Telluride #41 Day One: Lineup/Program Guide/Plans/Rate Those Films!/Check Back In!

TELLURIDE #41 DAY ONE

Hello Film Fans!  Let the games begin...

First of all, what a great lineup we have this year.  If the films that have been programmed live up to the hype, we are in for a fantastic weekend.

Here's the Press Release again with the films that were announced yesterday:

41st Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following 25 new feature films to play in its main program:

·       THE 50 YEAR ARGUMENT (d. Martin Scorsese, David Tedeschi, U.K.-U.S., 2014)

·       ’71 (d. Yann Demange, U.K., 2014)

·       99 HOMES (d. Ramin Bahrani, U.S., 2014)

·       BIRDMAN (d. Alejandro González Iñárritu, U.S., 2014)

·       DANCING ARABS (d. Eran Riklis, Israel-Germany-France, 2014)

·       THE DECENT ONE (d. Vanessa Lapa, Australia-Israel-Germany, 2014)

·       DIPLOMACY (d. Volker Schlöndorff, France-Germany, 2014)

·       FOXCATCHER (d. Bennett Miller, U.S., 2014)

·       THE GATE (d. Régis Wargnier, France-Belgium-Cambodia, 2014)

·       THE HOMESMAN (d. Tommy Lee Jones, U.S., 2014)

·       THE IMITATION GAME (d. Morten Tyldum, U.K.-U.S., 2014)

·       LEVIATHAN (d. Andrey Zvgagintsev, Russia, 2014)

·       THE LOOK OF SILENCE (d. Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark-Indonesia-Norway-Finalnd-U.S., 2014)

·       MADAME BOVARY (d. Sophie Barthes, U.K.-Belgium, 2014)

·       MERCHANTS OF DOUBT (d. Robert Kenner, U.S., 2014)

·       MOMMY (d. Xavier Dolan, Canada, 2014)

·       MR. TURNER (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2014)

·       THE PRICE OF FAME (d. Xavier Beauvois, France, 2014)

·       RED ARMY (d. Gabe Polsky, U.S.-Russia, 2014)

·       ROSEWATER (d. Jon Stewart, U.S., 2014)

·       THE SALT OF THE EARTH (d. Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Brazil-Italy-France, 2014)

·       TALES OF THE GRIM SLEEPER (d. Nick Broomfield, U.K.-U.S, 2014)

·       TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (d. Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium-Italy-France, 2014)

·       WILD (d. Jean-Marc Valleé, U.S., 2014)

·       WILD TALES (d. Damián Szifrón, Argentina-Spain, 2014)

Additional Sneak Previews may play outside the main program and will be announced on the Telluride Film Festival website over the course of the four-day weekend. Visit the TFF website for updates

 www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

The 2014 Silver Medallion Awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, go to German filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff who will present his latest work DIPLOMACY as part of the Tribute program, his 1992 collaboration with Billy Wilder, BILLY, HOW DID YOU DO IT? and his 1970 film BAAL starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder, both of which will play elsewhere in the program; Two-time Academy award-winning actress Hilary Swank (BOYS DON’T CRY, MILLION DOLLAR BABY) who stars in TFF selection, THE HOMESMAN; and in celebration of its 35^th Anniversary, Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW – screened from a new DCP of the original theatrical cut - including guests Coppola, screenwriter John Milius, producer-casting director Fred Roos, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and editor-sound designer Walter Murch.

Guest Directors Guy Maddin and Kim Morgan, who serve as key collaborators in the Festival’s program, present the following six films:

·       CALIFORNIA SPLIT (d. Robert Altman, U.S., 1974)

·       IL GRIDO (d. Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1957)

·       M (d. Joseph Losey, U.S., 1951)

·       A MAN’S CASTLE (d. Frank Borzage, U.S., 1933)

·       THE ROAD TO GLORY (d. Howard Hawks, U.S., 1936)

·       WICKED WOMAN (d. Russell Rouse, U.S., 1953)

