Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
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
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.
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:
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
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
New info earlier this week from announcements coming from the New York Film Fest and the Toronto International Film Festival inform this week's Ten Bets. New York's Spotlight section announcements seem to confirm that La Grazia and Pillion are headed to Telluride.
What will NOT be playing Telluride as it will World Premiere at New York id the return of Daniel Day-Lewis to film acting in Anemone.
Confusion was created when New York also listed Blue Moon and A Private Life as "New York" premieres as opposed to a "U.S." premiere designation. Much like Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) last week, that designation puts those film at odds with their "North American" premiere designations from TIFF. Both designations can't be true. Consequently I'll be putting both A Private Life as well as Blue Moon back on the list.
Toronto announced half a dozen new films and dropped their schedule on Tuesday. The six films didn't reveal any Telluride possibilities but did confirm that No Other Choice and The Wizard of the Kremlin are not T-ride players.
By way of recap, here's last week's Ten Bets (Plus):
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) The 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
Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.
And this week's goes like this:
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.
NEW YORK SPOTLIGHT CLUES AND CONFUSIONS
Last Tuesday the New York Film Festival revealed their Spotlight section films and those reveals and their premiere designations provide us Telluride watchers with some clues.
First, the bad news... the Daniel Day-Lewis coming-out-of-acting-retirement film Anemone was announced as a NYFF World premiere...meaning no Telluride.
Some good news... from their designations as New York premieres it looks like Pillion and La Grazia are almost certainly Telluride bound. La Grazia is opening Venice so has time to get to Telluride.
Some confusion: Blue Moon and A Private Life were also listed as New York premieres which is a curious designation as those two films were announced by Toronto as Nort American premieres. Both things cannot be true. If the Toronto designation is correct then no Telluride for either film. If the New York designation is trye that would signify a Telluride play as NYFF would almost assuredly have designated them as U.S. premieres if they were not playing Telluride. That's illustrated by the U.S. premiere designation for Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. For now, I'm back to cautious optimism about both films for Labor Day.
Some confirmations... Nouvelle Vague announced as a NY preem confirms for Telluride.
A couple of other notes...documentaries about Martin Scorsese and Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller are labelled World premieres so no Telluride for either. I thought the Scorsese doc was a real possibility.
Early in the week there was quite a bit of scuttlebutt that Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme might be showing up at a "fall fest" after all. There was a good deal of speculation about what fest that might be. With Toronto and New York purportedly done announcing films the likely culprits would be Telluride, New York or AFI.
Now, I was really hoping that might mean a landing at TFF #52 but replying to a query on X I expressed that it was my belief that the odds were 3-1 in New York's favor. That estimate seems to have been born out. According to World of Reel on Wednesday, if it is to happen it will be at NYFF.
FIRST PHOTO FROM HAMNET
We're 99% sure Chloe Zhao's Hamnet will bow at TFF #52. Tuesday we got our first official image from the film that stars Paul Mescal and Jesse Buckley. Here that is:
The IMDb description for Hamnet:
The story of Agnes - the wife of William Shakespeare - as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. A human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet.
Hamnet is set for a limited opening on Nov. 27th.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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Just announced this morning after the blog's post time, the New York Film Festival has added Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to its lineup as a Spotlight Gala. Noteworthy is that the language of the press release refers to it as a premiere but does NOT indicate what level of premiere.
I have also been told that the original release may have suggested that it was a World premiere but that has been scrubbed for the current language.
All of this tends to support the notion that the film will, in fact bow initially at Telluride.
Here's the link to the NYFF announcement in its current form:
We haven't heard much about Lynne Ramsay and Die, My Love since Cannes. But now, over the weekend, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel sourcing from Screen Daily suggests that Ramsay has been re-editing the film since Cannes. Ruimy also reminds us that the same scenario occurred when Ramsay screened We Need to Talk About Kevin at Cannes in 2011 and then worked on further editing it afterwards. Of course that film went on to screen at Telluride.
Ruimy even suggests that a repeat of that scenario is not completely out of the question writing:
"IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast seems to now be hinting that Ramsay went back to the editing room after Cannes to further shape “Die, My Love,” which might potentially explain its absence at the fall fests — although I still wouldn’t rule out a Telluride appearance."
