Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best Telluride predictor I know."
-Sasha Stone, Awards Daily
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
Indiewire reported yesterday that Orson Welles' final film, The Other Side of the Wind, which has been completed after decades of effort, will get a theatrical release in the fall.
Indiewire's Jenna Marotta included Twitter traffic from producer Frank Marshall's account that flat said that a fall theatrical release strategy. Indiewire also credits Wellesnet with having originated the story.
Interestingly, the original Welles net post notes that Marshall was asked directly (by Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells) if the screening(s) would occur before TFF #45 and they report that Marshall ignored the question. Here's the Twitter screenshot:
Additionally, both the Wellesnet and Indiewire posts report that the release strategy is still in the planning stages.
The Czech based Karlovy Vary Film Festival announced their lineup this week. That announcement is of some note to Telluride obsessives as there are usually some films that play there that also make the grade then for TFF.
Last year, for example, TFF #44 included Land of the Free, A Man of Integrity and The Other Side of Hope all of which played at the Czech festival before appearing at Telluride.
Over the years I have been attending T-ride (since 2006) several other films have followed this path including:
2016-The Eagle Huntress, Fire at Sea, Graduation, Toni Erdmann
2015-Ixcanul, Rams, 45 Years
2014-'71, Leviathan, Mommy, Wild Tales
2013-Gloria, The Lunchbox, Missing Picture, The Story of Children and Film
2012-Amour, Barbara, Paradise:Love, Piazza Fontana, What Is This Film Called Love?
2011-The Kid With a Bike, Le Havre, Pina, A Separation, Turin Horse
2010-Border, Cameraman: Jack Cardiff, The Illusionist, Le Quattro Volte, Of Gods and Men, Poetry
2009-Fish Tank, Gigante, Room and a Half, Samson + Delilah, The White Ribbon
2008-Gommorah, O'Horten, Tulpan, Waltz with Bashir
2007-4 Months 3 Weeks & Days, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jar City, Secret Sunshine
2006-12:08 East of Bucharest
So, as you can see, the average number of films that play both fests is four per year (with a statistically noticeable tie to films that have played Berlin or Cannes prior to their inclusion at Karlovy Vary.
With all that said, none of the announced films scream"This will play Telluride". At a guess I might keep an eye on Ewa Bukowska's 53 Wars, Vladimir Bitokov's Deep Rivers and Giedre Beinoiriute's Breathing Into Marble.
Errol Morris' Wormwood played TFF #44 and is available to stream on Netflix. Indiewire put together an in depth look at the series from the Telluride regular earlier this week.
The lengthy article includes interview material with Morris.
The Hollywood Reporter's staff compiled a list of 15 films this week that they think have a shot at making the Venice lineup. The scuttlebutt I've been reading is that the Venice lineup may be stronger this year (and have an even more pronounced crossover with Telluride than in past years) due to the films that passed on or were passed over for a Cannes slot.
Last year saw an uptick in films that made the trip between the two fests and that trend, at least for the moment seems like it is likely to continue this year.
Among the 15 films listed by THR here are your most likely TFF #45 prospects:
If Beale Street Could Talk
The Sisters Brothers
Peterloo
First Man
Non Fiction
Beautiful Boy
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
Sunset
Work Without Author
The article also lists Terrence Malick's Radegund, which, frankly sounds like the most interesting Malick project since The Tree of Life.
Agnieszka Holland has been a past TFF participant (1986, 1995, 2001, 2011, 2013) and her new project, Gareth Jones, seems like it could mark the return to Telluride for the director of Burning Bush and In Darkness.
Gareth Jones tells the true story of a a reporter trying to cover the story of a man made famine in Russia in the 1930s.
This week, Variety posted an interview with actor James Norton who plays Gareth Jones, the welsh journalist who tried to shine a light on that story.
News this week of a restoration project that I think could find its way to the San Juans for Labor Day weekend. A new Serge Bromberg presentation has been announced, that, owing to Bromberg's lengthy track record with Telluride, has to be seriously considered as a part of this year's lineup.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center reported this week that Bromberg will present a program of recent restoration treasures in New York on June 20. That program will include films from Georges Melies and the Lumiere Brothers.
