Cannes Concludes and Awards Are Announced / The Telluride Analysis / Oscar Players in the Cannes Afterglow / Non-Cannes Trailers

Good Memorial Day Monday to all...


CANNES CONCLUDES AND AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCED

The 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to its conclusion last night with the awarding of prizes in the main competition category.

The winners:

Palme d'Or: The Square (Ruben Ostlund)

Grand Prix: 120 BPM. (Robin Campillo)

Jury Prize: Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)

Director:  Sofia Coppola-The Beguiled

Actress: Diane Kruger-In the Fade 

Actor-Joaquin Phoenix- You Were Never Really Here

Special 70th Anniversary Honors- Nicole Kidman

Screenplay- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)

In the Un Certain Regard section past Telluride tribute recipient Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity took the top prize and Taylor Sheridan's Wind River won the award for Best Direction. April's Daughter was the winner of the Jury Prize.

Of note among the winners was Coppola's historic win for direction as well as the rare double win for actor and screenplay for Ramsay's film.  A bit of a surprise was the lack of any mention for a Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which Indiewire had listed as having the third best odds for the Palme.

THE TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

So here's my best quick Telluride assessment of the winners' chances in as far as T-ride is concerned:

The Square- Magnolia is the distributor which was last at Telluride with Viva in 2015.  Magnolia hasn't had a deep relationship with the fest.  That combined with The fact that Ostlund hasn't played there either makes me think that 2017 may well be the fourth consecutive TFF at which the Palme d'Or winner does not play.  Cannes at TFF- 25%

120 BPM- A solid critical darling of Cannes #70 and with U.S. distribution from The Orchard, which scored well at Telluride last year with Pablo Larrain's Neruda have it in good position as a T-tide possible.  Probably gets the biggest boost of any Cannes film  that I haven't already had my eye on. Chances- 55%.

Loveless- Zvyagnistev's Leviathan played in the San Juans three years ago and so Loveless was already a hot prospect to get to The SHOW this Labor Day.  Its Jury Award probably boosts to shot. That and the fact that it's distributor is frequent Telluride player Sony Pictures  Classics suggests a high likelihood of a return for Mr. Z.  Chances- 70%.

The Beguiled- 0% chance as it opens at the end of June.

In the Fade- Could this crack the T-ride lineup?  Fatih Akin's lack of Telluride history, the film's lack of U.S. distribution and a middling critical response makes me think that the film's chances are small.  Chances- 20%.

You Were Never Really Here-  A double award win, Lynne Ramsay and coming from a Amazon Studios, this film, which I already thought had a reasonable shot at Telluride, moves even closer, I think.  Chances- 70%.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer- After a couple of great years at Telluride, I have no doubt that A24 will be back with something this year.  I'm just not sure that it will be this Lanthimos film.  It could happen but my guess is that other A24 films may have a better shot (Woodshock, Good Time and especially The Florida Project).  Still, a T-ride play could happen.  Chances- 35%.

A couple of other notes...I imagine that Rasoulof's Man of Integrity has an even chance of playing and despite its awards shut out, I still believe that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck is a likely Show for The SHOW.

Finally, don't be surprised if Chloe Zhao's The Rider makes the T-ride lineup.

 Additionally, Faces/Places from Agnes Varda and JR looks like a very good bet.

Complete coverage and analysis of Cannes award winners can be found at the following links:

The New York Times

Deadline.com

Entertainment Weekly

Indiewire

OSCAR PLAYERS IN THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The general consensus coming from France as the Cannes Fest concluded was that the Croisette was low on Oscar potential with most observers suggesting that the only real player in terms of Best Picture might be Wonderstruck.

Though there may well some other players as well, especially in the foreign language category...I'm looking at you Loveless...take a look at where some of the sages of Oscar come down as Cannes was coming to an end:

Guy Lodge for Variety

Pete Hammond for Deadline

Anne Thompson from Indiewire

NON-CANNES TRAILERS FOR FILMS WE COULD SEE 

And as Cannes was winding down, there was the release of trailers for two films that did not play in France but that could find their way onto the lineup over Labor Day weekend.

