Ten Bets #5 for TFF #52 / Toronto Adds 11 More Titles...We Deduce / After the Hunt Has a Trailer

TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #52

Here's last week's Ten Bets:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Sentimental Value/Trier

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) Hamnet/Zhao

5) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

6) Sirat/Laxe

7) Blue Moon/Linklater

8) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

9) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardenne Brothers

10) Rental Family/Hikari

Other possibilities: The History of Sound, The Ballad of a Small Player, The Love That Remains, The Secret Agent, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great,  Pressure, Marty Supreme, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.

And now for the updated Ten Bets:

1) Hamnet/Zhao

2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

3) Sentimental Value/Trier

4) Bugonia/Lanthimos

5) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

6) Blue Moon/Linklater

7) Sirat/Laxe

8) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardenne Brothers

9) The History of Sound/Hermanus

10) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Other possibilities: The Ballad of a Small Player, The Love That Remains, The Secret Agent, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great,  Pressure, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.

Changes in this week's Ten Bets informed by  announcements yesterday from Toronto (see below).  Marty Supreme falls out of "possibilities" amid reports that it will skipping all fall fests.

I'm expecting more announcements coming from other fests next week which should really begin to clear the picture for TFF #52.

TORONTO ADDS 11 MORE TITLES...WE DEDUCE!

Yesterday the Toronto International Film Festival announced 11 more titles for their 2025 edition.  Their premiere designations tell us about films that now seem to be (mostly) ruled out and one that seems to be confirmed for Telluride.  Per Variety here are those films and their designations.

Galas:

The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | UK

World Premiere | Gala Presentation

Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | India

North American Premiere | Gala Presentation

Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | UK

Canadian Premiere | Gala Presentation

A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France

North American Premiere | Gala Presentation

Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USA

World Premiere | Gala Presentation

She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | China

North American Premiere | Gala Presentation

Special Presentations:

Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/Poland

World Premiere | Special Presentation

The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USA

World Premiere | Special Presentation

Rental Family | HIKARI | USA/Japan

World Premiere | Special Presentation

Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/Belgium

World Premiere | Special Presentation

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USA

World Premiere | Special Presentation

Takeaways:  Looks like Chloe Zhao's Hamnet is headed to Telluride.  Looks like Hikari's Rental Family is not.  I've had Hamnet in the Ten Bets from the jump this year.  I just put in Rental Family last week but its World Premiere designation means that it won't be at Telluride.  The question that raises is does that mean that Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? a real TFF #52 possibility from Searchlight?  Because it feels like that's Searchlight's best shot now.

Couple of other things:  A Private Life,  Roofman and Franz were films I had sort of considered as possible TFF candidates and aren't now.  

The mystery about Wake Up Dead Man's International Premiere designation for the BFI/London Fest remains...weird.  I've said it before...the International Premiere designation is "squishy".

None of the other films announced by Toronto were on my radar as Telluride candidates.

Here's the Variety story in its entirety.

AFTER THE HUNT HAS A TRAILER

Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt moved  up into this week's Ten Bets.  Mostly because its Amazon-MGM's big shot this year and Rental Family dropped out. Now I'm sort of thinking that it does Venice early and then Telluride.  Maybe a Julia Roberts tribute?

World of Reel wrote about it yesterday saying:

“After the Hunt” is set to hit screens on October 10 via Amazon/MGM. As mentioned, it’ll probably hit Venice in September, and probably have a fall rollout in other fests, maybe Toronto and Telluride."

Also perhaps signaling that the film is soon to be announced for Venice, Amazon-MGM dropped a trailer yesterday.  Here that is from YouTube:

I think it looks intriguing.

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Distributor Monday #6: Amazon-MGM / One Battle...No Venice?

 DISTRIBUTION MONDAY #6: AMAZON-MGM

Today we take a look at the sixth distributor that has a common appearance profile at the Telluride Film festival and that is Amazon-MGM.  

