Distributor Monday #4: A24 / Bugonia Has a Teaser / Tidbits: Hedda, It Was Just and Accident, Two Prosecutors

 DISTRIBUTOR MONDAY #4: A24

We continue to look at film distribution outlets that have historically had a strong presence at the Telluride Film Festival to see what films they might be proffering to TFF for the 2025 edition.  Today's company is A24.  A24 first landed at Telluride in 2012 with Ginger and Rosa and followed the next year with Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin which made quite the splash.  Since then A24 has been an almost constant presence at TFF.  Since their debut at T-ride in 2012, A24 has only missed three times: 2014, 2018 and last year.  Last year's absence ended a four year run of A24 having multiple films at the fest including 2023 when it had four: Janet Planet, Occupied City, Tuesday and The Zone of Interest.

So, where does that put A24 on the possibility of being back at TFF in 2025?

The odds suggest that they will be back but...I'm not so sure.  A24 has two pretty big films set to come out this fall season.  Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme (Dec. 25th)  and Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine (Oct. 3rd).  Pretty clearly with its Christmas Day release, A24 thinks that Marty Supreme is prime awards season catnip.  With Timothee Chalamet in the lead, they're probably right.  

The Smashing Machine is intriguing.  As attested to by what we've seen from photos from the set, Dwayne Johnson has managed a significant makeover.  I get the sense that this is Johnson's play for a prestige picture.

Trying to divine A24's release strategy for these and additionally any fall festival strategy is tough to do.  There are credible reports that The Smashing Machine will play Venice.  Not so much as regards Marty Supreme.

It's worth noting that the Safdie Brothers and A24 debuted Uncut Gems at Telluride in 2019.  It subsequently played Toronto, New York and London before opening in limited release on Dec. 13th followed by going wide on Christmas Day.

A24 also has a couple of other possibilities.  Here's the rundown for each listed in alphabetical order.  All participants who have attended TFF in the past are indicated with *.

Eternity.  Director: David Freyne.  Stars: Miles Teller*, Elizabeth Olsen, DaVine Joy Randolph. Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

After death, everybody gets one week to choose where to spend eternity. For Joan, Larry, and Luke, it's really a question of who to spend it with.

This film is a true wild card from A24 at this point.

Marty Supreme.  Director: Josh Safdie*.  Stars: Timothee Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion.  Release date: Dec. 25th.  IMDb description:

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

Marty probably is A24's best shot at an awards season contender.

Pillion.  Director: Henry Lighton.  Stars: Alexander Skarsgard, Henry Melling.  Won the Screenplay award for Cannes' Un Certain Regard section.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

A directionless man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.

A24 acquired Pillion in October of 2024.  It was a critical success at Cannes with a combined of 7.30 on Cannes rating org's critics collective.  That was the 4th best among Un Certain Regard films and 15th best overall for the fest.  Based on this, Pillion might actually be A24's best bet for TFF #52.

The Smashing Machine.  Director: Benny Safdie*.  Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt.  Release date: Oct. 3rd.  IMDb description:

The story of mixed-martial arts and UFC champion Mark Kerr.

As mentioned above, The Smashing Machine is likely to premiere at Venice.  Does it make the jump from Venice to Telluride?  

Chances:

Pillion: 50%

Marty Supreme 25%

The Smashing Machine 25%

Eternity 20%

Next Monday we'll take a look at Searchlight.

BUGONIA HAS A TEASER

The latest collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone has a teaser.  Here that is from YouTube:

Bugonia currently sits at #3 on MTFB's Ten Bets for TFF#52.  Most of that is because both Lanthimos films, The Favourite and Poor Things, played Venice and then came to Telluride.  The history is there.  I also think that star and producer Emma Stone really loves Telluride.

The film is a remake of a 2003 South Korean film titled Save the Green Planet.  That film played at the Cannes Film Festival.

TIDBITS: 

***The Toronto International film Festival announced five world premieres for its 2025 edition this past week.  Of the five only one had been among films that I thought had some shot at at TFF #52.  That was Nia DaCosta's Hedda.  With this announcement you can scratch it off your Telluride dance card.  Here's the gist from Variety.

***Current #1 on MTFB's Ten Bets, Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident has been dated for release in the U.S. on Oct. 15th.  The Gold Derby article post with that news notes that for distributor Neon it's essentially the same dating as last year's Palme and Oscar winner Anora.  Does that mean Neon will also follow the same strategy with regard to where the film plays during the fall fest circuit?  My bet, at least right now, is yup!

Here's the link to the Gold Derby post.

***Janus acquires Two Prosecutors.  The Hollywood Reporter reported last week that Janus films had acquired North American rights for Sergei Loznitsa's Two Prosecutors.  The film played in Palme d'Or competition at Cannes in May winning the Francois Chalais Prize.  Janus's play improves the film's profile for TFF consideration.

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As We Head Into June / Ken Burns' Next Big Thing / Maybe we Can Join The Serkis?

AS WE HEAD INTO JUNE

As I have mentioned, we're only a few days away from beginning a couple of summer traditions here at MTFB.  Starting Next week I'll begin running down each of the distributors that have been the most common players with films at Telluride.  I'll take a look at the films from each outfit that are the most probable TFF choices and try to assess each film's chances of actually going to TFF #52.

As a way of setting the table for that, here's a quick look at which distributors we're talking about.  First, a little methodology.  I looked at each year going back to 2015 to gather the info.  I did leave out the covid year cancelled TFF despite the fest having released a lineup because it was surely not complete at the time the decision was made to cancel that year.

That said, here are the eight distributors I'll be looking at over the next few weeks based on the number of films they have screened at Telluride since 2015:

Netflix: 34 (3.8/yr.)

Sony Pictures Classics (SPC): 31 (3.4/yr.)

Neon: 19 (2.1/yr.)

A24: 16 (1.8/yr.)

(Fox) Searchlight: 14 (1.6/yr.)

Amazon/MGM: 12 (1.3/yr.)

Focus Features: 10 (1.1/yr.)

