Thursday, September 18, 2025

The People's Telluride / RIP Robert Redford 1936=2025 / New Trailer for Springsteen

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE


Running a tad late today...apologies.

Here's my compilation of film ratings from TFF attendees for TFF #52.  Respondents were asked to rate each film they saw on a 1-5 scale with 1 being not-so-good and 5 being "way good".  Over 60 attendees responded to the poll.  The traditional requirement for inclusion is that a film had to have been seen by a third of the respondents.  13 films met that criteria.  Here they are in order of their average rating:

1) Hamnet 4.55
2) Bugonia 4.37
3) Sentimental Value 4.30
4) It Was Just an Accident 4.23
5) Tuner 4.16
6) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 3.80
7) The History of Sound 3.79
8) Jay Kelly 3.78
9) Frankenstein 3.77
10) Blue Moon 3.43
11) If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 3.42
12) A Private Life 3.35
13) Ballad of a Small Player 3.22

So, essentially universal agreement between the Peeps and the Pros regarding Hamnet, Sentimental Value and It Was Just an Accident.  Pretty big differences between the two groups on Bugonia, Tuner and Frankenstein.

The Composite Telluride is coming on Monday as well as updates to all three categories all time top ten films.


RIP ROBERT REDFORD 1936-2025




Robert Redford died on Tuesday.  He was 89.  He was also a giant having amassed a bevy of great performances in great films, as well proving himself a fantastic director and producer.  And, of course, he was the founder of the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival.

He was an Oscar winner for directing Ordinary People.  He was also nominated five other times:

Producer for Ordinary People, Direction and Producer for Quiz Show and Best Actor for The Sting.

A partial list of notable films in which he acted:

Barefoot in the Park (1967)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
The Candidate (1972)
The Way We Were (1973)
The Sting (1973)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All the President's Men (1976)
The Electric Horseman (1979)
The Natural (1984)
Out of Africa (1975)
A River Runs Through It (Narrator) (1982)
The Horse Whisperer (1998)
All Is Lost (2013)

There were many more.

Direction:

Ordinary People (1980)
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
A River Runs Through It (1992)
Quiz Show (1994)
The Horse Whisperer (1998)

And others.

I was fortunate enough to catch his Q+As in 2013 for All Is Lost for which Redford received the Telluride Silver Medallion and then again in 2018 for The Old Man and the Gun.


Robert Redford at his  TFF Tribute in 2013.


Like I suspect many of you, I have spent the last couple of days re-watching some of his films: All the President's Men, A River Runs Through It, The Great Waldo Pepper.  I've got more to do.

It's really difficult to adequately describe how much of a effect he had in the film world.  As I wrote above; he was a giant.  The film industry would have been a a vastly different place without his career.  We also owe him an immense amount gratitude for his environmental activism.

As always in cases like this, we are lucky to have his body of work to remind us of his greatness.


NEW TRAILER FOR SPRINGSTEEN

We have a new trailer released for Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.  Here it is from YouTube:







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Monday, September 15, 2025

The Professional's Telluride / Telluride Wins Toronto / Visitations: Cooper, Mescal, Harmanus / The People's Telluride-Final Call

THE PROFESSIONAL'S TELLURDE




They're back.  It's time to reveal the results of MTFB's annual poll of film industry professionals who agreed to rate the films on a 1-5 scale and allow me then to collate and average those scores.  The pros are a mix of critics, awards experts and other industry insiders.  To make the list this year a film had to be rated by at least half of the Pros.  That threshold allowed a dozen films to make the list.

Here are the Pros for TFF #52:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Josh Bis/Seattle Film Critics Society and TheSunBreak.com
Christina Jeurling Birro/Pop Culture Confidential
Clayton Davis/Variety
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Johnson/The Awards Alchemist
Dave Karger/Turner Classic Movies
Scott Kernan/Awards Daily
Tomris Laffly/Film Critic and Journalist
Joey Magidson/Awards Radar
Ryan McQuade/Awards Watch
Will Mavity/Next Best Picture
Clarence Moye/The Contending
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Chris Willman/Variety
Anonymous


And here are your Professionals average ratings:

1) Hamnet 4.64
2) Sentimental Value 4.49
3) It Was Just an Accident 4.35
4) Jay Kelly 4.01
5) The History of Sound 3.88
6) Nouvelle Vague 3.76
7) Blue Moon 3.69
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 3.50
9) Bugonia 3.48
10) Tuner 3.14
11) Ballad of a Small Player 2.89
12) Frankenstein 2.87

Just missing out on making the list because they were one pro shy of the threshold were The Secret Agent, La Grazia and A Private Life.

