"Youth" Wins Audience Award/Distribution: Focus Features and Telluride/"Hateful" Happens at Comic Con

And we're back...from the weekend.  Hope yours was good.

"YOUTH" WINS AT KARLOVY VARY

Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" stuck another feather in its it metaphorical hat with an audience award win this weekend at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.  The film continues to gain steam and attention as one of Fox Searchlight's most likely awards friendly films.

I've felt for some time that it has an excellent chance to play Telluride in September.  It's currently sitting at #3 on the most current MTFB "Ten Bets" list.

I have linked the Karlovy Vary story from The Wrap as well as a link to Variety's coverage of the Harvey Keitel interview that was conducted there as a part of the film's festival presentation:

http://www.thewrap.com/karlovy-vary-film-festival-gives-top-prizes-to-bob-and-the-trees-youth/


http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/harvey-keitel-on-brilliant-auteurs-and-the-importance-of-independents-1201538358/



FOCUS FEATURES AND TELLURIDE

Focus Features films at Telluride since 2003:

2003: Lost in Translation
2004: The Motorcycle Diaries
2005: Brokeback Mountain
2006: Catch a Fire
2012: Hyde Park on Hudson

Focus Features has had a spotty track record at Telluride with 5 films over the past 12 years so chances aren't great, you'd think anyway.  However, a couple of their films have some potential.  Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette" and Tom Hooper's "The Danish Girl".  Both directors have been to Telluride previously.  Gavron in 2006 with "Brick Lane" and Hooper in 2010 with the Oscar Best Picture winner "The King's Speech".  So both could actually be in play.  My assessment is that "Suffragette" is the most likely of the two at 60% (and I have actually had it on and near the "Ten Bets" list so far this summer).  Meanwhile, "Eddie Redmayne's starring role in "The Danish Girl" has people talking that he could be in the running for a second straight Oscar nomination for Best Actor. I put "Danish Girl's" chances of playing Telluride at 35%.

Tomorrow I'll take a look at Strand Releasing and maybe a couple of others...



"HATEFUL" HAPPENS AT COMIC CON

Yes.  Quentin Tarantino and a huge chunk of the cast from his upcoming "The Hateful Eight" made a splashy presentation at Comic Con in San Diego over the weekend.  The presentation included a seven minute reel from the film that QT cut just last week for the event.

Additionally, the film has a new poster and Tarantino dropped the news that Ennio Morricone will be scoring the film.  Perfect!

The presentation renewed speculation among some professional movie blogger types that the film might still be a special sneak at TFF in a few weeks.  That'd be cool but it would still be cutting it mighty close.  Fingers crossed, though.

Here's coverage from Rope of silicon and HitFix:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/new-the-hateful-eight-poster-ennio-morricone-providing-original-score/

http://www.hitfix.com/awards-campaign/five-takeaways-from-quentin-tarantino-and-the-hateful-eight-comic-con-panel


That's it for Monday, come back again tomorrow...

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