Oscar Precursors and Telluride: NBR and New York

Good Thursday everyone...


OSCAR PRECURSORS AND TELLURIDE: NBR AND NEW YORK

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

Both the National Board of Review and The New York Film Critics Circle announced their award winners for outstanding film making since my past post on Monday and here's how each recognized Telluride films

The National Board of Review named Brie Larson Best Actress for "Room".  Best Breakthrough Performance named two young actors who both appeared in Telluride films, Jacob Tremblay from "Room" and Abraham Attah from "Beasts of No Nation".  "Son of Saul" was named Best Foreign Language film.  "Beasts of No Nation" was named winner of NBR's Freedom of Expression award.

"Room" and "Spotlight" were named to the Top Ten list of Best Films while "45 Years" was named to their list of Top Ten Indie Films.  Also named were TFF #41 films "The Look of Silence" as one of five Best Documentaries and "'71" which was also named as a Best Indie Film.

George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" was named NBR's Best Film of the year.  Complete coverage and analysis is here:


http://www.nationalboardofreview.org/2015/12/national-board-of-review-announces-2015-award-winners/

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2015/12/01/national-board-of-review-tba-and-no-guts-no-glory/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2015/12/01/99794/

http://awardswatch.com/slider/2015-national-board-of-review-nbr-winners-mad-max-fury-road-wins-best-pic/

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/01/nbr-awards-2015-mad-max-fury-road

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/national-board-of-review-names-award-winners-10-best-of-2015-20151201



NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE:

It was a big day for Todd Haynes' (and TFF 42's) "Carol" which received four accolades from the New York critics group:  Best Feature, Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography.

Other Telluride players from New York's awards were:

"Son of Saul" as Best First Film and  Michael Keaton/"Spotlight" as Best Actor (not Supporting Actor...hmmmm).

Los Angeles critics name the winners on Sunday, so look for that coverage here on Monday.

NYFCC coverage is here:


http://variety.com/2015/film/in-contention/new-york-film-critics-circle-winners-in-progress-1201651677/

http://time.com/4132996/carol-new-york-film-critics-circle-awards/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/goldstandard/la-et-mn-new-york-film-critics-carol-20151202-column.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2015-new-york-film-critics-845071

http://deadline.com/2015/12/new-york-film-critics-circle-winners-2015-1201648430/


More to come on Monday...


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The Film Awards Clearinghouse Vol. 3C: Foreign, Doc, Editing and Cinematography/"Birdman's" Beat/"Rosewater's" Tone/BIFA Loves " '71" and Others

Welcome to Thursday everyone...

THE FILM AWARDS CLEARINGHOUSE VOL. 3C

I thought I'd use the FAC this week to drop in on four Oscar races outside the Big Eight and see what's going on in them.  I'll return next Thursday with The FAC for Best Picture, Director, Actress and Actor.

The FAC uses the published predictions of the following (for these four categories) to develop its list of likely Oscar nominees:

Kristopher Tapley/InContention/HitFix
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
Peter Knegt/IndieWire
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Telluride #41 films are Bold.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Citizenfour
2) Life Itself
3) Red Army
4) Keep On Keepin' On
5) The Overnighters
6) The Case Against 8
7) Salt of the Earth
8) Tales of the Grim Sleeper
9) Last Days in Vietnam
10) Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me


Comment: Telluride #41 boasts 2 possible nominees with another couple of possibles.  At this point, "Citizenfour" looks like the only lock.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1) Ida*
2) Leviathan
3) Two Days, One Night
4) Mommy
5) Wild Tales
6) Winter Sleep
7) Force Majeure
8) Timbuktu
9) White God
10) Gett: The Trail of Viviane Amsalem

Comments:  The dream of an all Telluride slate of nominees in an Oscar category could happen this year in the Foreign Language category albeit with an asterisk for "Ida" which actually played Telluride #40.  Realistically, I believe it's unlikely that the current top five end up as the five nominees announced in February and looking at the numbers that I crunched, none of these five would be termed locks at this point.


FILM EDITING

1) The Imitation Game
2) Birdman
3) Boyhood
4) Interstellar
5) Gone Girl
6) Unbroken
7) Whiplash
8) Fury
9) American Sniper
10) Foxcatcher


Comment:  It says something that "The Imitation Game" sits at the top of the list.  Much has been over the past several years about the connection between Best Picture winners and a film editing nomination.  It happens a lot.  It happened last year with "12 Years a Slave".  The notion isn't that a film has to win editing to win Best Picture, but it almost always has to have a nomination.  The same could be said about the appearance of Richard Linklater's "Boyhood's" #3 spot on this first chart for Editing.

