Oscar 2020 First Attempt-Best Actor / Looks at The Way I See It and The Truffle Hunters /The Bee Gees Go to HBO

OSCAR 2020 FIRST ATTEMPT-BEST ACTOR

MTFB continues its first pass at predicting Oscar nominees for 2020-21 in various major categories.  Today we're looking at Best Actor with, as always, a focus on those performances that were a part of the list of 29 films that TFF released that would have been screened as a part of TFF #47.  Performers designated with *** are in films that may not be released prior to the Feb, 28, 2021 Oscar eligibility deadline.   TFF#47 performers are in Bold:

1) Anthony Hopkins/The Father

2) Gary Oldman/Mank

3) Tom Hanks/News of the World***

4) Delroy Lindo/Da 5 Bloods

5) Bill Murray/On the Rocks

6) Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah***

7) Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon***

8) Ben Affleck/The Way Back

9) Matt Damon/Stillwater***

10) Michael Fassbender/Next Goal Wins***

LOOKS AT THE WAY I SEE IT AND THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS

This week we got new footage from two TFF #47 documentaries.  Initially, we were treated to the a first clip from Dawn Porter's The Way I See It which focuses on Pete Souza who spent time as the Chief Official White House photographer for Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.

Here's that clip from YouTube:

If you have trouble viewing this video, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evHHCHocAqQ

Also, ahead of its play at the Zurich film festival, we have a new clip from Greg Kersahe and Michael Dweck's The Truffle Hunters.  Also from YouTube:

As with the above clip, if you have trouble viewing here's the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS1AWDp7ftE

THE BEE GEES GO TO HBO

We got word this week that Frank Marshall's documentary focusing on The Brothers Gibb has been acquired by HBO.  The Bees Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart was announced as an official TFF #47 selection back at the end of July and now mxdwn.com reports that HBO Documentary Films now has plans to screen the doc on this fall on HBO Max and their flagship platform.

The mxdwn.com article form Sept. 26th is linked here.

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Oscar 2021 First Attempt-Best Actress / TIFF Critics' Survey and TFF #47 / Talking Truffles / And Finally...The Chicago 7? / Late Breaking

 OSCAR 2021-FIRST ATTEMPT-BEST ACTRESS

MTFB continues its first pass at predicting Oscar nominees for 2020-21 in various major categories.  Today we're looking at Best Actress with, as always, a focus on those performances that were a part of the list of 29 films that TFF released that would have been screened as a part of TFF #47.  Performers designated with *** are in films that may not be released prior to the Feb, 28, 2021 Oscar eligibility deadline.   TFF#47 performers are in Bold:

1) Frances McDormand/Nomadland

2) Viola Davis/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom***

3) Kate Winslet/Ammonite

4) Vanessa Kirby/Pieces of a Woman

5) Michelle Pfeiffer/French Exit

6) Amy Adams/Hillbilly Elegy***

7) Jennifer Hudson/Respect***

8) Carrie Mulligan/Promising Young Woman

9) Renee Zegler/West Side Story***

10) Angela Day/The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday

11) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye***

12) Rashida Jones/On the Rocks

TIFF CRITICS SURVEY AND TFF #47

As has been the habit of Indiewire for many year, that organization polled critics that "attended" the just concluded  Toronto International Film Festival and those results reflect some very nice notice of films that are a part of the TFF 2020 announced lineup.

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland...coming off of winning Toronto's People's Choice Award and the Golden Lion at Venice was named the best film by the poll.

The Best Documentary category saw plaudits for two TFF #47 selections as Michael Dweck and Greg Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters (see linked interview below) was named second best doc and Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI  was named third best doc.  76 Days, the on-the-ground report from Wuhan, China that focuses on the emergence of Covid-19.

Zhao was named Best Director by the survey and Nimadland also was chosen as third best screenplay.  FRances McDormand was runner-up in the Best Performance category.

All in all, a very good representation of TFF #47 films among the Indiewire accolades.