We're slowly edging closer to the end of my series about the history of the Telluride Film Festival with today's re-visitation of the Sixth Fest which ran from Aug. 31-Sept. 3, 1979.
My plan (fingers crossed) is have this series completed prior to the start of TFF #45 and the new Expanded Telluride History page on this blog up and accessible by that time as well. We'll see if that actually happens.
Here's the re-cap of TFF #6:
TRIBUTES: Klaus Kinski, Robert Wise, Abel Gance
SHOWS:
Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Born to Kill
Bulldog Drummond
Charm of Dynamite
Closely Watched
Executive Suite
For a Few Dollars More
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
Gates of Heaven
The Haunting
The Informer
J'Accuse
La Salamandre
The Last Tasmanian
La Soufriere
Loves of Beethoven
Lucrece Borgia
The Mango Tree
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Messidor
Andrei Rublev
Napoleon
No Maps on My Taps
Nosferatu
Que Viva Mexico
Redskin
Rosie Radiator and the Push Rods
The Sand Pebbles
Servant of a Good God
The Set-Up
Ship of Lost Men
Stroheim: The Man You Love to Hate
Those Wonderful Men with a Crank
Tooth and Claw
Woyzeck
Young Girls of Rochefort
Notable short film: The King of the Z's...which has a very specific place in Telluride Film Fest history.
Guests:
Joe Dante
Jacques Demy
Chuck Jones
Werner Herzog
Errol Morris
TRAILERS FROM BURNING, COLD WAR AND THE SISTERS BROTHERS
Trailers were released this week for two critically acclaimed Cannes #71 films that will be a part of our early summer TFF #45 speculation- Burning and Cold War as well as a trailer for a film that many thought would be a Cannes invitee, Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers which, due to Audiard's past with Telluride has to be considered a possibility for Telluride as well.
I have included them here all via YouTube.
Burning is first up. The film from Lee Chang-dong was the runaway critical darling of Cannes yet received no award from the Palme d'Or competition jury.
Cold War from past Oscar winner and TFF #40 participant Pawel Pawlikowski:
And from Audiard's The Sisters Brothers:
FIRST LOOKS AT BOY ERASED
Joel Edgerton's Boy Erased is one of two "Boy" pictures floating around my TFF #45 possibles list (the other being Beautiful Boy).
The film is a fact base story of a family forcing a son into gay conversion therapy and stars Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Lucas Hedges.
A number of outlets debuted stills from the film earlier this week such as the one above.
Welcome back from your weekend...hope it was a good one...
THE AWARDS FROM THE 71ST CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
The Cannes Film Fest closed Saturday with the presentation of awards. The winners were:
Main Competition:
Palme d'Or: Shoplifters
Grand Prix: BlacKkKlansman
Jury Prize: Capharnaum
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski-Cold War
Screenplay: Happy as Lazzaro and Three Faces
Actress: Samal Yeslyamova-Ayka
Actor: Marcello Fonte-Dogman
Special Palme: The Image Book
Here's the trailer for the Palme d'Or winner from YouTube:
Un Certain Regard:
UCR Prize: Border
Screenplay: Sofia
Best Performance: Victor Polster-Girl
Director: Sergei Loznitsa-Donbass
Special Jury Prize: The Dead and the Others
From among the Palme winners, I suspect every film is a potential TFF player at this point with the exception of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman which Focus Features has set for release on Aug. 10th and I also have my doubts about Goddard's Image Book.
Another wrinkle is the acquisition of Happy as Lazzaro and Girl during the fest and, at this point, trying to divine what that will me for how those films get released and the implications for a possible Telluride play are difficult.
Netflix has been a presence at Telluride the past three years but that was prior to the brouhaha that played out in France this past few weeks that resulted in Netflix screening nothing in Cannes. How that factors into their plans heading to the fall and if it has a residual effect regarding TFF programmers...I don't know.