You wouldn't be surprised at the nomination of such "flashy" editing as "Birdman" or "Interstellar" so the pundits' inclusion of "Imitation" at the top makes you think that it's Best Picture chances are rather good.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Birdman
2) Interstellar
3) Mr. Turner
4) Unbroken
5) The Theory of Everything
6) Gone Girl
7) Inherent Vice
8) The Imitation Game
9) The Grand Budapest Hotel
10) Wild

Comments:  Every film through the #8 Spot looks like a potential nominee.  "Birdman" is a lock.

Ultimately, in these four categories, Telluride #41 films (if The FAC is 100% accurate) would have 10 nominations plus another nomination for a TFF #40 film and an additional 5 possibilities.

In all, looking at the totality of Volume 3 FAC for the dozen categories suggests the following:

"Birdman" nominated for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Film Editing and Cinematography. (Nominations in 8 of the 9 categories it could be nominated in...and realistically, there isn't a Lead Actress candidate in the film).

"The Imitation Game" nominated for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actress and Film Editing with a possibility of a nomination for Cinematography.

"Foxcatcher" nominated for Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor with possibilities for Original Screenplay, Director and Film Editing.

"Mr. Turner nominated for Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Cinematography with a possibility for Best Director.

"Wild" nominated for Best Actress, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay with possibilities for Best Picture and Cinematography.

Additional films with possibilities include "Rosewater" for Best Adapted Screenplay, The Homesman foe Best Actress and "Wild Tales" for Best Original Screenplay.

Totals for these ten categories plus Documentary Feature and Foreign Films have 29 nominations for TFF #41 films with an additional 12 possible nominations.  Of course, still not included are the remaining feature film categories.


BIRDMAN'S BEAT

One of the many distinctive qualities about Alejandro G. Inarritu's masterpiece, "Birdman", is the jazz percussion score.  Now, frankly, it is the one element of the film that I'm not crazy about but I also can't deny that it's propulsive and unique.  Matt Patches writing for HitFix posted an interview with Antonio Sanchez, the man behind the sounds.  That interview is here:

http://www.hitfix.com/in-contention/how-alejandro-inarritu-directed-drummer-antonio-sanchezs-birdman-score


ROSEWATER'S TONE

Jon Stewart may well have a shot at an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of Maziar Bahari's book, "Then They Came for Me".  "Rosewater" had some champions critically coming out of Telluride but also some detractors (put me in the second camp...I thought it was a noble experiment that failed to connect and included too many warring impulses).

This week Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood posted interviews and Telluride panels that included Stewart and actor Gael Garcia Bernal as the film moves to theaters next week.  Here's that collection of material from Anne:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-rosewaters-jon-stewart-and-gael-garcia-bernal-talk-purposeful-inauthenticity-exclusive-20140903


BIFA LOVES " '71" AND OTHERS

Nominations were announced this week for the British Independent Film Awards and a number of Telluride #41 films made the cut.  Best Indie Film nominations included " '71", "The Imitation Game" and "Mr, Turner".  As a matter of fact " '71" lead the pack with nine total BIFA nominations.  "Mr. Turner" was nominated for five BIFA's and "Imitation" was nominated for four.

The Playlist has the complete breakdown of the BIFA nominees here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/71-starring-jack-oconnell-leads-the-17th-british-independent-film-awards-nominees-20141103



More on Monday...hope your weekend is terrific!

The FAC: Major Categories Part 1-A/New Looks at.../Foreign Affairs

Good Monday everyone...

THE FAC: MAJOR CATEGORIES PART 1-A

Last week, The Film Awards Clearinghouse laid out the first look at potential Oscar nominees from four major categories: Best Picture, Direction, Actress and Actor.  Today we'll add to that with the FAC analysis for the remaining four major categories: Best Supporting Actress and Actor as well as Best Adapted and Original Screenplay.

