Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actress / Oscar Expert Update: Clayton Davis-Variety / Diego Maradona

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Nov. 2nd.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Olivia Colman/The Father (1)

2) Amanda Seyfried/Mank (2)

3) Ellen Burstyn/Pieces of a Woman (6)

5) Glenn Close/Hillbilly Elegy (3)

5) Youn Yuh-jung/Minari (7)

6) Maria Bakalova/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (8)

7) Helena Zengel/News of the World (5)

8) Saoirse Ronan/Ammonite (4)

9) Lily Collins/Mank (9)

10) Charlene Swankie/Nomadland (-)

Other possibles: Pryanka Chopra/The White Tiger, Natasha Lyonne/The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday, Valerie Mahaffey/French Exit

Hot: Ellen Burstyn, Youn Yuh-jung, Maria Bakalova, Helena Zengel, Swankie

Not: Glenn Close, Saorise Ronan

OSCAR EXPERT UPDATE: CLAYTON DAVIS-VARIETY

We last checked in with Clayton's Oscar predictions about six weeks back (on Oct. 15).  Consequently, I thought it might be a good idea to get a snapshot of where he believes the Oscar race to be.  Here are the primary Oscar predictions from Mr. Davis as of the end of last week:

Leading all comers: David Fincher's Mank which Davis has at 12 total nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costumes, Sound and Score.  That's up 2 nominations from 10/15.  Davis added nomination predictions for Supporting Actor, Score and Sound and dropped a prediction for Makeup/Hair.

Nomadland (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Sound.  Nomadland holds at 7 total predicted nominations. Davis swapped out a film editing nomination for a sound nomination.

One Night in Miami (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Costumes, Film Editing and Original Song.  Davis subtracts a previous prediction for Cinematography here.

Minari (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Score.  A big jump up over the last six weeks from a predicted three nominations to this total of seven.  Previously Davis just had Minari in for Picture, Actor and Original Screenplay.

Judas and the Black Messiah (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing. The other film that Davis has elevated significantly over the past 40 days and 40 nights.  On Oct. 15 Davis had it with four nomination predictions: Picture, Actor, Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (5): Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Costume and Makeup/Hair.  Down one nomination with some other changes too.  Boseman has moved from Supporting to Lead.  The previously predicted Adapted Screenplay is gone.  Production Design os also gone but Makeup/Hair has been added.

The Father (4): Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay

Promising Young Woman (4): Best Picture, Actress, Original Screenplay, Makeup/Hair

The Prom (4): Best Picture, Production Design, Makeup/Hair, Song

And the biggest dive in the last six weeks:  The Trial of the Chicago 7 which Davis had with as many as 7-8 nominations six weeks back and now has down to three: Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

Check out all of Clayton's work at Variety, linked here.

DIEGO MARADONA

The last time we were in Telluride for the film fest in Sept. of 2019, Asif Kapadia's documentary about the life of soccer legend Diego Maradona was making waves.  The film debuted immediately after TFF #46 on HBO and sports a solid 78 Metacritic score.

Maradona died on Wednesday of a heart attack at the age of 60.  The world of soccer/football was shocked and dismayed at the passing of the legend.

Should you want to view the Kapadia doc you should be able to find it on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.

I have linked an Anne Thompson/Indiewire story about the Kapadia doc and Maradona from its debut at Cannes here. 

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Oscar Update: Best Actor / IDA Nominations and TFF #47 / Dweck and Kershaw on The Truffle Hunters / Italy Chooses Notturno / THR's Favorites of the Decade

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 29th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2)

2) Anthony Hopkins/The Father (1)

3) Delroy Lindo/Da 5 Bloods/ (4)

4) Gary Oldman/Mank (3)

5) Riz Ahmed/Sound of Metal (6)

6) Tom Hanks/News of the World (5)

7) Steven Yeun/Minari (7)

8) Kingsley Ben-Adir/One Night in Miami (-)

9) Ben Affleck/The Way Back (8)

10) George Clooney/The Midnight Sky (-)

Others: Colin Firth/Supernova, Daniel Kaluuya or LaKeith Stanfield/Judas and the Black Messiah

Hot: Bosman, Ahmed, Ben-Adir, Clooney

Not: Firth

IDA NOMINATIONS AND TFF #47

The International Documentary Association announced nominations for this year's crop of docs and a couple of TFF #47 films were among the most nominated.  Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters and Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI were two of the most honored films as each film nabbed three nominations apiece.  

