Thursday, June 15, 2023

Checking the Distributors: NEON / Saltburn and TFF? / First Ten Bets in One Week

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: NEON




Part Four today of MTFB's rundown of the most frequent distribution companies that have screened films at TFF over the past seven years.  Today's outfit is NEON.

NEON has had one fewer film actually play Telluride than  last Monday's company-A24.  That means that NEON is also very close to averaging two films per festival since 2015.

Here's what we have seen from NEON at TFF in that time frame:

2022: Broker, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Oscar nominated for Best Documentary)
2021: Petite Maman, Spencer (Oscar nominated for Best Actress-Kristen Stewart) , Flee (Oscar nominated for Best Animated Film, Best International Film and Best Documentary), Three Minutes-A Lengthening
2020: Ammonite*** if the fest had happened
2019: Parasite (nominated for six Academy Awards and won four including Best Picture and Director). Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Amazing Grace
2018: Border (Oscar nominated for Best Makeup and Hair), The Biggest Little Farm
2017: None
2016: The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography

As we look to NEON's possible participation in TFF #50 we discover that they have a lot of films that could be in play.  Foremost is probably Cannes Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.  The Palme winner hasn't played in Telluride since 2019's Parasite (also distributed by NEON) but that absence may actually work to increase the odds for a spot at Telluride this year.

That said, the most likely two films from the NEON stable to make the TFF #50 list in my estimation are Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera and Kitty Green's The Royal Hotel.  Each of these films start with a 50/50 chance of making the TFF lineup.

Other NEON films that are possibles and where I'd place their chances of  selection for TFF are:

The End/Oppenheimer 30%
The Actor/Johnson 20%
Longlegs/Perkins 20%

And I'd also say that if Raoul Peck's George Orwell (co-produced by Alex Gibney) documentary is ready that it too is a possibility at 20%.  Its currently listed as "filming".


SALTBURN AND TFF




I thought for a good long while that Emerald Fennell's Saltburn might be a real player for a TFF bid.  The writer/director is coming off an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman (2020) with this much anticipated film.

Well, Jordan Ruimy on Monday reported that Telluride appears to me making a push for the film.  Ruimy wrote:

"Now I’m hearing that TIFF, Telluride and Venice are fighting it out for the world premiere of Fennell’s film. Who will win the “Saltburn” stakes? My money is on Venice. It probably will world premiere on the Lido."

And, of course, a Venice World Premiere doesn't necessarily preclude a following screening at Telluride.


IMDb Pro lists Saltburn's distribution status for the U.S. with Amazon but only labeling it as the distributor for video.


FIRST TEN BETS IN ONE WEEK




One week from today MTFB will put up the first Ten Bets for TFF #50.  Past attempts at the first Ten Bets have shown that and average of five of the ten will actually show up and play at TFF.  Then as the summer continues I will adjust the Ten Bets each week on Thursday to reflect the growing body of evidence pointing to which films we'll be offered over Labor Day weekend.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

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