Ten Bets #6 for TFF #48 / Titles Disappearing from Consideration / New Toronto and New York Addition and Subtraction / Trailers for Possibles

 TEN BETS #6 FOR TFF #48

Not a lot to change in the Ten Bets for this week.  There are a couple of changes in the Other Possibilities list (see next section below)

Last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

2) Petite Maman/Sciamma

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Something from Mark Cousins***

5) The Power of the Dog/Campion

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

8) Julia/Cohen and West

9) A Hero/Farhadi

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Nightmare Alley, Where Is Anne Frank?, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday, Encounter, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Don't Look Up, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

This week's new Ten Bets:

1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

2) The Power of the Dog/Campion

3) Petite Maman/Sciamma

4) The Card Counter/Schrader

5) Something from Mark Cousins***

6) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

7)  Julia/Cohen and West

8) Spencer/Larrain

9) A Hero/Farhadi

10) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God Where Is Anne Frank?, Cow, The Last Duel, Encounter, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, Hallelujah/Leonard Cohen, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, 7 Prisoners, The Lost Daughter.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

TITLES DISAPPEARING FROM CONSIDERATION

(Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Nightmare Alley via IMDb)

Notes on interviews with Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera who reveled that both Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Ridley Scott's House of Gucci both were to have been in the Venice lineup but will not be ready in time.

You have to conclude, by extension, that if neither film is ready for Venice that they will not be playing Telluride either since the two fests occupy the same dates on the calendar.

Here's the Barbera interview from Variety in which, among other items, he reveals that Nightmare Alley isn't ready.  Also...see the Toronto story below.

Additionally, Variety reported last night that Andrew Dominik's Blonde will move to 2022 thereby almost certainly off the Telluride list.  The Variety story is here.

NEW TORONTO AND NEW YORK ADDITION 

The Toronto International Film Festival added Galas, Special Presentations and Contemporay Wprd Cinema selections yesterday.  Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog was added as a "Canadian Premiere".  Earlier this week the New York Film Festival named it as its choice for its centerpiece.  The NYFF announcement reveals that presentation will be the film's "New York premiere":

"Film at Lincoln Center announces Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog as the Centerpiece selection for the 59th New York Film Festival, making its New York premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 1."

The dual announcements mean that The Power of the Dog is all but locked for a Telluride bow after its screening in Venice.

Here's coverage from Deadlione.com of the TIFF announcement.

Here's the actual NYFF announcement.

Meanwhile, the announcement from TIFF also took Mothering Sunday and The Humans out of consideration for T-ride.  Mothering Sunday was announced as a North American Premiere while The Humans will be a World Premiere.  Those designations indicate that neither will be playing at Telluride.

TRAILERS FOR POSSIBLES

THE CARD COUNTER

PARLELAS MADRES (PARALLEL MOTHERS)

KING RICHARD

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Venice Lineup Revealed / Official Teaser for Almodovars's Madres Paralelas / Charlatan Trailer Released

Late to the starting line today...

VENICE LINEUP REVEALED

The Venice Film Festival announced its 2021 lineup this morning.  Here's the list via Indiewire:

Opening Night

“Parallel Mothers,” Pedro Almodóvar (in competition)

Competition/Venezia 78

“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” Ana Lily Amirpour

“Un Autre Monde,” Stephanie Brize

“The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion

“America Latina,” Damiano D’Innocenzo and Fabio D’Innocenzo

“L’Evenement,” Audrey Diwan

“Official Competition,” Gaston Duprat and Mariana Cohn

“Il Buco,” Michelangelo Frammartino

“Sundown,” Michel Franco

“Illusions Perdues,” Xavier Giannoli

“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal

“Spencer,” Pablo Larrain

“Freaks Out,” Gabrielle Mainetti

“Qui Rido Io,” Mario Martone

“On the Job: The Missing 8,” Erik Matti

“Leave No Traces,” Jan P. Matuszynski

“Captain Volkonogov Escaped,” Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov

“The Card Counter,” Paul Schrader

“The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino

“Reflection,” Valentyn Vasyanovych

“La Caja,” Lorenzo Vigas

Out of Competition (Fiction)

“Il Bambino Nascosto,” Roberto Ando (closing film of the festival)