As always, The FAC uses the published predictions of the following to develop its list of likely Oscar nominees:

Kristopher Tapley/InContention/HitFix
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Bred Brevet/Rope of Silicon
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood
Peter Knegt/IndieWire
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Telluride #41 films are Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Patricia Arquette/Boyhood
2) Kiera Knightley/The Imitation Game
3) Laura Dern/Wild
4) Emma Stone/Birdman
5) Emily Blunt/Into the Woods
6) Katherine Waterston/Inherent Vice
7) Jessica Chastain/Interstellar
8) Jessica Chastain/A Most Violent Year
9) Carmen Ejogo/Selma
10) Anna Kendrick/Into the Woods

Comment:  Arquette seems to already be lock in the category.  The Telluride women: Knightley, Dern and Stone all appear to be in good shape but none of them cinches for a nomination yet.  There are a lot of women with a good shot to be one of the five nominees.  Another note, distributor A24 confirmed last week that J.C. Chandor's "A Most Violent Year" will open on Dec. 31 qualifying it for Oscar consideration for this year.  The buzz has been, however, that they will campaign Jessica Chastain in the lead category for that film.  Chastain has a slew of awards potential in both categories this year and the person that might benefit the most from this move might be...Jessica Chastain in Interstellar.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) J.K Simmons/Whiplash
2) Edward Norton/Birdman
3) Mark Ruffalo/Foxcatcher
4) Ethan Hawke/Boyhood
5) Josh Brolin/Inherent Vice
6) Logan Lehrman/Fury
7) Tom Wilkinson/Selma
8) Robert Duvall/The Judge
9) Channing Tatum/Foxcatcher
10) Domhnall Gleeson/Unbroken


Comment:

Both Simmons and Norton seem to be in good shape and very, very close.  Ruffalo is looking good but not assured.  After that, it's a free-for-all the rest of the way down the list (and we probably shouldn't rule out Tim Roth/Selma who sits just outside the list at #11).


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Unbroken
2) The Imitation Game
3) The Theory of Everything
4) American Sniper
5) Inherent Vice
6) Gone Girl
7) Into the Woods
8) Wild
9) Men. Women and Children
10) The Fault in Our Stars

Comment:

At this early point it appears that the five nominations will come from among the top six listed here.  The drop off between "Gone Girl" and "Into the Woods" is remarkably large in The FAC metric.  Also, none of the top six appear to be locks either.  Could be a fun category to track for the next few months.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Birdman
2) Boyhood
3) Foxcatcher
4) The Grand Budapest Hotel
5) Mr. Turner
6) Interstellar
7) A Most Violent Year
8) Fury
9) Selma
10) Whiplash


Comment:

I was a little surprised to see "Birdman"sitting at the top of the list.  I had assumed that it would be "Boyhood".  Still, both of those films look solid for a nomination here.  "Foxcatcher" is in good shape and then after that it could be any of the remaining seven scripts in the top ten that end up with one of the last two nominations.


From these four categories, if The FAC is 100% accurate, TFF #41 films would grab nine nominations with an additional two possibilities.  Add that to the first FAC from last week that focused on the four major categories in which TFF #41 films are projected to have eleven nominations with another three possible.  Totals: 20 nominations in the Big Eight categories with another five in play.  Add to that the potential for "under the line" nominations and Foreign Language and Documentary possibilities and it appears that 2014 could well be another outstanding year for Telluride films come Oscar time.


Here's the breakdown of the 20 "nominations" and five possibles by film:

"Birdman" Noms: Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay.  Total: Six nominations.

"The Imitation Game" "Noms": Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay.  Total: Four nominations and another possible for Best Direction.

"Foxcatcher" Noms: Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay.  Total: Five nominations. Another possible nomination for Best Supporting Actor

"Wild" Noms: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress and another possible for Best Adapted Screenplay.

"Mr. Turner": Noms for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture if the category goes nine deep as it has the last two years. Also a possible for Best Direction.

"The Homesman": Possible nomination for Best Actress.



NEW LOOKS AT....

Clips from "Birdman".  Set for release on Oct. 17th, the P.R. machine is rumbling to life from Fix Searchlight.  As a part of that we have a clip from the film.  I have linked to the Rope of Silicon site which has the clip:

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-first-clip-birdman-featuring-emma-stone-michael-keaton/

Clips from " '71"... From The Playlist, two clips from the Yann Demange directed film starring Jack O'Connell.  The film finished at #5 on MTFB's combined ratings.  The People had it at #6 while The Pros had it at #3.  Check the clips here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/xavier-dolans-mommy-selected-as-canadas-official-oscar-entry-20140919

And, a new poster for Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" starring Benedict Cumberbatch.   The People's #1 film for TFF #41.