Historically, Hamnet's 4.64 will put it in the Professionals all time top ten at #7 and because there is a tie for the 10th spot, no film drops out of this top ten.

New all time PROs Top Ten Films

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16) (Won Best Picture)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19) (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (4.73) (18) (Nominated Best Picture)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14) (Won Best Picture)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13) (Won Best Picture)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Hamnet (4.64) (25)
8) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
9) La La Land (4.58) (16) (Nominated Best Picture)
10) Poor Things (4.53) (23) (Nominated Best Picture)
10) Anora (4.53) (24) (Won Best Picture)


TELLURIDE WINS TORONTO




The Toronto International Film festival's People's Choice Award for 2025 was won by Chloe Zhao's Hamnet.  Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein was second and Rian Johnson's Wake Up Dead Man took third.

As you can see above, Hamnet scored well with the Professionals at Telluride and we'll reveal The People's Telluride results on Thursday.


VISITATIONS








THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-FINAL CALL




This is the final call for film ratings from The People.  You folks who watched films at TFF #52.  The deadline to rate is 5:00pm PDT this evening.  Email them to me at mpgot@gmail.com.




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Thursday, September 11, 2025

Critical Consensus / Trailer and Clip: Nouvelle Vauge and History of Sound / Visitations: Buckley, Mescal, Roher / The People's Telluride #13

 CRITICAL CONSENSUS



I am posting Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes scores as of yesterday for many TFF #52 films:


Ballad of a Small Player     MC: 51     RT: 69    Combo: 120
Blue Moon                          MC: 78     RT: 97    Combo: 175
Bugonia                               MC: 74     RT: 92    Combo: 166
Frankenstein                        MC: 75     RT: 80    Combo: 155
Hamnet                                MC: 88     RT: 89    Combo: 177
The History of Sound          MC: 62     RT: 66    Combo: 128
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You    MC: 82     RT: 93    Combo: 175
It Was Just an Accident       MC: 88     RT: 98     Combo: 186
Jay Kelly                             MC: 66    RT: 86     Combo: 152
La Grazia                             MC: 69    RT: 76     Combo: 145   
The Mastermind                  MC: 79     RT: 89    Combo: 168
Nouvelle Vague                   MC: 72     RT: 88    Combo: 160
Pillion                                  MC: 85     RT: 100  Combo: 185
A Private Life                      MC: 66     RT: 69    Combo: 135
The Secret Agent                 MC: 87     RT: 100  Combo: 187
Sentimental Value:               MC: 89    RT: 95     Combo: 184
Spingsteen: Deliver Me...    MC: 69    RT: 100   Combo: 169


And ordered by combined Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes score:


1) The Secret Agent: 187
2) It Was Just an Accident: 186
3) Pillion: 185
4) Sentimental Value: 184
5) Hamnet: 177 
6) If I Had Legs I'd Kick You: 175 (tie)
6) Blue Moon: 175 (tie)
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere: 169
9) The Mastermind: 168
10) Bugonia: 166
11) Nouvelle Vague: 160
12) Frankenstein : 155
13) Jay Kelly: 152
14) La Grazia: 145
15) A Private Life: 135
16) The History of Sound: 128
17) Ballad of a Small Player: 120     

I'll have my own set of Professionals deliver their verdict in Monday's post.

TRAILER AND CLIP

From YouTube:

Trailer for Nouvelle Vague:



Clip from The History of Sound:



 VISITATIONS









THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE #13




You've have a few days left to get your ratings in for The People's Telluride.  At the moment we're at about half the respondents (maybe a bit more) that normally participate each year.  Additionally, the Pros are doing their part and I plan to have the The Professionals ratings up a week from today.

Again, email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.




