Venice Schedule Leak / Davis Details Telluride

VENICE SCHEDULE LEAK

World of Reel reports that at least part of the Venice Film fest has leaked.  As frequent readers of MTFB know, there is often a fairly substantial crossover between films that screen early at Venice (the first three days) and the TFF lineup.

If the partially leaked titles and dates are correct it looks like Pablo Larrain's Maria is positioned to make the leap from Italy to Colorado as WOR says it bows in Venice on Aug. 29th.  The other film that is suggested as a possible Venice-Telluride double play is Halina Reijn's Babygirl (however, see below)  starring Nicole Kidman which is said to screen on Aug. 30th.

The reporting also indicates that, as previously reported, both Queer and The Room Next Door will be scheduled far too late to make an appearance at TFF #52.

I suspect that there will be other films that make the trip but as yet no other films screening schedule seems to have been revealed.

The complete post from World of Reel is here.

DAVIS DETAILS TELLURIDE

Variety's Clayton Davis writing on Tuesday detailed a ton of Telluride lineup info.

Here's what Davis says will be playing:

Conclave

Piece by Piece

Nickel Boys

The End 

Anora

Better Man

The Piano Lesson

Emilia Perez

Maria

The Friend

All We Imagine as Light

Misrecordia

Maybes for Telluride:

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

The Apprentice

Megalopolis

Will NOT play Telluride:

Babygirl

A Complete Unknown

Nightbitch

The Room Next Door

Pedron Paramo

Gladiator II

Here

We Live in Time

The Brutalist

Wolfs

Queer

Joker: Folie a Deux

Davis' complete article is linked here.

For more clues we now await the complete and official Venice schedule and the announcement from New York for its Centerpiece film as well as the rest of its schedule.

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Ten Bets #6 for TFF #51 / Two Go Away / Two (Maybe) Get Added / Is it Possible?

TEN BETS #6 FOR TFF #51

Well, the hints hit hard this week with the Toronto and Venice Fests announcing the bulk of their 2024 lineups.  New York also got into the act by announcing their opening night film: RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys-with its conspicuous absence of a premiere designation in the media release.  Needless to say...we know more now than we did a week ago.

Here's what the "Ten Bets" and other possibilities looked like last week:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Maria/Pablo Larrain

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

Now, here's the update:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

8) Nickel Boys/Ross

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Five Bets:

11) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

13) The Apprentice/Abassi

14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

Other possibilities:

Maria/Larrain

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975/Reitman

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Babygirl/Reijn

Separated/Morris

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

My most anticipated: Nickel Boys and Conclave.  I'd really love to see Jason Reitman's SNL 1975 make it into the lineup.

TWO GO AWAY

Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera revealed in a post-announcement interview with Deadline that both Luca Guadagnino's Queer and Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door will be scheduled to screen the second week of the fest.  That means we can take both of those films off the board and explains why they're no longer among the "Ten Bets" or other possibilities.

Here's the relevant comment from the Deadline post:

"DEADLINE: You said this morning that we’d have to wait into the second week of the festival to see some of the big movies…

BARBERA: Yes, it was a matter of timing and schedules. The Almodóvar, Joker and Queer will be in the second half of the festival. Joker 2 will most likely be on Wednesday, for example."

The complete Deadline interview is here.

TWO (MAYBE) GET ADDED

I went through about a four hour period on Tuesday about two films that had "going to Telluride" buzz.  I wasn't quite ready to jump in and add them but Jordan Ruimy, following some of the same buzz posted this yesterday at his World of Reel website:

"I can confirm that Ali Abassi’s “The Apprentice” will be having its North American premiere at Telluride. The Donald Trump biopic still has no U.S. distribution, although a deal is on the table with Briarcliffe Entertainment — you can read more about this story here."

Later in the post Ruimy writes:

"Meanwhile, Jason Reitman’s “SNL 1975,” which recounts the 24 hours leading up to the premiere of the first Saturday Night Live episode, is close to being added to the Telluride lineup as a world premiere."