Mubi: 5***

***I include Mubi on the list with its small number of five films because it's a late-comer to The SHOW having screened all 5 within the last four fests for an average of 1.25/yr.

Some interesting tidbits...

Obviously, Netflix has screened the most films since 2015 (its first appearance at TFF came that year) but SPC is only three behind and both distribs are the only outfits that have had films screen every year of this survey. 

Searchlight only missed one year in this time frame in 2016.

Three of these distributors only missed two years:

Neon in 2017and 2015.

A24 in 2024 and 2018.

Focus Features in 2019 and 2016.

Monday we'll start with Netflix and look at what films they have and what might play TFF #52.  Subsequently, we'll look at the other distributors each week in the order of which house has played the most at T-ride since 2015.

KEN BURNS' NEXT BIG THING

TFF Board of Governors member Ken Burns has begun promoting his next big project which is a documentary look at American Revolution as the nation begins to hit the 250 year milestones that will lead up to the nation's Semiquincentennial or Bisesquicentennial coming on July 4th, 2026.

The six part 12 hour series will air on PBS beginning on Nov. 16th.  Normally it would be a no-brainer to think that at least some portion of the series, if not all six parts, would play at TFF...but... as a part of the roll out for it they've already begun a nationwide tour which has/will include screenings of at least some of the doc.  Those began last march in Richmond, VA. and will continue through Oct. 9th in Washington D.C.  The press release says that additional dates are forthcoming.

One wonders if those presentations will dissuade TFF from screening any of it.  It is of note that there is a gap between a July 17th presentation in L.A. and sept. 20th presentation in Saratoga, NY.

Here's a link to its PBS landing page including a small clip from the doc.

And here's a link to the official press release.

All things considered, I still think it's likely that at least some segments will be screened at TFF #52.

MAYBE WE CAN JOIN THE SERKIS?

Animal Farm still via World of Reel

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reports that Andy Serkis' animated adaptation of George Orwell's classic Animal Farm will premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.  That fest is set to run June 8-14.

I have thought for awhile that this could be a TFF choice and its inclusion for Annecy is in no way a TFF disqualifier.  As a matter of fact I could see it playing along with Raoul Peck's Documentary about Orwell: Orwell: 2+2=5 which just screened at the Cannes fest last month as a kind of TFF double bill.

Just a thought.

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Time to Look at Distributors: A24 / Pics from The Bikeriders / So, About Anora

TIME TO LOOK AT DISTRBUTORS: A24

We're in early June which means that Cannes is done; Venice announcing its lineup is on the horizon and the first "Ten Bets:" for TFF #51 is two weeks away.  That means our annual summer review of what frequent TFF distribution companies have in the various film larders is nigh and we try to get a sense, from that perspective, about films that could be at Telluride on Labor Day weekend.

This year we start with A24.  I might not start there most years but I'm prodded by an article posted from Deadline.com that points to A24's fall crop of films making it an easy place to begin.

Last year A24 had four films make the TFF grade:

The Zone of Interest

Occupied City

Tuesday

Janet Planet

Previous years at TFF for A24:

2015-Room

2016-Moonlight

2017-First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019-Uncut Gems, Waves, First Cow

2021-C'mon C'mon, Red Rocket, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

2022-Aftersun, Close

In order of mention, these are the seven films that Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro's piece:

The Front Room/Eggers Brothers

A Different Man/Aaron Shimberg

We Live in Time/John Crowley

Heretic/Scott Beck and Bryan Wood

Babygirl/Halona Reijn

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl/Rungano Nyoni

Parthenope/Paolo Sorrentino

My assessment of these film's chances of playing TFF:

Parthenope 50%

We Live in Time 45%

Babygirl 40%

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl 35%

Heretic 5%

The Front Room 5%

A Different Man 5%

An outside shot might be David Lowery's Mother Mary which has been in post-production since July of 2023.

Of the list, We Live in Time would be at the top of my list of these titles to actually see with my own eyeballs in T-ride.

Here's the complete Deadline piecenull.

PICS FROM THE BIKERIDERS

A late breaking entry from TFF #50 is Jeff Nichols The Bikeriders.  The film is set for release on June 21st.  Back when it screened at Telluride it looked like it would be a fall release but those plans changed.

Nevertheless, I was a moderately big fan of the film back at TFF and am looking forward to its release.  When it screened at Telluride there was a good deal of buzz about Jodie Comer's performance especially.  It'll be interesting to see if she can get some buzz going here at the beginning of summer.

Anywho...The Hollywood Reporter has some new pics from the film.

You can see them here.

null

SO, ABOUT ANORA

Yes, the Sean Baker film won the Plame d'Or at Cannes a couple of weeks back.  Discerning MTFB readers may have noticed that I had sort of edged away from including it as a TFF possibility because I was sure that I had seen somewhere that a summer release was going to happen.

After it won the Palme, I saw some speculation that if could play Telluride.  I reached out to a couple of friends who told me no such summer release was happening.  

As if to bolster that point, Variety and other sources reported Tuesday that Anora will be released on Oct. 18th.  That puts it in good shape to be a TFF selection and actually will likely make it among the 10 films in MTFB's initial "Ten Bets" for TFF #51 coming in two weeks on June 20th.

Here's the Variety story on the release date:null 

And...turns out I didn't make the summer release date story up.  A now deleted post on X from The Film Stage from April 24th said that:

 

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A24 Is Loaded / Ruimy Looks at Telluride / ICYMI: The First Ten Bets for TFF #49

 A24 IS LOADED

As I continue to review various distributors that have had a significant presence at past Telluride Film Festivals I marvel at how many possible films A24 has in play.  A24 appeared on the Telluride scene in 2012 with Ginger + Rosa.  Since then A24 has been a consistent player at TFF:

2012-Ginger + Rosa

2013-Under the Skin

2015-Room

2016-Moonlight

2017-First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019-Uncut Gems,Waves, First Cow

2021-C'mon C'mon, Red Rocket

So, as you can see, not every year but most years and the last three times A24 has landed multiple films at T-ride.  Likely they're going to get multiple films in this year too as the A24 larder is brimming with intriguing possible choices.  In alphabetical order with director listed (***indicates a film on my first "Ten Bets" for the fest posted last Monday):

Aftersun/Wells***

Close/Dhont***

Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind/Coen

Red, White and Water/Neigebauer

Showing Up/Reichardt***

Stars at Noon/Denis

Tuesday/Onunis-Pusic

The Whale/Aronofsky

White Noise/Baumbach***

That's nine possibles and doesn't count fairly high profile titles from Joanna Hogg (The Eternal Daughter), Ari Aster (Disappointment Blvd.) or Alex Garland (Civil War).