We found out this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the Liam Neeson starrer The Silent Man and that the story of the real Watergate Deep Throat had a trailer.  Here it is from YouTube:

Along with the trailer, here are some posts that accompanied its release and the SPC pickup news:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

The Playlist

Additionally, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Room's Jacob Tremblay, released its first look video this week.  From Lionsgate, the film is slated to open in mid-November.  Both factors suggest the possibility of serious festival and awards play.

Here's that video, also from YouTube:

Deadline provides some of the details for the film.

That will do it for this Monday in May...more to come on Thursday...

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Cannes Turns Toward the Finish Line / The Acquisitions Front / What's It Mean for Telluride?

It is a Thursday and that must mean another post at MTFB...


CANNES TURNS TOWARD THE FINISH LINE

By the time I punch the button to post the next edition of MTFB on Monday the 70th Cannes Film Festival will have concluded and winners of various prizes will have been announced.  As the last few competition films take their bow over the next two days speculation will increase dramatically as to which films and film makers will be rewarded.  We can join that fun with the caveat that the juries for each of the sections which present awards will almost certainly defy expectations,  It seems they always do.  That said...


Indiewire has been running a continually updated article that handicaps the race.  As I post this morning (and it could have changed since then) their favorite for the Palme d'Or is Robin Campillo's 120 Beats per Minute.  At the #2 spot is Andrey Zyvagintsev's Loveless and at #3 is Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck.

The complete Indiewire article is here.


Meanwhile, the critical response, which can sometimes give a picture of possible Cannes prize winners (look at this critical vs. prize winning assessment from MTFB from last year) is shaping up this way as I write...

Top three critical Palme d'Or films from the Urban collected critics:

1) Good Time (7.40)
2) 120 BPM (7.060
3) The Meyerowitz Stories (6.75)

From Todas Las Criticas:

1) The Day After (7.59)
2) Good Time (7.42)
3) The Meyerowitz Stories (6.83)


From Screen Daily:

1) 120 BPM (3.8)
2) Loveless (3.5)
2) Good Time (3.5)

In other films that are not playing the main competition slate the top films critically are...

From Urban:

1) The Florida Project (7.98)
2) Faces/Places (7.72)
3) Western (7.65)

From Todas Las Criticas

1) The Florida Project (8.00)
2) Western (7.92)
3) Lovers for a Day (7.86)


Here are the links for each of the critical collections:

Reini Urban

Todas Las Criticas

Ioncinema



THE ACQUISITIONS FRONT

At Cannes, as films are unspooling and critics and juries are assessing there is also the story of films that are getting picked up for U. S. distribution.


Indiewire has been keeping a running compilation of Cannes Fest acquisitions.  Of note:

The Cohen Media Group has snagged L'Amant Double (at TFF #43 last year-Journey Through French Cinema)
The Orchard has 120 BPM (last year @ TFF-Neruda)
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Loveless and The Rider TFF 2016- Toni Erdmann, Maudie, Norman).

These deals probably up the chances of each of these four films to make it to Labor Day in the San Juans.

The Indiewire article is here.

Specific acquisition stories are here from Variety, Deadline and from The Film Stage.



WHAT'S IT MEAN FOR TELLURIDE

With just a couple of days left of Cannes it's good to remember that the Cannes/T-ride crossover averages around eight films.

T-ride profiles that have increased that last ten days:

Faces/Places (Varda and JR)
120 BPM (Campillo)
L'Amant Double (Ozon)
The Rider (Zhao)

Staying Steady:

Wonderstruck (Haynes)
Loveless (Zvyagintsev)


Losing steam:

Happy End (Haneke)
Redoutable (Hazanvicius)

Jury Still Out:

You Were Never Really Here


That's Thursday's post.  More on Monday including Cannes winners and the impact on TFF...if any...