Sooo...The Apprentice from Ali Abassi and possibly SNL 1975 from Jason Reitman on their way to the San Juans?

Here's Ruimy's complete rundown on the Telluride lineup.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Searchlight has dropped a teaser for its Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.  Indiewire reports that the film has been dated for a December release.  Here's the teaser:

Searchlight has looked like it probably wouldn't be represented this year at TFF since the announcement that Nightbitch was World Premiering at Toronto.  I'd really all but written off anything else (see my post from June 17th).

Sooo...could this be ready?  Searchlight has a long history with Telluride and writer/director James Mangold screened Walk the Line and Ford v. Ferrari at past fests.

Then there's this from Scott Menzel of We Live Entertainment posting on X yesterday:

Do I think it could happen?  It would be an incredibly fast turnaround.  If IMDb Pro is to be believed, the film was largely shot in 2023 and had an additional nine days of shooting in early to mid June of this year.  

So, again, do I think it could happen?  Not really, but....what if it did?

And, by the way, I love the teaser.

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MTFB SPECIAL: News from Toronto, New York and Venice

MTFB SPECIAL: NEWS FRO TORONTO, NEW YORK AND VENICE

TORONTO

Based on premiere designations with the big announcement yesterday of Galas and Special Presentations, I believe we conclude that these films will be screening at TFF #51:

Anora

Conclave

Emilia Perez

The End 

The Piano Lesson

All We Imagine as Light

Misrecordia

Better Man

Don't Let's Go to the Dog's Tonight

Piece by Piece

The Friend

It also looks like these films, which I have had as a "Bet" or a possibility will not be at T-ride:

Bird*

Oh, Canada

Hard Truths

I'm Still Here

* A note here on Bird.  TIFF.net posted on X that it's a Canadian Premiere but its info page at the TIFF website says North American.  I tend to believe the website.  Thanks to an eagled-eyed reader for pointing out the inconsistency.

From X:

From TIFF.net:

            

 

and...

TIFF will still be naming other titles for specific sections this week.

NEW YORK

The New York Fest announced RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys will open their fest on Sept. 27th.  The actual announcement did not include any reference to the premiere status for the film which could indicate that the film could make an appearance at Telluride.  After all, if it were a World Premiere I think that NYFF would be shouting that from the rooftops.

On the other hand, the post on X from NYFF does use the word "premiering":

I don't know that it absolutely guarantees it for TFF #51, but the door is certainly open.

VENICE

As always with Venice, the inclusion of a film among their announced titles doesn't guarantee a Telluride play but also doesn't preclude one. So Venice titles listed here are films that I think have a shot at playing both fests.  

The Room Next Door/Almodovar

Queer/Guadagnino

Maria/Larrain

Babygirl/Reijn

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/Rohrwacher and JR

Separated/Morris

One on One: John and Yoko/Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The real hint about what, if any, films play both fests will be when Venice posts their schedule and then we'll see what they have scheduled early enough for a film and some its entourage to get across the Atlantic in time to screen at Telluride.

The complete lists announced this morning are here.

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Conclave Has a Trailer / Ioncinema on Venice / Hard Truths Delayed / Nickel Boys to Open New York Fest

CONCLAVE HAS A TRAILER

Edward Berger's Conclave currently sits at #2 on the MTFB Ten Bets for TFF #51.  There's a lot of buzz that the film will premiere early in the Venice lineup and then hop the Atlantic to screen in Telluride.  The film stars Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.  It's set to release in the U.S. on Oct. 6th.

Here's the description from IMDb:

"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."

And here's the trailer from YouTube:

 Lots of fun here thinking about which talent might make the trip.  Fiennes seems fairly likely but it would be cool if Lithgow, Tucci and/or Rossellini also made it to town.  Also, it feels like any of the four could be potential tribute recipients, though, again, Fiennes seems the most likely to me.