You can also see that I have four of the nine listed in the first Ten Bets. I'm betting big on A24 for TFF this year. 

RUIMY LOOKS AT TELLURIDE

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has stepped into "figure out Telluride" mode with a post from yesterday.  His first review of what could come very kindly sources MTFB for some of the post.  However, Jordan does mention additional titles that I don't necessarily have in my Top Ten at the moment or in the additional "maybe titles" (see below). 

Ruimy includes the potential for the following to be at TFF #49:

Todd Fields' TAR

Scott Cooper's The Pale Blue Eye

Sebastian Lelio's The Wonder

Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All

Darren Aronofsky's The Whale

Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin

Make no mistake here.  I have almost all of these titles in my "be aware of it" list for a possible play at TFF #49 with the exception of McDonagh's Banshees of Inisherin.  If you're an MTFB reader, do yourself a favor and check out World of Reel from time to time.  Jordan is great at sussing this stuff out.

Here's his post that I'm referencing.

ICYMI: THE FIRST TEN BETS FOR TFF #49

I'm re-posting the first Ten Bets for Telluride as this would, in a normal year, be the date that I would have posted the first stab at trying to guess Telluride.  Here it is again:

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

3) The Son/Zeller

4) Close/Dhont

5) Women Talking/Polley

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) Showing Up/Reichardt

8) White Noise/Baumbach

9) Broker/Kore-eda

10) She Said/M. Schrader

Others: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abdasi, Blonde/Dominik, The Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Next Goal Wins/Waititi, The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, TAR/Fields

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SPC Acquires One Fine Morning / A24 Nabs Aftersun / Critics from Cannes / What's Netflix Got?

SPSC ACQUIRES ONE FINE MORNING

Mia Hansen Love has been a significant presence at Telluride for some time.  That's also been true for her films as far as being invited to Cannes.  This year she has another film playing in France as a part of the Director's Fortnight section.  One Fine Morning has been getting more than decent critical notices.  As such, it has already been mentioned here as a potential TFF #49 selection.

Now comes news that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film for North America and beyond.  That acquisition increases that chances that the film will make a trek to the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  As most readers of this Blog know, SPC has had a very good relationship with TFF for many years.

Hansen-Love films that have screened at Telluride: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come and Bergman Island

Recent SPC films at TFF: Julia, The Duke, The Father, Pain and Glory, A Fantastic Woman, The Rider and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.

Details of the SPC move are here from Variety.

A24 NABS AFTERSUN

Meanwhile, A24 has acquired Charlotte Wells' Aftersun.  The film has made a splash in France.  The solid critical response and the A24 move means that we have to give it some serious thought about a spot at The SHOW.  Adding fuel to the T-ride speculation is that the film is produced, in part, by Barry Jenkin's PASTEL.  You have to think that helps it be on the Telluride radar.

Deadline has the story.

CRITICS FROM CANNES

As we head into the home stretch of the Cannes Film Fest and the choice for the winner of the Palme d'Or looms, here is your latest check of potential TFF films screening in France and their current critical standing based on Reini Urban's collected sample of critics.

Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 7.54

Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.71

Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 6.66

Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius) 7.42

One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.45

Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.88

All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 7.05

Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.81

Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 8.25

Broker (Hirozaku Kore-eda) 6.25

Tori and Lokita (The Dardennes Brothers) 6.35

Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) 7.54

WHAT'S NETFLIX GOT?

It's that time of year where I try to peer into the films that we think could be ready for a Labor Day screening from some of the producers/distributors that have been common players at previous Telluride Film Fests.

And we start with what has become the most ubiquitous player at TFF over the past few years.  Since 2015Netflix has shown:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire

2016: I Called Him Morgan, The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno

2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

2018: Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, Roma, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2019: Inside Bill's Brain, Marriage Story, Tell Me Who I Am, The Two Popes

2020: No announced films

2021: The Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Procession

That's an impressive run.  But...

You have to wonder with all the turmoil at Netflix of late...decreasing membership, lower stock prices and layoffs as well as the inability of the big streaming giant to land a Best Picture win (3 big shots at that prize over the past four years-Roma, Marriage Story and The Power of the Dog) if they will consider changing strategies this year.

Then there's the question of what they have that could be players in awards season.

Noah Baumbach's White Noise

Andrew Dominik's NC-17 rated Blonde

George C. Wolfe's Rustin

David Fincher's The Killer  (Will it be ready by September?)

Tobias Lindholm's The Good Nurse

Kenya Barris' You People

Guillermo Del Toro's Piniocchio (Will it be ready?)

John Ridley's Shirley

Sebastian DeLilio's The Wonder

From this group and at the moment it feels like the best bets are White Noise, Shirley and The Wonder with honorable mentions for Blonde and Pinocchio.

***Added on June 9th- Look out for The Good Nurse

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Assessing A24 / Indiewire's Oscar List / French Dispatch News Leaves the Door Open

 ASSESSING A24

Continuing my look at film distributors who have had a significant presence at TFF over the last half decade my attention today is on A24.

Here's their footprint at TFF over the past few years:

2012: Ginger and Rosa

2013: Under the Skin

2015: Room

2016: Moonlight

2017: First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019: Uncut Gems, Waves, First Cow

And A24's stockpile is large for the end of 2020.  The most likely films to play Telluride are probably:

C'mon C'mon

The Humans

The Tragedy of Macbeth

But there are others that could be in the TFF convo:

The Eternal Daughter

When You Finish Saving the World

Red Rocket

And actually, A24 still has others in the pipeline that could be selected.

