Checking the Distributors: Searchlight / Anatomy of a Fall Trailer and News / A New Film to Consider

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: SEARCHLIGHT

The fifth installment of Checking the Distributors looks at Searchlight (which used to be Fox Searchlight until Disney bought them).  Searchlight has had a long and distinguished presence at TFF over the years.  Here's a look back at the films that they have screened at TFF since 2004:

2022: Empire of Light 

2021: The French Dispatch 

2020: Nomadland (Best Picture Oscar) 

2019: A Hidden Life 
2018: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Old Man and the Gun 
2017: The Shape of Water (Best Picture Oscar), Battle of the Sexes 
2016: No Show
2015: He Named Me Malala 
2014: Birdman (Best Picture Oscar), Wild 
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture Oscar) 
2012: No Show
2011: Shame, The Descendants 
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan 
2009: No Show
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture Oscar) 
2007: Juno, The Savages
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake 
2005: Bee Season 
2004: Kinsey 

That's 25 films over a span of 19 fests.  Five Best Picture Oscar winners:

Slumdog Millionaire 2009

12 Years a Slave 2014

Birdman 2015

The Shape of Water 2018

Nomadland 2021

 Plus a total of  81 other Oscar nominations in that time.

So you have to figure that Searchlight likely lands one or two films at TFF #50.  The question is which ones?

Four films seem to have the best chance:

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos (release date is Sept. 8)

Strangers/Andrew Haigh (release date is TBA)

Nightbitch/Marielle Heller (release date is TBA)

Next Goal Wins/Taika Waititi (release date is Nov. 17)

Three of the four directors have been at Telluride previously.

Haigh twice with 45 Years in 2015 and Lean on Pete in 2017.

Lanthimos with The Favourite in 2018

Heller with Can You Ever Forgive Me? also in 2018.

Next Goal Wins has a really weird history between scrubbing Armie Hammer and replacing him with Will Arnett the film has been shuffled around to a number of different release dates and now Searchlight has landed it smack in awards season on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Poor Things release date is a little odd as well coming right on the heels of both Venice and Telluride.  Venice closes on Sept. 9th.

Ultimately, here's where I start out rating their chances of playing T-ride:

Strangers 55%

Poor Things 45%

Next Goal Wins 25%

Nightbitch 10%***

***World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy reported this weekend that he has heard that Nightbitch will premiere at Toronto.

ANATOMY OF A FALL TRAILER AND NEWS

The Palme d'Or winning film, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall has a new trailer out that coincides with its premiere in Paris on Wednesday.  The trailer isn't subtitled and has some English and some French spoken in it.  Still, it's a chance to get a sense of the prize winning film.  Here that is via YouTube:

In additional trailer news, apparently a trailer for Ethan Coen's Drive Away Dolls is screening ahead of Wes Anderson's Asteroid City.  I'm assuming its the same trailer screened at CinemaCon.  That should mean that we should see it fairly soon.

Meanwhile a Tweet from Ioncinema from earlier this month that I just ran across a couple of days ago suggests that NEON, which is distributing Anatomy of a Fall in the U.S. is aiming for a Telluride berth:

A NEW FILM TO CONSIDER

Photo via IMDb

Kate Winslet's new biopic about journalist Lee Miller is reportedly set to premiere at Venice.  It's a film that I have been keeping my eye on for some time but about which there has been little conversation as we get closer to lineup announcements for both Venice and Toronto.

A Venice premiere could also mean a play at TFF #50.  "Lee" is currently absent a distributor in the U.S.

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