“Les Choses Humaines,” Yvan Attal

“Ariaferma,” Leonardo di Costanzo

“Halloween Kills,” David Gordon Green

“La Scoula Cattolica,” Stefano Mordini

“Old Hnery,” Potsy Ponciroli

“The Last Duel,” Ridley Scott

“Dune,” Denis Villeneuve

“Last Night in Soho,” Edgar Wright

“Scenes From a Marriage” (Episodes 1-5), Hagai Levi

Out of Competition (Non Fiction)

“Life of Crime 1984-2020,” Jon Alpert

“Tranchees,” Loup Bureau

“Viaggio Nel Crepuscolo,” Augusto Contento

“Republic of Silence,” Diana el Jeiroudi

“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine

“Deandre#Deandre Storia Di Un Impiegato,” Roberta Lena

“Django and Django,” Luca Rea

“Ezio Bosso. Le Cose Che Restano,” Giorgio Verdelli

Out of Competition (Special Screenings)

“Le 7 Giornate di Bergamo,” Simona Ventura

“Il Cinema Al Tempo del Covid,” Andrea Segre

Out of Competition (Short Films)

“Plastic Semiotic,” Radu Jude

“The Night,” Tsai Ming-Liang

“Sad Film,” Vasili (Pseudonym)

Horizons/Orizzonti

“Les Promesses,” Thomas Kruithof

“Atlantide,” Yuri Ancarani

“Miracle,” Bogdan George Apetri

“Pilgrims,” Laurynas Bareisa

“Il Paradiso Del Pavone,” Laura Bispuri

“The Falls,” Chung Mong-Hong

“El Hoyo en la Cerca,” Joaquin Del Paso

“Amira,” Mohamed Diab

“A Plein Temps,” Eric Gravel

“107 Mothers,” Peter Kerekes

“Vera Dreams of the Sea,” Kaltrina Krasniqi

“White Building,” Kavich Neang

“Anatomy of Time,” Jakrawal Nilthamrong

“El Otro Tom,” Rodrigo Pla and Laura Santullo

“El Gran Movimiento,” Kiro Russo

“Once Upon a Time in Calcutta,” Aditya Vikram Sengupta

“Rhino,” Oleg Sentsov

“True Things,” Harry Wootliff

“Inu-Oh,” Yuasa Masaaki

Horizons/Orizzonti Extra

“Land of Dreams,” Sherin Neshat and Shoja Azari

“Costa Brava,” Mounia Akl

“Mama, I’m Home,” Vladimir Bitokov

“Ma Nuit,” Antoinette Boulat

“La Ragazza Ha Volato,” Wilma Labate

“7 Prisoners,” Alexandre Moratto

“The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” Teemu Nikki

“La Macchina Delle Immagini di Alfredo C.,” Roland Sejko

Your best possible Telluride players from this include:

Madres Paralelas/Almodovar

The Power of the Dog/Campion

The Card Counter/Schrader

Spencer/Larrain

The Hand of God/Sorrentino

Dune/Villeneuve

The Last Duel/Scott

The next nugget of info from Venice that will aid us will be when they release the screening schedule.  We already know that Almodovar's Madres Paralelas opens the fest on Sept. 1 and believe that Dune will screen Sept. 3rd.  For a film to make the trans-Atlantic jump from Venice to T-ride, realistically the last date it could play Venice and make it to Telluride is that Sept. 3rd date.  Maybe Sept. 4th. but that'd be a real stretch.

Here's the link to the complete Indiewire post re: Venice.

OFFICAL TRAILER FOR ALMODOVAR'S MADRES PARALELAS 

With the announcement this morning of the lineup for the Venice Fest also came the release of a teaser trailer for that Fest's opening night film: Pedro Almodovar's Madres Paraleas.  I think it snads a good chance to play at TFF #48.

Here's the teaser from YouTube:

CHARLATAN TRIALER RELEASED

Agnieszka Holland's Charlatan was a choice for last year's cancelled TFF #47.  The film officially released in the U.S, over this past weekend.

Here's the trailer for it from YouTube:

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Welp...Not Again / Ten Bets #5 for TFF #48 / Looks at Potentials Including New Dune Trailer / Venice Is Coming / Good News/Bad News

 WELP...NOT AGAIN.

TFF has denied my application to be an accredited journalist again this year.  Here's the wording of  the denial email:

"We unfortunately unable to offer you media accreditation for the 2021 Telluride Film Festival".

It's been exactly the same language for three years running.  They last accredited me in 2018.

