to the Stars" North American
"Men, Women and Children" World
"Miss Julie" World
"Mr. Turner" Canadian
"Phoenix" World
"Rosewater" Canadian
"Theory of Everything" World
"While We're Young" World
"Wild Tales" Canadian
Takeaways:
Here's what seems to be your best guesses based on the announcement this morning about films that could be headed to Telluride:
"Foxcatcher", "Wild", ""99 Homes", "The Imitation Game", "Mr. Turner", "Rosewater" and "Wild Tales".
Films that surprised me by the "World Premiere" status: Bill Pohlad's "Love and Mercy" and Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" (perhaps the "Untitled Public School Project" shows up at Telluride?)
Films of interest not mentioned at all this morning: "Birdman", "Fury", "Unbroken","Interstellar", "A Most Violent Year", "Macbeth", "Suite Francaise", "Carol", "Clouds of Sils Maria", "Two Days,One Night", "Every Thing Will Be Fine", "The Homesman", "St. Vincent", "Big Eyes", "Suffragette", and "Far from the Madding Crowd"
Also a surprise...no announcement of an opening film...very weird. (NOTE: IT'S "THE JUDGE". SEE ABOVE)
I'm personally very excited, if this pans out, for "Foxcatcher", "The Imitation Game" and "Rosewater".
Here's the complete breakdown of films and descriptions from The Playlist:
As a number of his colleagues have done since Tuesday's Toronto announcement, The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg has filed a lengthy analysis concerning the efficacy of Toronto's premiere policy. It makes for some interesting reading for those so inclined. You can find it here:
David Poland of Movie City News writes extensively about Toronto's announcement yesterday and its effect on Telluride. He also writes about the films still possible for both fests (and New York too). Check it here:
In addition to my take form Toronto's announcement from yesterday take a look at Anne Thompson's/Thompson on Hollywood and Steve Pond's from The Wrap. You'll notice that their conclusions are much like mine though Anne seems a bit more definitive in her Telluride pronouncements. For example, Anne flat says "Birdman" will play T-ride.
The Venice Film Festival announced its lineup very, very early this morning (11am in Venice) and here it is: What can we say about it? Does it tell us anything? Last year, I counted six titles that played some portion of the Venice programs and Telluride: "The Wind Rises". "Tracks", "Under the Skin", "The Unknown Known" in competition and "Bethlehem", "Palo Alto" and "Gravity" out of competition. Prior to last year, the average number of overlapping films between the two festivals was three.Also, going into this morning's announcement we knew that Alejandro G. Inarritu's "Birdman" would open the festival and that Venice had already named its "Venice Days" selection of films (via Film Stage):
COMPETITION
Fatih AkinThe Cut
Roy AnderssonA Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
Ramin Bahrani99 Homes
Rakhshan Bani-EtemadGhessha (Tales)
Xavier BeauvoisLa rancon de la gloire
Saverio CostanzoHungry Hearts
Alix DelaporteLe dernier coup de marteau
Abel FerraraPasolini
David Gordon GreenManglehorn
Alejandro Gonzalez InarrituBirdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Benoit Jacquot 3 Coeurs (Three Hearts)
Andrei Konchalovsky The Postman’s White Nights
Mario Martone Il Giovane Favoloso
Kaan MujdeciSivas
Francesco MunziAnime Nere
Andrew NiccolGood Kill
David OelhoffenLoin des hommes
Joshua OppenheimerThe Look of Silence
Shinya TsukamotoNobi (Fires on the Plain)
Wang XiaoshuaiRed Amnesia
OUT OF COMPETITION
Emir Kusturica and others Words With Gods (other directors: Guillermo Arriaga, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Warwick Thornton, Hector Babenco, Bahman Ghobai, Hideo Nakata, Alex de la Iglesia)
Peter BogdanovichShe’s Funny That Way
Peter Ho-sun ChanDearest
Lisa CholodenkoOlive Kitteridge
Joe Dante Burying The Ex
Edoardo De AngelisPerez
Davide FerrarioLa Zuppa Del Demonio
James FrancoThe Sound And The Fury
Amos GitaiTsili
Sabina GuzzantiLa Trattativa
Ann Hui The Golden Era
Im KwontaekMake-Up
Barry LevinsonThe Humbling
Manoel de OliveiraThe Old Man of Belem
Gabriele SalvatoresItaly In A Day
Ulrich Seidl In The Basement
Anthony Stacchi, Annable GrahamThe Boxtrolls
Lars Von TrierNymphomaniac Volume II (long version) Director’s Cut
HORIZONS
Naji Abu NowarTheeb
Salome AlexiLine of Credit
Michele AlhaiqueSenza Nessuna Pieta
Michael AlmereydaCymbeline
Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern Near Death Experience
Renato De MariaLa Vita Oscena
Quentin DupieuxRealite
Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala I Spy/I Spy
Hong SangsooHill of Freedom
Duane Hopkins Bypass
Mohsen Makhmalbaf The President
Ami Canaan MannYour Right Mind
Franco Maresco BellusconeUna Storia Siciliana
Elchin MusaogluNabat
Josh Safdie, Ben SafdieHeaven Knows What
Ognjen SvilivivThese Are the Rules
Chaitanya TamhaneCourt
Venice Days Films:
“One On One”,” Kim Ki-duk (South Korea) Opener out-of-competition
“El 5 De Talleres,” Adrian Biniez (Argentina)
“Return To Ithaca,” Laurent Cantet (France)
“Before I Disappear,” Shawn Christensen (U.S. U.K.)