The complete Indiewire Critics' Survey results article is linked here.

TALKING TRUFFLES

One of the most talked about festival docs this season is undoubtedly The Truffle Hunters from directors Michael Dweck and Greg Kershaw.  The pair were recently (Sept. 19) highlighted by Point of View Magazine (POV).

That interview is linked here.

One other quick note (and humblebrag), through the kindness of an anonymous reader of the blog, I was fortunate enough to get a screener link to see The Truffle Hunters last weekend.  It's delightful, joyous, funny, poignant and beautiful to behold.  

AND FINALLY...THE CHICAGO 7?

Honestly, I wouldn't normally be writing about Aaron Sorkin's The Trail of the Chicago 7 much except in the context of the Oscar race since all Netflix films eschewed all of the festival circuit this time around.  But...

1) Early reactions from those who have seen an advanced screening seem to be over the moon and suggest that the film WILL BE a significant Oscar player.

2) World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy reports that the film is getting a theatrical release of some sort THIS WEEKEND...here's the link to Jordan's story.  And...

3) I have a good, reliable source telling me that had Telluride proceeded normally, that the film would have been a part of the The SHOW's lineup.

Cool, cool, cool.

LATE BREAKING

As I have been thinking for quite some time, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story will no longer be a  part of this year's Oscar conversation.   As The Hollywood Reporter published yesterday evening,  Warners has moved West Side Story all the way to Dec. 21, 2021.  Disney has also decided to move Black Widow to May of 2021.

The move means that WSS will not be eligible for this year's Oscars and could open the way for other remaining big films to move their release strategies as well.  

Other films that could follow West Side Story include:  News of the World, Stillwater, The French Dispatch, Dune, Hillbilly Elegy and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom among others.

The THR story is linked here.

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Nomadland Tops TIFF / Oscar 2021-First Attempt-Best Director / At the Drive-In

 NOMADLAND TOPS TIFF

TFF #47 selection Nomadland won the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award as that festival came to a conclusion over the weekend.  The film, directed and written by Chloe Zhao and starring two time Oscar winner Frances McDormand, has been a significant critical success as it was also this year's Golden Lion winner for the Venice Film Festival.

Past TIFF People's Choice Award winners have gone on to be serious players during Oscar season and often times have included films from The SHOW,  Here's a rundown of the past few years of TIFF People's winners and runners-up with TFF films in BOLD:

2007: Winner: Eastern Promises, RU: JUNO 

2008: Winner: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, RU: More Than a Game

2009: Winner: Precious, RU: Mao's Last Dancer

2010: Winner: THE KING'S SPEECH, RU: THE FIRST GRADER

2011: Winner: Where Do We Go now, RU: Starbuck

2012: Winner: Silver Linings Playbook, RU: ARGO

2013: Winner: 12 YEARS A SLAVE, RU: Philomena

2014: Winner: THE IMITATION GAME, RU: Learning to Drive

2015: Winner: ROOM, RU: Angry Indian Goddesses

2016: Winner: LA LA LAND, RU: Lion

2017: Winner: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, RU: I. Tonya

2018: Winner: Green Book, RU: If Beale Street Could Talk

2019: Winner: Jojo Rabbit, RU: MARRIAGE STORY

2020: Winner: NOMADLAND, RU: One Night in Miami

I have linked coverage of the TIFF awards here from Next Best Picture as well as The Hollywood News.