Here's a question- anyone else reading this been denied or know of someone who has been denied?

Never a reason.  Just "unfortunately unable".  And believe me, I've asked for a rationale.  

I've been fairly sure that it really comes down to a couple of posts that specifically upset TFF leadership.  So, I've tried to be more sensitive to how what I write might be viewed by TFF leadership.  Tried very hard after a couple of things that the fest let me know that they were not fond of.  Over the last year or so, I have sat on a couple of stories that I felt that the fest would rather not be out of the bag until they were ready.  Just a two-three weeks back, I became aware of a situation wherein a film's IMDb listings had it playing at Telluride.  Rather than report that, I sent a heads up email to the festival.  Those efforts seem to have cut zero ice.

 And then there's the general acrimony about what the central organizing principle of this space has been for 13 years.  

But, you know, lots of other outlets speculate about possible Telluride selections.  Of recent vintage I would point to Pete Hammond's June 18th Deadline post concerning TFF's annual L.A,. party.  In that piece Hammond mentions no less than half a dozen films by name and hints at another four from Netflix.  Yet, I have little doubt that Mr. Hammond and Deadline will receive accreditation and I wonder if Telluride emailed him a note of approbation like they've emailed me in the past.

Same with Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere yesterday (citing the Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel piece you'll see below, in which he rattles off more than a dozen titles of potential T-ride titles.

"But, Mike, maybe it's just because MTFB has such a small readership?"  I hear you asking.  And sure, I'll be the first to admit that the blog's numbers aren't big but I would argue that among that number, it lands with some impact.  I won't get into followers and industry folks who have reached out over the years to remark to me how valuable a resource this thing has been and is, but it's substantial.  And, again, I can imagine someone saying..."well, sure, anyone can claim that what they do has influence-show me the proof."  And I'll say...won't name names...but you know who you are.  

Also, if it's about smallish numbers...why where my numbers big enough for the eight years I was accredited? 

And then there's the point that maybe there are limited spots for journalists.  Could be, but they accredited a brand new Oscar outlet in 2019 which had had absolutely no previous experience at the fest.

TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #48

Well, this is weird.  Normally. the first Ten bets after  Toronto's first announcement of titles causes a massive re-organization of the Ten Bets in the following post.  This year...not so much.  Last week's ten Bets and other possibilities were:

1) Something from Mark Cousins***

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) The Power of the Dog/Campion

5) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Julia/Cohen and West

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday and Bergman Island.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

With the addition of information from Toronto our fifth edition of "Ten Bets" looks like this:

1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

2) Petite Maman/Sciamma

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Something from Mark Cousins***

5) The Power of the Dog/Campion

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

8) Julia/Cohen and West

9) A Hero/Farhadi

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Nightmare Alley, Where Is Anne Frank?, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday, Encounter, The Velvet Underground, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Don't Look Up, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, Pig, C'mon C'mon, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

Paris 13th District, Bergman Island and The Eyes of Tammy Faye all drop from the "Other Possibles" list as their premiere designation for Toronto indicates that they will not have played Telluride but nary a one of the Ten Bets from last week completely disappears this week and that's remarkably unusual.

Also of interest (to me anyway) is that the only film from this year's initial Ten Bets that looks to be out so far is Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island.

LOOKS AT POTENTIALS INCLUDING NEW DUNE TRAILER

Continuing to pass along sporadic looks at films that could make the TFF #48 lineup.

***LATE BREAKING: NEW DUNE TRAILER

***TRAILER AND POSTER FOR RIDLEY SCOTT'S THE LAST DUEL

THE CARD COUNTGER POSTER

TRAILER FOR FLEE

VENICE IS COMING

The Venice film Festival is set to announce the bulk of their lineup next week and the reality is that announcement really doesn't rule anything in or out for Telluride.  The real info from Venice will be when they announce their schedule because that will tell you more about what's possible in an overlap between T-ride and Venice.  We won't see the schedule until August, though.

We know that Almodover's Madres Paralelas is opening Venice on Sept. 1 and that Denis Villenueve's Dune is set for Sept. 3.  Both of those are early enough in the Venetian sked to make a cross Atlantic jaunt and be at Telluride.  Films have made that kind of schedule work in the past.

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel, just yesterday posted a "likely for Telluride" list and also some titles that he thinks will NOT play.  Among other notes, he's very confident that Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Dominik's Blonde will not be on the Telluride list.  That bums me out as they were two of most hoped for Telluride titles.