The Truffle Hunters (which admittedly has now become a bit of an obsession for me this awards season) was nominated for Best Feature Doc, Director(s) and Cinematography.  

Meanwhile, MLK/FBI was nominated for Best Doc Feature, Director an ABC Video Source Award and Director Sam Pollard was also cited for a career achievement.

Also from TFF #47, short docs The Lost Astronaut from director Ben Proudfoot was nominated as was Unforgivable from director Marlen Vinayo.

The complete list of IDA nominees is linked here from Next Best Picture.

DWECK AND KERSHAW ON THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS

A couple of big interviews this week with the directors of The Truffle Hunters.  Eric Kohn of Indiewire leads a 40ish minute video interview with Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck about the film as a part of the IDA Documentary Screening Series.  That is here from YouTube:

Additionally, Dweck and Kershaw also were interviewed by Pat Saperstein for Variety and that was posted yesterday.  That interview/profile is linked here.

ITALY CHOOSES NOTTURNO

Italy has anmed Gianfranco Rosi's documentary, Notturno as its official selection for competition for the Academy Awards Best International Feature category.  The film was a selection of TFF #47.  Notturno is described as:

"a new documentary is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East."

In addition to TFF #47, the film was also selected by Toronto, New York, London, IDFA and the AFI Fest among others.

Notturno was chosen over the Edoardo Ponti project The Life Ahead which features the first performance from legend Sophia Loren since Rob Marshall's Nine in 2009.

Variety has the story here.

THR'S FAVORITES OF THE DECADE

The Hollywood Reporter polled 3,500 "industry professionals" and asked them for their "favorite movies" of the decade.  The results of that poll were published Wednesday and TFF films did well.  Among the top 20 fave films of the decade that made an appearance at TFF:

#20 The King's Speech

#11 Birdman

#9 Argo

#6 La La Land

#2 12 Years a Slave

Lots of big budget actioners and superhero films made the list and Jordan Peele's Get Out was named the overall favorite of the decade.

The complete list of 20 films from THR can be found linked here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

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Oscar Update: Best Actress / Full Trailer for Your (Bee Gees) Broken Heart / Nomadland Odds and Ends / Never Gonna Snow Again Picked Up by Kino Lorber / Berlin Looming

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 26th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS

1) Frances McDormand/Nomdaland (2)

2) Vanessa Kirby/Pieces of a Woman (3)

3) Viola Davis/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1)

4) Carey Mulligan/Promising Young Woman (5)

5) Sophia Loren/The Life Ahead (9)

6) Kate Winslet/Ammonite (7)

7) Michelle Pfeiffer/French Exit (8)

8) Andra Day/The People (10)

9) Amy Adams/Hillbilly Elegy (6)

10) Meryl Streep/The Prom (-)

Others: Elizabeth Moss/Invisible Woman, Sienna Miller/ Wander Darkly

Hot: Vanessa Kirby, Sophia Loren, Andra Day, Meryl Streep

Not: Michelle Pfeiffer, Amy Adams

Notes:  Currently the top three candidates are bunched very tightly and are all looking like locks.  The rest of the filed for the final two nominations is also tightly bunched but way, way back of McDormand, Kirby and Davis.

FULL TRAILER FOR YOUR (BEE GEES) BROKEN HEART

HBO Max dropped a new full length trailer for the Frank Marshall documentary The Bee Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart this past weekend.  This follows up a teaser that I had here back on Nov. 2nd.

Here's the look at the new 2 1/2 minute trailer from YouTube:

NOMADLAND ODDS AND ENDS

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland won a big honor this week within the craft of cinematography at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival Golden Frog Award as well as FIPRESCI Jury Prize honors.  The fest honors the best in international cinematography each year.  Joker won the Golden Frog last year.

I have linked coverage of the full scope of the awards from Variety here.

Meanwhile, Tom Bruggemann, writing for Indiewire, had an interesting article up this week about how Searchlight has taken something of a traditionalist approach (if such a thing is even imaginable in the age of Covid-19) to the Awards campaign for Nomadland.

The film is thought to be strong contender for nominations for Picture, Director (Zhao), Actress (McDormand), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Film Editing with outside shots for Supporting Actress (Swankie) and Supporting Actor (Stratharin).