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Monday, September 8, 2025

The People's Telluride / Many Trailers / The Film Stage's 50 Films

 THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE


You've got a week left to get your ratings in for The People's Telluride.  At the moment we're at about half the respondents (maybe a bit more) that normally participate each year.  Additionally, the Pros are doing their part and I plan to have the The Professionals ratings up a week from today.

Again, email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.


MANY TRAILERS

During and after the fest there were a number of teasers/trailers released for TFF #52 films.  Here are some of those from YouTube:

MEGADOC



THE SECRET AGENT


BUGONIA




HAMNET




URCHIN




THE FILM STAGE'S 50 FILMS




The Film Stage published a list of 50 films to see this fall along with their release dates.  As you might expect a number of TFF #52 films made the list.  Here are those that did in chronological order:

The History of Sound 9/12
Megadoc 9/19
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 10/10
Urchin 10/10
It Was Just an Accident 10/15
Ballad of a Small Player 10/15
Blue Moon 10/17
The Mastermind 10/17
Frankenstein 10/17
Bugonia 10/24
Nouvelle Vague 10/31
Sentimental Value 11/7
Jay Kelly 11/14
The Secret Agent 11/26
Hamnet 11/27

Included as "Other films to see" are:

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 10/24
La Grazia 12/5




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Thursday, September 4, 2025

Reminder: The People's Telluride / MTFB and the Bets / Fewest Films Ever

REMINDER: THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE




Well Friends...

It is time.  If you haven't already sent in your ratings for TFF #51 films that you saw, now's the time.  A reminder about the process.  Email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale.  1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific.  Decimals are fine.

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.


MTFB AND THE BETS




MTFB went 23/25 on the "Final Bets"  missing on the inclusion of  The Young Mothers' Home and Resurrection.  Also, I had only one "possible" that made the lineup and that was Megadoc.

"Bets" I was proud about making predictions for:

*Blue Moon and A Private Life and predicting them despite contradictory premiere designations.
*Urchin which I snuck in at the last minute.
  
As I have alluded to, this year seemed to be the toughest to crack in a long, long time.

Statistically, this year was my least successful since I started doing the expanded "Final Bets" back in 2016.

2024: 25 0f 25
2023: 24 of 25
2022: 24 of 25
2021: 24 of 25
2020: No fest
2019: 24 of 25
2018: 25 of 25
2017: 24 of 25
2016: 20 of 20

Additionally, the first stab at "Bets" back in June was fairly successful going 7 of 10.  The films that screened that appeared on my very first "Bets" are in Bold below:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
2) Blue Moon/Linklater
3) Bugonia/Lanthimos
4) The Love That Remains/Palmason
5) Sentimental Value/Trier
6) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardennes
7) The Secret Agent/Filho
8) Hamnet/Zhao
9) Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper
10) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

Here's the track record of initial bets going back to 2011:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10
2017: 7/10
2018: 5/10
2019: 4/10
2020: No fest
2021: 8/10
2022: 6/10
2023: 6/10
2024: 7/10
2025: 8/10 

The puts the average at 6.0  correct guesses per year.


FEWEST FILMS EVER



Through a series of events (such as missing all of Monday) I saw fewer films this year than any year since I started coming back in 2006.

Hamnet 5/5
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 5/5
Jay Kelly: 4/5
Blue Moon 3/5

That's it.





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Sunday, August 31, 2025

TBAs for Monday

TBA'S FOR MONDAY

GALAXY 

4:15pm Frankenstein


THE ZOG

4:00pm If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

6:45pm Blue Moon


SHERIDAN OPERA HOUSE

6:45pm The Cycle of Love


MASONS HALL

6:30pm Highway 99 A Double Album


LA PIERRE

1:40pm Student Prints

6:15pm All That's Left of You


BACKLOT

1:15pm King Hamlet

3:00pm Bend in the River

4:45pm Chaplin: Spirit of the Times


Saturday, August 30, 2025

TBAs for Sunday

TBA'S FOR SUNDAY

The Zog: Frankenstein 9:30 pm

The Palm: Frankenstein 10:00 pm

Sheridan Opera House: H Is for Hawk10:15 pm 

Mason's Hall: Megadoc 10:30 pm 

TBAs for Saturday

 TBA's FOR SATURDAY

At the Zog at 10:00pm-Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

At the La Pierre at 8:45pm- All That's Left of You

Thursday, August 28, 2025

The TFF #52 Lineup Revealed

 “A Private Life” (d. Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2025)

