Cannes Winners / Trailer for Hallelujah

CANNES WINNERS

Ruben Ostlund won his second Palme d'Or on Saturday for his Triangle of Sadness.  My expectation, at least for the moment is that likely means this will be a TFF that does not host the Palme winner. Ostlund's previous two Cannes films (Force Majeure and The Square) did not make the Cannes-TFF connection.  That doesn't mean it can't happen just that it is historically unlikely.

Films that could have a boost with Cannes accolades leading to a Telluride selection:

Lukas Dhont's Close (tied for the Grand Prix)

Claire Denis' Stars at Noon (tied for Grand Prix)

Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave (Best Direction)

Jerzy Skolimowski's EO (tied for Jury Prize)

The Dardennes Brothers' Tori and Lokita (Special 75th Anniversary Award)

Ali Abassi's Holy Spider (Best Actress-Zar Amir-Ebrahimi)

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker (Best Actor-Song Kang-ho)

The Hollywood Reporter has details here.

TRAILER FOR HALLELUJAH

The documentary about Leonard Cohen's most famous song that played as a part of the TFF #48 lineup has a trailer now.  The release happened this week from distrib Sony Pictures Classics.  The film is scheduled for release on July 1st.

Additionally, here's a link to FirstShowing.net and further details about the film.

More later...

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SPC Acquires One Fine Morning / A24 Nabs Aftersun / Critics from Cannes / What's Netflix Got?

SPSC ACQUIRES ONE FINE MORNING

Mia Hansen Love has been a significant presence at Telluride for some time.  That's also been true for her films as far as being invited to Cannes.  This year she has another film playing in France as a part of the Director's Fortnight section.  One Fine Morning has been getting more than decent critical notices.  As such, it has already been mentioned here as a potential TFF #49 selection.

Now comes news that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film for North America and beyond.  That acquisition increases that chances that the film will make a trek to the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  As most readers of this Blog know, SPC has had a very good relationship with TFF for many years.

Hansen-Love films that have screened at Telluride: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come and Bergman Island

Recent SPC films at TFF: Julia, The Duke, The Father, Pain and Glory, A Fantastic Woman, The Rider and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.

Details of the SPC move are here from Variety.

A24 NABS AFTERSUN

Meanwhile, A24 has acquired Charlotte Wells' Aftersun.  The film has made a splash in France.  The solid critical response and the A24 move means that we have to give it some serious thought about a spot at The SHOW.  Adding fuel to the T-ride speculation is that the film is produced, in part, by Barry Jenkin's PASTEL.  You have to think that helps it be on the Telluride radar.

Deadline has the story.

CRITICS FROM CANNES

As we head into the home stretch of the Cannes Film Fest and the choice for the winner of the Palme d'Or looms, here is your latest check of potential TFF films screening in France and their current critical standing based on Reini Urban's collected sample of critics.

Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 7.54

Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.71

Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 6.66

Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius) 7.42

One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.45

Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.88

All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 7.05

Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.81

Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 8.25

Broker (Hirozaku Kore-eda) 6.25

Tori and Lokita (The Dardennes Brothers) 6.35

Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) 7.54

WHAT'S NETFLIX GOT?

It's that time of year where I try to peer into the films that we think could be ready for a Labor Day screening from some of the producers/distributors that have been common players at previous Telluride Film Fests.

And we start with what has become the most ubiquitous player at TFF over the past few years.  Since 2015Netflix has shown:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire

2016: I Called Him Morgan, The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno

2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

2018: Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, Roma, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2019: Inside Bill's Brain, Marriage Story, Tell Me Who I Am, The Two Popes

2020: No announced films

2021: The Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Procession

That's an impressive run.  But...

You have to wonder with all the turmoil at Netflix of late...decreasing membership, lower stock prices and layoffs as well as the inability of the big streaming giant to land a Best Picture win (3 big shots at that prize over the past four years-Roma, Marriage Story and The Power of the Dog) if they will consider changing strategies this year.

Then there's the question of what they have that could be players in awards season.

Noah Baumbach's White Noise

Andrew Dominik's NC-17 rated Blonde

George C. Wolfe's Rustin

David Fincher's The Killer  (Will it be ready by September?)

Tobias Lindholm's The Good Nurse

Kenya Barris' You People

Guillermo Del Toro's Piniocchio (Will it be ready?)

John Ridley's Shirley

Sebastian DeLilio's The Wonder

From this group and at the moment it feels like the best bets are White Noise, Shirley and The Wonder with honorable mentions for Blonde and Pinocchio.