Here's Bruggemann's article.

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN PICKED UP BY KINO LORBER

Polish feature, Never Gonna Snow Again, a selection for what would have been TFF #47 as well as Poland's submission for consideration for Best International Feature, has been acquired for North American distribution by Kino Lorber.

The film was a Venice premiere where it won the Premio Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Award.  It was also screened as a pert of the BFI London Film Festival among others.

Never Gonna Snow Again was directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and co-directed by Michał Englert.  It is described by IMDb:

"Zhenia, a Russian-speaking immigrant from the East works as a masseur in Poland and becomes a guru-like figure in a wealthy gated community where his clients live."

I have linked the announcement of acquisition news here from Screen Daily.

BERLIN LOOMING

Organizers of the Berlin Film Festival have announced plans for a stripped down but still physical version of the fest.  Deadline reports that the festival is currently dated for Feb. 11-21, 2021.

From the Andreas Wideman/Deadline article:

"A festival spokesperson told us: “The Berlinale still plans to take place as a physical event in February. Press screenings and public screenings will take place, as always, in the cinemas, but access will be possible only with pre-booked tickets for allocated seats."

Berlin often is the premiere festival for a couple of films that ultimately become choices for Telluride.

The complete Deadline article is linked here.

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Oscar Update: Best Director / Ammonite News / The Climb Releases / MLK/FBI Trailer

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST DIRECTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Direction updated since I last posted this category on  Sept. 21st.  A director's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (1)

2) David Fincher/Mank (2)

3) Aaron Sorkin/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (4)

4) Regina King/One Night in Miami (7)

5) Florian Zeller/The Father (6)

6) Spike Lee/Da 5 Bloods (5)

7) Lee Isaac Chung/Minari (10)

8) Paul Greengrass/News of the World (3)

9) George C. Wolfe/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (9)

10)Shaka King/Judas and the Black Messiah (8)

Others: Christopher Nolan/Tenet

Hot: Regina King, Lee Isaac Chung

Not: Paul Greengrass, Shaka King, Francis Lee, Sophia Coppola

AMMONITE NEWS

An interview here with Ammonite star Saoirse Ronan. from ETonline.

Annabelle Gutterman separates fact from fiction about the characters and story of Ammonite for Tome.com.  That's linked here.

THE CLIMB RELEASES

From TFF #46. The Climb rose into theaters this past week.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

 

Here's an interview from The Film Stage with directors Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin

MLK/FBI TRAILER

Here's the trailer for Sam Pollards' documentary MLK/FBI from YouTube

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Oscar Update: Best Picture / TFF and the Gotham Nominations / Waiting for Kurt

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE 

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Picture updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 19th.  A film's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) Nomadland (2)

2) Mank (3)

3) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (1)

4) The Father (5)

5) One Night in Miami (6)

6) Minari (10)

7) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (9)

8) Da 5 Bloods (7)

9) News of the World (4)

10) Soul (-)

Hot: Minari, Ma Rainey, Soul

Not: News of the World, Judas and the Black Messiah, Ammonite, On the Rocks, Tenet

TFF AND THE GOTHAMS

Gotham Award nominations were announced this past week.  The Gothams are out of the gate as the first of 2020 end of year awards.  The Gothams aim to recognize independent films.  TFF #46 and #47 films were named to the list of nominees.

Kelly Reichardt's First Cow (TFF #46) led the field with four nominations: Best Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Joe Magaro) and Breakthrough Actor (Orion Lee).

TFF #46's The Assistant also was nominated for Best Feature.  

TFF #46's Beanpole was nominated for Best International Feature.

TFF #47's Nomadland had nominations for Best Feature and Best Actress (Frances McDormand).

Here's coverage of the complete list of nominations from Erik Anderson/Awards Watch.

WAITING FOR KURT

Some followers of MTFB know that I am a big fan of the late great Kurt Vonnegut.  One of the highlights of my life was to catch a lecture from here back in February of 2003 at Oklahoma City University.  I took a personal day to do it, which, if you know me, is such a rare occurrence.  Usually the only time I use personal days to miss school is for TFF.

Got to see the man talk with a couple of my former students which, if you saw Vonnegut's standard lecture at the time, turned out to be very cool.  The man asked the audience to remember a teacher from our past, so sitting with those "kids" was special.