Accompanying the poster release, here's a brief story from Anne Thompson:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/benedict-cumberbatch-cracks-code-in-new-imitation-game-poster-20140918

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

A couple of announcements about intentions for Foreign Language Oscar submissions.  Belgium will put forth The Dardennes Brothers' "Two Days, One Night" and Canada has chosen Xavier Dolan's "Mommy" both of which played at Telluride this year.  Stories about the selections are linked below:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/marion-cotillard-starrer-two-days-one-night-to-represent-belgium-in-foreign-language-oscar-campaign-1201309209/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oscars-canada-picks-mommy-foreign-734318

More on Thursday...

New for Saturday: The Playlist's 20 Fall Film List/ScreenTalk with Thompson and Kohn/Best of the Week: Ten Bets #9; Toronto; Leviathan; Variety; Rosewater

Welcome to the last weekend before TFF #41 takes flight.  We leave on Wednesday afternoon and cover about two thirds of the distance and then will finish on Thursday morning.  Planning to be in Telluride around noon in time to lunch with our generous hosts Mitzi and Larry Mallard.  Then pre-fest errands, and dinner with fest friends.  Can't wait.


NEW FOR SATURDAY


THE PLAYLIST'S 20 FALL FILM LIST

The Playlist has posted the 20 films that they're looking forward to for this fall.  The list includes seven films that seem like relatively good Telluride possibilities: "Birdman", "Rosewater", "Foxcatcher", "The Imitation Game", "Wild", "Mr. Turner" and "Leviathan".  See the entire post and list of 20 films here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/fall-film-preview-20-of-our-most-anticipated-films-20140821


SCREENTALK WITH THOMPSON AND KOHN

Anne Thompson (Thompson on Hollywood) and Eric Kohn (IndieWire) posted their latest episode of Screen Talk yesterday and it's almost exclusively Telluride-oriented.  The two (who will be rating films at T-ride for MTFB) mention eleven films that they feel are likely Telluride-bound.  (and three that aren't).

The films they name in order are:
"Wild"
"Rosewater"
"The Imitation Game"
"The Homesman"
"Leviathan"
"Whiplash"
"Mr. Turner"
"Foxcatcher"
"Wild Tales"
"99 Homes"
"Birdman"

Two notes...I've been back and forth on whether "The Homesman" will actually play...they seem to think it will.  Also, yet here's yet another suggestion that Sundance hit (and Cannes film as well) "Whiplash" plays TFF #41.  Interesting.

Check out the nearly 18 min. podcast here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/screen-talk-telluride-film-festival-predictions-and-preview-20140822

Anne and Eric say their next cast will be from Telluride as the fest is going...so look for that too.

BEST OF THE WEEK


TEN BETS #9

Last week's "Ten Bets" was actually 15...here that list is:

15) The Homesman
14) Life May Be
13) Merchants of Doubt
12) 99 Homes
11) Red Army
10) Two Days, One Night
9) The Look of Silence
8) Rosewater
7) Wild Tales
6) Leviathan
5) Wild
4) The Imitation Game
3) Birdman
2) Mr. Turner
1) Foxcatcher

This week...the "Ten Bets" look like this:

15) Mommy
14) '71
13) 99 Homes
12) Red Army
11) Merchants of Doubt
10) The Look of Silence
9) Leviathan
8) Two Days, One Night
7) Rosewater
6) Wild Tales
5) Foxcatcher
4) Wild
3) The Imitation Game
2) Birdman
1) Mr. Turner

NEW TORONTO TITLES


The Toronto International Film Festival announced its final titles this yesterday and there, again, are conclusions that we can reach.  We can't guarantee that these conclusions are 100% correct but we're probably pretty close.  Takeaways:

The announcement of " '71" and "The New York Review of Books: The 50 Year Argument" as Canadian Premieres is a good indication that both of those titles are headed to Telluride.  We've been thinking that was probably the case the last couple of weeks.  I'm particularly excited about " '71" which has a trailer that was associated with its play at the Berlin Film Fest back in February.  Here's that trailer:

" '71" trailer via YouTube

Here's the story that The Playlist ran yesterday with the release of the trailer:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-berlin-sensation-71-led-by-rising-star-jack-oconnell-20140819

We also found that three films that we had continued to think might be Telluride possibilities will NOT be as they are either World or North American premieres.  As reported earlier, "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray is a World premiere and so will not be in T-ride.  TIFF has announced that Sept. 5th will be Bill Murray Day.