OSCAR 2021-FIRST ATTEMPT-BEST DIRECTOR

Last week, I started aiming this boat toward Oscar season with my first take on predicting films for Best Picture nominations.  Today we move to the Best Direction category with a reminder that it's a weird year and no one is entirely certain which films will actually screen before the deadline that The Academy moved to-Feb, 28, 2021.  Consequently, this first list will have some film's marked with an * meaning that, at least for the moment, I'm thinking that that film could have its release after Feb, 28th. TFF #47 films are in Bold

1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland

2) David Fincher/Mank

3) Steven Spielberg/West Side Story*

4) Denis Villenueve/Dune*

5) Paul Greengrass/News of the World*

6) Spike Lee/Da 5 Bloods

7) Regina King/One Night in Miami

8) Christopher Nolan/Tenet

9) Aaron Sorkin/The Trial of the Chicago 7

10) Ron Howard/Hillbilly Elegy*

Other possibles: Francis Lee/Ammonite, Elizabeth Hittman/Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Florian Zeller/The Father, Wes ANderson/The French Dispatch*, Tom McCarthy/Stillwater*.

AT THE DRIVE-IN

As you almost certainly know, Telluride #47 appeared, much like Brigadoon, seemingly from out of nowhere to provide drive-in screening s recently of two of its 29 TFF #47 selections.

On Sept. 2nd, partnering with the Mill Valley Film Festival, Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes' voting rights documentary: All In: The Fight for Democracy screened at the West Wind Solano Twin Drive-In in Concord, CA.  One of the patrons who attended is a friend of the blog and shared a photo or two of the evening:

Then on Sept. 11th, TFF screened Chloe Zhao's Nomadland turning the venerable Rose Bowl into a drive-in theater.  Director Zhao and star Frances McDormand were on hand.  Eagle-eyed friend of the blog, Jim Brooks forwarded a YouTube video that was posted by the film's distributor, Searchlight, on Sept. 14.  I have linked that here for your perusal:

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Oscar 2021-First Attempt at Best Picture / Trailer for The Father / Rosi Talks Notturno / McDormand's Side Hustle?

OSCAR 2021-FIRST ATTEMPT AT BEST PICTURE

Well...here we are.  Normally (and I am really tired of writing the word "normally") I'd be collating rating data from TFF attendees and industry professionals as we rated the films that had been screened at the 47th Telluride Film Festival.

Also, normally, I'd be gathering thoughts about making the turn into Oscar season for this space.  Traditionally, after TFF is done this space becomes a tracker, of sorts, for TFF films that become part of the Oscar conversation-and that's still going to be true.  It's just going to be different for a variety of reasons.

1) We have a list of TFF #47 films that none of us saw in Telluride.  That list, however, is going to count for my approach this year.  They are the TFF #47 films I'll be paying attention to.

2) It's a significantly longer Oscar season this time around.  The Academy added two months to the eligibility period as a response to the effects of Covid-19 on the film industry meaning that the window to screen a film so that it would be Oscar eligible went from Dec. 31 to Feb. 28.  It also moved the ceremony to the end of April.  There has been a bit of scuttlebutt that The Academy might further adjust their calendar but at the moment my expectation is that they'll stick with the current dates irrespective of any other considerations such as...

3) The release schedule is...um...fluid.  Frankly, I doubt that the "moveable feast" of what gets released when is over.  The big test case of releasing Christopher Nolan's Tenet to underwhelming box office in its first week and Warners decision to keep the box office numbers under wrap for its second week will probably mean more release date shuffling.  That makes Oscar eligibility for some big films a moving target.

So, I'm going to do the best I can here...but...wow...it's a challenge.

That said...here's my first stab at predicting the Best Picture Oscar for 2020 (and part of 21) with a couple of caveats and comments about the unique circumstances.  TFF #47 films are listed in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Nomadland (Zhao)
2) Mank (Fincher)
3) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Sorkin)
4) West Side Story (Spielberg)
5) Da Five Bloods (S. Lee)
6) News of the World (Greengrass)
7) Ammonite (F. Lee)
8) The French Dispatch (Anderson)
9) Dune (Villeneuve)
10) Hillbilly Elegy (Howard)

That said...I believe fully 4-5 of these films may end up being moved out of the screening eligibility window: West Side Story, News of the World, The French Dispatch, Dune and maybe Hillbilly Elegy.

I can easily envision that any or all of these might hold off for a Cannes premiere or a summer 2021 release or even being held as long as November-December 2021.