Erik Anderson of Awards Watch currently has the film predicted as a Best Picture nominee.  He also has Berger as a Directing nominee, Fiennes for Best Actor, Lithgow for Supporting Actor and Rossellini for Supporting Actress.  

IONCINEMA ON VENICE

Ioncinema put up its extensive set of speculated titles for Venice (which is reportedly announcing its lineup tomorrow).  From their list, here are what seem the most likely titles to play Venice then Telluride.

I'm Still Here/Salles

Chocobar/Martel

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Maria/Larrain

Nickel Boys/Ross

Queer/Guadagnino

The Brutalist/Corbet

The Last Shopgirl/G. Coppola

The Return/Pasolini

The Room Next Door/Almodovar

Interesting that there is no mention here of Conclave.  This makes me think that the film may World Premiere at TFF #51.  On the other hand, the release of the trailer a week before the Venetian announcement could portend a World Premiere in Italy.

We'll find out more tomorrow.

HARD TRUTHS DELAYED

World of Reel reports that Bleecker Street has moved Mike Leigh's Hard Truths off of its original release date in October to Jan. 10th 2025.  The move comes after news that the Venice Film Festival  has not chosen to screen the film.

These factors don't definitively tell us anything about TFF #51 but I have to say it doesn't sound like the film is likely to make an appearance at The SHOW.

Leigh's films have been frequently been included in past Telluride lineups beginning with High Hopes in 1988 and subsequently: Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2008), Mr. Turner (2014) and Peterloo (2018).

NICKEL BOYS TO OPEN NEW YORK FEST

Just minutes ago the New York Film Festival announced that RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys will be their opening night film.  I have had Nickel Boys as a Ten Bets often in the last month and I'm not sure that this announcement changes that.  The media release does not mention the film's release status.  If I were running the P.R. I would have its World Premiere status in the announcement if that were the case.  The absence of a designation of status suggests to me that it will have screened elsewhere before Sept. 27th.

Additionally, The favourite opened NYFF after playing at Telluride, so there is precedent.

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Ten Bets #5 for TFF #51 / Conclave Reportedly to TFF and First Looks / Anora Has A Trailer / Almodovar's The Room Next Door Set for Venice

TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #51

Some movement this week primarily around the news about Edward Berger's Conclave (see below).  Here's this week's updated Ten bets for TFF.  Next week we should know more with added information from Toronto and Venice.

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Maria/Pablo Larrain

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

CONCLAVE REPORTEDLY TO TFF AND FIRST LOOKS

Jordan Ruimy writing at World of Reel reported Monday that Edward Berger's Conclave will screen at Telluride.

Here's the key line from that WOR item:

"Now, I’m hearing that “Conclave” is going to premiere at the Telluride Film Festival during the first week of September. No word yet on whether it’s a world premiere given that Venice could still be an option."

MTFB has had Conclave on each of the weekly Ten Bets lists from the initial list.

With Ruimy's reporting and Indiewire's Anne Thompson reporting that Sean Baker's Anora will also play Telluride (reported here last week).

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has released the first images of  Conclave.  Here's a couple of those:

ANORA HAS A TRAILER

Speaking of Anora, NEON dropped a first trailer this week for the Palme d'Or winning film.  Here that is from YouTube.  Fair warning, it's billed as a "Red Band" trailer.

ALMODOVAR'S THE ROOM NEXT DOOR SET FOR VENICE

Variety reported on Tuesday that Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door will screen at the Venice Film Fest.  Of course that doesn't preclude a TFF North American Premiere.  We'll see where it gets scheduled for Venice when they announce that.  If it's set to screen the first couple of days there, that would be an indicator that it could head to Telluride.

The Variety story has tells us that Mike Leigh's Hard truths is not screening at Venice.  That the film wasn't selected for either Cannes or Venice is a little concerning.

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Shelley Duvall 1949-2024 / Trailers for TFF Possibles / Bikeriders Behind the Scenes Video from Indiewire / Still Wondering...

