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.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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