GOLD DERBY OSCAR RANKINGS FOR WHAT WE THINK IS HEADED TO TFF #52
As many of you readers know, when the fest concludes on Sept. 1st and this space will then become focused on the awards season fortunes of the films that make up the TFF #52 lineup. So I took a look at how the experts at Gold Derby had rated some of the films that we think may play T-ride in a few weeks. Here's where they sit:
#3 Sentimental Value
#4 Jay Kelly
#7 Bugonia
#8 Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
#13 It Was Just an Accident
#15 Hamnet
#21 The Ballad of Small Player
#35 The History of Sound
#39 The Mastermind
#47 The Secret Agent
#48 Nouvelle Vague
If the Gold Derby experts are correct TFF #52 would have four films get Oscar nominated for Best Picture.
Lots of information flying around earlier this week from Toronto and New York allows us to clean up the Ten Bets as well as "possibilities". By way of review, here's last week's Ten Bets:
This week's new Ten 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
Other possibilities: Bugonia, Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, The Drama, Pillion, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Train Dreams.
Now, in light of the week's info...the new Ten Bets (Plus):
This week's new 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) 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
Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.
I was shocked that Blue Moon was announced by Toronto as a North American Premiere. I would have bet actual money that it was going to be at Telluride. I was almost as certain that The Love That Remains would also make it to TFF#52 but it was also announced as a TIFF North American premiere.
Here's the list of films that I had been T-ride watching which got nuked for TFF#52 by announcements earlier this week:
Blue Moon
The Love That Remains
Late Fame
Magellan
Mirrors #3
No Other Choice
Two Prosecutors
The President's Cake
Unidentified
Left-Handed Girl
Orphan
Orwell 2+2=5
Films that moved up the Ten Bets based on this week's information:
The Mastermind
Cover-Up
Hamlet
Resurrection
Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) is up in the air. New York says it's a NY Premiere. Toronto says it has the North American premiere. If New York is correct means probably Telluride. If Toronto is correct...no Telluride.
VENICE SCHEDULE IS UP
Early this morning the official public schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted. The schedule appears to confirm that theses films are screening early enough to make it to Colorado:
La Grazia (Opening night film)
From 8/28
Ghost Elephants
Orphan
Bugonia
Jay Kelly
Megadoc
From 8/29
Cover-Up
After the Hunt
From earlier announcements from other fests we believe that Orphan and After the Hunt are off the table for Telluride.
We're also pretty sure that this helps signal that Bugonia, Jay Kelly and Cover-Up are headed to Telluride.
Ghost Elephants...that's Werner Herzog...making me think that it's in the bag for Telluride. Megadoc? I'm not so sure. Also that could be complicated Francis Ford Coppola's health situation.
Our run through the most common film distribution firms repped at Telluride over the last nine years comes to a conclusion today with a glance at three specialty firms that have often landed a film or films at Telluride: Janus Films, Kino Lorber and a new-ish outfit called 1-2 Special.
But first a re-cap of what we've seen over the past several weeks in regards to the distributors covered so far and the status of the films we included in the assessment for each:
Netflix:
The Ballad of a Small Player -We think headed to Telluride
Jay Kelly- We think headed to Telluride after Venice.
Frankenstein - No Telluride
Left-Handed Girl -Unknown
Nouvelle Vague -We think headed to Telluride
Sony Pictures Classics:
Blue Moon -Unknown (but I like its chances)
The President's Cake-Unknown
Eleanor the Great -No Telluride
A Private Life-No Telluride
A Magnificent Life-Unknown
Unidentified-Unknown
Neon:
It Was Just an Accident-We think headed to Telluride
Sentimental Value-We think headed to Telluride
The Secret Agent-We think headed to Telluride
Sirat-No Telluride
Orwell 2+2=5-Unknown
Alpha-Unknown
A24:
Pillion-Unknown
Marty Supreme-No Telluride...no fests at all as far as we can tell
The Smashing Machine-No Telluride
Eternity-No Telluride
Searchlight:
Rental Family-No Telluride
Is This Thing On?-No Telluride
In the Blink of an Eye-Unknown
Amazon-MGM:
After the Hunt-No Telluride
Preparation for the Next Life-No Telluride-it opens on Sept. 5-so...unlikely.