The good news is that, in his estimation, Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch is back in Telluride play as well as a number of other films...many of which (seven to be exact) are on the Ten Bets list above.

Ruimy's entire post is linked here.

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SPECIAL EDITION OF MTFB: TORONTO ANNOUNCES AND WHAT THAT (PROBABLY) MEANS

 SPECIAL EDITION: TORONTO ANNOUNCES

The Toronto International Film festival announced Galas and Special Presentations this morning and reading the tea leaves of the premiere status they designated each film with, here are some guesses about what they tell us about Telluride in 2021:

PROBABLY PLAYING TELLURIDE:

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

Petite Maman

Enocunter

LOOKS LIKE NO TELLURIDE:

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Jagged

Bergman Island

The Worst Person in the World

Drive My Car

Paris 13th District

The Starling

Three Floors

FILMS WE STILL DON'T KNOW ABOUT:

So many...

The Power of the Dog, The Card Counter, Madres Paralelas, Nightmare Alley, The Velvet Underground, A Hero, Spencer, Blonde, House of Gucci, The Last Duel.

And not a peep about Dune, which has been previously announced as a World IMAX Exclusive presentation.

There are more announcements to come from Toronto in next few weeks.  Venice is set to announce next week.

Incoming from Toronto / Cannes Awards Winners / The Last Duel for TFF #48? / Late Breaking: Pedro Opens Venice

 INCOMING FROM TORONTO

It's all been speculation, slips of the tongue and cryptic references about Telluride up to this point.  That changes tomorrow with the Toronto International Film Festival's announcement of Galas and Special Presentations.  It TIFF follows what has become the custom, each film announced will include a mention of that film's premiere status and if you know what each of those designations mean you can get a very good idea of some of the films that will or will not play at Telluride.

For TIFF's announcement tomorrow the designations you need to know are:

World Premiere which means the first public screening anywhere on the planet (test screenings don't count).

International Premiere which means the first screening of a film outside the film's nation of origin.  This designation signals that the World Premiere has occurred in that nation of origin.  This designation is bit "squishy" for a number of reasons.  For example, films with multiple producers/financers from different nations make this designation difficult to nail down sometimes.

North American Premiere which means the first public screening on the continent.  You' likely see it tomorrow on films that have already screened at Cannes.  That means no U.S. play will have occurred.

Canadian Premiere which means the first public screening in Canada. 

An International Premiere or Canadian Premiere status points to a possible Telluride play but isn't a lock.  For example, if TIFF programs a Sundance Film that would be classified as an International Premiere.  If that Sundance film also played Cannes, then TIFF would label it a Canadian Premiere.  So these two designations don't automatically mean a Telluride play.

If a film is designated a World or North American Premiere...that means no Telluride.

We've already had an example of how this works this season with the New York Film Fest's announcement that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will have its U.S. Premiere there.  Since TFF precedes NYFF we can conclude two things: the film won't play Telluride because if it had, New York couldn't designate it as a U.S. Premiere.  We also know that it will have played Toronto because if it hadn't, New York would bill it as a North American Premiere.

Couple of other notes: there will be errors.  Sometimes that's on the part of TIFF inaccurately designating a film's status.  Sometimes it's because of the "squishy" nature of the International Premiere status and sometimes I just miss something I should have caught.

The other note is that there will be joy and disappointment.  Joy at the inclusion of films that I'll be thrilled to be chosen for Telluride and disappointment that films I am hoping for will likely not be making it to the San Juans.

There will also be that first moment that affirms or denies the efficacy of this summer's Ten Bets.

Here's the latest Ten Bets that I posted last Thursday...we'll start to see if any of this lands tomorrow:

1) Something from Mark Cousins***

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) The Power of the Dog/Campion

5) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Julia/Cohen and West

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday and Bergman Island.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

My biggest hopes for Telluride at this point are: Nightmare Alley, Dune and Blonde.

I'll likely have a SPECIAL EDITION tomorrow with a rundown of what the TIFF announcement tells us.

CANNES AWARDS WINNERS

Julia Ducournau's Titane won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or from a Spike Lee led jury on Saturday.  The film's IMDB description:

"Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years. Titane : A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys."

The film's Palme win likely increases its chance to play at Telluride but it's not a lock.  In the years since I've been doing this the Palme to Telluride connection only happens about half the time.  Titane's distributor is NEON which probably tips the scales a bit toward TFF #48 inclusion.

