Pre-Torotno Announcement Guesses from Experts / Detective Work Reveals Animation Short for TFF #43 / Film Test Screening

Good Tuesday everyone.  I'll have dual posts today.  This one and another a bit later in which I will attempt to parse out what information I can from the first wave of film announcements for Galas and Special Presentations for the Toronto International Film Festival.  That will be livestreamed at 10:00am EDT here:

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival16/pressconferences

Meanwhile, here's the early edition of MTFB for Tuesday, July 26, 2016...

PRE-TORONTO ANNOUNCEMENT GUESSES FROM THE EXPERTS:

I have included links to posts/articles that have made some picks about what might be announced for TIFF later today:

The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/jul/20/40-films-predict-premiere-venice-toronto-telluride-festivals

The Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/after-a-dry-summer-movie-season-will-tiff-deliver-salvation/article31055335/

Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere's Telluride "Spitball" with a good deal of Toronto news in it:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2016/07/no-birth-of-a-nation-at-telluride/

TIFF Artistic Director Cameron Bailey has tweeted that we can expect 60+ Galas and Special Presentations to be announced so we should have a good deal of info to sift through later today.



DETECTIVE WORK REVEALS ANIMATION SHORT FOR TFF #43

Scene from animated short Plein ete via Miyu Productions

Every year something like this happens.  I follow threads, Twitter, Facebook, Google Search, Google News, Google Alerts...what have you.  Most of the time they're dead ends, but every now and then I do turn up some useful information.  It happened over the weekend as I followed a brief tweet in french no less that led me to this:

http://miyuproductions.com/prod/courts-metrages/plein-ete-en-prod/


Plein ete or High Summer appears to be playing TFF #43.  The director is Josselin Fraco.  So count this as another film that will be playing Labor Day weekend.


FILMS TEST SCREENING

Additional screening news came yesterday as we learned that Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea is still test screening.  I'm all be certain that it is likely set for a Telluride play but it also makes me wonder about the possibility of both Ben Affleck's Live by Night and Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures which we know have also been testing within the last week or so.

Of particular interest to me is Live by Night primarily because it's Ben Affleck doing Dennis Lehane (Mystic River and Affleck's Gone Baby Gone) and Warner Brothers.  WB has been playing in Telluride since Affleck's Argo four years ago.  They had Prisoners and Gravity in T-ride in 2013, skipped 2014 but were back last year with Black Mass.

I could actually imagine the Affleck brothers in town together (Casey stars in Manchester by the Sea) and throw in Matt Damon too as he's a producer on Manchester.  Suddenly we have Good Telluride Hunting.

WB could also strive to bring The Accountant, the other Ben Affleck starring film it has in its basket. It's slated for Oct. 14th but isn't really a high Telluride possibility.

The Accountant is directed by Gavin O'Conner.



MORE COMING LATER TODAY FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCMENTS FROM TORONTO.