Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Toronto's Second Wave/Vive Le France: Canal+, Studiocanal, France 2 Cinema

Good Wednesday Everyone...


TORONTO'S SECOND WAVE (IN CASE YOU MISSED IT)



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:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/tiff-adds-ethan-hawke-robert-kenner-docs-announces-masters-midnight-madness-and-vanguard-programs-20140729


VIVE LE FRANCE

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.




More French tomorrow...




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