SHELLEY DUVALL 1949-2024

It's been a pretty rough last few days with the passing of Robert Towne, Donald Sutherland and Shelley Duvall.  I didn't note the passing of Towne or Sutherland in this space because to the best of my abilities, I could not find an instance where either of those two legends attended any edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

Shelley Duvall, however, was a frequent guest of the early days of TFF.  Again, as best that I can tell, Duvall was in attendance at TFF #2 (1975), TFF #7 (1980) as the fest paid tribute to Robert Altman and screened McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud and Thieves Like Us and , finally, TFF #8 (1981).

Here's the remembrance from The Hollywood Reporter.

TRAILERS FOR TFF POSSIBLES:

EMILIA PEREZ (not in English)

THE SUBSTANCE

BIKEREADERS BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO

From Indiwire: https://twitter.com/IndieWire/status/1811430282131554513

STILL WONDERING...

News this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun starring Saorise Ronan.  I had speculated back on June 3rd that perhaps TFF might program it and couple it with Steve McQueen's Blitz.  However, with the news that Blitz would World Premiere at the London Film Fest blew that theory up.

But...with SPC picking up the film and dating it for an Oct. 4th release, maybe it still ends up at The SHOW.  Here's what I'm thinking at the moment.  The fest tributes Ronan, screens The Outrun and maybe shows clips or a scene from Blitz.

Here's the SPC acquisition story from Variety.

Oh, and just to be a tease...I got a tip from a good source that one of the Ten Bets is confirmed for Telluride.  I'm not at liberty to cite the source nor name the film but I can tell you that it has appeared on all four lists of Bets thus far.

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Ten Bets #4 for TFF #51 / Bits and Pieces / Another One Bites the Dust

TEN BETS #4 FOR TFF #51

There is a bit of movement in the Ten Bets this week.  One move is the result of Mark Cousin's winning the Crystal Globe, the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, last week.  Relatedly, I re-read the Indiewire article about that and discovered this line from its author, Anne Thompson:

"Word is, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora” (Neon) may play exclusively at Telluride, which does not announce its slate in advance..."

 

Anne Thompson is an impeccable source so that tidbit is enough for me to move Anora up even more on the Ten Bets list.

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

3) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

5) Nickel Boys/Ross

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Maria/Pablo Larrain

8) Conclave/Berger

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

ODDS AND ENDS

I've spent some time looking at the most common distributors who screen films at TFF.  To date that has included these distribs and their most likely films to be possible for Telluride:

A24: Parthenope, Babygirl, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

NEON: Anora, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The End, The Actor

Searchlight: Solitary

Sony Pictures Classics: The Room Next Door, I'm Still Here, Marcel Pagnol

Focus Features: Conclave, Piece by Piece, Nosferatu

Netflix: Emilia Perez, The Piano Lesson, Untitled Noah Baumbach

Amazon/MGM: Nickel Boys, Hedda, Long Days' Journey Into Night, Unstoppable

Over the last five fests these seven distributors have been behind a number of films that have played each year.  Here's the total number of films from all seven combined from those years (leaving out the incomplete list from the Covid canceled 2020 fest):

2023: 19

2022: 17

2021: 16

2019: 16

2018: 15

So, you can see that if recent history is a guide, anywhere between 15-20 TFF #51 titles are from these peeps.

BUT...there are also distributors that are hit and miss with Telluride but with enough history to at least take a quick glance at what they might bring to The SHOW.  That group includes:

Cohen Media Group, Janus Films, Mubi, Apple, IFC Films, Magnolia, Kino Lorber and Bleecker Street.  Among those outfits, here's what I think might have a shot to be a TFF #51 selection:

Cohen Media Group: Black Tea

Janus Films: All We Imagine as Light, Caught by the Tides

Mubi: Bird, Grand Tour, Dahomey, The Substance, The Girl with the Needle

IFC Films: Memoir of a Snail

Magnolia: Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Bleecker Street: Hard Truths, Rumours, The Return, The Wedding Banquet

I don't think we're likely to see anything from Apple (since Blitz is World Premiering in London) or Kino Lorber this year.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

On Tuesday the Toronto International Film Festival announced five more films that will World Premiere there.  Among them was John Crowley's We Live in Time which I had been listing as a TFF #51 possibility for some time.  The WP designation means that the film will not be making a stop in southwest Colorado over Labor Day weekend.