In addition to the Cannes acquisitions, Netflix also has Martin Scorsese's The Irishman which one would think would be a major player come awards season if it's done... and that's a BIG IF. And they also have Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind (which I really believe will play TFF #45).
Stand by to hear what the Netflix plan is for releasing these acquisitions. Maybe that will give us some insight.
Regular readers of this space probably know from past posts that the Cannes/Telluride crossover averages between seven and eight films each year. Most of those titles come from the main competition and Un Certain Regard sections that. Occasionally titles will come from some part of the non-competition slate or even the Directors Fortnight presentations.
So, as I have said, the Cannes/Telluride crossover is strong and has a lengthy history but the connection to the Cannes prize winners is fairly tenuous. Over the past decade, only three Palme d'Or winners have made the journey to Telluride: The White Ribbon ('10), Amour ('12) and Blue Is the Warmest Colour ('13).
Actually, in the last ten years, the film that wins the Grand Prix (second place essentially) is more likely to make the trip to the San Juans: Gomorrah ('08), A Prophet ('09), Of Gods and Men ('10), Inside Llewyn Davis ('13), Son of Saul ('15).
The other modestly successful predictor, weirdly, is Best Actor: Biutiful ('10), The Artist ('11), The Hunt ('12), Nebraska ('13), Mr. Turner ('14).
Other Cannes prizes and their TFF crossovers the past ten years are:
Jury Prize (third place): Fish Tank ('09), Loveless ('17)
Director: Foxcatcher ('14), Graduation ('16)
Actress: The Past ('13), Carol ('15)
Screenplay: Poetry ('10), Footnote ('11), Leviathan ('14)
UCR Prize: Tulpan ('08), Rams ('16), A Man of Integrity ('17)
This history suggests that the most likely Cannes plays for TFF #45 would be BlacKkKlansman but we know it won't be as it will be released three weeks before the festival which points us toward the Best Actor winner-Dogman. That has a real shot.
THE LAST ROUND-UP OF CRITICS FOR CANNES 2018
Here's the final critical assessment of films that played these last two weeks in Cannes beginning with the behemoth from Reini Urban:
Overall from all sections the top five films critically were:
1) Dead Souls
2) Burning
3) Thunder Road
4) Shoplifters
5) Happy as Lazarro
(Note: the short film Ultra Purple/Apocalypse After actually would sit at #4 but was scored by only five critics. Dead Souls was also only scored by 16 critics)
Top five from the Palme d'Or section:
1) Burning (8.10/10)
2) Shoplifters (7.67)
3) Happy as Lazarro (7.63)
4) The Wild Pear Tree (7.49)
5) Cold War (7.42)
Top three from the UCR section
1) Long Days Journey Into Night (7.40)
2) Girl (7.15)
3) The Dead and the Others (6.91)
From Ioncinema's ratings of the Palme d'Or competition:
1) Burning (3.8/5-TIE)
1) The Wild Pear Tree (3.8)
3) Cold War (3.7)
4) Shoplifters (3.6)
5) Ash Is the Purest White (3.3 TIE)
5) Leto (3.3)
5) Three Faces (3.3)
Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has finally screened for live humans in a theater!!!
And now that it has...I can't say that I'm surprised that I have been seeing a number of reviews that have used words like "confused" and "missing a bit of soul". As I type (with a small number of reviews counted, RT has it at 57% and Metacritic has it at a 50.
It sounds like what I've come to expect from Gilliam...
Does that mean it's off the table for TFF #45? Can't say that yet.
Another note about the 71st Cannes: I was a little alarmed at how often I saw the phrase "slow burn" in takes about films that played...which I sometimes think is code for "it's slow but important".
Now that Cannes is in the books, I'll pay attention to acquisition news and release dates concerning these titles for additional TFF clues.