Other notable awards included a the Grand Prix to Asghar Farhadi's A Hero (tied with Compartment #6).  Leos Carax was named Best Director for Annette.

The complete list of Cannes' winners is here from Variety.

THE LAST DUEL FOR TFF #48?

Chris Evangelista posted an article about what is known about Ridley Scott's The Last Duel for SlashFilm last Wednesday.  It included casting info (Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer), release dates (Oct. 15th) descriptions of the film and the book upon which it's based.  Damon, Affleck and Nicole Holofcener co-wrote the screenplay.

Of note was these two sentences early on in the post:

"For now, though, you can bank on this one being a strict theatrical release. You can also probably expect it to play some fall festivals, like TIFF or Telluride (that’s just a guess on my part, but I think it’s a good guess)."

An extra note here to remind readers that Affleck's Argo debuted at Telluride in 2012 and that worked out well for him.  Holofcener was in Telluride in 2018 with Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3 Oscar nominations).

Could The Last Duel make an appearance at TFF #48?  Evangelista thinks it's a possibility.

Here's the entire SlashFilm article.

LATE BREAKING: PEDRO OPENS VENICE

Just in as I go to post this morning is news that Pedro Alomodovar's Madres Paralelas will open the Venice Film Festival.  That keeps it in good position as a possible inclusion for Telluride.  Details here from The Playlist.

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Ten Bets #4 for TFF #48 / The Usual Suspects 2021 / The Card Counter Moves Up / Alloy Is No More

 TEN BETS #4 FOR TFF #48

Well, after last week's embarrassing inclusion of Val, I'll try to ne a bit more circumspect with the newest Ten Bets.  Also of note here is that this should be the last Ten Bets prior to the announcement from Toronto (expected next Tuesday) of a number of their selections.  If TIFF follows recent protocol, they will announce titles with premiere status included from which we can reverse engineer some titles that could play Telluride.

Toronto has already announced 13 films that will screen and Focus Features has revealed that Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho and Kenneth Brannagh's Belfast will both World Premiere at TIFF.

At this point, I'm more or less confident that almost all of the other 13 films that were included on the TIFF pre-announcement list will also likely be World Premieres as well.  That list included: Celine Sciamma's Petit Maman, Theodore Melfi's The Starling and Alison Klayman's Jagged.

The one film on that TIFF pre-announcement list that I still think might be in the Telluride conversation is Denis Villenueve's Dune.  It seems to me that Toronto has been coy with the language that they have used with regard to its status.  We know that Dune will World Premiere at Venice (reportedly on Sept.3rd),  TIFF has billed its screening of Dune as a "World Exclusive IMAX presentation" which sounds way more impressive than "Canadian Premiere".

Last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) Something(s) from Mark Cousins***

4) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

5) The Card Counter/Schrader

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Val/Poo, Scott

10) Mothering Sunday/Husson

Here is the fourth iteration of the Ten Bets for TFF #48:

1) Something from Mark Cousins***

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) The Power of the Dog/Campion

5) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Julia/Cohen and West

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday and Bergman Island.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

If you've been a Telluride obsessive for any length of time, you'll have noticed that there are a number of film makers that have be included as a part of the fest several times.  Paying attention to those "Usual Suspects" and whether they have films available for screening can sometimes give you some solid guesses about what films could make the TFF #48 list.

Therefore, in alphabetical order, here are some of The Usual Suspects that could make an appearance at T-ride 2021:

Jacques Audiard: Paris 13th District

Ken Burns: Muhammad Ali

Mark Cousins: The Story of Looking, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, The Story of Film: The Next Generation

Asghar Farhadi: A Hero

Mia Hansen-Love: Bergman Island

Todd Haynes: The Velvet Underground

Werner Herzog: Last Exit: Space

Roger Michell: Elizabeth

Jason Reitman: Ghostbuster: Afterlife (I'm semi-serious about this)

Paul Schrader: The Card Counter

Martin Scorsese: The Card Counter (Exec. Producer)

Denis Villenueve/Dune

THE CARD COUNTER MOVES UP

Rumors that writer/director Paul Schrader let slip that his new film, The Card Counter starring Oscar Isaac, will play both Venice and then Telluride move that title up in this week's Ten Bets (see above).  The film moves back up to its #3 spot where it began on the very first Ten Bets three weeks ago.