All of that is to mention that it looks like the Robert B. Weide/Don Argott doc about Vonnegut will likely be released sometime next summer.  The doc has been four decades in the making.  The film has been acquired by IFC Films.  No specific date has been set as yet.

Here's the brand new teaser for the film via YouTube:

Rolling Stone highlighted the news this past week in the article linked here.

Also, if you're so inclined, here's the link to the Daily Oklahoman story about Vonnegut's lecture I attended back in 2003.

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Oscar Update: Best Original Screenplay / DOC NYC Shortlist Features TFF #47 Choices / All In Directors Talk Stacey Abrams and Last Week's Election

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Original Screenplay updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 12th.  A screenplay's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (1)

2) Mank (2)

3) Minari (3)

4) Soul (4)

5) Promising Young Woman (8)

6) Judas and the Black Messiah (5)

7) Palm Springs (10)

8) Never Rarely Sometimes Always (6)

9) Da 5 Bloods (7)

10) Ammonite (9)

DOC NYC SHORTLIST FEATURES TFF #47 CHOICES

Indiewire's Anne Thompson reported this week on the 15 film shortlist for DOC NYC.  The fest itself opened yesterday with over 100 feature documentaries programmed.

Thompson points out the influence/predictive power of the fest writing:

"Historically, most of the DOC NYC short list titles overlap with the Academy’s official 15-film Oscar Short List. For the last nine years, DOC NYC has screened the documentary that went on to win the Academy Award, including “American Factory,” “Free Solo,” “Icarus,” “O.J.: Made in America,” “Amy,” “Citizenfour,” “20 Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” and “Undefeated.” The festival has screened 24 of the last 25 Oscar-nominated documentary features. In 2019, DOC NYC screened 13 of 15 titles that were named to the subsequent Academy Award Documentary Shortlist."

This year's shortlist includes TFF #47 selections Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI (IFC Films)  and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters (Sony Pictures Classics).

The complete Indiewire article is linked here.

ALL IN DIRECTORS TALK STACEY ABRAMS AND LAST WEEK'S ELECTION

Eric Kohn of Indiewire published an interview earlier this week with the directors, Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortes, of All In: The Fight for Democracy, a documentary focused on the fight to protect voting rights spearheaded by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.  Abrams is widely credited with what appears to be Joe Biden's win in that state.

The film was a selection of the 47th Telluride Film  Festival zand is currently in release on Amazon Prime.

That interview is linked here.

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Oscar Update: Adapted Screenplay / Coming Attractions?

 OSCAR UPDATE: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 8th.  A screenplay's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 films are indicated in Bold.

1) Nomadland (1)

2) One Night in Miami (3)

3) The Father (2)

4) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (5)

5) News of the World (4)

6) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (6)

7) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (-)

8) First Cow (8)***

9) The Personal History of David Copperfield (-)

10) Hillbilly Elegy (7)

Others: The United States vs. Billie Holiday, French Exit, The White Tiger

***First Cow was a selection of TFF #46

COMING ATTRACTIONS?

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel reported this week that Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig will collaborate again on a film project set up at Netflix.  Ruimy also reports that Adam Driver, who was Oscar nominated for Baumbach's Marriage Story has also been cast.  Ruimy further suggests that the film could be ready toward the end of 2021.

All of those factors suggest a possibility of inclusion for a run as a part of TFF #48.  Lots of connections over the years between these people, Netflix and T-ride.  Put it on your radar!

The World of Reel story in its entirety is linked here.

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actor / Oscar Experts: Erik Anderson-Awards Watch / Greece Picks Apples

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 5th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Sasha Baron Cohen/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2)

2) Chadwick Boseman/Da 5 Bloods (1)

3) Leslie Odom Jr./One Night in Miami (11)

4) Bill Murray/On the Rocks (8)

5) Mark Rylance/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (7)

6) David Stratharin/Nomadland (4)

7) Eddie Redmayne/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (9)

8) Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah (-)

9) Frank Langella/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (10)

10) Charles Dance/Mank (-)

OSCAR EXPERTS PREDICT: ERIK ANDERSON-AWARDS WATCH

Erik Anderson of Awards Watch has this current take on the Oscars.  Here are the films that he views as the biggest players (TFF #47 films in Bold.