Other films announced by TIFF on Tuesday were Eden, Superboys of Malegaon, K-Pops and Shepherds.

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Checking the Distributors: Amazon & MGM / A Sudden Glimpse / Metacritic's Ranking of Best Picture Winners

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: AMAZON AND MGM

We're close to winding up our look at film distribution outfits.  Today's look is at the amalgam that is Amazon Studios, Amazon-MGM and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as those are all under the same umbrella now.  Thursday we'll do a grab bag of smaller companies some years get to TFF.

Here's what has been at Telluride from Amazon and the rest since 2016:

2023: Cassandro, Saltburn

2022: Wildcat, Good Night Oppy

2021: Encounter, A Hero

2020: All In: The Fight for Democracy

2019: The Aeronauts, The Report

2018: Peterloo, Cold War

2017: Wonderstruck

2016: Manchester by the Sea

This year the conglomerate of companies has these films in play:

Nickel Boys/Ross

Hedda/DaCosta

Long Days Journey Into Night/Kent

Unstoppable/Goldenberg (added to this list on 7/10 after a comment from a reader)

Then there's the film that you'd think was a T-ride possible but looks like it's not .  I'm talking about Rachel Morrison's The Fire Inside (Flint Strong).  Even with a pedigree that includes Barry Jenkins writing and producing, it appears it's not going to make it to the San Juans.  Jordan Ruimy writing at World of Reel on Tuesday said that the film has had a troubled production history.

So,  here are the chances for these films to make the TFF #51 lineup:

Nickel Boys 40%

Long Days Journey Into Night 25%

Unstoppable 25%

Hedda 10%

The Fire Inside 2%

A SUDDEN GLIMPSE

I had already placed Mark Cousins documentary A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things on the "possibles" list for Telluride and likely I'll bump it up into the 4th Ten Bets on Thursday in the wake of the film winning the Crystal Globe.  That's the top prize from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival just completed on Saturday.

Cousins who is a TFF "regular" and a member of the fest's "Esteemed Council of Advisors" has had a number of films over the years appear as a part of TFF lineups including: The Story of Film, The March on Rome, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock and and The Eyes of Orson Welles among others.

Here's the IMDb description of the film:

"Exploring the pivotal 1949 experience atop Switzerland's Grindelwald glacier that reshaped British modernist painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham's artistic perspective for decades to come."

You can find a complete rundown of all the award winners for KVIFF here from Indiewire.

METACRITIC'S RANKING OF BEST PICTURE WINNERS 

I ran across this list from Metacritic a couple of days ago and was curious as to where TFF films that had Best Picture ranked.  The list's oldest film is The Last Emperor from 1987.  It includes 37 films with 1988's Rain Man the lowest ranked film.  Last year's BP winner, Oppenheimer is at #9.

Here's where the 11 films that have screened at TFF and then won the Best Picture Oscar rank with their Metacritic compiled rating:

22) Slumdog Millionaire (84)

18) Argo (86)

15) The Shape of Water (87)

13) Nomadland (87)

12) Birdman (87)

11) The King's Speech (88)

10) The Artist (89)

7) Spotlight (93)

3) 12 Years a Slave (96)

2) Parasite (97)

1) Moonlight (98)

You can find the entire list here.

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Ten Bets for TFF #51-Third Edition / Blitz Goes to London / Trailer and Poster for Napoleon Restoration

TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-THIRD EDITION

Happy Independence Day to everyone!