Announced as North American premieres were the Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Winter Sleep" and another Cannes standout, "The Tribe".  That means neither of those will play in the San Juans.  Too bad, especially about "The Tribe" which I have been really intrigued by.

Finally, four titles were announced as International premieres that we may need to consider for Telluride. There is limited screening history information about each of the four which, at least at the moment, leaves them as theoretical Telluride possibilities.

The most intriguing is the filmed version of Julie Taymor's stage production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Also in play: "Life in a Fishbowl", "The Little Death" and "Senza Nessuna Pieta".

Here's the Variety report on yesterday's Toronto announcement:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/toronto-film-festival-completes-lineup-1201285802/

TALE OF TORONTO AND LEVIATHAN PART TWO

Over the weekend, I mentioned that a reader had alertly noticed that the TIFF website had listed "Leviathan" as a North American premiere and was asking if that meant no Telluride play.  It was a reasonable question. I did some research and source work and couldn't find any explanation for why a film that I was pretty sure had been announced as a Canadian premiere was listed as North American.

I contacted an acquaintance or two that have a way better knowledge of Toronto's workings than I do and they suggested that the "Canadian" designation was probably correct.

Yesterday, I checked back in to the TIFF.net website and someone had changed the designation.  So, suffice to say that "Leviathan" IS a Canadian premiere for Toronto and a very likely film for Telluride.

Check this link to "Leviathan's" TIFF page:

http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/masters/leviathan-1


NEW YORK TIMES POST KILLS BIG TITLES FOR TFF

The New York Times put up a lengthy post yesterday that dissected the Telluride/Toronto situation.  In the course of the story, the Times nukes the notion of three major films making their appearance at Telluride:

David  Ayers' "Fury"
Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" and
Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar"

The Times story says that the three films are, "sitting out the season's opening festivals, according to people briefed on the films, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality rules."

The Times says the reasons range from not being ready to differing marketing and awards season strategies.

Makes me sad to mark them off the prospective list though "Fury" was really gone already and I was always dubious about "Interstellar".

That leaves "Big Eyes" and "Exodus: Gods and Kings" as the biggest fish out there without an announced festival.

Here's the story from the Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/movies/in-the-race-for-oscars-toronto-puts-up-a-hurdle.html

CHANG AND VARIETY DISSECT TELLURIDE AND TORONTO (AND VENICE TOO)

Variety's Justin Chang was up yesterday with a lengthy piece that goes to great lengths to outline the current skirmish between film festivals.  The article/story/post zinged around the Internet with great velocity so there's a good chance you've already seen it.  If not it's linked here:

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/new-toronto-fest-strategy-puts-telluride-on-the-defensive-in-awards-buzz-films-battle-1201286444

Makes for an interesting read.

NOT SO FAST "FOXCATCHER"

"Foxcatcher" trailer from YouTube and Coming Soon

Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere was commenting at his site on the same Justin Chang/Variety story reference above.  In a piece called "Close Tabs" he says that he's heard " 'Foxcatcher' wasn't going to Telluride".

Now, that flies in the face of most of what we've been seeing/hearing for a long while.  "Foxcatcher" has been at or near the top of this summer's "Ten Bets" but, remember, this enterprise is still mostly guesswork and deduction...so you never know.

That said, I still feel pretty good about our chances to see the Bennett Miller film next week.  It was just last week that we inferred from a Deadline.com post that it was likely to make the trip to the San Juans.

Still, you can expect that "Foxcatcher" may not be in the #1 spot on tomorrow's "Ten Bets".

Here's the complete Jeff Wells story:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2014/08/53721/


NEW PICS OF STEWART'S "ROSEWATER"

Director Jon Stewart on the set of "Rosewater" via The Playlist

A much anticipated potential Telluride title is this directorial debut from comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart.  "Rosewater" tells the true story of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari and his detention in Iran in 2009. The Playlist had a couple of new photos from the film yesterday.  I have reposted them above and below.

Stewart also reveals that he picked the brains of Ron Howard and J.J. Abrams in his preparation for the film. Check The Playlist story here:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/new-pics-from-rosewater-jon-stewart-says-he-got-input-on-the-script-from-jj-abrams-and-ron-howard-20140820

More on Monday...have a great weekend!