Mank (10): Best Picture, Director (Fincher), Supporting Actor (Dance), Supporting Actress (Seyfried), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Costumes, Score, Sound

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (8): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Cohen), Supporting Actor (Rylance), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Score, Song

News of the World (8): Best Picture, Actor (Hanks), Supporting Actress (Zengel), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (7): Best Picture, Director (Wolfe), Actor (Boseman). Actress (Davis), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Makeup

Nomadland (6): Best Picture, Director (Zhao), Actress (McDormand), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography

The Father (6): Best Picture, Director (Zeller), Actor (Hopkins), Supporting Actress (Colman), Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing

Da 5 Bloods (5): Best Picture, Director (Lee), Actor (Lindo), Supporting Actor (Boseman), Score

Hillbilly Elegy (5): Best Picture, Director (Howard), Actress (Adams), Supporting Actress (Close), Makeup

Minari (5): Best Picture, Actor (Yeun), Supporting Actress (Yuh-jung), Original Screenplay, Score

One Night in Miami (4): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Odom Jr.), Adapted Screenplay, Song

Ammonite (2): Actress (Winslet), Costumes

GREECE PICKS APPLES

Indiewire reports that Greece has officially selected Christos Nikou's Apples as its contestant for the Best International Feature Oscar.  The film was one of the 29 features announced by the Telluride Film Festival as being selected to its 47th edition.

The description of the film from IMDb:

"Amidst a worldwide pandemic that causes sudden amnesia, middle-aged Aris finds himself enrolled in a recovery program designed to help unclaimed patients build new identities."

The complete story of the selection is linked here from Indiewire.

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actress / TFF #47 Docs Short Listed / Bee Gees Doc Is Dated by HBO / Tidbits

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 1st.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Olivia Colman/The Father (1)

2) Amanda Seyfried/Mank (2)

3) Glenn Close/Hillbilly Elegy (4)

4) Saoirse Ronan/Ammonite (3)

5) Helena Zengel/News of the World (5)

6) Ellen Burstyn/Pieces of a Woman (6)

7) Youn Yuh-jung/Minari (-)

8) Maria Bakalova/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (-)

9) Lily Collins/Mank (-)

10) Meryl Streep/The Prom (7)

TFF #47 DOCS SHORT LISTED

The International Documentary Association announced their short list for their awards this past week and three films from the TFF #47 announced list made the cut:

Sam Pollard's MLK/FBI

Gianfranco Rosi's Notturno

Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw's The Truffle Hunters

According to Indiewire's Anne Thompson, the IDA will announce nominees on Nov. 24th and winners will be announced via a virtual ceremony at some point in January 2021.

Here's the link to the full story from Thompson/Indiewire.

BEE GEES DOC IS DATED BY HBO

Frank Marshall's documentary about the Bee Gees, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend Broken Heart, which was a TFF #47 selection has been scheduled by HBO and HBO Max.  Deadline reports that the film will drop on HBO on Dec. 12th at 8:00pm (EST) and that it will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

HBO also released a first trailer for the film this past week.  Here that is from YouTube:

The complete Deadline article is linked here.

TIDBITS

Among this Monday's "Tidbits"...

The Cannes Film Festival has announced three separate contingency plans for re-scheduling should Covid conditions in France require that they move off their currently scheduled (and traditional) dates in May (11-22).  Variety reports that Cannes organizers are eye-balling three different sets of dates in July and August.

The whole Variety story is here.

AND... Searchlight Films have grabbed a new film in development.  Currently titled Dust, the film has Clare Foy attached to star at the moment.  I include it into today's post for a couple of reasons:

1) Searchlight and Telluride have had a really good relationship over the years...sooo...maybe a future TFF selection.  and

2) The film is set in the dust bowl of 1930's Oklahoma.  Yea...that's right...the film is set 90 years ago in my backyard.  HELLO SEARCHLIGHT...Location shooting?  Call me.  Extras in the area: Give me a ring-a-ding.  Research co-ordination: Hello???  I mean Guymon, OK. is literally the heart/bullseye for the Dust Bowl.  My only actual IMDb entry is the special thanks for Ken Burns' The Dust Bowl.  The wife and I did some location scouting and co-ordination.

Here's the link to the story about the Searchlight acquisition of the film and some of the details from The Wrap.

And, by way of proof, the screenshot of my Dust Bowl credit from IMDb:

That's Monday...BTW...if you haven't already...vote tomorrow.

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