Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Toronto Apology / "Son of Saul" News / "Macbeth" Arrangements / "Everest" Leaves the Discussion

It's Wednesday and...

TORONTO APOLOGY



I got ahead of myself yesterday and thought/assumed that Toronto would be announcing their Canadian selections.  Not so.  My sincere apology.  It appears that those films could be announced today.  We'll see and we'll also see if the Canada based film titles reveal anything at all about Telluride.


"SON OF SAUL" NEWS



Last week's new #1 on my "Ten Bets" list was Lazslo Nemes Cannes sensation "Son of Saul".  The Holocaust set drama took the Croisette by storm and many thought it might well win the Golden Palm (Jacques Audiard's "Dheepan" actually won).

In the past day or two we've seen a couple of big items come out concerning the film that appears to be a lock for Telluirde.  First, Hungary has named the film as its official entrant for Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film consideration.  It may well have been the first film submitted by any nation and will certainly be considered among the front runners if not a prohibitive favorite.

We also learned the film has been dated for release here in the U.S. for Dec. 18th according to a Twitter  post from The Film Stage.

I'm looking forward to this film a great deal.

Here's the AwardsWatch.com post with the news about the film's Oscar submission:

http://awardswatch.com/news/official-submissions-list-for-2016-foreign-language-film-oscar-updating/


"MACBETH" ARRANGEMENTS


"Macbeth" trailer via YouTube


In this strange and evolving world of  new players in the world of feature films: Netflix, Amazon, etc. it seems we're going to see a good deal of trail and error from those players as they try to make the new frontier of film distribution succeed.

Case in point was this news in the last couple of days that Telluride-possible and Cannes competition entry Justin Kurzel's"MacBeth" which is under The Weinstein's Company tent will be getting an exclusive roll out on Amazon relatively quickly after its theatrical premiere.

The film is set to open in America in December.  Further news was that TWC has shifted the distribution to its Radius-TWC arm.

Neither announcement precludes a possible play at Telluride which seems to already have crossed into this new territory if the strongly-held belief that "Beasts of No Nation" will make the 2015 lineup.  "Beasts" is from Netflix and Bleeker Street.

I have linked stories about the "Macbeth" plans here from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter:

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/weinstein-co-s-macbeth-gets-exclusive-amazon-deal-1201554808/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/michael-fassbender-starrer-macbeth-weinstein-812551



"EVEREST" LEAVES THE DISCUSSION


via YouTube


There had been some glimmer that Baltasar Kormakur's "Everest" might do the same thing that the last two films that opened Venice (as it is set to do).  Both "Gravity" and "Birdman" opened La Biennale and then made the trans-Atlantic hope to Telluride.

As late as July 28th The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg was suggesting the possibility:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-toronto-lineup-offers-clues-811546

But news yesterday makes that very unlikely.  The Deauville Film Fest has announced that "Everest" will also open their festival on Sept. 4, the same day that Telluride gets under way.  The THR story also reports that "cast and crew" are expected to attend the French fest.

Now, that doesn't make a T-ride play 100% impossible...but very unrealistic.  Here's the THR story on the Deauville selection:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/everest-open-deauville-film-festival-812814


That will do for the time being.  If Toronto adds their Canadian lineup today and if that announcement warrants some Telluride interpretaion, I could well post again later today.  If not, then...till tomorrow, Amigos!




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Email me at michael_speech@hotmail.com or mpgort@gmail.com

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