The Car Counter has been on all four Ten Bets lists and always within the top five.

Reporting about the Schrader mention came from Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel and Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells.

ALLOY IS NO MORE

Word from an anonymous source this week that the famed Alloy Orchestra is no more.  I had an email from a friend pointing me to an article from WBUR, Boston's NPR station.  Jim Sullivan writing on July 8th:

"All things must pass. Or, perhaps, mutate.

After three decades, Alloy Orchestra is no more. (Ken)Winokur has exited; (Terry)Donahue and keyboardist Roger Miller, who joined in 1998 after (Caleb)Sampson’s death, continue on under a new moniker, Anvil Orchestra. Larry Dersch, who’d played with Miller in a previous band, Trinary System, will take Winokur’s spot in the new group.

The Anvil Orchestra makes its debut in Athens, Greece on Aug. 27, once again accompanying “Metropolis.” 

The Alloy Orchestra had become a Telluride Film Fest institution providing music for a number of silent film presentations as a part of the fest for years.

Here's a YouTube video of The Alloy Orchestra scoring the silent version of The Phantom of the Opera from July of 2020.

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I'm Not Too Bright... / Telluride a Hot Destination? / Cannes Critical Response / A Hint on a Short

 I'M NOT TOO BRIGHT

Well, I'm silly.  If you read last Thursday's post, you know I had a whole chunk about how I was thinking that the Val Kilmer documentary "Val" might be  a Telluride selection.  I even boldly put it into last week's Ten Bets at the # 9 spot. 

It was less than 24 hours later that I found that Val has been dated (by Amazon) for an August release. That clearly puts the kibosh on that notion.  I should have been better on my due diligence.  Mea Culpa!

Anyway, I guess Amazon will have a limited release on July 23rd and Amazon subscribers will be able to see the film on August 6th.

TELLURIDE A HOT DESTINATION?

For the past several weeks, there has been a low level buzz that Telluride and Venice both will benefit from some reluctance on the part of film makers to make plans to debut a film in Toronto due to Canada's approach to Covid-19.  Now, with the Delta variant raising numbers, there is some thought that could further push big name films to either Telluride or Venice or both,

Jeff Wells raises that notion in a post on his website Hollywood Elsewhere writing:

"The word along the Croisette is that certain distributors have either pulled their films out of the 2021 Toronto Film Festival or are seriously thinking about same. Why? Because (a) the Telluride and Venice festivals, unlike Toronto, are not leaning on streaming, and (b) distributors greatly prefer live-audience projection screenings."

We should be getting some serious hard info soon as Toronto is set to announce it's first wave of films on July 20th, a week from tomorrow.  That assumes that TIFF announces films with their premiere status designated but I wonder if that will happen this year.  TIFF has already named 13 films that will play there and did so with no premiere designation.  So, who knows?

CANNES CRITICAL RESPONSE

As the second week of the Cannes Film Festival gets ready to launch, let's check in with how critics' panels are reacting to the Plame d'Or competition films.

Ioncinema's panel has Leos Carax's Annette on top.  Here's the latest chart:

And the link to the Ioncinema article.

Screen Daily has Annette on top as well.

Screen Daily's Critics' Panel is linked here.

Reini Urban has Jauques Audiard's Paris 13th District on top but that's with only a single review.

Reini Urban's compilation.

Check back on Thursday for updated critical response.

A HINT ON A SHORT

I ran across a tweet this weekend that lead me to a news story about a short film called Mark of the Butterfly.  The reason I mention it here is that the film maker Chris Carter seems to imply in the news article from South Carolina television station WLTX that the film could play T-ride.  From the article:

"Carter has submitted Mark of the Butterfly to eight different film festivals. He says those festivals have strict rules about premiering it after submitting it. It will officially be able to be seen after the Telluride Film Festival in September."

So, he doesn't actually say that's it's playing Telluride but he sure implies it.

From the same article, here is the description of the film:

"It's about a high-powered attorney, who is one of the top attorneys in the state," explained Carter. "Now, she's up for a prestigious job as the district attorney, but she is suffering from lupus."

The complete article is linked here.