The Map that Leads to You-No Telluride
Focus Features:
Hamnet-We think headed to Telluride
Bugonia-We feel it's likely headed to Telluride after Venice
The History of Sound-We think headed to Telluride
Anemone-Unlikely for Telluride
Pressure-Unknown
Song Sung Blue-Noop
Mubi:
My Father's Shadow-Unknown
Die, My Love-Unknown
The Mastermind-Unknown
La Grazia- Unknown but opening Venice means it would have time to make it to Telluride.
The other films that I'm fairly confident about are Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere which is being distributed by 20th Century and Tuner which, as far as I can tell doesn't have a U.S. distributor at present.
Now to the specialty distributors (individuals that have attended TFF in the past are designated with *):
JANUS FILMS
The Love That Remains. Dir: Hylnur Palmason* Stars: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Sverrir Gudnason. Played Cannes out of competition. Had a 7.68 cumulative rating (out of 10) on Cannes-ratings.org. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
Captures a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation. Through intimate vignettes and strange occurrences, the film explores the complexities of family, love, and the impact of shared memories.
Two Prosecutors. Dir. Sergey Loznitsa. Stars: Alexander Kuznetsov, Anatoliy Beliy. Played at Cannes in the Plame competition category and won the French Calais Prize. Had a 6.21 cumulative critical rating. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
1937: When a prisoner's letter escapes destruction, idealistic prosecutor Kornev uncovers NKVD corruption. His pursuit of justice in Stalin's USSR becomes a dangerous journey into the heart of a system devouring its own.
Resurrection. Dir. Bi Gan. Stars: Jackson Yee, Shu Qi. Played Cannes in the Plame competition category. Bi Gan was awarded a "Special Prize". The film had a stellar 7.44 average critic rating. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A woman's consciousness falls into an eternal time zone during a surgical procedure. Trapped in many dreams, she finds the corpse of an android and tries to wake him up by telling endless stories.
Magellan. Dir. Lav Diaz. Stars: Gael GarcÃa Bernal*, Ângela Azevedo. Played out of competition at Cannes. Had a solid 7.05 average critical rating. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A portrayal of Ferdinand Magellan and Beatriz Barbosa's 1517 marriage in Seville, focusing on their brief time together before his departure on the Spanish crown's expedition.
Any or all of these films might make the TFF #52 lineup. Last year Janus had two films make the TFF #51 lineup: All We Imagine as Light and Misericordia. I'm expecting them to back and it seems, at least at the moment, the most likely suspects are The Love That Remains and Magellan. For Magellan it's the presence of Gael Garcia Bernal, A T-ride regular.
KINO LORBER
Amrum. Dir. Fatih Akin. Stars: Diane Kruger, Matthias Schweighöfer. Played out of competition at Cannes and received a middling 6.37 critics average rating. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
Amrum Island, Spring 1945. In the final days of the war, 12-year-old Nanning braves the treacherous sea to hunt seals, goes fishing at night, and works the nearby farm to help his mother feed the family. Despite the hardship, life on the beautiful, windswept island almost feels like paradise. But when peace finally comes, it reveals a deeper threat: the enemy is far closer than he imagined.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk. Dir. Sepideh Farsi. Documentary. Played as part of the ACID program at Cannes. Critical average: 8.31. This average was a consensus of 89 critics and was the highest average of any film playing any section at Cannes this year. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A filmmaker connects with a Palestinian woman in Gaza who documents life under bombardment. Their 200+ days of digital exchanges, the meaning shifts after Fatem's death in an Israeli attack on 16/ April 2025.
This two films seem the only real Kino Lorber possibilities for TFF #52. I can actually see both making the lineup. KL had Riefenstahl at Telluride last year.
1-2 SPECIAL
Urchin. Dir. Harris Dickinson. Stars: Frank Dillane, Diane Axford. Played Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Frank Dillane was named Best Actor for that section. Critical average 7.16. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
Mike, a homeless person in London is struggling to break free from a cycle of self-destruction while trying to turn his life around.
