San Sebastian is planning for its film fest which runs Sept. 18-26...roughly two weeks after TFF and a week after Toronto. They've announced their first set of selected films which include a number of Cannes "branded" films. Of not to Telluride watchers probably are Summer of '85, Another round and True Mothers...which, barring being World Premieres for TIFF might indicate them as possibilities for TFF #47.
I'll point out again that when TIFF announced their Cannes titles a few weeks back, I pointed out that the TIFF press language called their selections as "premieres" without any qualifying status (i.e. "World" or "North American". My point was the notion that if TIFF could have announced them as a "World" or "North American" premiere they would have. Of course, I could be totally wrong.
Still, perhaps these selections are pointing to the most likely Cannes "crossovers" this year.
Here's the San Sebastian initial announcement from Variety.
I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS GOES EARLY
Netflix has announced that Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things will drop on Sept. 4th which is now the second day of the Telluride Film Festival. The announcement would certainly suggest that the film would not be at TFF #47 in a "normal" world. In a Covid-19 world, who knows?
But it also probably underscores Netflix's earlier revelation that they won't be including ANY of their titles at ANY film fest this fall.
As many of you know, I have been harboring a theory that there Netflix might pop some of their titles at Telluride under cover of Telluride's policy of not revealing titles until the day before the fest starts.
My takeaway from this information that my theory seems even less likely to come to pass and it was a highly unlikely scenario to begin with. Still, I'm not likely to abandon it it completely.
SASHA WEIGHS IN ON OSCAR
My friend Sasha Stone, founder of Awards Daily posted some serious and early Oscar prognostication since my last post. Included in the article re her picks for Best PIc as well as a list forwarded to her from another friend. I can tell you that Sasha's friend is also pretty good at predicting Oscar fortunes.
The friend's list includes:
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
The French Dispatch (Searchlight)
Hamilton (Disney)
Mank (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
Nomadland (Searchlight)
Stillwater (Focus)
Tenet (Warner Bros.)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
West Side Story (Fox/Disney)
Sasha's list includes:
Mank
West Side Story
Nightmare Alley
News of the World
Tenet
Nomadland
Stillwater
Trial of the Chicago 7
The Father
Da 5 Bloods
Films on both lists: Mank, Da Five Bloods, Chicago 7, Nomadland, Stillwater, Tenet and West Side Story. Of those only Nomadland seems to me to be a solid TFF prospect. Da Five Bloods, Mank and Chicago 7 are all Netflix joints now and I don't see Tenet or West Side Story being at a fest at all. Stillwater from Focus is intriguing. Whether it's a serious TFF possibility depends on if it's finished and what path Focus Features decides to follow.
The friend's other three films are: The French Dispatch, Hamilton and Minari. Of that list only The French Dispatch might be in the cards for TFF. Hamilton is playing now on Disney+, Minari was a Sundance film.
Sasha's other four are: The Father (also a Sundance title), Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley which recent reports suggest wasn't quite half-filmed when production shut down due to the pandemic-I don't think it'll be close to ready for TFF. Actually, I'll be surprised of it's ready in time for Oscar consideration this year even with the extended release window currently in place. Sasha's third film is Paul Greengrass' News of the World which hasn't been high on my list for TFF all along as Greengrass has never played anything at Telluride and also due to the lack of much a Telluride profile from its distributor/studio (Columbia/Universal).
Sasha's complete article is here and includes some mention of Best Director and Best Actor possibilities.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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