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

Ten Bets #10/Dardennes' "Two Days" Has a Day/Mr. Burns in Town/Poland Calls on "Ida"

It's Friday in some parts of the World...and Telluride is one week away.


TEN BETS #9

Last week's "Ten Bets" was actually 15...here that list is:

15) The Homesman
14) Life May Be
13) Merchants of Doubt
12) 99 Homes
11) Red Army
10) Two Days, One Night
9) The Look of Silence
8) Rosewater
7) Wild Tales
6) Leviathan
5) Wild
4) The Imitation Game
3) Birdman
2) Mr. Turner
1) Foxcatcher

This week...the "Ten Bets" look like this:

15) Mommy
14) '71
13) 99 Homes
12) Red Army
11) Merchants of Doubt
10) The Look of Silence
9) Leviathan
8) Two Days, One Night
7) Rosewater
6) Wild Tales
5) Foxcatcher
4) Wild
3) The Imitation Game
2) Birdman
1) Mr. Turner


DARDENNE'S "TWO DAYS" HAS A DAY

We found out yesterday that "Two Days, One Night", from the Dardennes brothers and starring Marion Cotillard as a shift worker striving to keep her job has an announced U.S. release date.  Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net tweeted that the film will be released on Dec. 24.  That tweet linked to the story of the release by Artificial Eye of the UK Trailer for the film. Here's your path to the FirstShowing post:

http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/marion-cotillard-in-uk-trailer-for-dardenne-bros-two-days-one-night/


MR. BURNS IN TOWN

Documentarian and Telluride regular Ken Burns has made plans to start off the week of Film Fest in fine fashion with a meet up Sunday, Aug. 24th and a presentation of a portion of his multi-part doc "The War". That'll happen at The Palm Theater from 6:00-9:00 pm.  I've included a couple of stories with information about the evening:

http://www.tellurideinside.com/2014/08/telluride-museum-an-evening-with-ken-burns.html

http://www.telluridemuseum.org/event/an-evening-with-ken-burns/

Meanwhile, PBS is promoting Burns' latest project "The Roosevelts" which will soon appear there.  I suspect some portions of it will also appear in Telluride next week.  Here's the PBS/Roosevelt link:

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-roosevelts/map/


POLAND CALLS ON "IDA'

"Ida" photo via The Hollywood Reporter

Another TFF #40 film will be offered in competition for The Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Oscar.  Poland announced yesterday that "Ida" which made a splash at the fest last year will be its entry in the Oscar contest.  The Hollywood Reporter had that news:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nun-drama-ida-is-polands-726199


More on Saturday...

Follow me on Twitter @Gort2

BREAKING: Toronto Announces Some More Titles

TORONTO ANNOUNCES SOME MORE TITLES


The Toronto International Film Festival announced its final titles this morning and there, again, are conclusions that we can reach.  We can't guarantee that these conclusions are 100% correct but we're probably pretty close.  Takeaways this morning:

The announcement of " '71" and "The New York Review of Books: The 50 Year Argument" as Canadian Premieres is a good indication that both of those titles are headed to Telluride.  We've been thinking that was probably the case the last couple of weeks.  I'm particularly excited about " '71" which has a trailer that was associated with its play at the Berlin Film Fest back in February.  I'll link that in tomorrow's post.

We also found that three films that we had continued to think might be Telluride possibilities will NOT be as they are either World or North American premieres.  As reported earlier, "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray is a World premiere and so will not be in T-ride.  Announced as North American premieres this morning were the Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Winter Sleep" and another Cannes standout, "The Tribe".  That means neither of those will play in the San Juans.  Too bad, especially about "The Tribe" which I have been really intrigued by.

Finally, four titles were announced as International premieres that we may need to consider for Telluride.  There is limited screening history information about each of the four which, at least at the moment, leaves them as theoretical Telluride possibilities.

The most intriguing is the filmed version of Julie Taymor's stage production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

Also in play: "Life in a Fishbowl", "The Little Death" and "Senza Nessuna Pieta".

More tomorrow...

Tale of Toronto and Leviathan/Update on Some Film's Status as of Today/Toronto Tomorrow/99 Homes But the House Ain't One

Welcome to Monday!