INDIEWIRE'S OSCAR LIST

Indiewire's Zack Sharf has taken a stab at an early look at this next year's potential Oscar Best Picture contenders with a list of 30 films.  Indiewire posted the list last Thursday.  Looking it over it crosses my mind that I could make some sort of case for a Telluride bow for about half of them.  Let's give it a whirl in the order that the Indiewire article lists them and with a note or two about why they might be a T-ride player.

Spencer: Because it's directed by Pablo Larrain who doesn't have every project at Telluride but he's no stranger either.  Also, it's from NEON...which doesn't hurt.

C'mon C'mon: Because it's from A24 (see above).

Last Night in Soho: Because it's from Focus Features.  Also, I have a hunch it will be announced as a Cannes selection later this week which could be a sign of a Cannes-Telluride double play.  Also, the Oct. 22nd release date gives the film space to play T-ride, TIFF and/or New York.

The Humans: Also from A24 (see above).

The Card Counter: Because it's directed by Paul Schrader who has a lengthy relationship with TFF. It's also from Focus and its release date, Sept. 10th, suggests it could play Cannes/Telluride or Venice/Telluirde or Telluride as a stand alone festival appearance.

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project (Soggy Bottom):  It's been since 2007 since PTA was in Telluride to aid in feting tribute recipient Daniel Day-Lewis and screen the first few minutes of There Will Be Blood.  Since then PTA has directed: The Master (2012-Venice, TIFF),  Inherent Vice (2014-NYFF, AFI) and Phantom Thread (2017-Palm Springs).  Persistent rumors that it will be announced for Cannes on Thursday and a November release date leave the door open for a number of fall fest scenarios if MGM decides to pursuer them.  Also, does the Amazon acquisition of MGM change any of the festival calculus?  

Nightmare Alley: Because it's directed/produced by Guillermo Del Toro and co-written by Kim Morgan (who co-guest directed the fest in 2014).  The distributor is Searchlight which has a long and fruitful relationship with Telluride.  The Dec. 3rd release date works too.

Dune:  Because it's directed by Denis Villenueve who has a substantial Telluride record.  Being from Warner Brothers doesn't necessarily hurt.  Oct. 1 is the release date which works too.  I won't be surprised if Dune has some spot in Cannes' or Venice's lineup.

The Power of the Dog: Because it's directed by Jane Campion whose last feature, Bright Star, played at TFF back in 2009 and who's best known triumph, The Piano, played T-ride in 1993.  It's from Netflix which likely bolsters its TFF chances.

The French Dispatch:  Because...well...it is from Serachlight.  Also, see below...

The Tragedy of Macbeth:  Director Joel Coen was in Telluride in 2013 with Inside Llewyn Davis and the film is being distributed by A24.  

Don't Look Up: Because it's from Netflix.  Normally, Adam McKay's lack of a Telluride trail over the past decade would keep me from posting the film as a TFF #48 possibility but...Netflix.

Tick, Tick...Boom: Also a Netflix joint and yes, I know that Netflix won't land everything in their larder in Telluride.  And, yes, there's their whole "no festival" approach to last year-though I did hear rumors that had Telluride gone on in 2020 that Mank would have screened there.

The Hand of God: Netflix

The Eyes of Tammy Faye: From Searchlight which is the biggest reason to think it could be in Telluride.  It also has a Telluride friendly release date of Sept. 17th.

The complete Indiewire list is linked here.

FRENCH DISPATCH NEWS LEAVES THE DOOR OPEN

I believe Variety broke the news late this week that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a part of the Cannes lineup.  Also among the items of interest about the film are its selection for the New York Film Fest and an official theatrical release date for Oct. 22nd.

What's interesting to me is that the Cannes screening is given as the "world premiere" but I couldn't find any premiere designation for the New York Fest in any of the stories that appeared after the initial announcement.  To me that suggests at least the chance that it could also screen at Telluride and/or Toronto.

Here's the story from:

Variety

Indiewire

The Playlist

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Mank in October and an Interesting Note / Netflix and the Chicago 7 / The Distribs: A24

MANK IN OCTOBER AND AN INTERESTING NOTE

Mank Photo montage via World of Reel 

Multiple outlets reported recently that Eric Roth, one of the producers on David Fincher's upcoming Netflix film Mank, has said that the film will premiere at some point in October.

Roth made the statement on the Pardon My Take podcast.

If it's true it suggests that the film might have been ready in time for some of the fall fest run.  As we know, however, Netflix has announced that none of their projects will be fall festing this year.

There are a couple of cracks in that armor, however.  You may recall that I wrote the following in my June 1 post:

"Further, Hammond (Deadline) opens the door slightly to there being the possibility that Netflix's announcement that it would be doing any fall fests might not be 100% carved in stone:
"Netflix, which has been a key presence in the last couple of years is sitting this one out, at least at this point."
The key sentence there being the "At least at this point".

And, as an aside...due to Telluride's secretive nature, you kind of have to wonder that if Netflix was ONLY going to screen at Telluride that they might suggest they weren't going anywhere.
Personally, I take Netflix at its word that they won't screen anywhere...but it's fun to speculate."

Now, in the Zack Sharf/Indiewire article about the possible October release for Mank, there's this sentence:

"While Netflix has not confirmed the “Mank” release date, a fall debut around October or November has been widely expected considering the title is one of the streaming giant’s big Oscar contenders. Similar to last year’s “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story,” Netflix is expected to world premiere “Mank” at one of the fall film festivals."

The Playlist's Charles Barfield seemed to second the motion writing in a story posted on Friday:

"that would give the film ample time to premiere at one of the upcoming fall festivals, which have been welcoming to Netflix films in years past, especially ones with well-known filmmakers and possible awards recognition. So, maybe we’ll see “Mank” 

In fairness, Barfield mentions Venice and Toronto as possible destinations...but still...

The Playlist story is here

So, clearly, something is off-kilter here somewhere.

It's worth keeping an eye and an ear open on this topic.

The entire Sharf/Indiewire post is here.



