New Toronto Titles/Tale of Toronto and "Leviathan" Part 2/New York Times Post Kills Big Titles for TFF

Good Wednesday everyone...


NEW TORONTO TITLES


The Toronto International Film Festival announced its final titles this yesterday and there, again, are conclusions that we can reach.  We can't guarantee that these conclusions are 100% correct but we're probably pretty close.  Takeaways:

The announcement of " '71" and "The New York Review of Books: The 50 Year Argument" as Canadian Premieres is a good indication that both of those titles are headed to Telluride.  We've been thinking that was probably the case the last couple of weeks.  I'm particularly excited about " '71" which has a trailer that was associated with its play at the Berlin Film Fest back in February.  Here's that trailer:

" '71" trailer via YouTube

Here's the story that The Playlist ran yesterday with the release of the trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-berlin-sensation-71-led-by-rising-star-jack-oconnell-20140819

We also found that three films that we had continued to think might be Telluride possibilities will NOT be as they are either World or North American premieres.  As reported earlier, "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray is a World premiere and so will not be in T-ride.  TIFF has announced that Sept. 5th will be Bill Murray Day.

Announced as North American premieres were the Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Winter Sleep" and another Cannes standout, "The Tribe".  That means neither of those will play in the San Juans.  Too bad, especially about "The Tribe" which I have been really intrigued by.

Finally, four titles were announced as International premieres that we may need to consider for Telluride. There is limited screening history information about each of the four which, at least at the moment, leaves them as theoretical Telluride possibilities.

The most intriguing is the filmed version of Julie Taymor's stage production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Also in play: "Life in a Fishbowl", "The Little Death" and "Senza Nessuna Pieta".

Here's the Variety report on yesterday's Toronto announcement:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/toronto-film-festival-completes-lineup-1201285802/

TALE OF TORONTO AND LEVIATHAN PART TWO

Over the weekend, I mentioned that a reader had alertly noticed that the TIFF website had listed "Leviathan" as a North American premiere and was asking if that meant no Telluride play.  It was a reasonable question. I did some research and source work and couldn't find any explanation for why a film that I was pretty sure had been announced as a Canadian premiere was listed as North American.

I contacted an acquaintance or two that have a way better knowledge of Toronto's workings than I do and they suggested that the "Canadian" designation was probably correct.

Yesterday, I checked back in to the TIFF.net website and someone had changed the designation.  So, suffice to say that "Leviathan" IS a Canadian premiere for Toronto and a very likely film for Telluride.

Check this link to "Leviathan's" TIFF page:

http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/masters/leviathan-1


NEW YORK TIMES POST KILLS BIG TITLES FOR TFF

The New York Times put up a lengthy post yesterday that dissected the Telluride/Toronto situation.  In the course of the story, the Times nukes the notion of three major films making their appearance at Telluride:

David  Ayers' "Fury"
Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" and
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar"

The Times story says that the three films are, "sitting out the season's opening festivals, according to people briefed on the films, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality rules."

The Times says the reasons range from not being ready to differing marketing and awards season strategies.

Makes me sad to mark them off the prospective list though "Fury" was really gone already and I was always dubious about "Interstellar".

That leaves "Big Eyes" and "Exodus: Gods and Kings" as the biggest fish out there without an announced festival.

Here's the story from the Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/movies/in-the-race-for-oscars-toronto-puts-up-a-hurdle.html

 More tomorrow...

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