CANNES WILL ANNOUNCE
Cannes Film Festival head Thierry Fremaux revealed a lot about the immediate future of that fest this weekend in an interview for Screen Daily.
Variety hit the high points in a story that they posted yesterday.
If the past is any guide, some of the decisions Fremaux and crew make will make ripples in the Telluride lineup. As I have often mentioned, over the years I have been a Telluride attendee the two fests average of sharing 7-8 titles each outing. Of course, the pandemic make all historic guideposts moot.
Nevertheless, at this point I am proceeding with the assumption that past guideposts are worth referencing until otherwise disproven. So with that, here are the big takeaways from the Fremaux interview:
1) Cannes will announce a lineup of films that would have been selected in early June (more below).
2) Cannes officials are still speaking with Venice officials with the notion of some sort of combined effort in September.
3) Fremaux says that "Cannes" films will likely be screened at a number of fests. He gives a list (more below).
Fremuax's revelation that there will be a 73rd Cannes lineup announcement will give us a list of films to work from which, in a normal year, we would have heard on April 16th. Assuming that it's by-and-large the films that would have played at a physical version of Cannes, I'm going to work from it to try and assess which of those films might have been crossovers.
Using Cannes prize winners as a barometer, which I factor in, won't be a guidepost this year as Fremaux also revealed that films will not be adjudicated. Further, it seems that the list that will be revealed will not categorize films by the section they would have been invited to be a part of (Palme d'Or competition, Un Certain Regard, etc.)
Fremaux does list fests that he suggests will be a part of the Cannes films screening process, From the Screen International interview:
"We’ll go to Toronto, Deauville, Angoulême, San Sebastian, New York, Busan in Korea and even the Lumière festival in Lyon"
You'll note that Telluride is missing from that list but that may just be Fremaux respecting Telluride's secrecy. I'd be gob-smacked if there are no Cannes 2020 titles playing as a part of TFF #47.
Also, the notion of "co-presenting" with Venice doesn't necessarily preclude a film from playing T-ride either.
Couple of other notes: we heard this week that Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta and Andrew Dominik's Blonde have been officially moved to 2021 for release indicating that those two films are almost certainly off the table for fall film fests and this year's Oscars. It may signal that those two films might be around for a 2021 edition of Cannes.
Also, a quick reminder here that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch has been dated for release in France on Oct. 14 and in the U.S. on Oct. 16. That could signal that the film might play at the Cannes/Venice combo and other of the fall fests including New York (and to that extent, Telluride).
I have linked the Variety story here.
And the complete interview from Screen Daily is linked here.
EYEBALLING OSCAR 2020
Indiewire's Zack Sharf cast a glance at what films might be Oscar contenders in the new reality of the Covid-19 pandemic in a post published on May 8th. Usually, films that seem Oscar-y get a look from me as I try to puzzle out what might be worth keeping an eye on as possible players for The SHOW so this kind of article catches my eye. That's especially true in light of the uncharted seas we're sailing right now.
So, here are some of the points Sharf makes with a thought or two from me.
Sharf leads off with Sundance films that he thinks could be players. Almost uniformly a Sundance play means that we can check it off the list for T-ride. There are rare examples of films playing both Sundance and TFF: An Education, Manchester by the Sea and The Report but these are not normal times. Sharf lists these Sundance narrative feature titles as Oscar possibles:
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Minari
Promising Young Woman
The 40 Year Old Version
The Father
Never Rarely Sometimes Always made it into theaters for three days which could be enough to keep it out of TFF consideration. Still, only three days?
The other four films? If TFF programmers consider Sundance films, maybe. Personally, I'd like to see Minari make it to the San Juans as it was largely filmed in my home state of Oklahoma. I even had a good friend acting as the schooling tutor on set (Hello Rose Mary Baker!).
Sharf then runs down what were thought to be probable Cannes titles that have/had some Oscar potential including:
The French Dispatch
Nomadland
Annette
Memoria
Other Cannes' "titles" he lists seem to be unlikely TFF choices (ex: Soul)
I a section about Netflix films, Sharf reminds us that Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods will drop on the streamer on June 17th.
Other Netflix titles that might be in the mix for TFF and/or Oscar:
Mank
Hillbilly Elegy
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
The Prom
Rebecca
In the remaining bulk of the post Sharf mentions many films that are still nominally scheduled for release before the end of the year. Of note,as a Telluride-star-gazer:
The French Dispatch
Dune
The Trail of the Chicago 7
Stillwater
On the Rocks
The Woman in the Window
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Ammonite.
Sharf's complete article is linked here.
PAUL SCHRADER HAS AN IDEA
(Photo of Paul Schrader from Claudio Onorati/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock and Indiewire)
Oscar nominee Paul Schrader has his own ideas about dealing with the current state of the world of film and film festivals in particular. His thoughts largely center around a Netflix and/or Amazon sponsored festival of festivals.
Schrader shared his concept with Indiewire's Eric Kohn recently.
Schrader explains:
"You have to have all the power players involved. If you have Netflix with its deep pockets, and the major festival curators to come up with a list of films at all levels of competition, and if you get an all-star jury of maybe two dozen actors, artists, and critics, you have an event. You have something Netflix can advertise as the Netflix fall festival of festivals. That would grab people’s attention."
Schader and Kohn also the hurdles that would have to be overcome in their back-and-forth. It's intriguing.
Take a look at the entire interview here at Indiewire.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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