***Added on June 9th- Look out for The Good Nurse

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Checking Cannes / Ethan Coen and Jerry Lee

 CHECKING CANNES

I'm continuing to monitor the critical reactions to films unspooling at the 75th Cannes Film Festival which hits its half way point today.  The fest is set to end on Saturday.

Looking at the combination of critical responses that is curated by Reini Urban here are some of the films that I have on my TFF #49 radar and their current combined rating (on a 10 point scale) as well as their position on the overall Cannes chart which includes virtually every film that is screening within any part of the festival:

10) Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 9.08

14) Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.40

24) Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 7.91

34) Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius)

42) One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.17

52) Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.94

55) All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 6.84

59) Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

68) R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.66

Still waiting for enough critical responses to evaluate The Dardennes' Tori and Lokita and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker.

For a closer look at individual responses to the Palme d'Or competitors I have linked the charts for that from:

Screen Daily

Ioncinema

The Palme d'Or winner and Telluride cross over in recent years:

2019: Parasite

2018: Shoplifters

2013: Blue Is the Warmest Colour

2012: Amour

2009: The White Ribbon

2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, Two Days

2005: L'Enfant

2003: Elephant

ETHAN COEN AND JERRY LEE

Ethan Coen's documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind dropped yesterday at Cannes with a second screening scheduled for today.  The film is being produced (in part) and distributed by A24.  That and the fact that Coen and his co-producer T-Bone Burnett were co-recipients of a TFF Tribute for TFF #40-2013) gives a glimmer of hope that the doc could be a selection for TFF #49.

Coen was interviewed recently by Deadline's Mike Fleming, Jr. about the project.  That is linked here.

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At Cannes: Acquisitions for TFF Possibilities: Return to Soul and R.M.N. / Early Reactions from Cannes

 AT CANNES: ACQUISITIONS FOR TFF POSSIBLES RETURN TO SOUL AND R.M.N.

Variety reports that Sony Pictures Classics has taken distribution rights for David Chou's Return to Soul.  That moves into the "in consideration" position vis-a-vis TFF #49.  Variety describes the film as follows:

"The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions."

The Variety story is linked here.

Meanwhile, Indiewire has reported that IFC Films has acquired R.M.N. the latest film from Cristian Mungiu. Mungiu was at Telluride in 2007 with his 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.  The IFC acquisition could set the stage for return to T-ride in September.

The description form Indiewire:

It "follows the return of Matthias (Marin Grigore) to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village, where he wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son and to rid the boy of his unresolved fears. When new workers arrive at a factory owned by Matthias’ ex-lover Csilla (Judith State) the peace of the community is disturbed and fears, frustrations, and conflicts erupt."

The Indiewire article is here.

EARLY REACTIONS FROM CANNES

As is common for this space, I'm keeping an eye on the collective critcal response through Reini Urban's Cannes Critics Ratings. The early response for some films that could play Telluride that are rating a combined 6.0 or better on a 10 point scale include:

One Fine Morning

Brother and Sister

Showing Up 

Return to Soul

You can find the complete rundown linked here.

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Fred Ward 1942-2022 / Marcel Creators Have a Word / Official Clip for Holy Spider / NEON Nabs Broker / Marty Back in Oklahoma

FRED WARD 1942-2022

Fred Ward at TFF #36 (photo via Salon.com and Getty Images)

I will miss Fred Ward.  The actor died on May 8th at the age of 79.  Fred's credits included some great stuff: Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort, The Right Stuff, The Player and, of course, Tremors.  Tremors is one of my wife's favorite movies. For years we've been talking about writing and producing a stage musical adaptation.  Can you envision singing Graboids?

I just watched The Player again a couple of weeks ago.

Ward was in Telluride in 2009 for The SHOW as a part of the group that was there with the foreign film Farewell, a gripping cold war true story that featured Ward as Ronald Reagan.  I saw the film at the fest and it was quote good.

Salon.com had a nice write up about Fred this week.  That's linked here.

MARCELS'S CREATORS HAVE A WORD

Recently, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On co-creators Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate sat down with Joshua Rothkopf writing for Entertainment Weekly for an interview ahead of the films release on June 24th.  The result of that interview was posted at EW.com on Friday the 13th.

Frequent readers of this space already know that I am an outspoken fan of the film so I am pleased to provide the link to the interview, encourage you to read (regarding the genesis of the project and other matters) and then make sure to go see the film or re-watch it of you caught it at Telluride or one of its other film fest stops (SXSW, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee).

OFFICIAL CLIP FOR HOLY SPIDER

On the TFF #49 watch list is Ali Abbasi's Cannes Plame d'Or contender Holy Spider.  The film focuses on a series of murders in Iran and the female journalist that is trying to unravel the story.