“Ask E. Jean” (d. Ivy Meeropol, U.S., 2025)

“Ballad of a Small Player” (d. Edward Berger, Hong Kong/Macau, 2025)

“Blue Moon” (d. Richard Linklater, U.S./Ireland, 2025)

“Bugonia” (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.K., 2025)

“Cover-Up” (d. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, U.S., 2025)

“Everywhere Man: The Lives and Times of Peter Asher” (d. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, U.S./U.K., 2025)

“Ghost Elephants” (d. Werner Herzog, Angola/Namibia/U.S., 2025)

“H Is for Hawk” (d. Philippa Lowthorpe, U.K./U.S., 2025)

“Hamlet” (d. Aneil Karia, U.K., 2025)

“Hamnet” (d. Chloé Zhao, U.K., 2025)

“Highway 99: A Double Album” (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2025)

“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (d. Mary Bronstein, U.S., 2025)

“It Was Just an Accident” (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg, 2025)

“Jay Kelly” (d. Noah Baumbach, Italy/U.K./U.S., 2025)

“Karl” (d. Nick Hooker, U.K., 2025)

“La Grazia” (d. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2025)

“Lost in the Jungle” (d. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Juan Camilo Cruz, U.S./Colombia, 2025)

“Lumière, le Cinéma” (d. Thierry Frémaux, France, 2024)

“Man on the Run” (d. Morgan Neville, U.S., 2025)

“Nouvelle Vague” (d. Richard Linklater, France, 2025)

“Pillion” (d. Harry Lighton, U.K., 2025)

“Sentimental Value” (d. Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark/Germany, 2025)

“Shifty” (d. Adam Curtis, U.K., 2025)

“Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2025)

“Summer Tour” (d. Mischa Richter, U.S., 2025)

“The American Revolution” (d. Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt, U.S., 2025)

“The Bend in the River” (d. Robb Moss, U.S., 2025)

“The Cycle of Love” (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K./India/Sweden, 2025)

“The History of Sound” (d. Oliver Hermanus, U.S., 2025)

“The Mastermind” (d. Kelly Reichardt, U.S., 2025)

“The New Yorker at 100” (d. Marshall Curry, U.S., 2025)

“The Reserve” (d. Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Mexico/Qatar, 2025)

“The Secret Agent” (d. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany, 2025)

“This Is Not a Drill” (d. Oren Jacoby, U.S., 2025)

“Tuner” (d. Daniel Roher, U.S./Canada, 2025)

“Urchin” (d. Harris Dickinson, U.K., 2025)

Short Films – The SHOW


“Last Days on Lake Trinity” (d. Charlotte Cooley, U.S., 2025)

“Sallie’s Ashes” (d. Brennan Robideaux, U.S., 2025)

“Song of My City” (d. David C. Roberts, U.S., 2025)

“All the Empty Rooms” (d. Joshua Seftel, U.S., 2025)

“All the Walls Came Down” (d. Ondi Timoner, U.S., 2025)

Backlot Screenings


“All I Had Was Nothingness” (d. Guillaume Ribot, France, 2025)

“Carol & Joy” (d. Nathan Silver, U.S., 2025)

“Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp” (d. Carmen Chaplin, Spain/U.K./Netherlands, 2024)

“Earth to Michael” (d. Nico López-Alegría, U.S., 2025)

“Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire” (d. Oren Rudavsky, U.S., 2024)

“King Hamlet” (d. Elvira Lind, U.S./Denmark, 2025)

“Megadoc” (d. Mike Figgis, U.S./U.K., 2025)

“Shooting” (d. Netalie Braun, Israel, 2025)

“The Golden Spurtle” (d. Constantine Costi, U.K./Australia, 2025)

“Their Eyes” (d. Nicolas Gourault, France, 2025)

Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. The Conversations series, sponsored by Indian Paintbrush, is devoted to cinema and culture. The outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public.