Mirrors #3. Dir. Christian Petzold. Stars: Paula Beer, Phillip Froissant. Played in the Filmmakers Fortnight section at Cannes. Critical average: 7.00. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
After a car crash kills her boyfriend, piano student Laura is taken in by Betty, who witnessed the accident. Living with Betty's family brings comfort, but Laura starts questioning their intentions as time passes.
Dracula. Dir. Radu Jude. Stars: Serban Pavlu, Ilinca Manolache. Played the Lorcano Film Fest. release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A Dracula film made in Transylvania. What does it contain? A vampire hunt. Zombies and Dracula crashing a strike. A science-fiction story about Vlad the Impaler coming back. An adaptation of the first Romanian vampires novella. A love story. A montage film reusing a classic vampire film. A vulgar folktale. A.I. generated kitsch stories. And many delights in a film dealing with this cinema myth.
Kontinental '25. Dir. Radu Jude. Stars: Eszter Tompa, Ilinca Manolache. Played the Berlin Fest where it won Best Screenplay and had a 7.00 critical average. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
In the capital of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, Orsolya serves as a bailiff. She has to evict a homeless guy from a cellar one day, which has disastrous results and sets off a moral problem that Orsolya must try to resolve.
1-2 Special is new, new new so whether it gains any traction vis-a-vis a slot at Telluride is up in the air. Urchin and Mirrors #3 made enough of a splash at Cannes to make me believe that one of those and maybe both could sneak into the TFF #52 lineup.
Chances for the Janus, Kino Lorber, 1-2 Special films for a TFF screening:
The Love That Remains 65%
Magellan 50%
Amrum 50%
Urchin 50%
Mirrors #3 45%
Resurrection 40%
Two Prosecutors 40%
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk 40%
Kontinental '25 25%
Dracula 25%
BUGONIA BOOGIES TO TELLURIDE?
Well, we don't know that but...
World of Reel posted a purported leak of some of the Venice schedule. That derived from an outfit called Objective Festival (French it would appear). From that source a couple of things are interesting.
First, that website flat out claims that it's getting the info from Venice head Alberto Barbera. Here's the "schedule" that they dropped:
August 27 : La Grazia
August 28 : Bugonia, Jay Kelly, Orphan
August 29 : After the Hunt, No Other Choice
August 30 : Frankenstein
August 31 : Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, The Wizard of the Kremlin
September 1 : The Smashing Machine, The Testament of Ann Lee
September 2 : A House of Dynamite, Dead Man's Wire
September 3 : In the Hand of Dante, Duse, The Voice of Hind Rajab
September 4 : Scarlet
September 6 : Dog 51
What this means, if true, is that Bugonia, Jay Kelly and Orphan would screen early enough to make the trip from Italy to Colorado possible. Is that a confirmation for TFF #52 for all three films? No. But it means we can't write them off either. As to Bugonia, see the "Odds and Ends" below from Variety's Clayton Davis.
We were already fairly sure about Jay Kelly but this does move Bugonia and Orphan up on the possibilities list.
It further seems to confirm that we will not be seeing a number of films we already thought were not going to be at Telluride. Of particular note were some films like The Wizard of the Kremlin and In the Hand of Dante won't be Telluride bound.
Takeaways: Hamnet...yes. Bugonia...yes. Anemone and Song Sung Blue...nope.
***NOUVELLE VAGUE HAS A RELEASE DATE
Per The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg:
"Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater’s loving homage to Jean Luc-Godard’s 1960 film Breathless and the French New Wave, which received a 10-minute standing ovation and rave reviews following its world premiere at May’s Cannes Film Festival, will be released in American theaters on Oct. 31 and play on big screens for two weeks before dropping on Netflix on Nov. 14"
"Netflix picked up the film, which debuted in Cannes’ Critics’ Week section, at the festival, and IndieWire can today announce that the streamer will bolster the film with both a theatrical release (on Friday, November 14) and a streaming release on its platform (on Friday, November 28)."