TALE OF TORONTO AND LEVIATHAN

Eagle-eyed follower of the blog and on Twitter @TheDeepPink tweeted to me on Saturday the following:

TheDeepPink ‏@TheDeepPink  3h

@Gort2 TIFF says NA premiere for LEVIATHAN on its website. So I would guess no Telluride based off that.

Well, I thought, that can't be right...so I looked and it was. Guess what...TIFF.net, as TheDeepPink says, is listed as a North American premiere. It was here:

http://www.tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/programmes/masters/leviathan-1

"So", I asked myself, "How'd you get this wrong and label it as a Canadian premiere and claim it was likely for Telluride?" So I dug a little. Here's what happened. Toronto labeled it a Canadian premiere on July 29th. All the news outlets I took the time to look up listed it as a Canadian premiere: Deadline.com, IndieWire, Film Threat, Filmmaker Magazine, The Playlist, Ioncinema...

http://deadline.com/2014/07/tiff-adds-frederick-wiseman-ethan-hawke-docus-vanguard-films-midnight-madness-lineup-811575/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/tiff-adds-ethan-hawke-robert-kenner-docs-announces-masters-midnight-madness-and-vanguard-programs-20140729

http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/79080/

http://filmmakermagazine.com/86936-additions-to-2014-tiff-lineup/#.U--Dj_ldXuI

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/tiff-adds-films-from-kevin-smith-michael-winterbottom-roy-andersson-sion-sono-more-to-2014-lineup-20140729

http://www.ioncinema.com/news/film-festivals/2014-tiff-masters-cannes-venice-items-and-winterbottom-bent-hamer-world-preems

So...how'd we ALL get it wrong?  Could be because of the official TIFF Press Release which lists "Leviathan" as a Canadian premiere...Look...

http://d12gbu3zt5gvms.cloudfront.net/docs/lOv53J_Masters_2014_8270103_1408032841.pdf

I have some feelers out to see if the film's status has changed, if the Press Release was wrong or if the TIFF website is wrong.  At the end of the weekend, I have a couple of pretty good sources (I mean really good sources) that say that the TIFF.net website is wrong. Stay tuned.  I'm feeling confident that it's a Canadian premiere and will be playing Telluride.


UPDATE ON SOME FILM'S STATUS AS OF TODAY

I thought I'd take a quick look at some films that are still a mystery as far as the Telluride and fall film festival lineups are concerned.  For example:

Jack O'Connell in " "71" via The Guardian

" '71"...directed by Yann Demange and starring Jack O'Connell.  It tells the story of a young Brit soldier accidentally abandoned by his unit in war torn Belfast in 1971.

This film was announced as a "New York" premiere last week for the NYFF.  It has previously appeared at four international fests: Berlin, Beune, Karlovy Vary and Jerusalem.  Is set to open in England Oct. 17 and three weeks later in France.  It is being distributed in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions which also has Xavier Dolan's "Mommy" and Tommy Lee Jones' "The Homesman" (see below re: "The Homesman") as potential Telluride films.  Because of its status as a New York premiere, I think it is a very likely selection for Telluride.  Metacritic score: 88.  T-ride chances 70%

"The Homesman" trailer via YouTube and joblo.com

"The Homesman"...directed by Tommy Lee Jones and starring Jones and Hilary Swank.  Set in the late 1800's a pioneer woman rescues a claim jumper and requires that he aids in escorting three women have become insane from Nebraska to Iowa.  "Homesman" played Cannes to a mixed critical reception (69 Metacritics score).  IMDb lists it as playing Toronto on Sept. 16th...though I can't find that on the TIFF website.  Perhaps tomorrow's TIFF announcement will shed some light there.  "The Homesman" is scheduled to open in the U.S. in a limited release on Oct. 3.  "Homesman" is distributed in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.  Chances of a Telluride play are about 60%...based largely on the distributors, the Cannes play and a Hollywood Reporter piece from July 31.

"A Most Violent Year"

"A Most Violent Year"...directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.  An immigrant family deals with living in NYC during the summer of 1981.

This film had been high on my list (and others' lists too) of films expected to play Telluride.  Currently it has dropped off the "Ten (Plus) Bets list as it is reportedly still editing (as of two weeks ago).  I do know that it was reportedly test screened back in June...which may have been what was the catalyst for continued editing.  Chandor could still have it ready in time, but it would be a very tricky thing.  Hence its disappearance from the "Ten (Plus) Bets".