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Cannes Is in Full Swing: The Critics Are Speaking / Inarritu Makes a Splash with V.R. at Cannes / Haneke's Happy End: More Clips

Good Monday to all,,,

CANNES IS IN FULL SWING: THE CRITICS ARE SPEAKING

The 70th Cannes Film Fest has roared into life and we begin the process of parsing critical responses as a method of gauging the possible Telluride fortunes of the films that make up the variety of programs.  Of course, it' still early.  As I type this on Monday morning, less than half of the Palme competition films have played.  With that noted, here's what the critical consensus is to this point (and only mentioning films that have publicly screened)

First, looking at Reini Urban's massive and constantly updated compilation of critical response among Palme d'Or competition films at the top is Robin Campillo's 120 Battements par Minute with a 7.10 composite rating on a 10 point scale.

Urban' current top three:

1) 120 Battements par Minute (7.10)
2) Okja (6.41)
3) The Square (6.38)

Among all films in all categories with sufficient critical response to give  a reasonable indication of how it's playing the top film so far has been Agnes Varda's Villages, Visages with a 7.57 score.

The complete Urban list is here.

The Todas Criticas compilation has 120 BPM on top of the Palme films with a 6.63 rating.  Todd Haynes Wonderstruck is right behind at 6.6.

Todas Criticas is here.

Loveless leads the Screen Daily critical collective with a 3.2 composite (out of 4).  Screen Daily's grid is here.

Ioncinema's group of critics have Loveless and 120 BPM locked together with a 3.5 average rating (out of 5).  The Ioncinema chart is here.


INARRITU MAKES A SPLASH WITH VIRTUAL REALITY AT CANNES

We've be following the reports from France concerning Alejandro Inarritu's V.R. installation Carne y Arena.  Reportedly lasting about six minutes and focused on immersing the "viewer" in the world of the current refugee crisis.  Reports also indicate that it can experienced by one person at a time and is established in a warehouse.

The experience is said to be headed for Los Angeles this summer.

In as far as Telluride is concerned, I'm still dubious about our chances but...

Details about the V.R. experience can be found here from Indiewire as well as here from The Hollywood Reporter.


HANEKE'S HAPPY END: MORE CLIPS

I had a link in my last post to a single clip from Michael Haneke's Happy End.  That has expended to three clips that are now accessible from this story at The Film Stage.

Haneke's first film since Amour is set to bow at Cannes in Palme competition today.  As a matter of fact, depending on when you're reading this, it may have already have happened.


That's it for now.  More on Thursday...


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Battle of the Sexes First Trailer / Orson Welles in 2018 / Cannes Teasers and Clips Continued / More Acquisition News from France / New Films to Watch for TFF #44 / Telluride Rewind-TFF #28

Good Thursday Friends...Cannes is full swing which means that MTFB is busy!



BATTLE OF THE SEXES FIRST TRAILER

From Awards Daily

From Awards Watch

From The Playlist

ORSON WELLES  AND ALFONSO CUARON IN 2018

from The Film Stage

Meanwhile we also learned this week that Alfonso Cuaron's Roma will also be targeting a 2018 release taking it off the Telluride possibilities list.  Indiewire reported the news and also included a "sneak peek" of the film.  That "peek" is here via YouTube:

The Indiewire story is here with further details.

CANNES TRAILERS AND CLIPS CONTINUED

The parade of first-look teasers and clips continues from films that are playing in France over the next few days as a part of the Cannes film festival.  I have provided links to a number of those which have been released in platforms other than YouTube below:

Clips from You Were Never Really Here and The Meyerowitz Stories and more from Playwire and The Film Stage.

Happy End clip from Playwire and The Film Stage

Loveless trailer from Playwire and The Film Stage

MORE ACQUISITION NEWS FROM FRANCE

Two announcements yesterday from Cannes grabbed my attention as the players involved probably boost the notion that the films involved have Telluride potential. 

Sony Pictures Classics bought Andrey Zvyganistev's Loveless while The Cohen Media Group nabbed L'amant Double.  Both of those films had already been on my TFF #44 watch list and SPC's and Cohen's previous plays at Telluride, at the very least, don't reduce those films chances of making the T-ride lineup.

Loveless details are here from Deadline,  Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Details of the deal for L'amant Double are here from Variety.

NEW FILMS TO WATCH FOR TFF #44

Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer in Final Portrait

Pre-Cannes acquisitions and announcements this week put two new films on my TFF #44 watch list.

