It's All About Who Got What / Down the Stretch...

IT'S ALL ABUT WHO GOT WHAT

We've entered the Post-Cannes/Pre-Venice phase of the countdown to Telluride.  One of the things to look at not that Cannes is over and while we wait for Venice to announce titles and then their schedule is what distributors acquired films that screened at Cannes.  Distributors that have had a substantial relationship with Telluride and that do snag new titles during or post-Cannes can spotlight a film that makes the trip to T-ride.  The biggest players this year were Neon and Mubi, both of which could position any of their newly acquired films as a TFF #52 offering.

Neon picked up seven films in total.  Three of them have been floating around my Telluride radar: A Simple Accident (Palme d'Or winner), Splitsville and Orwell: 2+2+5.  Neon also bought Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value in addition to Sirat (Jury Prize), The Secret Agent (Best Director, Best Actor and Alpha.

At this point I don't think its a matter of whether Neon will have films at Telluride, the question instead is how many will it be?

Mubi was almost as active as they acquired five titles.  Three of those have been on my screen: Die, My Love, The Mastermind and The History of Sound.  In addition to those, Mubi has also picked up Sound of Falling and My Father's Shadow.

Long time Telluride presence Sony Pictures Classics has Eleanor the Great, The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol and The President's Cake.  Any or all of these may be on your TFF #52 menu.

Other acquisitions of note include:

Netflix: Nouvelle Vague

Janus: Ressurection

Apple TV+: Bono: Stories of Surrender

A24: Pillion

DOWN THE STRETCH...

As May comes to a close, MTFB really starts to get cranked up in a serious way regarding the potential TFF lineup.  The run from June to Labor Day will include weekly looks as distributors that often have films at T-ride and I'll try to assess the TFF chances of some of the titles each outfit has.

Additionally, the weekly list of "Ten Bets" will begin in three weeks.  As frequent readers know, I'll start out with 10 guesses and that list will actually expand right up to the day before Telluride announces the TFF #52 lineup (expected Thursday, Aug. 28th.).  We also expect Venice to announce its lineup at the end of July and their schedule a couple of weeks into August.  And, as has become the norm, Toronto's announcements (last year the first big drop of titles came in the third week of July.

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Final Cannes Critical Views / Cannes Winners...Anyone Coming to Telluride?

FINAL CANNES CRITICAL VIEWS

Here is a look at the final critical reaction from Cannes regarding 13 films that I have my eye on regarding a possible play at Telluride:

From the Palme Competition category (on a 10 point scale):

The Mastermind: 6.53

Die, My Love: 6.51

Young Mothers: 6.33

The History of Sound: 4.88

A Simple Accident: 7.08

From Un Certain Regard:

Eleanor the Great: 5.58

The Chronology of Water: 6.19

Out of Competition:

Splitsville: 5.65

Orwell: 2+2=5: 7.13

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele: 5.96

The Wave: 5.88

The Love That Remains (Palmason) 7.72

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol 6.18

Looking at the Palme competitors, the top five currently are:

1) Sirat (Laxe) 7.90

2) Nouvelle Vague (Linklater) 7.22

3) Sentimental Value (Trier) 7.02

4) The Secret Agent (Filho) 7.01

5) Resurrection (Gan) 7.00

FROM SCREEN DAILY

Palme Competition top five (on a 4 point scale)

1) Two Prosecutors 3.1 (Tie)

1) It Was Just an Accident ( A Simple Accident) 3.1 (Tie)

3) The Secret Agent 2.8 (Tie)

3) Sound of Falling 2.8 (Tie)

And tied with a 2.7: Nouvelle Vague, Romeria, Sentimental Value, Young Mothers and The Mastermind.

FROM IONCINEMA

Palme Competition top five ( on a five point scale):

1) Sirat 3.9

2) The Secret Agent 3.6

3) It Was Just an Accident (A Simple Accident) 3.5

4) Sentimental Value 3.4 (tie)

4) Young Mothers 3.4 (tie)

CANNES WINNERS...ANYONE COMING TO TELLURIDE?