So, I'm going list five more films that either have already fit into the new Oscar eligibility window or probably will:

11) The Father (Zeller)
12) Tenet (Nolan)
13) One Night in Miami (King)
14) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Wolfe)
15) Minari (Chung)


TRAILER FOR THE FATHER


From Sony Pictures Classics we have this new trailer for The Father starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.  Both are getting serious Oscar buzz for their performances.  Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

ROSI TALKS NOTTURNO

Alex Ritman, writing for The Hollywood Reporter has a new interview with the director of the documentary Notturno.  Gianfranco Rosi's doc about the Middle East has been a choice of a number of film fests in addition to Telluride with inclusions by Toronto, Venice and New York as well.

Here's that interview from The Hollywood Reporter.


MC DORMAND'S SIDE HUSTLE?

Marta Balaga reports that Frances McDormand was so successful in creating her character for the upcoming Nomadland that a Target store in one of the Nebraska communities in which the film was shooting offered McDormand a job.

McDormand plays a character that becomes a "nomad" in America during the Great Recession.

Balaga's story was in Variety and is linked here.



MLK/FBI HAS DISTRIBUTION

Deadline reports that IFC Films has acquired Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI for U.S. distribution.  That story appeared on Tuesday.  Deadline additionally reported that IFC will release the film on Jan. 15, 2021.

The film focuses on the FBI's surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960's as the civil rights icon's influence grew.

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Nomadland Wins a Lion and Plays at the TFF Drive-In / First Clip from MLK/FBI / Truffles Gets a Gala and a Trailer / Focus on All In

NOMADLAND WINS A LION AND PLAYS AT THE TFF DRIVE IN

It was a big weekend for Chloe Zhao's Nomadland.  The film won the Golden Lion as Best Film to screen as a part of this year's Venice Film Festival.  Coverage of the film's win and other Venice awards are linked here in this report from The Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, the second of two special presentations linked to the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival occurred on Friday night in Los Angeles as Nomadland was screened at the Rose Bowl.  The venerable sports institution was converted into a drive-in theater for the evening.  Director Zhao and star- two time Oscar winner and one of the film's producers-Frances McDormand both appeared in person at the event.

Nomadland was also screened in Toronto on Friday.  The film has received rapturous reviews and its brewing Oscar narrative seems to be morphing into reality.

The Playlist provided coverage of the L.A. drive in experience on Saturday and that article is linked here.



FIRST CLIP FROM MLK/FBI

We've been treated to s first clip from Sam Pollard's documentary MLK/FBI that was selected as one of the 29 features that would have played at a TFF #47.  Here that clip is from YouTube:

MLK/FBI is described on IMDb as follows:

Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard's resonant film explores the US government's surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The film will be bowing at both the Toronto and New York Fests in the next two weeks.



TRUFFLES GET A GALA AND A TRAILER

The Zurich Film Fest has announced its first ten galas and that includes TFF #47 selection Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters.

Variety covered the announcement.  That's linked here.

The very well received documentary also had a trailer release this past weekend.

FOCUS ON ALL IN

Stacey Abrams in All In

Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes' All In: The Fight for Democracy  is about the fight to make casting a ballot easier in this country and fighting those that would disenfranchise potential voters.  Just this week the filmmakers were highlighted by The Southern Poverty Law Center.

That interview is linked here.

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BFI-London Announces / Teaser Trailers for Nomadland and Mandibles / New Photos of Mainstream and Mandibles/ Interviews: Zhao, Coppola and More / Ronstadt Short Doc Acquired

BFI-LONDON ANNOUNCES

The BFI-London Film Festival announced its 2020 slate on Tuesday morning.  Five of the feature films selected for its main slate were also among the 29 films officially selected by the Telluride Film Festival for its 47th edition that had to be canceled.

Three of the titles have become common place additions to a number of film fests:

Francis Lee's Ammonite
Chloe Zhao's Nomadland
Gianfranco Rosi's Notturno

In addition to those three LFF also selected After Love and Never Gonna Snow Again.