First, Sony Pictures Classics announced that they had acquired Stanley Tucci's Final Portrait.  Final Portrait played at the Berlin Film Festival back in February.  

Final Portrait stars Geoffrey Rush (T-ride attendee in 2010 with The King's Speech) and Armie Hammer.

Further details are here from Variety as well as here from The Wrap.

Additionally, we discovered yesterday that documentarian Michael Moore has a Trump documentary in the works  and that film has been bought by The Weinstein Company.  Moore was last at Telluride for the 2013 40th anniversary celebration.

The greater likelihood is that Moore's new doc will play in late July as part of the Traverse City Film Festival (that he founded) and that will probably mean no play at T-ride but never say never.  

The doc is titled Fahrenheit 11/9 playing off of Moore's most successful film, the Iraq war documentary Fahrenheit 9-11.

Details are here from Indiewire.

TELLURIDE RE-WIND: A LOOK BACK AT TFF #28

Today I continue my expended history of the Telluride Film Festival.  If you haven't been following along, I have undertaken to expend the "Selected History" section of this blog.  Working backward from the 2005 fest which is most recent one for which a program is not linked on the official TFF website.

So I have been working in reverse chronological order and posting the details of past fests.  Today we go back to TFF #28 whcih ran from Aug. 31-Sept 3, 2001.

Guest Director: Salman Rushdie

Tributes: Ken Russell, Om Puri and Catherine Breillat

SHOWS:

Amadeus

Amelie

Band of Brothers

The Cat's Meow

Dear Fidel

The Devil's Backbone

Drive-In Movie Memories

The Fast Runner

The Fat Girl

The Golden Fortress

Grateful Dawg

Italian for Beginners

Killer Me

La Cienega

Lantana

Late Marriage

Lovely and Amazing

Mark Twain

Metropolis

Mulholland Drive

The Mystic Masseur

Nine Queens

Orphan of Anyang

Ravi Shankar

Revolution #9

Shot in the Heart

Solaris

Song for Martin

To End All Wars

Turn of the Century

Walt

The Young and the Dead

Partial Guest List:

Bille August

Peter Bogdanovich

Ken Burns

Guillermo Del Toro

Faye Dunaway

Kirsten Dunst

Roger Ebert

Milos Forman

Edward Herrmann

Agnieszka Holland

Nicole Holofcener

Tom Hulce

James Ivory

Catherine Keener

Elias Koestas

Anthony La Paglia

Tobey Maguire

Leonard Maltin

Ismail Merchant

Giovanni Ribisi

Lone Scherfig

Peter Sellars

Kiefer Sutherland

I was particularly pleased an surprised that Del Toro has been to Telluride.

That's it for Thursday...more on Monday...

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Cannes Opens This Week / Cannes Trailers, Teasers and Clips: Wonderstruck, L'amant Double and Ismael's Ghost / Lost in Paris Trailer

Welcome back from your weekend.  May is half over...beware the Ides of...May?


CANNES OPENS THIS WEEK

I've been focused on this week for some months now as the 70th Cannes Film Festival opens Wednesday with the screening of Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael's Ghosts starring Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mathieu Almaric.

As regular readers know, we'll almost certainly hear about films that will end up playing Telluride after their bow at Cannes.  That crossover usually averages 7-8 films per year.  The tough part is trying to figure out what those films will be.  In addition to looking at directors and distributors with a Telluride history,  during Cannes it's usually a good idea to pay attention to the critical response as well as the films that ultimately win prizes at the end of the fest.

That doesn't mean that the Palme d'Or winner always makes it to southwest Colorado.  As a matter of fact, the Palme winner is a hot or miss T-ride proposition.  The last Palme winner to play Telluride was 2013's Blue is the Warmest Color.  Amour followed the same path the year before.  So it's best to pay attention to awards at all levels in the main competition category as well as in the other sections of the fest.

As I have for the past few years, I'll be keeping an eye on and posting the critical assessment as the fest progresses.

If you want to know when films are screening, here is the link to the official schedule from the Cannes website.