A FIRST LOOK AT BEAUTIFUL BOY
Felix Van Groeningen's Beautiful Boy will probably be on my first Ten Bets list (which is about six weeks away). From Amazon Studios, the film features Timothee Chalamet (Oscar nominated last year for Call Me By Your Name) and Steve Carell (Oscar nominated for Foxcatcher) as son and father dealing with the youngsters addiction to meth.
It's likely going to be a part of our conversations for the next several months.
That said, this week, we saw the first footage for the film via a 30 second teaser which is here from YouTube:
Additionally, here is coverage from Indiewire and The Playlist of the release of the teaser.
That's your MTFB for this Monday. Have a good week everyone...and more to come on Thursday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
My review of the history of Telluride Film Festival's continues today with a glance at the 7th TFF. It ran from Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1980.
Tributes: Robert Altman, Maurice Pialat, Karl Struss
SHOWS:
Afternoon of War
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Big Combo
Brewster McCloud
Bye Bye Brazil
The Cheat
Contempt
Courage of the West
Death of a Guide
Devil to Pay
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Every Man for Himself
Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill
Final Accord
The First Teacher
Gun Crazy
Health
Here's Lookin' at You Kid
It Always Rains on Sunday
Journey into Fear
L'enfance Nue
LouLou
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
The Mirror
The Mouth Agape
Mudhoney
My Life to Live
Night World
The Perfumed Nightmare
Plan of a 19 Year Old
A Slave of Love
The Story of Temple Drake
Sunrise
Thieves Like Us
Thunder Trail
Vertigo
We Will Not Grow Old Together
Which Way to the Front
Guests:
Lew Ayres
Ronee Blakley
Keith Carradine
Shelley Duvall
Jean-Luc Goddard
Joan Hackett
Werner Herzog
Russ Meyer
Volker Schlondorff
Paul Schrader
Barbet Schroeder
UPDATED CRITICAL RESPONSES FROM FRANCE
Since Monday, the critical winds in Cannes have shifted as new films have been screening. Very few are left to premiere before we get to Saturday and the close of the festival.
At this point, here are your critical leaders in the Palme d'Or competition from several different compilations (with at least two dozen critics reporting).
Reini Urban (the largest database of Cannes critics out there):
1) Burning (d: Lee Chang-dong) 7.90/10
2) Shoplifters (d. Hirekazu Kore-eda)7.67
3) Happy as Lazzaro (d. Alice Rohrwacher) 7.47
Todas Criticas:
1) The Image Book (d. Jean-Luc Goddard) 8.35
2) Happy as Lazzaro 8.20
3) Burning 8.09
Ioncinema:
1) Burning 3.9/5
2) Cold War (d. Pawel Pawlikowski) 3.7
3) Shoplifters 3.6
International Cinephile Society:
1) Burning 4.83/5
2) The Image Book 4.43
3) Shoplifters 4.12
Complete looks at each sources ratings are linked:
As of my post this morning, however, Kohn has not yet included Burning and the critical response suggests that it could easily move into Kohn's top three with his next update.
That's your update for this Thursday...more on Monday (with probable Cannes updates over the weekend).
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
In an extraordinary moment Saturday, 82 women from all walks of the film world stood in solidarity to express their concern about female representation in the industry at large and Cannes in particular. The group was led by Cate Blanchett, who is presiding over the Palme d'Or jury this year and film legend Agnes Varda who shred a microphone to deliver a statement in both English and French.
The number of women was no accident as 82 is the number of females that have directed films that have screened at Cannes in its 71 year history. Male directed films in that time-1,688.
Among the women in the group of 82-
Telluride Film Festival Executive Director Julie Huntsinger and:
Lea Seydoux
Ava DuVernay
Jane Fonda
Kristen Stewart
Claudia Cardinale
Marion Cotillard
Nandita Das
Patty Jenkins
Salma Hayek
Here's video of the moment from The News Channel and YouTube:
Additionally, here's Vanity Fair's coverage which includes the complete list of 82 women that were on the red carpet on Saturday (for the presentation of Eva Husson's Girls of the Sun):
As I have done for the past several years, I am linking to several sites that are collecting samplings of critical reaction to the films that are screening at Cannes.