Special Screenings and Festivities


“Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D 2025: Restoration and Recreation” (d. Werner Herzog, France/Canada/U.S./U.K./Germany, 2010)

“Learning to Fly” (d. Max Lowe, U.S./France/Switzerland/Italy/China/Hong Kong, 2025)

“The New Yorker at 100: A Gallery Exhibition,” a curation of cinema-inspired cover art and cartoons from The New Yorker’s iconic archives

“Steal This Story, Please!” (d. Carl Dean, Tia Lessin, U.S., 2025)

4K Restoration of “The Gold Rush” (d. Charles Chaplin, U.S., 1925)

Festival Poster Signing with Daniel Clowes

Truth Be Told: Journalism and Filmmaking in the 21st Century, a Special Panel presented by Turner Classic Movies

Telluride Film Festival’s Education Programs present students with the opportunity to experience film as an art form and to expand participants’ worldviews through film screenings and filmmaker discussions, including:

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

FINAL BETS FOR TFF #52 / Telluride Reveals Free Screenings ( and its Guest Director)

 FINAL BETS FOR TFF #52



Here they are.  MTFB's Final stab at what Telluride will unveil tomorrow.  As I wrote on Monday...I'm not as solid as I'd like to be about this year's "Bets".  Nevertheless, here we go:


1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Bugonia/Lanthimos
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 
11) Tuner/Roher
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
16) Pillion/Lighton
17) La Grazia/Sorrentino
18) Resurrection/Bi Gan
19) Blue Moon/Linklater
20) The American Revolution/Burns
21) Merle Haggard: Highway 99/Hawke
22) Secret Oscar Isaac Documentary/??? (Turns out it's King Hamlet)
23) The Young Mother's Home/Dardennes Brothers
24) A Private Life/Zlotowski
25) Urchin/Dickinson


Other possibilities: All That's Left of You, Barrio Triste, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams, Pluribus, The Savant.


Now, I'm hitting the road!  See you in The Ride!



TELLURIDE REVEALS FREE SCREENINGS (AND ITS GUEST DIRECTOR)

The Telluride Daily Planet published a flyer today that reveals some screenings as well as the choices of films to screen from Guest Director Ezra Edelman:

The flyer confirms the Merle Haggard documentary (#21 on the Final Bets) and Ken Burns American Revolution (#20 on the Final Bets).  Also Adam Curtis' five part documentary Shifty and Paul Phelan's doc Learning to Fly.





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Monday, August 25, 2025

Leaving Wednesday / Tribute Clues / The Mastermind Has a Trailer and a Poster / Blue Moon Madness / Documentary Hints / The 13th People's Telluride


LEAVING WEDNESDAY




Yup.  Leaving Wednesday.  I will post MTFB's Final Bets for TFF #52 on  Wednesday morning.  Then, as has been our custom, we'll drive to Salida on Wednesday.  We'll complete the drive to Telluride on Thursday after the official lineup is announced and I've posted it here. 

I have to tell you that this has been one of the more difficult years to crack and I am less than confident about the films that will be on The Final Bets  in a couple of days.


TRIBUTE CLUES

Telluride film fans have known for some time that the films screened at the Abel Gance outdoor theater on the last couple of evenings before the Festival begins are often clues to possible Tribute recipients.  Last year, for example, the free screenings were After Hours and Lady Bird.  They pointed to tributes for Thelma Schoonmaker and Saorise Ronan.  The third tribute last year was for Jacques Audiard...which neither free screening pointed to.

So what does the free screenings for this year portend?



Before Sunshine...Richard Linklater or Ethan Hawke or possibly both.  Linklater almost certainly be in Telluride with Nouvelle Vague and possibly Blue Moon.  Hawke may be in town with Blue Moon and/or with a documentary discussed below.

The Squid and the Whale almost certainly means Noah Baumbach is getting a Silver Medallion as well.  

As to the third tribute?  My best guesses would be Chloe Zhao (who I believe would have been tributes in 2020 had the fest occurred), Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Farrell, Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Jesse Plemons, Scott Cooper or Kelly Reichardt.  It could also be a behind the camera honoree as Schoonmaker was last year.


THE MASTERMIND HAS A TRAILER AND A POSTER

From YouTube, here's the trailer:



And the poster:




I enjoyed the trailer and might be enough for me to put The Mastermind on my list for this weekend.