“The Dinner,” Ivano De Matteo (Italy)
“Les Nuits D’Ete,” Mario Fanfani (France)
“Patria,” Felice Farina (Italy)
“Metamorphoses,” Christophe Honore (France)
“Between 10 And 12,” Peter Hoogendoorn (Belgium, France, The Netherlands)
“The Farewell Party,” (Israel)
“The Goob,” Guy Myhill (U.K.)
“Labor Of Love,” Ritwick Chakraborty (India)
“They Have Escaped,” JP Valkeapaa (Finland, The Netherlands)
“Messi,” Alex De la Iglesia (Spain) Closer Out-Of-Competition
WOMEN’S TALES PROJECT (Shorts) in collaboration with Miu Miu
“Spark And Light,” So Yong Kim (Italy, U.S.)
“Somebody,” Miranda July (Italy, U.S.)
SPECIAL EVENTS
“9 x 10 Novanta,” collective project (Italy)
In Collaboration With Tribeca Film Festival:
“Five Star,” Keith Miller (U.S.)
“The Show Mas Go On,” Ra di Martino (Italy)
“The Lack,” Masbedo (Italy)
Regular readers know that I am very confident that "Birdman" will make its way to Telluride after its Venetian premiere...after that...the Venice films that I think have the best chance to play at Telluride are : "99 Homes", "The Look of Silence", "The Price of Glory" and "She's Funny That Way" (Bogdanovich's "Squirrels to the Nuts"?).
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PEEPS?
Yes indeed. Who could turn up in support of their film in five weeks and who will be receiving a tribute? Good questions. Let's use the "Ten Bets" and our Toronto analysis to hypothesize possibilities.
Start with directors because they're almost always attending with their film:
Jean Marc Vallee, Bennett Miller, The Dardennes, Mike Leigh, Werner Herzog, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Morten Tyldum and Jon Stewart.
Cast types: (a partial list here)
"Birdman": Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Amy Ryan and Zach Galifinakis.
(I'd expect Keaton and put him on the list of possible tributes)
"Queen of the Desert": Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, James Franco, Damian Lewis
(Dicey here...maybe Kidman...she's the lead...if she comes...also a possible tribute and she could pal around with buddy Naomi Watts if she comes with "Birdman")
"Mr. Turner": Timothy Spall.
(I expect Spall, especially since he won Best Actor at Cannes...as a matter of fact, I think Telluride could be awash in Best Actor contenders...see Keaton above and others below)
"Two Days, One Night": Marion Cotillard
( I'm not sure Ms. Cotillard will be keen on returning to T-ride...I'd like it, but, who knows)
"Foxcatcher": Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo.