The most comprehensive is from Reini Urban who combines seven different critical collections.
As of this morning the top rated film (with at least a dozen responses recorded) among those in the Palme d'Or competition is Alice Rohrwacher's Happy as Lazzaro with 45 combined critic ratings and a 7.53 average. Pawel Pawlikowski Cold War sits at second with a 7.41 average.
Also from Todas Criticas. Jean Luc Godard's The Image Book leads with an 8.32 with Happy as Lazzaro next at 8.13.
Ioncinema has Cold War out front with a 3.7 (on a five point scale) followed by Jia Zhangke's Ash Is the Purest White with a 3.2. Jafar Panahi's Three Faces has a 4.3 but that comes from only three critics thus far.
Screen International's compilation is lead by both Cold War and Ash Is the Purest White with a tied 2.9 (on a four point scale).
And the ICS collection of critics has The Image Book on top with a 4.71 (of five) followed by Ash Is the Purest White at 3.92.
As I have been dutifully reporting, it looks like Terry Gilliam's long-gestating The Man Who Killed Don Quixote will finally screen on Saturday as the closing night film for the 71st Cannes Film Festival. The 20+ year ordeal is about to get to the next chapter...
In 2002, the efforts of Gilliam to make the film were chronicled in the doc Lost in La Mancha. That film played TFF.
Now, as Gilliam is on the cusp of realizing the film's completion, word comes that the same crew that produce Lost in La Mancha has been collecting material for a follow on documentary that will cover the latest trials and tribulations that have led to the film's imminent presentation.
Iranian film maker has managed to get another film out of that nation despite his status under house arrest. Three Faces premiered at Cannes this week and the early critical response seems good.
Three years ago Panahi's Taxi played Berlin, winning the Golden Bear, and ultimately Telluride.
Could we see another Panahi film in the San Juans at the end of the summer? I wouldn't count it out.
Here's the official trailer for the film prepped for Cannes and with English subtitles via YouTube:
That's your MTFB for a Monday. More to come on Thursday...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
On our previous episode of "What Else Could Happen to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" we were wondering how a French court would rule and if that would allow or prevent the film's screening as the closing night entertainment in Cannes...well...
Since Monday...Terry Gilliam had a "health episode" that was described as a possible stroke but was apparently not that...
Distributor Amazon Studios dropped plans to distribute the film and
The Court ruled and said, essentially, roll that film on May 19th.
It's been an eventful few days for the Don Quixote crew.
All of the sound and fury led one Twitter account to suggest that attending the screening on the 19th might be risky as it is likely to end in a disaster of biblical proportion. Such has been the beleaguered history of the film.
Here's what I want to know: Why did Amazon pull out? And...what the hell else could happen to this production in the next 10 days?
Here's a sampling of the coverage for this past three days worth of developments:
Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows opened the 71st Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to mixed reviews (I'll start passing along links to various critics' compilation sites beginning with next Monday's blog post).
Despite the so-so nature of the critical reception, a reportedly significant battle ensued for U.S. distribution rights for the film among a number of players. Netflix had been reported earlier in the week as a likely bidder and reportedly they were but in the end were bested by Focus Features.
Focus was said to gain an advantage die its traditional theatrical release structure meaning that the film could be aimed at awards season.
Additionally, the win by Focus probably still keeps the film in the convo for Telluride although, as astute friend of MTFB Patrick Pringle noted via Twitter, the recent decision by the Trump administration to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal could create problems for screenings of the film.
As you might expect, the Cannes Film Fest will honoring the late Pierre Rissient, who died last weekend. The film "warrior" was an incredible part of the fabric of both Cannes and Telluride. I ran across this comment from former TFF co-director Gary Meyer in the comment section of the Eric Kohn/Indiewire story reporting Rissient's passing:
Thank you for this wonderful and personal look at Pierre Rissient who was truly unique. His passion for the films and talent he loved was infectious. He was demanding in a way that a first timer might not embrace until they realized that he was usually right and listening to him would reveal things we didn’t know about cinema of the past and turn us on to filmmaking on the horizon. The two films about him are a great start to understanding Pierre. I am honored to have been among the lucky ones to have spent time learning and being inspired by one of the art’s true believers.