NETFLIX AND THE CHICAGO 7


I saw reporting over the weekend that Netflix is nearing a deal with Paramount to acquire domestic distribution for Aaron Sorkin;s The Trial of the Chicago 7.  Variety reported over the weekend that negotiations were ongoing.

I've had this Sorkin project on my TFF #47 radar since October of 2018.  The film's TFF chances for a TFF berth seemed to be 50/50.  Then with the stoppage of work in post-production because of the pandemic I had begun to think that it wouldn't be ready in time.  Now, also working against it's Telluride chances, assuming the deal gets done, is Netflix announcing that it won't be taking any of their films to film fests.

The Variety article suggests that the film might still be aimed for release prior to election day in November.

Given the Netflix weirdness detailed in the first section of this post above, I can't definitively say that Chicago 7 won't be a TFF selection.  The door is still open just a wee bit.




THE DISTRIBS: A24

A24's presence at Telluride has been a hit and miss affair since the company's first appearance at the fest in 2012 but their level of success when they have had films there has been impressive with three of the ten films they've screened at Telluride earning Best Picture nominations and, of course, having Moonlight's win after premiering at TFF in 2016.

Here's A24's past at the Telluride Film Festival":

2019: First Cow, Uncut Gems, Waves
2018: No SHOW
2017: Lean on Pete, First Reformed, Lady Bird
2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  No SHOW
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Ten films in eight years.  But, as I said...it's been hit or miss with No SHOW's in 2014 and 2018 but three films apiece in 2017 and 2019.

A24 has several films that could be in for a TFF play:

Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks.  Coppola re-teams with Bill Murray for the first time since her debut film, Lost in Translation, which screened at Telluride in 2003.  She hasn't returned to TFF since.  Murray was in town in 2012 in support of Hyde Park on Hudson.  Rashida Jones also stars.  also in its favor-It went into post-production last July.  I was surprised that the film wasn't on the list of films that Cannes "selected".  That makes me think that it may be headed to Venice.  With the uncertainty about how the pandemic will impact fests, films and fest-goers decision making, my sense is that we may see less Telluride/Venice crossover than in recent years.

Mike Mills' C'mon C'mon starring recent Best Actor Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix.  Mills has never been to Telluride but he hasn't been averse to playing the fest circuit with his past films:
Thumbsucker: Sundance, Berlin, Toronto
Beginners: Toronto
20th Century Women: New York, AFI
The film went into post in December which may suggest that it hasn't had enough time to be completed.

Stephen Karam's adaptation of his Tony Award winning play The Humans.  Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer and Beanie Feldstein star in the story of a family gathering at Thanksgiving.  It's Karam's first gig as director but he has a scripted adaptations of his own play, Speech and Debate as well as Chekhov's The Seagull.  The film went into post in October so is possibly ready.

Three other A24 titles that seem to be less likely TFF participants are False Positive, After Yang, The  and the Untitled Lila Neugebauer Project.

I appears that the Joel Coen MacBeth project starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand has been moved to 2021.

Chances:

On the Rocks 30%
C'mon C'mon 30%
The Humans 30%

All other A24 properties: 10%.

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The Distributors 2019: Many a Firm Part Two / Deadline Looks at Venice / Telluride and Oscar Part One: Best Picture / Forman v. Forman Trailer

Welcome back from the weekend and to July 2019!


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: MANY A FIRM PART TWO:

Today looking at the chances for two films from two different distribution companies: A24 and Annapurna

-A24

After s strong build over five years from 2012-2016. 2017 seemed like a real breakout year for A24 with three films making he TFF lineup.  But the relatively new firm didn't place a film at the fest in 2018.  Here's the history:

2018: No SHOW
2017: Lean on Pete, First Reformed, Lady Bird
2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  No SHOW
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Now with the 46th edition of the Telluride Film Festival fast approaching, A24 finds itself in much the same situation as last year when Jonah Hill's Mid 90's seemed their only possible play.  This year A24 looks to have only Robert Eggers" The Lighthouse as a possible TFF contender.

As of right now though, I'm feeling fairly bullish on the film's chances especially in light of its very strong positive critical reaction from Cannes.  Reini Urban's collective Cannes critical response had it at #2 among the entire fest's films trailing only Bong Joon-ho's Palme d'Or winning Parasite.

Meanwhile...

-ANNAPURNA

Annapurna's connection to Telluride in its short tenure has been as a producer of films as opposed to a distributor, which is a fairly recent development for the firm.  TFF films as a production/distribution company include: Destroyer (2018) and Foxcatcher (2014).  As with A24, it feels like Annapurna has a single film that could possibly make TFF #46.

Up until this weekend it was references as the Untitled Miranda July project but as of this past weekend is now called Kijillionaire.  Evan Rachel Wood, Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins star in a crime drama. Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner's Plan B  (12 Years a Slave, Moonlight) is also producing which doesn't hurt the film's TFF profile.

The chances for each of these films...

The Lighthouse-55%
Kijillionaire-40%



DEADLINE LOOKS AT  VENICE (and a little at Telluride)

Deadline writers Nancy Tartaglione and Andreas Wiseman posted a piece last week speculating about what films...especially awards season films...might find their way to the Venice Film Fest.  We probably need to pay heed.

The Venice-Telluride connection has become very solid in recent years.  Last year the two fests shared a total of nine films: First Man, Graves Without a Name, Non-Fiction, Peterloo, Roma, The Favourite, The Great Buster, The Other Side of the Wind and They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.

Though the changing interactions of film fests and streamers like Netflix and Amazon may alter that symbiosis, I expect we’ll see another substantial connection between the two fests’ lineups again this year.  Consequently, the programming and scheduling for Venice is valuable for TFF clues.

So back to the Deadline story...

Among the films that they suggest have a shot at the Lido are:

Joker
Untitled Noah Baumbach Project- which gets a specific Telluride mention in the article
Against All Enemies
The Aeronauts
Ad Astra
Ford v. Ferrari
The Pope
The King
The Last Thing He Wanted
The Laundromat
Bad Education (which also gets a specific Telluride mention)
Judy
Jojo Rabbit
Ema

Also mentioned are Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman both of which are unlikely for Telluride for very different reasons.