 "A Most Violent Year" will be distributed in the U.S. by A24.  A24 previously had "Under the Skin" and "Ginger and Rosa" as selections to previous Telluride festivals.  The film is scheduled to open in Canada on Nov. 18 and in December in England.  It has no U.S. release date at this time.  Metacritic score: None.  T-ride chances-10%

"St. Vincent" trailer via YouTube and Coming Soon

"St. Vincent"...directed by Theodore Melfi and starring Bill Murray.  Murray plays a scalawag  (yes, a scalawag) that takes on baby sitting his new neighbors 11 year old.  Hilarity and life lessons ensue.  "St. Vincent" is set to pen domestically on Oct. 24.  It has not been announced for any fest as yet and its distributor is The Weinstien Company.  With Murray, who, seemed to really have fun at TFF two years back with "Hyde Park on Hudson" and TWC repping (and we're fairly sure TWC is already going to be on the ground in T-ride with "The Imitation Game"  and no announced fest date...this seemed like a prime Telluride apple for the picking.  But Deadline.com reported last week that a deal for it to appear at Toronto as a world premiere gala is virtually sewn up.  Probably means it's done as a Telluride hopeful.  We'll probably have that confirmed with tomorrow's Toronto announcement.  T-ride chances-10%

"Slow West" via Thompson on Hollywood

"Slow West"...directed by John Maclean and starring Michael Fassbender.  Fassbender is a mysterious stranger who aids a 17 year old boy in his search across the American west to find the girl he loves.  Fassbender also executive produced the film.

Production companies for "Slow West" include See Saw ("The King's Speech", "Shame" and "Tracks") and Film4 ("Starred Up", "Under the Skin", "12 Years a Slave) but it has no distributor as yet for the U.S.  The film is listed as having been in post since late last year.  "Slow West" has not been announced for any festival at this point.  It'll be interesting if this pops up in Toronto's announcement tomorrow.  Chances for Telluride-20%.

"Suffragette" via Rope of Silicon

"Suffragette"...directed by Sarah Gavron and starring Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter and Carey Mulligan.  The story of the early feminist movement.  The film is listed in post-production since late April.  It has announced Australian release date of Dec. 26.  "Suffragette" has been announced for no festival as yet.  It has no distributor but does have both Film4 (see above for "Slow West") and Pathe ("127 Hours", "The Illusionist") producing.  There are rumors that the film's release may be delayed until next year...but as of now IMDb says this year.  T-ride chances 20%.

"Kill the Messenger"...directed by Michael Cuesta and starring Jeremy Renner.  The true story of a reporter who dug into the CIA's use of drug running for guns in the Nicaraguan civil war in the 1980's.  No fest play at this point and a U.S. release date of Oct. 10.  The U.S. distributor is Focus Features ("Hyde Park on Hudson", "Into the Wild").  Telluride chances are 15%.

"The Tribe"...directed by Myroslav Sloboshpitsky.  The cast is all deaf and the film is told almost exclusively in sign language.  It tells the story of a new student trying to fit in a boarding school The film has had a lot of International fest play including Cannes where it was warmly received.  Drafthouse Films ("The Act of Killing") is distributing in the U.S.  A release in Ukraine is scheduled for Sept. 11.  If it had a distributor with more Telluride history, I'd be higher on its chances.  As it is, I'm saying it's 30%.


TORONTO TOMORROW

Toronto's announcement tomorrow is said to include a schedule and guest list as well as , according to a Tweet from head man Cameron Bailey..."TIFF Kids, Mavericks, Discovery" and what he calls a "Special Treat"...I'll bet that's the "St. Vincent" announcement.

Nevertheless, there should be some more clues as to what to expect Telluride-way. after we know what TIFF says.

99 HOMES BUT THE HOUSE AIN'T ONE

Garfield and Shannon in "99 Homes"

Eagle-eyed follower of MTFB Ian aka @thin_white_duke dropped me a line last night about a story he had tracked down at thehindu.com.  The piece focuses on producer Ashok Amritraj.  Amritraj is one of the prodcers of Ramin Bahrani's "99Homes" starring Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon and Laura Dern.  The story confirms "99 Homes" will play Telluride but implies that we won't see Garfield or Shannon in T-ride.  I am betting that Ms. Dern is on hand, however.

You can look at the entire story here:

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/ashok-amritrajs-latest-production-99-homes-makes-it-to-three-prestigious-film-festivals/article6324273.ece


More tomorrow...


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