Thursday, July 13, 2023

LATE BREAKING: SAG-AFTRA AUTHROIZES STRIKE / May December Not in September / MTFB's Ten Bets #4 / Ioncinema Predicts Venice

LATE BREAKING: SAG/AFTRA AUTHORIZES STRIKE



The National Board of SAG-AFTRA officially announced that the organization's members would be on strike at noon Pacific Time today.  The strike goes into effect at midnight (Pacific) tonight.

In addition to a shutdown of active film making those of us who pay attention to film festivals note that this action means that no SAG-AFTRA member will be allowed to promote projects in which they are involved.  How this affects fest like Telluride and others is not totally clear.  I have seen some speculation that some studios may be reluctant to send a film to a fest or feasts without the fire power of its stars being able to accompany a film.

Will news outlets shift the amount and intensity of their coverage with no talent to pursue?

Whatever happens it seems that the Fall Film Fests have a new wrinkle to deal with.

Roger Friedman of ShowBiz411.com provides some analysis about the potential effect of the strike on fall film fests including Telluride.

MAY DECEMBER NOT IN SEPTEMBER




The headline above is my faux-clever way of passing on that it appears that Todd Haynes' May December will NOT be playing at Telluride 2023. 

The New York Film Fest announced on Tuesday from the frequent TFF attendee, will North American Premiere as the Opening Night Film for NYFF.  The "North American Premiere" status tells us that the film will not have played anywhere in North America prior to its NYFF gig and that means no Telluride play.

Honestly, the last couple of weeks has really got me thinking that I don't have much of a grasp of what's going on this year.  

Haynes has been a frequent TFF presence but his films don't always play in the San Juans...just very, very often.

For example, his 2019 thriller, Dark Waters, also premiered at NYFF and did not play TFF but then you have to go all the way back to 1998's Velvet Underground to find a non-Telluride screening.  Haynes has bowed The Velvet Underground, Wonderstruck, Carol, I'm Not There and Far From Heaven all did play TFF.

Which leads to...


MTFB'S TEN BETS #4




As you might expect, with the above news about may December, the new "Ten Bets" has some changes.
Additionally, as a warning, next week (7/19) we get a big slew of announcements from Toronto that historically wrecks the "Bets".  Maybe I should re-think my hobbies...

Last week's Ten Bets were:

1) May December/Haynes
2) Poor Things/Lanthimos
3) Strangers/Haigh
4) The Holdovers/Payne
5) Monster/Kore-eda
6) Saltburn/Fennell
7) Nyad/ Chin and Vasarhelyi
8) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet
9) El Conde/Larrain
10) The Teachers' Lounge/Catak

Now...with some chagrin, here's this week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Alexander Payne
2) Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos
3) Saltburn/Emerald Fennell
4) Strangers/Andrew Haigh
5) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi
6) Monster/Kore-eda
7) Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet
8) Fallen Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki
9) The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak
10) The Pot-au-Feu/Trinh Hung



Other possibilities: The Zone of Interest/Glazer, The End/Oppenheimer, El Conde/Pablo Larrain, Freud's Last Session/Brown, The Royal Hotel/Green, Rustin/Wolfe, The American Buffalo/Burns, Priscilla/Coppola and Shirley/Ridley.


IONCINEMA PREDICTS VENICE




Ioncinema put together a three part list of 75 possibilities for the Venice Fest.  Some Venice films are very likely to subsequently play at Telluride.  From the Ioncinema lists, here's a guess about some of the films that might make the trans-Atlantic jump:


The Burial/Maggie Betts
Daaaaaali!/Quentin Dupieux
Drive-Away Dolls/Ethan Coen***
El Conde/Pablo Larrain
Fingernails/Christos Nikou


The Captain/Matteo Garrone
Lee/Ellen Kuras
Love Lies Bleeding/Rose Glass
Maestro/Bradley Cooper


Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos
Priscilla/Sofia Coppola***
Strangers/Andrew Haigh






**I'm actually fairly convinced that this film is going to play Toronto and play T-ride BUT, it's only one of two films that Ioncinema lists and specifically suggests that Telluride is a possibility.

***The other film that specifies that Telluride is a possibility







EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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