The complete Deadline article is linked here.

Venice is set to announce its lineup on July 25th.


TELLURIDE AND OSCAR PART ONE: BEST PICTURE

I spent nearly a year working on my Telluride Film Festival history project in 2017-18.  You can see the links for that at the top of this page.

Now, I’ve decided to dive into the relationship between TFF and the Oscars.

Regular readers know that when the fest concludes each year that I devote the blog to following the awards season with emphasis on the films that played at the festival.  Then, once Oscar is done, I return to the primary reason that I started writing this thing back in 2008 which is the attempt to divine the films that will make up the program for The SHOW.

In the course of the “Oscar” portion of the year I have written a lot about how T-ride has been a huge factor in the Best Picture race.  You can’t escape the fest’s track record over the past decade plus.  Green Book’s win last year notwithstanding, I suspect Telluride’s presence in the Best Picture category will continue for the foreseeable future.

Recently, I decided to take a look back at Telluride’s place in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar race.  I knew on a surface level that the connection had been substantial but I wanted to quantify it.  So I did the homework and put that story up back on June 10th.

After I finished the work on that post, I got to thinking that a bigger look at the Telluride-Oscar connection might be interesting...fun...worth the time.

So, I decided to expand the field and look at how Telluride films have fared in the other seven major Oscar categories: Direction, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay.

I’ll be rolling these out over the next couple of weeks and by way of introducing the collection, here’s a reminder of all the films that have been nominated for Best Picture that played Telluride since 2005 (with winners denoted with ***):

2005: Brokeback Mountain, Capote
2006: Babel
2007: Juno, There Will Be Blood (I always count this and Benjamin Button even though we only saw a portion of each film in tributes to Daniel Day Lewis and David Fincher)
2008: Slumdog Millionaire***, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009: (first year of expanded field of nominees): An Education, Up in the Air
2010: The King’s Speech***, 127 Hours, Black Swan
2011: The Artist***, The Descendants
2012: Argo***, Amour
2013: 12 Years a Slave***, Gravity,  Nebraska
2014: Birdman***, The Imitation Game
2015: Spotlight***, Room
2016: Moonlight***, Arrival, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea
2017: The Shape of Water***, Darkest Hour, Lady Bird
2018: The Favourite, Roma

In the 14 years included here 32 TFF films were nominated for Best Picture with nine of them winning Oscar’s highest honor including the incredible eight straight year run from 2010-2017.

The first TFF film to earn a nomination for Best Picture was Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation in 1974, the very first Telluride Film Festival.  The second wouldn't happen until 1989 with Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot.

Tomorrow, a look at Best Director candidates from TFFs past.



FORMAN VS. FORMAN TRAILER

The Karlovy Vary Fest is ongoing as I write and one of the docs screening there that has caught my eye as a potential TFF selection is Jakub Henja and Helena Trestikova’s Forman vs. Forman focusing on the life and career of the late, great Milos Forman.

With its screening at the Czech fest, the producers have released a trailer which I have included here from YouTube:

That's your first July MTFB.  More to come tomorrow...

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The Distributors 2018: A24 / Guest Director Named / Don Gone?

Good Monday everyone.  I hope you survived the weekend...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: A24

I continue my breakdown of film distribution companies and their films with a look toward what seems the most likely players for TFF #45.  Today we turn to relative newcomer A24.  A24 Appeared on the Telluride scene just a few years ago but has made a substantial splash in a short time.  Here's their TFF run:

2017: Lean on Pete, First Reformed, Lady Bird
2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  No film
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Seven films in six years with three Best Picture Oscar nominations and the win in 2016 for Moonlight.  So you have to think that A24 is a player for 2018 but it feels like their cupboard is a bit bare.  Two films that we might take a look at, Native Son and The Lighthouse are dated, at least currently, for 2019.

Maybe the biggest shot for A24 this year is the Jonah Hill directed and written Mid 90's.  The film purportedly went into post production in late July of last year and has had relatively good buzz.

I, however, am a tad leery about thinking a Jonah Hill debut is necessarily a likely event for T-ride.  Still, this film seems like A24's best shot at the fall fests including Telluride.  Maybe their only one.  Or, perhaps this year is like 2014 and A24 doesn't play this year.

Mid 90's chances to make TFF #45: 30%.

Tomorrow Sundance Selects and IFC Films.


GUEST DIRECTOR NAMED

We found out who will guest direct the 2018 edition of the Telluride Film Festival.  It's author Jonathan Lethem.

Here's the press release from the Fest:

BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival, presented by National Film Preserve LTD., is proud to announce its 2018 Guest Director, Jonathan Lethem. The award-winning novelist, essayist and short story writer is set to select a series of films to present at the 45th Telluride Film Festival running over Labor Day Weekend, August 31 - September 3, 2018.

Festival organizers annually select one of the world’s groundbreaking artists to join them in the creation of the Festival’s program lineup. The Guest Director serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions, bringing new ideas and overlooked films to Telluride. In keeping with Telluride Film Festival tradition, Lethem’s film selections, along with the rest of the Telluride lineup, will be kept secret until Opening Day.

“Tom and I first met Jonathan through Criterion Collection,” said Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger. “Since then, we have forever been impressed with his knowledge of and enthusiasm for cinema.  We are thrilled to have him join us for the 2018 Festival!”

One of America’s greatest contemporary writers, Jonathan Lethem was born in 1964 in Brooklyn, NYC to artist Richard Lethem and late political activist Judith Lethem. His impressive body of work spans 10 novels, five short story collections, a novella, two books of essays, a comic series and writings in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone and Mc Sweeny’s. Lethem’s first genre-defying novel, Gun with Occasional Music (1994) experimented with science fiction and crime and gained him a strong cult following. In 1999, Lethem’s fifth novel Motherless Brooklyn met with significant commercial and critical success winning the National Book Critics Circle Award, Macallan Gold Dagger for Crime Fiction, Salon Book Award and was named Esquire’s book of the year. The film adaptation of Motherless Brooklyn, directed by Edward Norton and starring Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe and Leslie Mann is currently in production and slated for a 2019 release. Lethem’s more recent novels include New York Times Bestseller The Fortress of Solitude (2003), You Don’t Love Me Yet (2007), Chronic City (2009), Dissident Gardens (2013) and A Gambler’s Anatomy (2016).  In 2005, Jonathan Lethem was the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship.

