The 18th Telluride Film Festival Re-visited / The Season's First FAC / Man of Integrity Director Could Be Sentenced in Iran

Welcome back to MTFB on this Thursday in October...



THE 18TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL RE-VISITED

The ongoing (and slowly developing) ramble through Telluride's film festival past continues today with the 18th fest which occurred from Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 1991.

The guest director was Laurie Anderson.

Tributes were for Jodie Foster, Sven Nyquist and "Nature's Filmmakers": Peter Jones, Marion Zunz and Paul Atkins.

SHOWS:

Apocalypse Now
A Captive in the Land
Danzon
Dogfight
The Double Life of Veronique
Empire of the Air
Hearts of Darkness
Hors la Vie
I Want to Fly
Latino Bar
Let Him Have It

Little Man Tate
Lucky Star
Lyrical Nitrate
The Other Eye
The Ox
Prix de Beaute
Prospero's Books
Raise the Red Lanterns

Rambling Rose
The Rapture
Ride the High Country
Scream of Stone
A Tale of the Unextinguished Moon
The Tourist
3:10 to Yuma
The Trails of Life
Wild by Law
A Woman's Tale

Guests:

John Berry
Ken Burns
Martha Coolidge
Laura Dern
Jean Doumanian
Roger Ebert
Glenn Ford
Peter Greenaway
Renny Harlin
Werner Herzog
Dennis Hopper
Elmore Leonard
Bill Plympton
Mimi Rogers
Lili Taylor


THE SEASON'S FIRST FAC




Here's your first look at MTFB's Film Awards Clearinghouse.  I'm going with a stripped down version this year.  Films that played TFF #44 are Bold.


BEST PICTURE

1) Dunkirk
2) The Shape of Water
3) Darkest Hour
4) Three Billboards
5) The Post
6) Call Me By Your Name
7) Get Out
8) The Florida Project

Others: Blade Runner 2049, Mudbound, Lady Bird

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Dunkirk
2) Guillermo Del Toro/The Shape of Water
3) Steven Spielberg/The Post
4) Joe Wright/Darkest Hour
5) Martin McDonagh/Three Billboards

Others: Sean Baker/Florida Project, Luca Guagadino/Call Me By Your Name, Dee Rees/Mudbound


BEST ACTRESS

1) Frances McDormand/Three Billboards
2) Sally Hawkins/The Shape of Water
3) Meryl Streep/The Post
4) Margo Robbie/I, Tonya
5) Jessica Chatain/Molly's Game

Others: Kate Winslet/Wonder Wheel, Emma Stone/Battle of the Sexes, Saoirse Ronan/Lady Bird


BEST ACTOR

1) Gary Oldman/Darkest Hour
2) Jake Gyllenhaal/Stronger
3) Daniel Day Lewis/Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Film
4) Tinothee Chalamet/Call Me By Your Name
5) Hugh Jackman/The Greatest Showman

Others: Andrew Garfield/Breathe, Denzel Washington/Roman Israel Esq., Tom Hanks/The Post



MAN OF INTEGRITY DIRECTOR COULD BE SENTENCED IN IRAN

I reported a few weeks back that Iranian director Mohammad Rasouluf had been detained in Iran after returning there from both the Telluride and Toronto Film Fests.  Rasouluf  has been screening his latest film, A Man of Integrity.

News came yesterday that the film maker could be sentenced by an Iranian court to six years in prison for"anti-regime propaganda".  That's according to Al Arabiya.  The complete article is linked here.

Rasoulof was detained on similar charges in 2010.  Al Arabiya reported that Rasoulof was detained on his return to Iran on Sept. 15 and extensively interviewed by authorities on Oct. 3.




That's your MTFB for this Thursday.  Have a great weekend and come back for more on Monday.


 EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Telluride History Book: TFF #19 / More on Harry Dean Stanton / Cambodia Choses Jolie's Film, Israel Will Foxtrot / Trouble in Iran

Hello to all on this Thursday...


TELLURIDE HISTORY BOOK: TFF #19-1992

My retrospective of the history of Telluride Film Festival continues today as I resume after a six week hiatus with a look at the 19th TFF.  Now that TFF #44 has concluded, I'll get back to this project with the hope that I can conclude it episodically between now and the Oscar ceremony on Mar. 4th.