Additionally, I have linked more pre-Cannes analysis.  Here's Guy Lodge's assessment of the films playing Cannes that he did for Variety.

I also have included this overview of the fest from Indiewire which highlights 22 films that they "want to see" including Happy End, Ismael's Ghosts, Loveless, The Meyerowitz Stories, You Were Never Really Here and Wonderstruck.



CANNES TRAILERS, TEASERS AND CLIPS


The onslaught of media about Cannes films has picked, as you might expect, as we get closer to the festival.  As a result, we continue to get looks at some of the films that seem the best bets, at least at this point to make the trans-Atlantic journey from France to the San Juans.

Perhaps the Cannes film I am most excited about that also seems to me to be an  excellent T-ride prospect is Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which made a substantial splash this week with a clip from the film which is here via YouTube:

We also saw our first look at a poster for the film:

There was a good deal of coverage of the Wonderstruck images and I have linked a sample of that here from:

Indiewire

Deadline

Awards Daily

The Playlist

The Film Stage

Collider

Awards Circuit

The Wrap

We were also treated to a trailer for Francios Ozon's L'amant Double.  Here it is from YouTube:

In addition, we have a look at the poster for that film as well:

 And coverage for the releases from The Film Stage.

And finally, here we have a couple of clips from the opening night film, Ismael's Ghosts that you can peruse. Here's clip #1 from Facebook.

and here's clip #2 from Facebook as well.

And the story from The Playlist.




LOST IN PARIS TRAILER

Some films that everyone seems to have at the end of each festival are those that you had on a list that, for whatever reason, you didn't get to.  For most of us, it's simply a matter of running out of time before you have to head back to the real world.

One of those films for me this last year was Lost in Paris and now that I've seen the trailer, I really wished I had traded it off for maybe a couple of films I did see.  Hindsight and 20/20.

And maybe the film isn't as entertaining as the trailer makes it seem but the trailer is promising.  Here it is via YouTube:

The film has no U.S. release date as yet but has played a number of other U.S. film festivals in addition to Telluride.  Oscilloscope is the film's distributor.


That's your MTFB for Monday, May 15, 2017.  Check back for more on Thursday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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The Playlist's 20 Most Anticipated Cannes Titles / Wild Trailer for Wondershock: Could It Play The SHOW? / Images from Wonderstruck and Meyerowitz

Good Thursday to you and yours.


THE PLAYLIST'S 20 MOST ANTICIPATED CANNES TITLES

The 70th Cannes Film Festival opens one week from yesterday.  Now that the lineups are known the attention turns (in certain circles) to what films are the most anticipated as  likely to be the critical darlings and challengers for the Palme d'Or and other awards.  The Playlist has a first pass at 20 films that they collectively are excited about.

Among their list of 20 are a half dozen that are on my TFF #44 watch list:

Loveless (A. Zvyagintsev)
Wonderstruck (T. Haynes)
The Meyerowitz Stories (N. Baumbach)
You Were Never Really Here (L. Ramsay)
Happy End (M. Haneke)
The Square (R. Ostlund)

Check out the other 14 films plus a lengthy list of runners-up:

The complete list of 20 films is here.



WILD TRAILER FOR WONDERSHOCK: COULD IT PLAY THE SHOW?

Distributor A24 might be the hottest game in the biz after the Oscar run for Moonlight last year as well as the success of Room the year before so anything they have in the hopper that looks like it might be anywhere close to a Telluride play has to be taken with some seriousness.  So when they dropped a trailer for Woodshock this week along with news that it would open on Sept.15....made me wonder...

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Details are here from Awards Daily

and from FirstShowing.net


IMAGES FROM WONDERSTRUCK AND MEYEROWITZ


The Film Stage has treated us to new stills from Todd Haynes Wonderstruck and NOah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz stories.  Both films have potential to make the 2017 Telluride lineup after playing in the Cannes lineup.

Here's a new still from each:

Julianne Moore in Wonderstruck

Noah Baumbach directs Dustin Hoffman's cap in this still from The Meyerowitz Stories

More images can be found here from The Film Stage.



That's your Thursday edition of MTFB.  More on Monday...