“From the very beginning for me, my love for literature and my love for film were splendidly mixed-up and inextricable,” said Lethem. “I always saw the two great 20^th Century storytelling forms as speaking to and through one another. So, when by my great good luck I fell in with Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger, I immediately recognized them as being of my tribe; they feel the same resonance and have designed their wonderful festival in the mountains to reflect it. When I learned they’d involved writers I admire like Michael Ondaatje and Rachel Kushner and Geoff Dyer in the heart of the program, I was thrilled – and envious! I’m still pinching myself in disbelief that it’s my turn to play at programming the Dream Multiplex.”

Past Guest Directors include Joshua Oppenheimer, Volker Schlöndorff, Rachel Kushner, Guy Maddin, Caetano Veloso, Michael Ondaatje, Alexander Payne, Salman Rushdie, Peter Bogdanovich, B. Ruby Rich, Phillip Lopate, Errol Morris, Bertrand Tavernier, John Boorman, John Simon, Buck Henry, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim, G. Cabrera Infante, Peter Sellars, Don DeLillo, J.P. Gorin, Edith Kramer and Slavoj Žižek.

The Guest Director program is sponsored by FilmStruck, Turner’s subscription on-demand service that offers film aficionados a comprehensive and constantly refreshed library of films including an eclectic mix of contemporary arthouse, indie, foreign, cult and classic Hollywood films. FilmStruck is the exclusive streaming home to the Warner Bros. classic film library and the Criterion Collection. FilmStruck was developed by Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and is managed by TCM in partnership with Warner Bros. and the Criterion Collection.

And coverage of the announcement from Screen Daily and The Movie City News.


DON GONE?

Poor Terry Gilliam.

After winning the right to screen his more than 25 year-in-the-making passion project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, at Cannes, French courts have now decided that producer Paolo Branco owns the film's rights which almost certainly means the film's future is back to limbo status.

Soooo...for those of us that thought, we might see the film in Telluride in 10 weeks or so...looks very doubtful.

Reporting from a number of sources indicates that Branco's company is the sole owner of the film's rights and that he/they are ready to sue about anyone and everyone that was apart of the film's Cannes screening and French release.

Here's the story from The Playlist.



That's it for this Monday.  Come back for more tomorrow.

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A Familiar TFFer Will Lead Us / The Distributors: A24 / Adding to Tuesday's Fox Searchlight Analysis

Good Thursday Film Fans!


A FAMILIAR TFFer WILL LEAD US

If you're as glued to Twitter as I usually am and you pay attention to Telluride Film news via that media, then you almost certainly already know that Telluride #44 has a Guest Director.

The word came via press release email yesterday that director Joshua Oppenheimer will Guest Direct for the 2017 edition of TFF.

Ironically, I mentioned Oppenheimer's first appearance at Telluride in last Tuesday's post as a part of my TFF history retrospective.  Tuesday's review was for the 24th TFF in 1997.  Oppenheimer presented The Entire Story of the Louisiana Purchase that year.

Most recently he has presented both The Look of Silence (2014) and The Act of Killing (2012) at the fest.

Here's the full text of the press release from TFF:

BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival, presented by National Film Preserve LTD., is proud to announce its 2017 Guest Director, Joshua Oppenheimer. The award-winning documentarian is set to select a series of films to present at the 44th Telluride Film Festival running over Labor Day Weekend, September 1-4, 2017.

Festival organizers annually select one of the world’s great film enthusiasts to join them in the creation of the Festival’s program lineup. The Guest Director serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions, bringing new ideas and overlooked films to Telluride. In keeping with Telluride Film Festival tradition, Oppenheimer’s film selections, along with the rest of the Telluride lineup, will be kept secret until Opening Day.

“The Guest Director program is one of the most essential and wonderful parts of our festival,” said Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger. “Joshua has been a part of the SHOW with several of the incredible films he has made in the past, and now as our Guest Director. His rare combination of intelligence and down-to-earth understanding of humanity will make for a remarkable presentation of films our audience will not want to miss. Further gilding the lily, FilmStruck has joined us as the sponsor of this selection. We are beyond fortunate with this terrific combination of cinematic genius.”

Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer was born in the US in 1974 and studied filmmaking at Harvard University. Oppenheimer is best known for The Act of Killing (Telluride 2012) and The Look of Silence (Telluride 2014). The Act of Killing (2014 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary) was named Film of the Year in 2013 by the Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll. It won 72 international awards, including a BAFTA, a European Film Award and an Asia-Pacific Screen Award. The Look of Silence (2016 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary) premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI award, and went on to receive another 70 prizes, including an Independent Spirit Award, the IDA Award for Best Documentary Feature, a Gotham Award, and three Cinema Eye Honors. His early shorts have recently been re-released online and on DVD, including The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase, which premiered at Telluride in 1997. Joshua Oppenheimer was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2014. Oppenheimer is a partner at Final Cut for Real in Copenhagen, and Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster in London.

“You stumble from a cinema into Telluride’s thin air, touched in ways you never imagined possible,” commented Oppenheimer. “You turn to a total stranger to share a thought unthinkable only two hours before. What happened? In the mirror of a great film, you confronted truths from which you normally avert your eyes. You recognised yourself in those delicate, mysterious moments that defy words yet make us human. Telluride's movies are empathy machines, inviting us to find ourselves in people we’d never otherwise know. Julie Huntsinger and Tom Luddy’s annual selection is driven by such curiosity and humanity that you cannot leave Telluride without feeling the responsibility and pain and love that comes with compassion. We emerge connected, reminded that self-absorption ultimately leaves us isolated and fearful. There is no greater privilege than joining Tom and Julie as this year’s guest director, sharing with Telluride’s audience the films that give me the greatest courage, and teach me to practice the widest empathy.”