And, from YouTube, here's a trailer for the film:

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Ten Bets #3 for TFF #48 / Thinking Val is a Possible / Teasers and Trailers from Cannes

 TEN BETS FOR TFF #48

Another week closer and a few alterations to this week's Ten Bets,  Here's where I was last week:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Story of Looking/Cousins

4) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

5) The Card Counter/Schrader

6) The Storms of Jeremy Thomas/Cousins

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

10) Cow/Arnold

Other Possibles: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde and Bergman Island.

After this last week, here's the look at my latest Ten Bets:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) Something(s) from Mark Cousins***

4) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

5) The Card Counter/Schrader

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Val/Poo, Scott

10) Mothering Sunday/Husson

Other Possibles: Dune, Julia,  Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel and Bergman Island.

***With what appears now to be three separate projects that could play at Telluride, you have to think Cousins is there with something and maybe all things:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

Will update again next Thursday.

THINKING VAL IS POSSIBLE

A flurry of positive responses out of Cannes and the combo of A24 and Amazon Studios is making me think a TFF bid for the documentary Val-about actor Val Kilmer- could be in the offing.  You can see above how serious I am as I included the film as one of this week's Ten Bets at #9.

The doc reportedly makes use of hundreds of hours of footage shot by Kilmer himself.

Here's the Cannes trailer from YouTube:

TEASERS AND TYRAILERS FROM CANNES

In addition to the Val trailer, here's a sampling of other teasers and trailers out as a result of Cannes' kickoff that could also play Telluride.  All clips via YouTube:

WHERE IS ANNE FRANK

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

DECEPTION

LAMB

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ICYMI: TFF Wants You Vaxxed / Future Telluride: Inarritu's Current Project / Velvet Underground Teaser

 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: TFF WANTS YOU VAXXED

I'm re-running this post that I originally put up on Saturday:

TFF #48 Passholders received an email from the festival last Friday informing us that we would need to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19.  The letter also requested that  if we knew of people that were planning to attend the fest without a pass or were planning to attend free screenings that they would also need to be able to produce proof of vaccination.  Here's that language from the email:

For any friends you may know who are intending to join us without passes, we appreciate you sharing this information. Individual indoor venues will have a vaccination card check point at each Box Office, for those wishing to buy individual tickets or enter a free screening. 

Here's the complete text of the email to passholders:

We are grateful that you are considering returning to the Telluride Film Festival to join us after last year’s hiatus. We view our upcoming festival as an opportunity to celebrate renewal but with tremendous humility, acknowledging the tragic loss of life and social upheaval experienced around the globe.

 

Film is a magical instrument that often serves to bring people together – to celebrate it collectively, to experience emotions in the same room, and to live through the eyes of great artists as they point us toward a better future is something we are all looking forward to with delight. 

 

To ensure a safe, as well as relaxed, few days in the mountains, we are asking all attendees who intend to join us this year to be vaccinated against Covid-19, as an act of kindness and community support, and to assist us in creating a secure environment for reconvening the Telluride experience. 

 

Please take a moment to upload your vaccination card below. Receipt of this information will be required for admittance to Festival theaters and other indoor venues, including any shuttle services. We appreciate your understanding and commitment to a healthy re-opening of arts & culture experiences worldwide. For any friends you may know who are intending to join us without passes, we appreciate you sharing this information. Individual indoor venues will have a vaccination card check point at each Box Office, for those wishing to buy individual tickets or enter a free screening. 

We are impatient for September to get here and to be together again. Take very good care until we see you!!

The wife and I submitted our proof of vaccination Saturday morning.

FUTURE TELLURIDE?  INARRITU'S CURRENT PROJECT

Set photo from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Limbo via El Univeral

We've seen and heard whispers about TFF favorite Alejandro Gonzlaez Inarritu's ongoing film project which appears to be titled Limbo.

The Film Stage (via El Universal)  reported recently that filming in Mexico and set photos are giving some hints about what could be included as part of the plot/story of the film.  According to The Film Stage post:

"From their reporting comes word Limbo concerns the Mexican-American War, production having constructed an exact replica of the Chapultepec Castle—site for the 1847 Battle of Chapultepec, a turning point wherein thousands of Mexican soldiers were slain. (Peep their site for a set photo lest the copyright hammer fall upon us.) Considering other set photos feature more modern-looking costumes, perhaps there is some time-jumping in the plot as the director explores Mexican history."

Considering Inarritu's substantial track record at Telluride, you have to keep an eye out for this as a possible selection for TFF #49.

The complete post from The Film Stage is here.