BLUE MOON MADNESS

It's real and it continues.  After my last post a helpful reader pointed me towards the Calabasas Film Festival which will be screening Blue Moon during its run from Sept. 17-22.  I looked it up...it's true. Here's a pic from the Calabasas Fest's home page:




That would explain the "disconnect" between Toronto and New York premiere designations and mean no Blue Moon at Telluride.  I'll tell you, though, I still think that Blue Moon might make an appearance at TFF #52.  Hope it does.


DOCUMENTARY HINTS

Last post you might have seen the section that mentions Oscar Isaac slipping in a visit to Telluride this weekend between screenings in Venice per Variety.  He's reported to be headed our way to support a mysterious documentary.  Try as I might, I haven't unearthed what it is.  

Since the last post I have also stumbled across a mention on social media of a probable documentary focused on Country and Western music legend Merle Haggard.  After some digging that would likely be a film that, at least as reported by a California TV News program, would be "Merle Haggard: Highway 99" and has been directed by Ethan Hawke.

Don't bother looking for it on IMDb.  It's not there.

I do have the video that ran at station KGET of Bakersfield, CA:




HE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION



For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com





Thursday, August 21, 2025

Ten Bets (Plus)#10 for TFF #52 / Mystery Doc to Play Telluride / Cleaning Up Some Weirdness / Who Could Be at TFF #52? / Awards Watch Pod is All T-ride This Week / Trailers: Ballad of a Small Player and The History of Sound / the 13th People's Telluride

TEN BETS (PLUS) FOR TFF #52



We really are getting down to it.  Eight more days and the 52nd Telluride Film Festival opens.  So here's the penultimate set of "Bets" for what may play at TFF #52.  First, a recap of last week's "Bets":


1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 
11) Bugonia/Lanthimos
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
16) Pillion
17) La Grazia
18) Resurrection
19) Nuestra Tierra
20) Blue Moon



Other possibilities: A Private Life, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

This week' Ten Bets (Plus):

1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Bugonia/Lanthimos
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 
11) Tuner/Roher
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
16) Pillion/Lighton
17) La Grazia/Sorrentino
18) Resurrection/Bi Gan
19) Blue Moon/Linklater
20) A Private Life/Zlotowski


Other possibilities: Secret Documentary with Oscar Isaac, Barrio Triste, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

The Final Bets will be published next Wednesday in a Special Post!!!


MYSTERY DOC TO PLAY TELLURIDE




I've certainly been bemoaning the fact that Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein isn't indicated for Telluride.  Toronto has it listed as a North American premiere.  But it seems that at least one of members of that cast will make the trek from its Venetian World premiere to Telluride and that is none other than Dr. Frankenstein himself, Oscar Isaac.

How do we know this?  Variety had a huge, splashy piece on Frankenstein up yesterday with .  The piece includes interview responses from Del Toro, Isaac and Jacob Elordi who plays the monster.  Included in the story is this nugget:

"After the Venice gala, Isaac will fly to Telluride to screen a secret documentary that involves him. Then he travels back to Venice for the debut of “In the Hand of Dante,” a mob drama directed by Julian Schnabel."

A secret documentary?  Yes, it is.  I can't find a peep about it and I spent some time digging.

So, as you'll see above in the Ten Bets section, I've added that to the list of "Possibilities" and I'm very interested to find out what the story is here.



CLEANING UP SOME WEIRDNESS




In my last post I had a section describing some disconnects between  premiere designations between Toronto and New York.  Some of that has been explained.

A friendly reader pointed me toward the Camden International Film Festival which runs the weekend after Telluride so that also means before New York (Sept. 26-Oct. 13) and its lineup explains what seems to be the contradiction between the two film fest's designation. Three films in question will be playing Camden: Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence.  Camden lists Nuestra Tierra and With Hasan in Gaza as U.S. premieres and Evidence as a North American premiere.  That clears up what looked like a disconnect between  the Toronto and New York designations and means none of those films are likely playing at Telluride.

Meanwhile Sirat, another film with a TIFF/NYFF contradiction has been announced by Fantastic Fest (Sept. 18-25) as a U.S. premiere so the same logic applies and it looks like Sirat is definitively off the TFF#52 list.

That leaves Blue Moon, A Private Life and Barrio Triste as still unexplained TIFF/NYFF contradictory designations.  Of the three it feels to me like Blue Moon is the most likely to play Telluride then A Private Life and lastly, Barrio Triste.