Past Guest Directors include Volker Schlöndorff , Rachel Kushner, Guy Maddin, Caetano Veloso, Michael Ondaatje, Alexander Payne, Salman Rushdie, Peter Bogdanovich, B. Ruby Rich, Phillip Lopate, Errol Morris, Bertrand Tavernier, John Boorman, John Simon, Buck Henry, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim, G. Cabrera Infante, Peter Sellars, Don DeLillo, J.P. Gorin, Edith Kramer and Slavoj Žižek.

For more information about Telluride Film Festival, visit www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

THE DISTRIBUTORS: A24

One of the newest distribution companies to the Telluride experience is A24 and though they are new to TFF, relatively speaking, and though they haven't screened a large number of films at the fest, their presence has made a lot of noise, especially the last two years.

Here's the entire A24 footprint which only begins its T-ride time in 2012:

2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  _____
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Brie Larson earned a Best Actress Oscar for 2015's Room and the film was also nominated for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay.

Then there's last year's Moonlight which picked up three Oscars for Best Picture, Supporting Actor and Adapted Screenplay.  It was also nominated for five others including Direction and Supporting Actress.

That's a very impressive run in an incredibly short time.

My take is that A24 likes getting their product into Telluride and Telluride likes having it there.  As you can see, however, the outfit hasn't ever placed more than a single film in a year in their limited time there and, as you can see above, in 2014 A24 wasn't in T-ride at all.

But could this be the year that the firm lands more than a single title?

Here's the rundown of current A24 films that seem to have a shot at Labor Day:

A Prayer Before Dawn/Sauvaire:  Played at Cannes as a part of the Midnight Screening program where it got a respectable 6.28 average critical rating according to Reini Urban's compilation of Cannes critics.  Chances of it playing seem slight to me.  Chances: 15%.

How to Talk to Girls at Parties/Mitchell.  Another Cannes presentation shown out of competition that had middling critical reception- 5.61 on the Urban compilation.  It could pop at Telluride but I have doubts.  Chance: 15%.

The Killing of a Scared Deer/Lanthimos:  The third A24 film that played Cannes- in the main competition category where it won Best Screenplay.  This coming on the heels of writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos' Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay last year for The Lobster.  Although the Urban combo score was 5.96, its Metacritic score was a solid 84.  I could actually see this making a play at T-ride.  Chances: 50%.

Cannes clip of The Florida Project via YouTube

The Florida Project/Baker:  Regular readers of MTFB know that I am high on this film's chances to play Telluride in light of its performance at Cannes.  It was the third most widely praised film critically at Cannes in any section with an 8.05 combo rating from Urban and a 91 Metacritic score. Sean Baker grabbed a lot of buzz in 2015 for his Tangerine and I expect A24 is going to be working hard to get Willem Dafoe some awards season attention for Best Supporting Actor.  All of that and my intuition makes me think The Florida Project might be heading to Colorado.  Chances: 65%.

Woodshock/Mulleavys:  The one film on the list that A24 didn't play at Cannes.  Kirsten Dunst stars in what looks pretty trippy.  At least that's the way the trailer looks:

I think it looks interesting but I also think it's how A24 looks at approaching Telluride now.  Chances 20%.

And if you were wondering about the Safdie's Good Time with Robert Pattinson; it's set to open in August.

So, it seems to me that your two best A24 best are The Florida Project and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

ADDING TO TUESDAY'S FOX SEARCHLIGHT ANALYSIS

I was perusing  Nancy Tartiglione's post at Deadline earlier today for nuggets that might have popped up in 20th Century Fox's presentation at CineEurope in Barcelona.  A sentence or two caught my eye as FS Exec VP Rebecca Kearey is quoted as suggesting serious festival plays for Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.  

Here's the direct quote from the post:

Those were joined by Fox Searchlight titles Battle Of The Sexes, Goodbye Christopher Robin , Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape Of Water. Of the latter two, Searchlight EVP of International Marketing & Distribution Rebecca Kearey said they would be playing at many of the fall festivals.


After seeing that, I'm inclined to bump both films' chances of a Telluride play up 5 points from Tuesday's analysis.  So Ebbing goes from 40% to 45% and Shape of Water from from 35% to 40%. I'm leaving Battle of the Sexes at 55% and Goodbye Christopher Robin at 45% for now.

Meanwhile, Pete Hammond from Deadline dropped his belief that Battke of the Sexes has, what he calls a 99% chance to play Telluride.  He also suggested in a story yesterday his belief that Alexander Payne will have Downsizing at TFF #44.  Check out Hammond's story here.


LAST NOTE FOR THURSDAY...

I was reading this story from The Hollywood Reporter yesterday about David Lynch attending the Lucca Film Festival in Tuscany and the fact that he'll be doing some presentations of Twin Peaks;The Return (through seven episodes now on Showtime) and I was reminded that Lynch revealed the first two episodes at Cannes prior to their Showtime presentations.

It also reminded me that I have a theory that master of weirdness might make a return this year to Telluride.  Hear me out...or, I guess, read me out.

Lynch used to be a fairly serious Telluride regular.  As best I can tell Lynch was in Telluride in 1986 with Blue Velvet and Eraserhead.  Screened some of Twin Peaks in 1989 (though only Mark Frost and Michael Ontkean are listed as attending with the show).  Industrial Symphony in 1990, again with no Lynch listed as attending. Lynch received a Telluride Tribute in 1999 complete with screenings of The Straight Story.  In 2001, TFF reportedly "snuck" Mulholland Drive.  I think the last time a Lynch film played the festival was as an executive producer on Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done in 2009 as a sneak preview.

That's a pretty impressive run of Telluride screenings.

Sooo... how about screening the last two episodes of Twin Peaks: The Return at TFF #44?

They're both set to screen on Showtime on Sunday, Sept. 3rd.  Maybe we should kick off the weekend Friday with those two episodes back to back.

It's a thought.


That's a wrap for Thursday.  More tomorrow.

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