The Toronto International Film Festival announced a number of titles yesterday that they are planning to include as a part of a pared back TIFF. Numerous reports yesterday indicate that TIFF will program approximately 50 films this year. That contrasts with the common inclusion of 275-300 titles that are customarily a part of the TIFF lineup.
AMong titles announced yesterday were Francis Lee's Ammonite, Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round and Naomi Kawase's True Mothers-three films which I have had on the TFF #47 list of possibles for some time (I've been particularly high on chances that Ammonite might be a TFF choice).
While major publications have not labeled the World Premieres, a couple of the films have been referenced that way. Indiewire tweeted that Idris Elba starrer Concrete Cowboys will be World Premiering at TIFF and The Danish Film Institute said the same about Another Round. If that is the case, then that all but removes those titles from TFF #47 consideration. Further, it implies that entire list of films announced by TIFF are probably World Premieres as well. Halle Berry's directing debut Bruised is also on the list of announced TIFF films.
Other interesting notes: TIFF will have an initial five days of on-site socially distanced presentations and past that will largely be online. Other titles will be announced as the summer progresses.
Coverage is here from Variety and Indiewire.
FALL FILM FESTS REACTING TO OSCAR DATE CHANGE
Last week Anne Thompson wrote a piece for Indiewire with her take on how the fall film fests are reacting to the recent announcement that the Oscars ceremony will take place in late April of 2021, a full two months later than their originally announced date.
Among the items of interest mentioned in the piece are:
Telluride is said to be releasing practical plans by mid-July. Additionally, there are still hurdles for the fest to get through between now and Labor Day. Thompson writes:
"The Telluride Film Festival is proceeding as though the festival is happening, with practical plans to be revealed by mid-July. But the festival will be dependent on whether the state of Colorado allows theaters to open in time. If not, the county will need to obtain a variance from the state to show films in theaters."
A side note of interest is that Thompson reports that the Toronto International Film Fest is supposed to announce some of their plans within the next few days:
"September’s Toronto festival, which is determined to meet any eventuality and will announce its plans before the end of June."
The third interesting tidbit is in regards to Sony Pictures Classics as they make plans within a shifting landscape. From the article:
“We kind of plan and prepare,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, who is juggling his release schedule and waiting to see who shows up for “Tenet” on July 31. “And be ready to tonally change the plan if more variables show up. We’ll send our films everywhere we can. We don’t know.”
Which sounds to me like we can probably plan on seeing some SPC projects at Telluride in some form. I took a look at the current SPC slate in my post on June11th.
Here's Thompson's Indiewire story
THE DISTRIBS: FOCUS FEATURES
Today's look at distributors and what they might submit for TFF #47 focuses on Focus Features. I have some confidence that Focus has some interest in submitting films for Telluride this year even amidst the pandemic.
So that begs the question...what would they bring? Their two biggest current projects are Tom McCarthy's Stillwater and Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho. Stillwater's still set for release on Nov. 6th while Soho has been set for release on April 23rd. Those release dates suggest that Stillwater is much more likely as a Focus entry for TFF #47 than Soho. Adding to our calculation is the fact that McCarthy's Spotlight began its run to Oscar glory in 2015 at Venice followed immediately by an appearance at TFF # 42.
Focus has three other films that I believe have at least some limited possibility of making a play at Telluride: Marilyn Agrelo's Sesame Street documentary Street Gang, Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominated actress Robin Wright's feature directorial debut-Land (I think I remember Wright being at TFF in 2007) and Eddie Huang's Boogie.
Chances:
Stillwater 50%
Land 35%
Street Gang 25%
Boogie 15%
Last Night in Soho 5%
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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