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.

The complete Variety piece is linked 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:

This links to the podcast.

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

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

Ten Bets (Plus) #9 for TFF #52 / New York Spotlight Clues, Confusions and Confirmations / Marty Supreme Drama / First Photo of Hamnet

TEN BETS (PLUS) #9 FOR TFF #52

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.

Here is the complete announcement from the New York Fest.

MARTY SUPREME DRAMA

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

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

Distributor Monday #2: Sony Pictures Classics / A New Contender for TFF #52

 DISTRIBUTOR MONDAY #2: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) along with Netflix are the only distributors over the last decade that have averaged more than three films per year at TFF.  Their relationship with TFF has been long and consistent. SPC is the only distributor that has placed a film at T-ride every year for the nine years I looked back on.  They average 2.8 films per year. Last year SPC had two films make the TFF #51 lineup: The Outrun and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

SPC has six films in their basket that seem like possible TFF #52 players.  Here's what we know about each of them.  They're arranged  from what I feel is most likely to least likely.  Individuals have been past attendees of TFF are indicated with *.

Blue Moon.  Director Richard Linklater.  Stars: Ethan Hawke*, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott (Best Supporting Performance Berlin Film Festival), Bobby Cannavale.  Played the Berlin International Film Festival.  Release date: Oct. 17th.  IMDb description:

Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!".

Ethan Hawke is a semi-fixture at Telluride.  He was last in Telluride in 2023 with both Wildcat and Strange Way of Life.  Despite the fact that director Richard Linklater has never taken a film to Telluride, this feels like the year and the film to make that happen.

The President's Cake.  Director: Hasan Hadi.  Stars: Baneen Ahmed Nayyef, Waheeda Thabet.  Played at Cannes in the Director's Fortnight section.  It won the Camera d'Or and the Directors Fortnight Audience Award.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

In 1990s Iraq, 9-year-old Lamia must bake the President's birthday cake. She scrambles to find ingredients for this compulsory task while facing potential punishment if she fails.

SPC picked this film up after a very good reception at Cannes critically as well as picking up a couple of awards.  I just have a feeling about this film.

Eleanor the Great.  Director: Scarlett Johansson (directing debut). Stars: June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor*.  Played Cannes Un Certain Regard.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

In Eleanor The Great, June Squibb brings to vivid life the witty and proudly troublesome 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who after a devastating loss, tells a tale that takes on a dangerous life of its own.

Eleanor the Great played respectably well with critics at Cannes and with the certain push for Squibb for Best Actress in combination with the film being Johansson's directing debut make this an interesting possible choice for TFF.

A Private Life.  Director: Rebecca Zlotowski. Stars: Jodie Foster*, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Auteuil, Virginia Efira. Played at Cannes Out of Competition.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

The renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered.

Jodie Foster was a TFF Tribute recipient back in 1991 when she presented the World Premiere of her directorial debut Little Man Tate.  This film is in French which Foster speaks fluently after have attended school in France when she was younger.

A Magnificent Life.  Director: Sylvain Chomet. Animated.  Played at Cannes Out of Competition.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

It follows the life of (Marcel) Pagnol, a playwright, novelist, and filmmaker who grew up in a middle-class household in Marseille and became one of the world's most inventive and prolific artists from the 1930's to the 1950's.

Chomet has previously screened The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist at Telluride. 

Unidentified.  Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour*.  Stars: Mila Al Zahrani, Abdullah Al-Qahtani.  Release date: TBD.  Played the Venice Fest and won the "Interfilm" award (per IMDB). IMDb description: 

A grieving mother, fueled by her passion for true crime, seeks answers when a teenage girl is found dead in the desert and the police investigation stalls.

Al-Mansour was in Telluride in 2012 with Wadjda.  Wadjda was a 2014 BAFTA film nominee for Best Film not in the English language.

Honestly, I think you can make a reasonable case for all six films.

Blue Moon 65%

The President's Cake 50%

Eleanor the Great 45%

A Private Life 40%

A Magnificent Life 40%

Unidentified 35%

Next Monday: we take a look at Neon.

A NEW CONTENDER FOR TFF #52

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel is reporting on an "out of nowhere" film that could be in the running for a slot at TFF #52.  The film is The Drama and stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. The film is written and directed directed by Kristoffer Borgli and was produced, in part, by A24.

IMDb does not yet have a description up for the film but Ruimy writes:

“The Drama” is going to light up festival chatting, and think pieces for months. It’s being described to me as a “very uncomfortable” watch, but with a major dose of sardonic humor.

“(It) centers on a couple, played by Pattinson and Zendaya, whose relationship takes an … unexpected turn right before their wedding day. 

Further, and of more interest to Telluride Film Fest watchers, Ruimy contends:

"While a release date has yet to be announced, I wouldn’t be surprised if the film gets positioned for a fall festival debut, with Venice, Telluride, and TIFF among the likely contenders." 

The complete post from WOR is linked here.

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