The BFI-London Film Festival will take place Oct. 7-18 and will largely be presented virtually but will have a live cinema presentation of some films as a part of its programming.


TEASER TRAILERS FOR NOMADLAND AND MANDIBLES

Teaser for Nomadland:

Mandibles Trailer from YouTube:

NEW PHOTOS OF MAINSTREAM AND MANDIBLES

From Mandibles:

From Mainstream:

INTERVIEWS WITH THE CREATORS OF NOMADLAND, MAINSTREAM, THE DUKE AND NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN



***Chloe Zhao/Nomadland from The Hollywood Reporter

***Gia Coppola/Mainstream from The Hollywood Reporter

***Roger Michell/The Duke from Variety

***Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert/Never Gonna Snow Again from Variety



RONSTADT SHORT DOC ACQUIRED

photo via Variety and The Shout! Factory

Last year at TFF #46 programmers selected to screen the fantastic documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.  Now comes news that a second Ronstadt doc that was chosen for inclusion on the TFF #47 list has been acquired for release by Shout! Studios.

The short doc (runtime about 40 min.) is titled: Linda Ronstadt and the Mockingbirds focuses on a trip to Mexico as Ronstadt explores her musical roots.

The story was reported by Variety and says that the new work is a follow on to last year's film.

Variety reports that the new film is expected to have a 2020 release on various platforms.

The complete Variety story is linked here.

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SPECIAL REPORT: Telluride at Home- Day Four

SPECIAL REPORT: TELLURIDE AT HOME DAY FOUR

Sunday was another big day for the Patterson's Telluride at Home program.  We got all three planned films in with The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (which was originally scheduled for Saturday but we flipped it with The Artist), Shame and Wild Tales.  I also got in another "Sneak Re-View' of the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis from TFF #40 in 2013.

Today is planned as a soft landing with only two films scheduled and a good deal of flexibility to do other, less-TFF oriented things.  After all, we're back to school tomorrow and tackling a switch from face to face learning to a blended model including both face to face and remote learning.  It will be a challenging week.

Today's scheduled films are Asghar Farhadi's brilliant A Separation and Alejandro Inarittu's also brilliant Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.

I'll be back on Thursday with a regularly scheduled MTFB.

Hope all have had a great Labor Day weekend and that many of you have been able to experience some little bit of Telluride.

      

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SPECIAL REPORT: Telluride at Home-Day Three

SPECIAL REPORT: TELLURIDE AT HOME-DAY THREE

As I have been anticipating and predicting, yesterday did no go exactly to plan and that's okay.  As I have also said, that's how it works during the days of the real life festival.  It's a condition that I am used to and extremely comfortable with.

A couple of things altered the Saturday viewing schedule off of the original plan.  We had to finish the second half of First Man that we did not get to on Friday night.  Then, after 12 Years a Slave we called a switcheroo and traded The Artist which I had scheduled for today for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  We'll probably get Diving Bell in today sometime.  The other wrinkle yesterday: the wife took a nap...and for whatever reason...I wasn't in the napping mood so I spontaneously scheduled a "Sneak Re-View" of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air.  The film itself was a sneak preview back in 2009 at TFF #36.  Was good in 2009 and it's still good in 2020.  Has a different resonance now than it did then but it still resonates.

Otherwise, the rest of Saturday went well with viewings of the pre-planned: 12 Years a Slave and Lady Bird.

Today's fare: Steve McQueen's Shame with Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, Wild Tales, the comedy from Argentinian director Damian Szifron that was from TFF #41 and the re-programmed Diving Bell.

We'll see if Sunday has wrinkles too.

Enjoy your own Telluride at Home!

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SPECIAL REPORT: Telluride at Home-Day Two

SPECIAL REPORT: TELLURIDE AT HOME-DAY TWO

Hello all...