Here's the newly released first look clip from YouTube:

NEON NABS BROKER

NEON has acquired North American distribution rights for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker according to multiple sources including Variety.  This is of note to Telluride Film Fest fans as the film now checks off a bunch of boxes that could signal a TFF #49 appearance.

Cannes competition choice...check

Foreign auteur that's played TFF before... check (Kore-eda's Shoplifters in 2018)

Distributor with a history at T-ride...check (NEON)

Assuming reviews are strong out of Cannes, Broker's lineage could land it on my first "Ten Bets" list.

Here's the news of the acquisition from Variety.

MARTY BACK IN OKLAHOMA

Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel reports that additional filming is underway in the northeast part of my home state for Killers of the Flower Moon.  Jordan, as a part of his story, links to a report from Louise Red Corn writing for The Osage News from last Tuesday with photos showing crew and equipment back in Pawhuska.

Speculation is that they'll be filming a social dance that will include an number of the locals that were filmed earlier as extras and background players.

Here's the link to Jordan's story.

Here's the link to the Osage News story.

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MPA Ratings Signal Two Films / Bitterbrush Trailer / Trailer for Brother and Sister

MPA RATINGS SIGNAL TWO FILMS

Next Best Pictures' Will Mavity reports that a couple of films on my TFF #49 watch list have been rated indicating that they are complete and thus would likely be available to screen at The SHOW.

Mavity Tweeted  on Tuesday that Sarah Polley's Women Talking had been rated PG-13. Polley's film makes the watch list because of a  past TFF appearance (Stories We Tell-2012) and its reception at TFF. The film topped the People's Telluride ratings that year and was #3 among the Professionals.  It still remains among the top ten all time for the Composite ratings.

The other film that Mavity mentions with an MPA rating that has TFF potential is Stephen Williams Chevalier.  Chevalier has been rated PG-13 and is on the watch list primarily because it is being distributed by Searchlight which has a long tradition of films screening at Telluride including last year's The French Dispatch.

BITTERBRUSH TRAILER

Emilie Mahdavian's documentary, Bitterbrush premiered at TFF #48 last year and though it didn't get enough responses to make the People or Pros ratings from the fest was, anecdotally, seemed to be well received.  I heard nothing but positive comments from the folks who had seen it as I was standing in line.  Iniedwire refers to the doc as a "Telluride breakout".

Now we have a trailer release for the film and a release date of June 17th.

Here's the trailer via YouTube:

Here's the Indiewire story about the trailer drop with added details about the film.

TRAILER FOR BROTHER AND SISTER

another Cannes film that is on the periphery of TFF speculation is Arnaud Desplechin's Brother and Sister.

The film features past TFF Tribute recipient Marion Cotillard.  The Film Stage describes the film as follows:

"Led by Marion Cotillard & Melvil Poupaud, the film follows the siblings as they near the age of 50. Cotillard plays Alice, an actress, while Poupaud is Louis, a teacher and a poet. After being estranged for many years, the death of their parents brings them closer together."

Here's the trailer form YouTube:

That's a wrap for today.

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Kino Lorber Acquisition Could Be a TFF Player / Cannes Has a New Palme / Initial Views of Holy Spider

KINO LORBER ACQUISITION COULD BE A TFF PLAYER

The Hollywood Reporter let us know on Friday that Kino Lorber had acquired the North American rights to Maggie Peren's The Forger.  The film was selection of the Berlin International Film Festival.  According to IDMb The Forger is:

"The true story of Cioma Schönhaus, a Jewish man who, during the Second World War, repeatedly escaped the Gestapo thanks to his ability to forge passports. But his other talent was perhaps even rarer: the gift for happiness."

The Kino Lorber buy and the film's Berlin lineage suggests at least some possibility that it could play at Telluride this Labor Day.

Kino Lorber has frequently landed films in the TFF lineup.  Some examples:

2020: (announced) Never Gonna Snow Again, There Is No Evil and Truman & Tennessee

2019: Beanpole

2017: Filmworker

2016: Fire at Sea

2015: Ixcanul, Sembene!, Taxi

The trailer for the film is linked here from YouTube:

THR says the film will be released later in 2022.

The complete THR story is linked here.

CANNES HAS A NEW PALME

I mean it literally.  The Cannes Fest has a new design for the physical award that will be handed out at the end of the month.  Awards Watch's Erik Anderson was who first drew my attention to that news with a Tweet this past Saturday.

Here's the new look Palme d'Or:

The Hollywood Reporter's Chris Gardner provided the details with this story that was posted Friday.