Here's 2024's third installment of MTFB's "Ten Bets" for the Telluride Film Festival.  The big move this week is that Steve McQueen's Blitz comes off the possibilities list (see the story below).  Additionally Emilia Perez and The Room Next Door move up a couple of spots while Anora and The Seed of the Sacre Fig each drop a couple of spots. Nickel Boys moves up to #5.

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

2) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

3) Anora/Sean Baker

4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

5) Nickel Boys/Ross

6) Bird/Andrea Arnold

7) Maria/Pablo Larrain

8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Conclave/Edward Berger

Other possibilities:

We Live in Time/Crowley

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

BLITZ GOES TO LONDON

(Saorise Ronan in Blitz via Apple)

Apple+ and the BFI London Film Festival announced on Monday that Steve McQueen's Blitz will World Premiere as the Opening Night Film. Assuming that the premiere designation is accurate that means that the film will not play Telluride nor Venice and Toronto.

I had written here on the blog on May 30th that:

"I'd reallllly...love for Blitz to get to TFF and McQueen has a solid past with the fest, but...given the story is about the blitz of London by the Nazis in WWII, I can see McQueen wanting to hold the World Premiere as a part of the London Film Fest in October."

Looks like I was spot on.

Now, Ioncinema posted this on X Monday:

"BLITZ could still premiere in Telluride ... but chances are indeed low." and "Telluride has "grabbed" world premiere status titles away from other fests before. It's unlikely, but could happen."

And that's true as far as it goes but since Toronto started announcing what they call "honest" premiere designations, the occurrence of a film being designated as a World Premiere somewhere else but still playing at T-ride has become almost non-existent.

Here are the details from The Hollywood Reporter.

TRAILER AND POSTER FOR NAPOLEON RESTORATION

Ever since Cannes screened the newly renovated version of Abel Gance's Napoleon I have thought there was a real chance that the film (now nearly seven hours long!) could be a part of the TFF #51 lineup.  Now we have a new poster as well as a new trailer for the film.  You can see the poster above and here's the trailer from YouTube: 

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Checking the Distributors: Netflix / Best Films of 2024 So Far?

 CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: NETFLIX

Netflix first showed up in the Telluride lineup in 2015 with Beasts of No nation and Winter on Fire.  Since then the streamer/producer has been a sturdy presence at TFF.  Here's their titles that have made an appearance at T-ride:

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

2022: Bardo, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Sr., The Wonder

2023: El Conde, Nyad, Rustin

The Netflix run has included major Oscar players such as Roma, The Power of the Dog and Marriage Story.

This year the Netflix larder of films that feel TFF-like seems thinner than most recent years.

The most likely title to make it to TFF #51 is Jacques Audiard's Cannes award (the Jury Award and a collective Best Actress award for the four main players) winner Emilia Perez.  Audiard has been represented at Telluride in the past but its been awhile.  SHOW passholders saw A Prophet in 2009 and Rust and Bone in 2012. 

Also in play is Malcolm Washington's filmed adaptation of the August Wilson stage play The Piano Lesson starring Samuel l. Jackson and John David Washington.

And there's a very outside shot that Noah Baumbach's latest might be ready for screening and should that happen it would be something we'd have to take very seriously for TFF #51.  IMDb reports that the film has been in post-production since early May.  Not much is known as the plot has been kept under wraps but the cast is stacked with George Clooney, Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Emily Mortimer (who co-wrote the screenplay) and Greta Gerwig.

Chances:

Emilia Perez 50%

The Piano Lesson 25%

Untitled Baumbach 10%...mostly because it's just not likely to be ready in time.

BEST FILMS OF 2024 SO FAR?

I was invited to participate in World of Reel's poll to determine the best films of the year as we mark the end of the first half of 2024.

Of interest, perhaps to TFF fans is that two of the top ten were TFF #50 films.  Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera landed at #8 and Jeff Nichol's The Bikeriders was at #10 (Bikeriders was on my list of five films that I submitted).

At the top of the list is Denis Villenueve's Dune Part Two.

The entire list from World of Reel is here.

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