WHO COULD BE AT TFF #52?




Hamnet: Chloe Zhao, Paul Mescal, Jesse Buckley, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn
Sentimental Value: Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Reinsve, Elle Fanning
The Ballad of a Small Player: Edward Berger, Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton
Nouvelle Vague: Richard Linklater, Zoe Deutch
Tuner: Daniel Roher, Dustin Hoffman
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere: Scott Cooper, Jeremy Allen White, Paul Walter Hauser, Jeremy Strong, Stephen Graham (and in a perfect world, the Boss himself)
The History of Sound: Oliver Hermanus, Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor, Chis Cooper
Jay Kelly: Noah Baumbach, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig
Bugonia: Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
The Mastermind: Kelly Reichardt, John Magaro, Josh O'Connor, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Gaby Hoffman
Hamlet: Riz Ahmed, Joe Alwyn, Timothy Spall
Pillion: Henry Lighton, Alexander Skarsgard, Henry Melling
Blue Moon: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Canavalle
Secret Documentary: Oscar Isaac

Others from among the "Possibles" list:

Jodie Foster
Jennifer Lawrence
Robert Pattinson
Zendaya
Amy Adams
Anne Hathaway
Kate Mara
Rooney Mara
Orlando Bloom
Joel Edgerton
Felicity Jones


AWARDS WATCH PODCAST IS ALL T-RIDE THIS WEEK




Awards Watch gathered about half a dozen folks who will all be attending TFF for their podcast this week so the focus is all about predicting films and potential Tribute recipients.  It's interesting.  They've got a title or two that I don't currently have and a slew of guesses about Silver Medallions.    Take a listen if you're so inclined:



TRAILERS: 

THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER



THE HISTORY OF SOUND




THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION



For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will by Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

Monday, August 18, 2025

It Was Just an Accident: Poster and Trailer / Guest Director Anyone? / New York and Toronto Re-visit / The 13th People's Telluride

 IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT: POPSTER AND TRAILER

11 days and counting to TFF #52.  As the fest approaches Neon released both a poster and a trailer for Jafar Panahi's Plame d'Or winner , It Was Just an Accident.  I've had  it on my Ten Bets list throughout the summer.  Last week's "Bets" had the film listed as the #2 Best Bet.  The film is described at IMDb  as this:

A small mishap triggers a chain reaction of ever-growing problems.

Fairly cryptic, eh?

The film opens in the U.S. on Oct 15th.

Here's the poster:


And the trailer from YouTube:




GUEST DIRECTOR ANYONE?




So it seems that TFF has established something of a new protocol about Guest Directors going forward.  for the third consecutive year the fest is down to the wire without having named a Guest Director.  as I wrote last year about this topic, for the past few years the fest announced the Guest Director usually in the third week of June.  But for TFF #50 and #51, they did not announce them until the big reveal of official film titles on the Thursday before the festival began.

Last year, that was the timing for the reveal of Kenneth Lonergan as Guest Director and for TFF #50 the announcement of multiple Guest Directors was also revealed the day before the fest.

So...I'm beginning to think that becomes the new normal.

Maybe we find out earlier, but I have my doubts.



NEW YORK AND TORONTO RE-VISIT


Poster for Sirat (which might still be in play for Telluride-see below)



I wrote last week about the premiere designations confusion that exists for three films announced for both the New York Fest and Toronto.  So, I thought I'd wander back to both festival's official online lineups to see if either fest had altered the premiere designations for any of the three films;

Landmarks: No change.
Blue Moon: No change.
A Private Life: No change.
 
Again all three films are listed as North American premieres by TIFF and as New York premieres for NYFF.  NYFF designating them as New York premieres is the real oddity.  It seems to me that if they're doing the North American premiere at Toronto then New York should have deemed them as U.S. premieres.

But there's more.  I went through all 18 non-revival films that New York labels as U.S. premieres and the 22 that they label as New York premieres and found that Sirat and Barrio Triste also are listed in the same weird and contradictory way as Blue Moon, Landmarks and A Private Life.  So, perhaps those two films are also actually still possible for Telluride.

Finally, a couple of other films are listed by NYFF as New York premieres and I can't detect why.  They are With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence.


THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION



For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com