Since starting this series of reviews of frequent TFF distribution companies I have been taking them in the order of the outfits that have been most prevalent at Telluride over the last nine years.  Amazon-MGM (Amazon Studios) has screened a dozen films at T-ride in that time.  Actually, it's been eight years in a row with at least one film being screened at TFF:

2016: Manchester by the Sea

2017: Wonderstruck

2018: Cold War, Peterloo

2019: The Aeronauts, The Report

2020: No Fest but would have screened All In: The Fight for Democracy

2021: Encounter

2022: Goodnight Oppy, Wildcat

2023: Saltburn, Cassandro

2024: Nickel Boys

So one or two films per year consistently since 2016 but trying to decipher what Amazon-MGM might have for the 2025 edition of TFF is challenging.

The big film for them this year is Luca Guadagnino's After the Hunt.  The other was Nia DaCosta's  Hedda but we now know that it will World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.  Once you get past those two there are a few other projects that just don't seem to have a lot of TFF juice.

Here's the rundown:

After the Hunt.  Dir. Luca Guadagnino*.  Stars: Julia Roberts, Ayo Ediberi, Andrew Garfield*, Chloe Zevigny*, Michael Stuhlbarg*.  Release date: Oct. 10th.  IMDb description:

A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

Guadagnino was at TFF in 2022 with Bones and All after it premiered at Venice.  Since then his two big 2024 releases- Challengers and Queer -both did not play Telluride.  Notably, Queer did play Venice.  So...

A Julia Roberts tribute would be cool though.

Preparation for the Next Life.  Director: Bing Liu.  Stars: Sebiye Behtiyar, Fred Hechinger.  Release date: TBD  IMDb description: 

Upon her release from a detention center, undocumented Uyghur immigrant Aishe moves to New York City, vowing to outrun the many things chasing her. In Queens, she falls in love with Skinner, a recently discharged army vet, and they help each other combat the complexities of starting a new life in America. A gritty love story about two unforgettable people the world forgot..

The thing that makes me list this title is that T-ride regular Barry Jenkins is a producer on the film as is Plan B's Dede Gardner.  Could be  a real sleeper choice.

The Map that Leads to You.  Director: Lasse Hallstrom.  Stars: Madelyn Cline, Josh Lucas.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

A woman meets an enigmatic stranger on a European trip. Their instant attraction faces challenges from life, duty and secrets that change her life forever.

I include this mostly because of director Lasse Hallstrom's past films: The Cider house Rules, Chocolat and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.  Currently, it appears that Amazon-MGM may just send this direct to streaming.

Amazon-MGM has a couple of comedies (Oh.What.Fun. and The Pickup) neither of which seem TFF possibilities. 

Overall, After the Hunt probably has the best TFF shot but I just don't feel it.  At the moment I expect a Venice play and then to Toronto just as Queer did.  

Chances:

After the Hunt 30%

Preparation for the Next Life 25%

The Map that Leads to You 0%

Update as of 10:47 am EDT on 7-14-25-Amazon-MGM has dated The Map that Leads to You streaming debut on August 20th.

Up next Monday...Focus Features...and wooooo....they are loaded for 2025.

ONE BATTLE...NO VENICE?

World of Reel reported Saturday that Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another is likely to miss the Venice Film Festival.  It has been frequently mentioned that the film would probably World Premiere there.

Jordan Ruimy, who runs WOR, made clear that there is no official word as yet regarding One Battle but also claims that the source from Italy is reliable.

The post also talks a bit about whether that means the the film plays Toronto, which Ruimy suggests is the most likely scenario but which he also admits isn't a cinch either.  As for Telluride, Ruimy doesn't entirely rule it out writing, "Telluride? Probably not in the cards." but that's a 100% denial of the possibility.  Ruimy also writes the thinks the film almost has to land somewhere in the fall fest and it can't be New York as OBAA opens the same day as NYFF opens.