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Cannes Adds Classics and Docs About Films / Some Films Are Off the Telluride Table / Re-visiting the 29th Telluride Film Festival 2002

It's Monday...welcome back...



CANNES ADDS CLASSICS AND DOCS ABOUT FILM

The 70th Cannes Film Fest seems to have finished all of their lineup announcements this past week with the addition of classic films and documentaries.  In as far as Telluride is concerned, the documentaries likely provide more ground for potential TFF programming.  Two jumped out at me as interesting and, perhaps, TFF possibilities:  Filmworker focuses on the story of an assistant for Stanley Kubrick and Becoming Cary Grant takes a look at the life of the icon with a focus on his use of LSD.

Though you wouldn't expect to see them at Telluride, I was struck of the inclusion of Blow Up, A River Runs Through It, All That Jazz and Belle du Jour among the classics selections

The Film Stage lays out the details here.


SOME FILMS ARE OFF THE TELLURIDE TABLE

Brie Larson in The Glass Castle (via Collider)

A couple of films that I have been keeping my eye on as potential TFF #44 titles went by the wayside this week as they were dated for release in windows that make TFF #44 either impossible or extremely unlikely;  Jason Reitman's newest collaboration with Diablo Cody is headed for release in April of 2018.  Tully has been on my radar simply because it's from the creators behind 2007's Juno. Reitman has had significant run through Telluride over the past decade with Juno (07), Up in the Air (09) and Labor Day (13) but his Young Adult (11) and Men Women and Children (14) did not play the fest.

Details including a suggestion that Tully might play Toronto (and the dating of the new Paul Thomas Anderson film) can be found in this post from The Playlist.

Meanwhile, Destin Daniel Cretton's The Glass Castle starring Brie Larson has been announced for Aug. 11th , making it out of play for T-ride.  It's been on my list as the twosome of Cretton and Larson were paired in the critical success Short Term 12 in 2013 and also as a result of Larson's Best Actress win for 2015's Room.

Reports of the dating for release are here from Variety and here from The Wrap.


RE-VISITING THE 29TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL 2002

In an effort to provide a history of the Telluride Film Festival I continue to use the wayback machine and take a look back at past Telluride Film Festivals.  Utilizing past programs, yearbooks and conversations with past attendees, I have undertaken to supplement the History section of the TFF official website.  The website includes links to TFF programs dating from last year's fest back to the 33rd TFF in 2006.

Beginning a few weeks past with TFF 32, MTFB is attempting to fill in the gaps back to the beginning.  In addition to supplementing the official website, it is my intent that this stroll down memory lane will eventually take the place of the "Selected TFF History" page here at MTFB.  Obviously, it is not going to be a rapid process...that said...

The 29th Telluride Film Festival took place form Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2002.

Guest Director: Alberto Barbera
Tributes: Peter O'Toole, Paul Schrader, D.A. Pennebaker

Here are the feature films that were a part of The SHOW:

Antychryst
Auto Focus
Bandits of Orgosolo
Bitter Rice
The Black Pirate
Blind Spot
Bowling for Columbine
Cinerama Adventure
City of God
Cuckoo
Frida
Ikiru
Il Posto
Irreversible
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell
Ken Park
Le Corbeau
Lost in La Mancha
The Man Without a Past
Max et les Frerailleuers
Morvern Callar
My Mother's Smile
Naqoyqatsi
Night Mail II
Old Believers
Only the Strong Survive
Rabbit Proof Fence
Respiro
Russian Ark
Safe Passage
Scarecrow
See What Happens: The Story of D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus
Singin' in the Rain
Spider
Spirited Away
Talk to Her
The Tramp and the Dictator
The War
Willie Nelson: Still is Still Moving
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrowna

Partial List of Guests:

Ken Burns
Betty Comden
David Cronenberg
Willem Dafoe
Roger Ebert
Ralph Fiennes
Thierry Fremaux
Terry Gilliam
Philip Glass
Werner Herzog
Christopher Hitchens
Mary-Beth Hurt
Greg Kinnear
Ed Lachman
Leonard Maltin
Fernando Meirelles
Michael Moore
Gaspar Noe
Peter O'Toole
D.A. Pennebaker
Lynne Ramsay
Salman Rushdie
Paul Schrader
Jerry Schatzberg
Peter Sellars


Among the short films you'd find that Australian actress Rachel Griffiths (Blow, Saving Mr. Banks, Hacksaw Ridge) as the director of Roundabout.