From Erik Anderson and Awards Watch...the big winners from Cannes:

MAIN COMPETITION

Palme d’Or: It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi

Gran Prize: Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier

Jury Prize: Sirât by Oliver Laxe and Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski

Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent

Best Actor: Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent

Best Actress: Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister

Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Jeues Mères

Special Prize: Resurrection by Bi Gan

A CERTAIN REGARD

Un Certain Regard Prize: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes

Jury Prize: A Poet by Simón Mesa Soto

Best Director: Tarzan and Arab Nasser for Once Upon a Time in Gaza

Best Actor: Frank Dillane for Urchin

Best Actress: Cleo Diára for I Only Rest in the Storm

Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton for Pillion

So, if you're looking at what happened at Cannes to predict what might play TFF #52 the awards are important and the critical reaction is important...also important is the distribution deals made at the fest.  The key moves were made by Neon and Mubi.

At the conclusion of Cannes Neon held the distribution rights for: It Was Just an Accident (Palme winner), Sentimental Value (Gran Prix winner), Sirat (Jury Prize), The Secret Agent (Best Direction), Alpha, Splitsville and Orwell 2+2=5.  That's seven films that Neon will be juggling as we head into Fall Film Fest Season.

Mubi post-Cannes has: Die, My Love, The Sound of Falling (Jury Prize), The History of Sound and The Mastermind.

Analysis:  It's tempting to think that Neon might have its biggest presence at Telluride ever.  That actually almost seems inevitable.  All factors taken together would seem to point to Jafar Panahi's Palme winner as the most logical first possibility. The second most likely might be Splitsville.  After that, it's pick 'em.  I'm kind of feeling Sentimental Value, Orwell and Sirat...but that's just a gut feeling.

Mubi's best bets right now seem to be Die, My Love and The Mastermind.  The History of Sound may be off the TFF list of possibilities as a result of a relatively dismal critical reception.

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The Critics at Cannes (Cont.) / And Now...Venice? / An IMDb Thing

 THE CRTICS AT CANNES (CONT.)

We're past the half way mark at the 78th Cannes Film festival and here's the check-in on the latest critical response to the films screening there.  

Here is a look from regarding 13 films at Cannes that I have my eye on regarding a possible play at Telluride:

From the Palme Competition category (on a 10 point scale):

The Mastermind: 6.16

Die, My Love: 6.52

Young Mothers: 5.75

The History of Sound: 5.09

A Simple Accident: 6.91

From Un Certain Regard:

Eleanor the Great: 5.81

The Chronology of Water: 6.17

Out of Competition:

Splitsville: 6.36

Orwell: 2+2=5: 7.13

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele: 5.68

The Wave: 5.84

The Love That Remains (Palmason) 7.73

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol 6.22

Looking at the Palme competitors, the top five currently are:

1) Sirat (Laxe) 7.90

2) Nouvelle Vague (Linklater) 7.25

3) The Secret Agent (Filho) 7.02

4) Resurrection (Gan) 7.00

5) Sentimental Value (Trier) 6.94

FROM SCREEN DAILY

Palme Competition top five (on a 4 point scale)

1) Two Prosecutors 3.1 (Tie)

1) It Was Just an Accident ( A Simple Accident) 3.1 (Tie)

3) The Secret Agent 2.8 (Tie)

3) Sound of Falling 2.8 (Tie)

3) Sentimental Value 2.8 (Tie)

FROM IONCINEMA

Palme Competition top five ( on a five point scale):

1) Sirat 3.9

2) The Secret Agent 3.6

3) It Was Just an Accident (A Simple Accident) 3.4

4) Nouvelle Vague 3.3

5) Sound of Falling 3.2

AND NOW...VENICE?

As Cannes gets close to its conclusion, some attention has begun to focus on what films will play Venice.  As frequent readers will recall, inclusion at Venice doesn't necessarily point to a film being selected for Telluride nor does it signal that it won't be.  The key to reading the Venetian tea leaves as they relate to Telluride actually comes when Venice releases its schedule.  Early screenings in Venice leave the door open for a Venice-Telluride double play.  