Here's a look at TFF #19:

Guest Direct: C. Cabrera Infante

Tributes: Harvey Keitel, Elmer Bernstein, Cy Endfield

SHOWS:

Bad Lieutenant
The Chosen One
Close to Eden
The Cranes Are Flying
The Crying Game
The Donner Party
El Mariachi
Feed
The Firm
From Hollywood to Hanoi
The Godless Girl
Homeland
I Am Cuba
I Want to See Angels
La Virgen de la Caridad
Laughter
Leolo
Lessons of the Darkness
The Letter That Was Never Sent
Life in Shadows
The Long Day Closes
The Loveless
Made in Britain
The Magnificent Seven
Momento Mori
Nail in the Boot
The Oak
Olivier Olivier
Peter's Friends
Reservoir Dogs
Road
The Sound of Fury
Strictly Ballroom
Tous Les Matins Du Monde
Victim of Sin
Visions of Light


Guests:

Kathryn Bigelow
Werner Herzog
Chuck Jones
Michael Moore
Gary Oldman
Robert Rodriguez
Tim Roth

1992's lineup seems amazing to me as it included: Reservoir Dogs, The Crying Game, Bad Lieutenant, El Mariachi and Strictly Ballroom.  Mike Leigh also had his short film A Sense of History at the fest.


MORE ON HARRY DEAN STANTON

I wrote in Monday's post about the loss of the great Harry Dean Stanton.  Yes...I am the one man campaign for a Best Actor nomination for him this year for Lucky.

But I also pointed out that I wasn't certain that Stanton was in Telluride for the screening of Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas in 1984.  I couldn't confirm or deny based on the official program from that year.  I asked for further information from MTFB readers and my request was rewarded.

Long time Telluride Film Festival staffer Jim Bedford confirmed via email that Stanton was, in fact, in Telluride in 1984.  From Jim's email:

From 1973-1983 I ran the Sheridan Opera House for Bill Pence's small chain of Denver and ski town theatres. In the early years Bill would do the programming from Denver and give us three-month schedules with three films a week, two for three days each and an art film on Wed only. Anything that worked would be brought back (think THE KING OF HEARTS, CHINATOWN, MCCABE, etc.) for rep runs. Boy, did I see a bunch of great movies during those years.

In 1975 we showed RANCHO DELUXE which our Telluride audience fell in love with and my love of Harry Dean Stanton (which was reinforced by Stella Pence, who was also a fan) continued from that time on. My guess is that we showed RANCHO at least a half dozen times over those years and it never failed to draw a quite pleased audience. Our little town embraced this film's quirky ethic, great one-liners and indelible characters (including clearly HDS).

In 1981 when Bill, Stella, Tom Luddy and Bill Everson did the second year of the Santa Fe Film Festival as a tribute to the Western Film and I convinced Bill that RANCHO was a Modern Western, a perfect foil for the real end of the Old West (sort of an anti-THE WILD BUNCH). It was included in the program and I got to present it at the Lensic Theatre and give Santa Fe Festival sterling silver belt buckles to Tom McGuane and Harry Dean on stage (pictures are available).

Two years later at the TFF, HDS was certainly in town for PARIS, TEXAS. Bill had also scheduled a by-then out-of-circulation REPO MAN in 16mm in the Community Center (it had premiered  in Berlin earlier that winter and died after a short March release). (Meanwhile, the TFF early arrival staff had screened REPO MAN on 16mm on the TFF office wall two weeks before so we were all nuts about it already.)

It was my job to get Harry Dean from the New Sheridan Hotel to the CC for the screening so I picked him up and we walked up the hill while I think he smoked 2-3 cigs on the way. It was a packed show at the CC that included Roger Ebert. After the screening Roger talked to HDS and later that week gave REPO MAN (which he had not seen or reviewed yet) a 3.5 star review. Universal then gave the film another release and the rest is history; REPO MAN became one of the great Cult Films from then on.

(PARIS, TEXAS wasn't bad either. I got to watch its premiere sitting on the SOH floor and then watch Wim Wenders take the stage after the film joined by Kit Carson, Hunter Carson, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell [a surprise visitor up from Santa Fe], and of course, Harry Dean.) 

Jim also kindly included two photos.  A still of Stanton from Telluride as well as one from the ceremony at the 1981 Santa Fe Fest:

CAMBODIA CHOOSES JOLIE'S FILM, ISRAEL WILL FOXTROT

Since my last post on Monday there have been some moves from various nations to put forth their films for consideration for the Foreign Language Film Oscar.  Cambodia jolted the race and the calculations with regard to nominations by announcing that their choice is Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father.

Jolie holds citizenship in Cambodia.

The film ranked # 10 on MTFB's Composite Ratings of Telluride films with a decent 7.05 combined rating.

Coverage is here from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter and

Deadline

Meanwhile, Israel's Ophir Awards have determined that Foxtrot will be their entry in the FLF Oscar sweepstakes.  The Samuel Maoz directed film dominated the Israeli "Oscars" winning 8.

Coverage from Variety.


TROUBLE IN IRAN

Though it didn't receive enough ratings from wither the Pros or the People to establish a rating last week, Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity seemed to be well received by the TFF patrons that I ran into and that had seen it.  The film also won the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes last May.

Rasoulof was detained by Iranian authorities this past week as he returned to Iran from Telluride.  The film maker had to surrender his passport and has been ordered to court.

Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter. 


That's your MTFB filing for Thursday, Sept. 21st.  I'll have more on Monday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Cannes Concludes and Awards Are Announced / The Telluride Analysis / Oscar Players in the Cannes Afterglow / Non-Cannes Trailers

Good Memorial Day Monday to all...


CANNES CONCLUDES AND AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCED

The 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to its conclusion last night with the awarding of prizes in the main competition category.

The winners:

Palme d'Or: The Square (Ruben Ostlund)

Grand Prix: 120 BPM. (Robin Campillo)

Jury Prize: Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)

Director:  Sofia Coppola-The Beguiled

Actress: Diane Kruger-In the Fade 

Actor-Joaquin Phoenix- You Were Never Really Here

Special 70th Anniversary Honors- Nicole Kidman

Screenplay- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)

In the Un Certain Regard section past Telluride tribute recipient Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity took the top prize and Taylor Sheridan's Wind River won the award for Best Direction. April's Daughter was the winner of the Jury Prize.

Of note among the winners was Coppola's historic win for direction as well as the rare double win for actor and screenplay for Ramsay's film.  A bit of a surprise was the lack of any mention for a Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which Indiewire had listed as having the third best odds for the Palme.

THE TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

So here's my best quick Telluride assessment of the winners' chances in as far as T-ride is concerned:

The Square- Magnolia is the distributor which was last at Telluride with Viva in 2015.  Magnolia hasn't had a deep relationship with the fest.  That combined with The fact that Ostlund hasn't played there either makes me think that 2017 may well be the fourth consecutive TFF at which the Palme d'Or winner does not play.  Cannes at TFF- 25%

120 BPM- A solid critical darling of Cannes #70 and with U.S. distribution from The Orchard, which scored well at Telluride last year with Pablo Larrain's Neruda have it in good position as a T-tide possible.  Probably gets the biggest boost of any Cannes film  that I haven't already had my eye on. Chances- 55%.

Loveless- Zvyagnistev's Leviathan played in the San Juans three years ago and so Loveless was already a hot prospect to get to The SHOW this Labor Day.  Its Jury Award probably boosts to shot. That and the fact that it's distributor is frequent Telluride player Sony Pictures  Classics suggests a high likelihood of a return for Mr. Z.  Chances- 70%.

The Beguiled- 0% chance as it opens at the end of June.

In the Fade- Could this crack the T-ride lineup?  Fatih Akin's lack of Telluride history, the film's lack of U.S. distribution and a middling critical response makes me think that the film's chances are small.  Chances- 20%.

You Were Never Really Here-  A double award win, Lynne Ramsay and coming from a Amazon Studios, this film, which I already thought had a reasonable shot at Telluride, moves even closer, I think.  Chances- 70%.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer- After a couple of great years at Telluride, I have no doubt that A24 will be back with something this year.  I'm just not sure that it will be this Lanthimos film.  It could happen but my guess is that other A24 films may have a better shot (Woodshock, Good Time and especially The Florida Project).  Still, a T-ride play could happen.  Chances- 35%.

A couple of other notes...I imagine that Rasoulof's Man of Integrity has an even chance of playing and despite its awards shut out, I still believe that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck is a likely Show for The SHOW.

Finally, don't be surprised if Chloe Zhao's The Rider makes the T-ride lineup.

 Additionally, Faces/Places from Agnes Varda and JR looks like a very good bet.

Complete coverage and analysis of Cannes award winners can be found at the following links:

The New York Times

Deadline.com

Entertainment Weekly

Indiewire

OSCAR PLAYERS IN THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The general consensus coming from France as the Cannes Fest concluded was that the Croisette was low on Oscar potential with most observers suggesting that the only real player in terms of Best Picture might be Wonderstruck.

Though there may well some other players as well, especially in the foreign language category...I'm looking at you Loveless...take a look at where some of the sages of Oscar come down as Cannes was coming to an end:

Guy Lodge for Variety

Pete Hammond for Deadline

Anne Thompson from Indiewire

NON-CANNES TRAILERS FOR FILMS WE COULD SEE 

And as Cannes was winding down, there was the release of trailers for two films that did not play in France but that could find their way onto the lineup over Labor Day weekend.

We found out this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the Liam Neeson starrer The Silent Man and that the story of the real Watergate Deep Throat had a trailer.  Here it is from YouTube:

Along with the trailer, here are some posts that accompanied its release and the SPC pickup news:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

The Playlist

Additionally, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Room's Jacob Tremblay, released its first look video this week.  From Lionsgate, the film is slated to open in mid-November.  Both factors suggest the possibility of serious festival and awards play.

Here's that video, also from YouTube:

Deadline provides some of the details for the film.

That will do it for this Monday in May...more to come on Thursday...

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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