Additionally, I have linked reportage of Cannes decision to honor Rissient here from:
And that;s a wrap for this Thursday. Please come back for more on Monday including the first collective looks of the films that will premiere at Cannes over the weekend.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
News from France yesterday that film friend and Telluride staple Pierre Rissient has died. He was 81. Rissient has been described as a "warrior of cinema" as tributes and remembrances have poured in over the past 24 hours.
Rissient's presence has been such in Telluride's film history that the La Pierre Theater (adjoining the Palm) was named in his honor. Rissient received Telluride's Silver Medallion in 1992. The earliest reference I can find to Rissient and Telluride is his participation in 1983 with a presentation called "Lino Brocka: Cinema's Robin Hood". Rissient, as of last year's fest, was still named a "resident curator".
IMDb lists Rissient as the director of two films Alibis in 1977 ans Five and the Skin in 1982. Rissient was to have presented a restored version of Five and the Skin at Cannes this year.
The death of Rissient was noted throughout the film community. I have linked stories from:
[Correction: An earlier version of this post had Rissient's birth year as 1926-my apologies]
VIEWS FROM LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
The film Stage posted a story this week about Bi Gans' Cannes competition film Long Day's Journey Into Night which The Film Stage calls its most anticipated film of the Canes Palme competition. The article which went up on Saturday includes multiple stills from the film.
As it is on my Telluride/Cannes list of potential crossover films, I have included a few of those here:
Long Days Journey is scheduled to premiere at Cannes on May 16.
Making a splash at TFF #44 last Labor Day was the Natalie Portman produced documentary Eating Animals. The doc is scheduled for release on June 15th and focuses on the effects globally of the reliance on animal flesh as a food source.
The film is being distributed by IFC Films and Sundance Selects and a trailer for it appeared this last week:
Amidst all the legal brouhaha over Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and whether it will actually screen to close Cannes on May 19th, we have a second trailer for the film, which, for my money is better and more enticing than the first.
Here it is from YouTube:
CANNES SUPPORTS THE DON AND GILLIAM
The top brass at the Cannes International Film Festival released a statement of support this week for Terry Gilliam and his beleaguered film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The film has taken two decades to complete and continues to be mired in legal woes.
A hearing is set to take place in Paris on May 7th concerning the claims of one of the past producers of the film. The decision in that proceeding could determine whether Quixote actually screens as Cannes closing night feature on May 19th. It's also entirely possible that the ruling could bar the film's screening.
Original reporting on this particular legal claim suggested that the ultimate court finding might not occur until June.
All of that means that the film's Cannes future is uncertain and certainly that would continue to be true in the context of a potential play at Telluride.
AWARDS WATCH PREVIEWS FOREIGN LANGUAGE OSCAR HOPEFULS
Erik Anderson at Awards Watch posted a piece this week examining 16 films that will be playing the Cannes Fest that he thinks could be players in the Foreign Language Oscar race.
Among those 16 are several that I have my eye on as possible TFF #45 candidates:
Cold War
Everybody Knows
Dogman
Ash Is the Purest White
Burning
Three Faces
Ayka
Producer Frank Marshall tweeted a photo on Monday with the caption explaining that the sound mix for Orson Welles' final film The Other Side of the Wind was "a wrap". That moves the film one step closer to completion and potential screening.
Increasingly I am convinced that we're going to have the opportunity to catch a screening of the film over Labor Day weekend.
Additionally, I also think a screening of Mark Cousins' new Welles documentary, The Eyes of Orson Welles could show as a companion piece.
Here's the photo:
and the text of Marshall's tweet:
That's a wrap! An historic moment as we finish the sound mix for THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND, almost 50 years after Orson Welles began shooting his final picture. @OrsonWelles@netflix
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