VELVET UNDERGROUND TEASER

Todd Haynes' documentary about the legendary band, The Velvet Underground, is set to play at Cannes within the next few days and there is some contemplation on my part that it could very well be a part of the TFF #48 lineup.

There's a  teaser for the new film now available for viewing on Cannes' official webpage for the film.  

You can find that linked here.

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SPECIAL POST-GET YOUR VAX

 SPECIAL POST-GET YOUR VAX

TFF #48 Passholders received an email from the festival yesterday informing us that we would need to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19.  The letter also requested that  if we knew of people that were planning to attend the fest without a pass or were planning to attend free screenings that they would also need to be able to produce proof of vaccination.  Here's that language from the email:

For any friends you may know who are intending to join us without passes, we appreciate you sharing this information. Individual indoor venues will have a vaccination card check point at each Box Office, for those wishing to buy individual tickets or enter a free screening. 

Here's the complete text of the email to passholders:

We are grateful that you are considering returning to the Telluride Film Festival to join us after last year’s hiatus. We view our upcoming festival as an opportunity to celebrate renewal but with tremendous humility, acknowledging the tragic loss of life and social upheaval experienced around the globe.

 

Film is a magical instrument that often serves to bring people together – to celebrate it collectively, to experience emotions in the same room, and to live through the eyes of great artists as they point us toward a better future is something we are all looking forward to with delight. 

 

To ensure a safe, as well as relaxed, few days in the mountains, we are asking all attendees who intend to join us this year to be vaccinated against Covid-19, as an act of kindness and community support, and to assist us in creating a secure environment for reconvening the Telluride experience. 

 

Please take a moment to upload your vaccination card below. Receipt of this information will be required for admittance to Festival theaters and other indoor venues, including any shuttle services. We appreciate your understanding and commitment to a healthy re-opening of arts & culture experiences worldwide. For any friends you may know who are intending to join us without passes, we appreciate you sharing this information. Individual indoor venues will have a vaccination card check point at each Box Office, for those wishing to buy individual tickets or enter a free screening. 

We are impatient for September to get here and to be together again. Take very good care until we see you!!

I'll run this post again in Thursday's regularly scheduled post.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Ten Bets #2 for TFF #48 / A New Possibility Emerges / Trailer for Many Saints

TEN BETS #2 FOR TFF #48

Hi there... from Massachusetts.  

Yes, the Post-ish-Covid  2021 Art Show Circuit continues with the second and final show of the summer season so I am on the road.  

Blew a tire on I-90 today, got the donut spare on after a bit of a struggle and thanks to Conner at Mavis Tire in Chatham, NY and the crew there...got a new tire on before the end of the business day.

Despite the delayed arrival and the eminent Berkshires Art Fest, here's your Thursday edition of MTFB and, as promised, an updated Ten Bets for TFF #48...there's a wrinkle or two.

Last week's Ten Bets (and "Other Possibles" list):

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

5) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

6) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love

7) Cow/Arnold

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Blonde/Dominik

10) The Story of Looking/Cousins

Don't discount the possibility of: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

News this week about films from Pedro Almodovar (see below) and Mark Cousins has altered this week's Ten Bets which look like this:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Story of Looking/Cousins

4) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

5) The Card Counter/Schrader

6) The Storms of Jeremy Thomas/Cousins

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

10) Cow/Arnold

Other Possibles: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde and Bergman Island.

Will update again next Thursday.

A NEW POSSIBILITY EMERGES

We found out this week that Pedro Almodovar's Parallel Mothers and Mark Cousins' The Storms of Jeremy Thomas are both going to be available to program for TFF #48 if  Telluride Fest programmers decide to include them.

Almodovar, who for a long while had a run at Telluride recently has been absent.  There had been a 13 year stretch between 2006's Volver and TFF #46 in 2019 when Pain and Glory screened.  I think that return and the success of P&G (Two Oscar nominations for Best International Feature and for Best Actor for Antonio Banderas) makes Parallel Mothers, starring 2006 TFF Tribute recipient Penelope Cruz, a very real possibility for a TFF #48 slot.

Parallel Mothers is set for release in Spain on Sept. 10th.

TRAILER FOR MANY SAINTS

One of  the films that Warner Bros. could bring to Telluride is the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark.  The film is set for an Oct. 1st release date (after some juggling among the WB lineup this past week).  Warners dropped a trailer for the film which you can enjoy here thanks to YouTube:

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