Got Frances Ha re-watched.  It's quite good.  I laughed even more last night than I did when I saw the film originally at TFF #39 in 2012.  It is now confirmed, I'm a big Greta Gerwig fan.

First Man full disclosure... didn't get through it all.  Started late due a late dinner and both the wife and I were struggling.  We'll try to finish it today (On Day Three of Telluride at Home) but that could be a challenge as we already have three films on the "schedule" for the day.

12 Years a Slave (TFF #40-2013)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (TFF #34-2007)
Lady Bird (TFF #44-2017)

Plus there are "life things" to deal with since we're at home not in Telluride.  It's funny that we've swapped standing in lines for chores (watering the lawn and some laundry on tap today).

SPECIAL POST: Telluride at Home-Day One

SPECIAL POST: TELLURIDE AT HOME-DAY ONE

We "opened" the first ever Telluride Film Festival at Home last night with the first film we ever saw at the The SHOW, Alejandro Inarittu's Babel.

I've mentioned the story before, but briefly we got to attend the 2006 festival due to the kindness of a couple of my former students.  We didn't have a clue what we were about to experience.  We actually didn't get to Telluride until Saturday afternoon (I had obligations on Friday night).  I had seen a little bit about Babel before we got on the road that weekend, and on Saturday evening we thought that seemed like the most attractive prospect.  Lined up at the Chuck...which meant we also had to figure out its specific W2 process.  We got in after some interesting conversation with people online and got settled.

Then the ringmaster brought out Inarittu to introduce the film.  I had no idea that that would happen.  That was the moment I was hooked.  The notion that I was going to be able to see this film with the director in attendance (and answering questions afterwards).  Yes please.

We had been provided about half a dozen individual passes for the weekend and used them to see:

Babel
Directed by John Ford
Fur
The Lives of Others
Venus
Volver

After the fest was over we also sought out:

Infamous
Little Children
Severance

We've been in Telluride each Labor Day since.

Babel's IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449467/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Friday's planned films: First Man (TFF #45-2018) and Frances Ha (TFF #39-2012)

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Telluride at Home- My List / What I Would Have Seen / Lists from Others / McCarthy Reminisces / Venice Begins: Hot Films per The Playlist

TELLURIDE AT HOME- MY LIST

Here it is.  My planned viewing over the next few days as the Mrs. and I celebrate the Telluride Film Festival that could not be by re-visiting some of our favorite films that we've seen from TFFs since we began attending in 2006.

I estimate that between the two of us, my wife and I have seen something more than 150 films that have been screened at Telluride over the past 14 years.  From that list, I whittled down to 35+ films and then we both selected 10ish films each.  About half a dozen made both of our lists and then we added two each plus a special addition of Alejandro Inarritu's Babel-the first film we saw in 2006 at TFF #33

Included is my "programming" for the next few days with the caveat that the following is what we intend to do but just like the real Telluride Film Festival...you never know how circumstances will alter your plans.

Drumroll please...

9/3 THURS. BABEL (‘06 #33)

9/4 FRI.         FIRST MAN (‘18  #45), FRANCES HA (‘12 #39)

9/5 SAT.         12 YEARS A SLAVE (‘13 #40), THE DIVING BELL AND THE                                                          BUTTERFLY(‘07 #34), LADY BIRD (‘17 #44)

9/6 SUN. THE ARTIST (‘11 #38), SHAME (‘11 #38), WILD TALES (‘14 #41)

9/7 MON. A SEPARATION (‘11 #38), BIRDMAN (‘14 #41)

BABEL/NETFLIX

FIRST MAN/AMAZON PRIME

FRANCES HA/NETFLIX

12 YEARS A SLAVE/AMAZON PRIME

THE DIVING BELL…/HBO

LADY BIRD/NETFLIX

THE ARTIST/NETFLIX

SHAME/AMAZON PRIME

WILD TALES/AMAZON PRIME

A SEPARATION/AMAZON PRIME

BIRDMAN/AMAZON PRIME

WHAT I WOULD HAVE SEEN

And while we're on the subject of Telluride lists...here's my list of the 10 films from TFF #47's announced list that I would have likely sought out had the fest actually happened and I had been in The Ride (in alpha order):

All In: The Fight for Democracy

Ammonite

The Bee Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart

Charlatan

The Duke

The Father

Mainstream

MLK/FBI

Nomadland

The Truffle Hunters

How about you?  What would you have tried to get in?