Additional film revivals include CHILDREN OF NO IMPORTANCE (d. Gerhard Lamprecht, Germany, 1926) and TOO MUCH JOHNSON (d. Orson Welles, U.S., 1938) both presented by the Pordenone Silent Film Festival with live accompaniment by Donald Sosin; a collection of short films by Carroll Ballard forming the program, CARROLL BALLARD: SEEMS LIKE ONLY YESTERDAY; and WHERE EAGLES DARE (d. Brian G. Hutton, U.S., 1968) from a print courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room featuring behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians and filmmakers, will screen the following nine programs:

·       BERTOLUCCI ON BERTOLUCCI (d. Walter Fasano, Luca Guadagnino, Italy, 2013)

·       FORBIDDEN FILMS (d. Felix Moeller, Germany, 2014)

·       HOW TO SMELL A ROSE (d. Les Blank, Gina Leibrecht, U.S.-France, 2014)

·       I STOP TIME (d. Gunilla Bresky, Sweden-Russia, 2014)

·       KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON (d. Alan Hicks, U.S., 2014)

·       MAGICIAN (d. Chuck Workman, U.S., 2014)

·       NIGHT WILL FALL (d. André Singer, U.K.-U.S.-Israel, 2014)

·       SEYMOUR (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2014)

·       SOCIALISM (d. Peter von Bagh, Finland, 2014)

Here's a re-post of my "Final Fifteen" from yesterday.  MTFB: pretty good this year, though admittedly, the Toronto decision made this an easier proposition.

15) The Homesman
14) Red Army
13) '71
12) 99 Homes
11) The Look of Silence
10) Merchants of Doubt
9) Rosewater
8) Two Days, One Night
7) Wild Tales
6) Wild
5) Leviathan
4) Foxcatcher
3) The Imitation Game
2) Birdman
1) Mr. Turner

The other note about all of this is that if you go back and look at the first "Ten Bets" I posted at the end of June, eight of those films ended up on the program that was announced today.

As to TBAs/Sneaks...as always the program guide says that the fest "may" schedule "sneak previews".  I have a feeling we'll have at least one and perhaps two.  The best evidence is the pre-scheduled TBA on Sunday at The Chuck at about 12:30.  What might it be?  I got nothing...yet.  I'll keep an ear to the ground.


PROGRAM GUIDE

Speaking of the Program Guide, here's the link to the pdf (as of Thursday evening)

http://telluridefilmfestival.org/pdfs/41st_TFF_program_guide_FINAL.pdf


PLAN FOR TODAY:

"Rosewater" trailer (YouTube)

The Mrs. and I plan to attend this morning's Patron Brunch and do some hobbing and nobbing.  Following that, I plan to check in to the Press meet-up followed by the Patron Screening at the Chuck.  Word is that there will be a World Premiere for that presentation.

Following that, we'll grab some grub at the Opening Night Feed and then try to catch "The Imitation Game" and then end the day with Jon Stewart's "Rosewater".  We end the day with Stewart most weeknights anyway so this should feel very natural.

I am stoked!

And then there are the announced guests:

Francis Ford Coppola
Steve Carell
Channing Tatum
Hilary Swank
Tommy Lee Jones
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Dern
Benedict Cumberbatch
Jon Stewart
George Segal
Ethan Hawke

Could there be unannounced guests?  It wouldn't surprise me.

RATE THOSE FILMS

Now that we're down to Telluride weekend, here's your reminder...Don't forget to join in on "The People's Telluride".  Rate the films you see this week on a 0-5 scale ( 0 being just abysmal and 5 being a masterpiece).  You can rate each day or do them all at the end of the fest.  Send film ratings to me via Twitter (@Gort2) or email me at michael_speech@hotmail.com or comment to the blog itself.

I'll collect all of that data and post the collective ratings from we, The People.

And don't miss "The Professional's Telluride".  I'm also canvassing a broad number of film critics, bloggers and industry pros and will be posting their results next week as well.  So far I have these fine folks who have agreed to participate:

Alex Billington/FirstShowing
Greg Ellwood/HitFix
Eric Kohn/IndieWire
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Eugene Novikov/Film Blather
John Rhodes/Screencraft
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/HitFix-InContention
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

CHECK BACK IN

Check back here at the blog site for news, mini-reviews and TBAs and also follow me on Twitter for breaking news and such @Gort2.