(Carell is a possibilty and even Tatum and Ruffalo could come along. Depends on the Best Actor assessment by SPC)
"Wild": Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern
(I kind of expect both women to show up)
"The Imitation Game": Benedict Cumberbatch, Kiera Knightley, Mark Strong
(I think Cumberbatch is a real possibility)
"99 Homes": Andrew Garfield, Laura Dern
(see above note about Dern. Garfield could come back...was in T-ride in 2010 with "Never Let Me Go")
RUMOR CENTRAL
So we think we know some things...after yesterday's announcement, this space and others concluded that Telluride is likely showing:
"Foxcatcher"
"The Imitation Game"
"Wild"
"Rosewater"
"Wild Tales"
"Mr. Turner"
and maybe/probably "99 Homes"
We're also relatively confident about "Birdman" and "Queen of the Desert". But what other notions are still floating out there? Here's "Rumor Central":
1) "Unbroken" plays. This just keeps being suggested in various places by various people. No one flat says it but I'll bet I've seen it as a "possibility" in at least five-six different blogs and movie sites including just yesterday in the IndieWire based blog "Women and Hollywood":
Now, I'll continue to say it's not likely right up until it's unveiled or confirmed, but, I tell you...there's some smoke there (and, I'll echo a friend of the blog who tweeted yesterday that he didn't think David Ayers' Brad Pitt war film "Fury" would play T-ride but that a Jolie/Pitt couples weekend in T-ride would make some noise).
2) "Manglehorn" plays. The Al Pacino vehicle was on my radar after Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells suggested that it was going to be in Telluride last week (and I've heard/seen it in a couple of other places too) but Toronto listed it as a "North American Premiere" in their announcement yesterday which would mean that it's off the table for Telluride...so someone somewhere has really gotten this wrong.
3) "Whiplash" plays...despite the fact that it had a Sundance debut back in January, this notion is still popping up...most recently in Poland's post linked above.
4) "Interstellar" plays...this was a hotter rumor last week, again vis a vis Wells and HE but Wells himself backed it down late Saturday afternoon. He didn't completely dismiss the original rumor...but it's close.
5) "No opener for Toronto announced is because of Telluride"...I actually believe that this is fairly likely despite the fact that the Toronto honchoes say it's not that at all. In my imagination what I see is a film that Toronto wants very, very badly that has already committed to Telluride...a couple of the films above would certainly qualify as the BIG film you'd want to open your fest with...it'll be very interesting to see what Toronto ultimately announces and how long that takes.
6) "A Most Violent Year" plays...I think this one is probably right. I hope so. I'd love to Chandor and Isaac (and maybe Chastain) in Telluride.
RUMOR CENTRAL
Addressing a couple of things that I stumbled on yesterday:
1) "Whiplash" rumor still has some spark. In his HitFix/InContention piece yesterday, Kris Tapley describes the films future fest schedule by writing "we'll probably see it turn up at Telluride and/or Toronto". So there continues to be belief in some quarters that it could play despite having appeared at Sundance as happened with "An Education" in 2009.
A segment each week where I guesstimate the ten films I think are most likely to be in the Telluride lineup when it's announced.
We start off with anew "Ten Bets" that takes into account the information we think we gleaned from the Toronto and Venice announcements earlier this week.
Here are last week's Ten Bets:
10) Wild
9) Red Army
8) Foxcatcher
7) The Look of Silence
6) Leviathan
5) The Roosevelts
4) Two Days, One Night
3) Mr. Turner
2) Queen of the Desert
1) Birdman
Now, here's the new Ten Bets:
10) Leviathan
9) Two Days, One Night
8) Rosewater
7) The Imitation Game
6) Wild Tales
5) Queen of the Desert
4) Wild
3) Birdman
2) Mr. Turner
1) Foxcatcher
Note: I still have a pretty good feel that the films ghat dropped off the Ten Bets this week will likely play (i.e. "The Look of Silence", "The Roosevelts" and "Red Army"). I'm still not convinced that "99 Homes" makes the journey from Venice to Telluride. Scheduling might give us a clue.
FEINBERG WEIGHS IN
As a number of his colleagues have done since Tuesday's Toronto announcement, The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg has filed a lengthy analysis concerning the efficacy of Toronto's premiere policy. It makes for some interesting reading for those so inclined. You can find it here:
I'll also reference it below in the "Rumor Control" section.
WHIPLASH TRAILER
Let's be clear...I still think that Sundance hit "Whiplash" is a long shot to be programmed at Telluride...not impossible...but unlikely. Nevertheless, there are still mentions of it as a possibility. So, in the attempt to be a full service Telluride blog, I have included the new trailer for the film which dropped yesterday:
One other note here...I'd be more than okay if it DID play T-ride.
RUMOR CENTRAL
Addressing a couple of things that I stumbled on yesterday:
1) "Whiplash" rumor still has some spark. In his HitFix/InContention piece yesterday, Kris Tapley describes the films future fest schedule by writing "we'll probably see it turn up at Telluride and/or Toronto". So there continues to be belief in some quarters that it could play despite having appeared at Sundance as happened with "An Education" in 2009.