LISTS FROM OTHERS

As promised, I am including "Telluride at Home" lists from friends who have responded to me over the last ten days or so.

From MTFB friend Jack Wertzberger:

So here, on an equal level are my top ten since 2006:

Moonlight

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days

Nebraska

Slumdog Millionaire

Parasite

California Typewriter

Roma

The Lives of Others

Seymour

La La Land

Films I wish I had seen:

He Named Me Malala

Mr Turner

First Cow

Peggy Guggenheim

Love, Cecil

Biggest Little Farm

Eyes of Orson Welles

Judy

Uncut Gems

Carmichael & Shane

Jack's list and mine don't overlap but I can say a ton of his were nearly on mine including near misses: La La Land, Moonlight, Slumdog and Nebraska.

MTFB friend and "tiffgraffer" Rich Young:

As I mourn for many things this year, including TIFF and TFF, I hope you’re well.  Here’s my list of Telluride faves from my years of attendance:

Anomalisa 15

The Artist 11 (with my 9 and 13 year old kids, transfixed in the open air screening)

Best of Youth 03 (fun banter in line with multiple directors over 2 successive midnight screenings)

Blue Is the Warmest Colour 13

The Descendants 11

Dogville 03

Inside Llewyn Davis 13

LadyBird 17

Lost In Translation 03

Son of Saul 15

Under The Skin 13

Rich and I both included Lady Bird and The Artist.

The very kind and thoughtful friend of the blog Chris Schneider:

So here is my list. Some I want to revisit and some I just haven't seen yet. I'm going to settle in this weekend and make my way through the list. 

Frances Ha 2012

Inside Llewyn Davis 2013

Tim's Vermeer 2013

Wild Tales 2014

Foxcatcher 2014

Carol 2015

Hitchcock/Truffaut 2015

Toni Erdmann 2016

Moonlight 2016

The Cotton Club Encore 2017

The Rider 2017

First Man 2018

Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2018

First Cow 2019

Bonus flick in case I'm needing a late night bust of energy: Uncut Gems 2019

Chris and I double up on Frances Ha, Wild Tales and First Man.


And from longtime MTFB reader and friend Patrick Pringle:


Here is the combined list from Patrick and I. It’s a bit weird. In no particular order...

Stories We Tell
The Insult
A Separation
Parasite
Biggest Little Farm
The Descendants
The Lyrebird
Ladybird
Marriage Story
Spotlight

So Patrick and I would be in the same theater for A Separation and Lady Bird.


MC CARTHY REMINISCES

Todd McCarthy, formerly of The Hollywood Reporter and currently of Deadline.com penned a wonderful look back at his time at the Telluride Film Festival on Wednesday.  McCarthy first attended TFF in 1976-that was TFF #3. 

You can find McCarthy's personal walk down The SHOW's memory lane from Deadline linked here.

VENICE BEGINS: HOT FILMS PER THE PLAYLIST

The Venice Film Festival is underway in Italy.  As many MTFB readers know, there has been, especially in the past few years, a significant overlap of films that screen both at Venice and Telluride and that remained true for this Covid-impacted year.

Nearly a quarter of the feature films on TFF's announced list for what would have been TFF #47 are going to screen in some form as a part of the Venetian fest over the next several days.  

The Playlist published a list and descriptions this week (on Monday) of  what they termed "Must see" films.  I culled that article to determine what films the two fests would have shred that made that list and they were:

Mainstream

Nomadland

Mandibules

and from their Honorable Mentions list: Notturno.

The Playlist list is here.

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