INITIAL VIEWS OF HOLY SPIDER

The Playlist provided some early stills from Ali Abbasi's Holy Spider.  The film is playing Cannes in the Main Competition section.  Abbasi previously played Cannes in 2018in the Un Certain Regard section with Border which then made the trip to Telluride later that September.  That opens the door to some serious speculation that this new film might also be a candidate for TFF #49.

The film's description per IMDb:

"In Holy Spider, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest - to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission."

Here's a taste from the images at The Playlist:

See the complete set of pics and the full post from The Playlist here.

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Killers May Be Late / Hints at Some Other TFF #49 Possibles / Telluride Favorite Paul Schrader Wins Career Honor

 KILLERS MAY BE LATE

Martin Scorsese on the set of Killers of the Flower Moon last August (photo from The Tulsa World)

All my hopes that Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon might screen at Telluride may be in trouble as World of Reel reports that the film might get pushed to 2023.  Jordan Ruimy, who runs WOR, has been following up on an April 11th tweet from The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood that suggests that there is some buzz that the film could be delayed.

Screenwriter Eric Roth had said in an interview with Indiewire's Anne Thompson in February that the film would be released in November but...

Another factor that may a cause of delay is the report that Scorsese is shooting a new ending to the film in Oklahoma this month.  The Tulsa World reported that back in late March.

Finally, here's the link to the World of Reel story.

So, my dream of  being at a screening of the film at TFF #49 may not happen at all.  Stay tuned.

HINTS AT SOME OTHER TFF #49 POSSIBLES

Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling is a film that I haven't really had on my radar for TFF but a comment from Ioncinema this past week and after its first trailer dropped at Cinemacon...maybe I should have.  Ioncinema tweeted:

"I'm curious to hear where she is going with this".... I think fans of Carlo Mirabella-Davis's Swallow will lather this up / fully expect this to be at @la_Biennale / Telluride @TIFF_NET - @oliviawilde's Don't Worry Darling"

Warner Bros. releases the trailer on Monday.  Here it is from YouTube:

Variety reported on the film and the trailer release earlier this week.  That is linked here.

The film has announced release date of Sept.. 23rd which puts it into theaters three weeks after a potential screening at The SHOW.

Additionally, we found out this week that Cannes will screen part of Etan Hawke's new documentary about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward-The Last Movie Stars- in its Cannes Classics section.  Could that be repeated at Telluride?  Hawke has had a long association with T-ride and HBO Films is one of the films producing organizations which has also been showing up at The SHOW in recent years so...maybe.  The doc did play as a part of South by southwest which in most cases would make it unlikely for TFF #49 but the fest has seemed to be a little more flexible about scheduling previously screened docs in its past.

Here's reporting from The Hollywood Reporter regarding the Hawke project and other additions to the Cannes Classics lineup.

TELLURIDE FAVORITE PAUL SCHRADER WINS CAREER HONOR

Paul Schrader, who makes frequent stops at Telluride including last year's The Card Counter was announced this week as the winner of Venice's Golden Lion for Career Achievement.  Schrader will be feted as a part of the Venice Film Festival.

Here's the story from Variety.

The honor and presentation raises the question : Will his The Master Gardner be scheduled at Venice as a part of the celebration and does that increase or decrease that chances that Telluride audiences will see it in the TFF #49 lineup?

The Magic 8 Ball says: "Cannot Predict Now".

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Two 2023 Oscar Lists: Indiewire and World of Reel / Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

TWO OSCAR 2023 LISTS

Both Indiewire and World of Reel posted lengthy Oscar Best Picture lists for 2023 this past week.  Indiwire's list had 35 titles while World of Reel had a list of 23.  Between the two list there were 11 films that made both lists (in no particular order):

Baz Lurman's Elvis

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon 

Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans

Maria Schrader's She Said

Damien Chazelle's Babylon

Kasi Lemmons' I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Kelly Reicharadt's Showing Up

Martin McDaonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo

Florian Zeller's The Son

Todd Field's TAR

Your five best Telluride bets from this combined list: Bardo, Showing Up, The Son, Babylon and TAR.

You can take a look at the complete lists and  analysis for each outlet.  

The Indiewire post is here.

The World of Reel post is here.

COMNG SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

The Film Stage posted a list of 40+ films with release dates this summer which is revelatory in two ways in as far as Telluride film fans are concerned.  First, the list lets us know what films are OFF the list for TFF consideration i.e. David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future.  The list also tells us when films that have screened (or would have screened at Telluride in one case) will be released.

According to the article these TFF films are pout as follows:

TFF #47 announced film Apples on June 24th.

From TFF #48:

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On on June 24th

Bitterbrush on June 24th 

Three Minutes: A Lengthening on August 19th

The complete Film Stage post is linked here.

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