That'll do it for this Monday.  I'll have more on Thursday...

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Wonderstruck Will Strike in October / First Look at Haneke's Happy End / Redoutable Teaser Gets Meta / The Future for Past Telluriders / Amazon Rewards Manchester

Welcome to Thursday on MTFB...



WONDERSTRUCK WILL STRIKE IN OCTOBER

The case for Todd Haynes being a Telluride contender got another supportive piece of evidence yesterday as the peeps at Amazon and Roadside Attractions, who have paired to distribute the film, have announced a limited release date of October 20th.   The film will then proceed to be opened wider in November.

It wasn't long yesterday before journos pointed out that that time frame has served as the launchpad for four of the last five Oscar BP winners: Argo 10/12/12, 12 Years a Slave 10/18/13, Birdman 10/17/14, and Moonlight 10/21/16.  Only Spotlight has broken that pattern opening on 11/6/15.  Of course, all of those films played Telluride on their way to the Best Picture prize.

Honestly, when I get serious about posting a rough first guess at what will make the T-ride 2017 lineup, Wonderstruck might be the film on the top of that list.

Linked below is coverage of the release announcement from:

Variety

Indiewire

Awards Watch

The Playlist

The Wrap



FIRST LOOK AT HANEKE'S HAPPY END

Another film that will be in the hunt for the Cannes' Palme d'Or in a couple of weeks (and it could be an unprecedented third for its director...lots of predictors think that's a very real possibility) is Michael Haneke's Happy End.  Haneke hasn't made a film since his last Palme winner in 2012.  Amour also won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

We got our first photo from the secretive film yesterday as you see above.  The still shows, among others Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Toby Jones.  Further coverage of the image and the film is here from Indiwire and here from The Playlist.



REDOUBTABLE TEASER GETS META

This week we got a new glimpse of Michel Hazanavicius' newest film, Redoubtable, which is set to debut at Cannes this month in the Palme d'Or competition.  The teaser includes some references to the festival that should elicit a chuckle or two.  Check the teaser below (from YouTube):

Redoubtable is based on the life of film pioneer Jean-Luc Godard.

More on the teaser release for Redoubtable is here from Entertainment Weekly as well as here from The Playlist.

THE FUTURE FOR PAST TELLURIDERS

I've mentioned with some frequency the next project for Moonlight's Barry Jenkins which is the multi-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead's National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winning
Underground Railroad for Amazon Studios.

In the last few days we have seen the plans of two other notable and recent past Telluriders come into focus.

Indiewire reports that Oscar winning director Damien Chazelle is lining up another musically oriented project.  The story was originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Titled The Eddy, the story centers around a Paris music club.  As with Jenkins, the project is being set up as an episodic project and is being shopped around to streaming services and networks.  Reports suggest that Chazelle would direct his next feature film project, First Man starring Ryan Reynolds as Neil Armstrong, and then get to work on The Eddy.

The other news of note regarding a new project involving a recent Tellurider and Oscar winner was news yesterday that Laszlo Nemes is set to begin filming Sunset.  Nemes made a huge splash in 2015 with his debut film Son of Saul which played Cannes (winning Nemes the Grand Prix award) and then Telluride.  Son of Saul went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

The Playlist reports  that Sunset will begin filming next month and that the plan is that it would play Cannes which would make it a prime TFF #45 possibility.

Stay tuned.


AMAZON REWARDS MANCHESTER

How do you say thank you to a community that serves as the backdrop and title of your Oscar award winning film (and TFF #43 selection)?

Amazon Studios has gifted the citizens of Manchester, Massachusetts a year's worth of free Amazon Prime memberships.  They even threw in the popcorn.

Amazon announced the gift this week according to The Hollywood Reporter.



And that will do it for this Thursday.  Have a good weekend and come back here Monday for more...

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