The point is that paying attention to Venice's choices can still be instructive.  To that end, Screen Daily posted on Monday a piece dedicated to possible Venice choices.  They include (in the order that the film appears in the piece):

The Smashing Machine/B. Safdie

The Ballad of a Small Player/E. Berger

Hamnet/C. Zhao

Bugonia/Y. Lanthimos

After the Hunt/L. Guadagnino

Father, Mother, Sister, Brother/J. Jarmusch

Rosebush Pruning/K. Ainouz

Sacrifice/R. Gavras

Couture/A. Winocour

Orphan/L. Nemes

No Other Choice/P. Chan-wook

Anemone/R. Day-Lewis

Yellow Letters/I. Catak

Call Me Queen/E. Atef

Whitetail/N. Leopold

A Prayer for the Dying/D. Van Dusen

Chocobar/L. Martel

My guess as to the best Telluride possibilities from this list:

The Ballad of a Small Player

Hamnet

Bugoina

After the Hunt

Orphan

What I'd really like to see at Telluride: Anemone

Screen Daily's complete rundown of Venice possibilities is here.

AN IMDB THING

So, I was running down Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? on IMDb (the app) a couple of days ago and noticed in the section labeled "Related User Lists" and the first list listed there was labeled "Telluride Possibilities".  Like this:

So naturally, I was intrigued.  I clicked on "pj_withers" list and discovered that MTFB was the reference:

So my next thought was...from this list of 30 films, what others, in addition to Is This Thing On?, does this list come up on?  All of them?

Turns out...no, not all of them.  But it does for 11 of them.

Is This Thing On?

Hamnet

Eleanor the Great

After the Hunt

Anemone

Megadoc

The Love That Remains

It Was Just an Accident

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol

Bucking Fastard

David Lynch: Hollywood Enigma

I'm not sure why these 11 are linked to this "Related User List" the other 19 are not.  I'm not sure who "pj_withers" is but I think this is kind of cool.

More on Monday including what won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

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Cannes Lineup Revealed / Could These Three Films Play TFF #52?

 CANNES LINEUP REVEALED

Early this morning Thierry Fremaux announced the lineup for this year's Cannes Film Festival.  Here are the films announced for the various sections:

In Competition:

The History of Sound/Hermanus

A Simple Accident/Panahi

The Mastermind/Reichardt

Young Mothers/Dardenne Brothers

Un Certain Regard:

Eleanor the Great/Johansson

Special Screenings:

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Chomet

Cannes Premiere:

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/Serebrennikov

Orwell/Peck

Splitsville/Covino

The Wave/Lelio

As always, we look to Cannes for clues about films that could have their North American Premiere at Telluride on Labor day weekend.  From the above it feels like, sight unseen, that these films have a chance to be at TFF #52:

Meanwhile, some films that had been speculated were not announced this morning including:

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

The Chronology of Water/Stewart

Die, My Love/Ramsay

Hamnet/Zhao

The Love That Remains/Palmason

Orphan/Nemes

The Way of the Wind/Malick

Remember, though, Cannes is notorious for adding films to their schedule after their opening announcement.

Of course what happens at Cannes does affect what may or may not be selected.  I pay close attention to how critics react to films at Cannes, and to some extent the awards results at the end of the fest to calibrate what may come down the pike.

The complete lineup announced this morning is here from Indiwire.

*****Late Breaking...Despite having not been officially announced by Cannes this morning, Spike Lee revealed via social media that his Highest 2 Lowest will premiere there Out of Competition.

COULD THESE THREE FILMS PLAY TFF #52?

(Rooney Mara and Kate Mara filming Bucking Fastard for Werner Herzog)

Could Werner Herzog finish his new film quickly enough for a TFF #52 debut?  World of Reel reports that filming is currently underway in Dublin, Ireland.  Herzog has been known to be able to move quickly in the past.  So, maybe?

World of Reel also reports that Kathryn Bigelow's first feature in eight years is aiming for a fall fest debut.  The article mentions Telluride as a possible landing place.

And finally, I have been hesitant to consider Bennie Safdie's The Smashing Machine as a TFF #52 possibility but The Film Stage reports that the film has an Oct. 3rd release date which would fit in nicely after a TFF screening.  

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