So where?  If at all?

Warners, who has the film, has had a fairly regular presence at Telluride.  Including the now defunct Warner Independent Pictures, here's what they have screened at Telluride in the time thatI've been attending:

2006: Infamous

2007: Rails and Ties

2012: Argo

2013: Gravity

2015: Black Mass

2016: Sully

2019: Motherless Brooklyn

2022: King Richard

And, of course, PTA was in Telluride in 2007 for the Daniel  Day-Lewis Tribute and screening of some of There Will Be Blood.

So...who knows?  Not me, but I'll keep my ear to the ground.

 

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Ten Bets #4 for TFF #52 / Rental Family...Telluride Bound? / Next Best Picture Predicts T-Ride / Knives and Definitions

 TEN BETS #4 FOR TFF #52

With every week we get a little bit more backdoor info pointing to certain titles for TFF #52.  You'll see a little bit of that for this week in the stories posted below.  But let's lead off today's re-shuffle of the top ten bets on films for TFF.  Here's a look at last week's Ten Bets:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Sentimental Value/Trier

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) Hamnet/Zhao

5) Blue Moon/Linklater

6) Sirat/Oliver Laxe

7) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

8) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardenne Brothers

9) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

10) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Other possibilities: The Love That Remains/Palmason, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great, After the Hunt, The History of Sound, Family Rental, Pressure, Marty Supreme, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.

And this is where I think we are this week:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Sentimental Value/Trier

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) Hamnet/Zhao

5) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

6) Sirat/Oliver Laxe

7) Blue Moon/Linklater

8) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

9) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardennes Brothers

10) Rental Family/Hikari

Other possibilities: The History of Sound, The Ballad of a Small Player, The Love That Remains/Palmason, The Secret Agent, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great, After the Hunt, Pressure, Marty Supreme, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.

RENTAL FAMILY...TELLURIDE BOUND?

Oscar winner Brendan Fraser who leads Hikari's Rental Family

Earlier this week I wrote that Hikari's Rental Family had about a 40% shot at playing at telluride  as a part of my assessment of what Searchlight films might be TFF possible.  That, I suggested. made it the most likely Searchlight property to play TFF #52.

Tuesday World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy reported that the film may be TFF bound.  In a story covering the test screenings of the film.  The thrust of the story is that it has been screening to very positive reactions.  As Ruimy is winding up the article he writes:

"What we might have here is the kind of low-key, but emotionally resonant indie that, if positioned well, could ride a wave of goodwill through the fall circuit and into awards season. 

Of course, it it’s too early to tell, but all signs point to a real crowd-pleaser, and there are already murmurs that it’s already clinched a spot at the Telluride Film Festival, which is known to be a major Oscar launchpad."

We can't know how certain Ruimy is, but it seems he has some serious insight.  Consequently Rental Family makes its way onto this week's Ten Bets list.  And for fun, I'll tease that there is at least one other "Bet" among the 10 that I am 90% sure of and another among the week's "possibilities" that I'm also at 90% on.  I really thought about moving the "possibility" into the Ten Bets for the week but had to make late breaking room for Rental Family.

Any guesses?

NEXT BEST PICTURE PREDICTS T-RIDE

Matt Neglia at Next Best Picture posted yesterday a substantial piece predicting where films would land this fall film fest season including TFF #52.  I have included Matt's Telluride predictions and indicated where he and I overlap as follows:

* On the the latest Ten Bets

**Included as a "Possibility"

***Might have been mentioned by MTFB

Here's Matt's list:

Blue Moon – dir. Richard Linklater*

Bugonia-dir. Yorgos Lanthimos*

Chocobar-dir. Lucretia Martel

The Chronology Of Water – dir. Kristen Stewart***

Hamnet (World Premiere) – dir. Chloe Zhao*

The History Of Sound – dir. Oliver Hermanus**

A House Of Dynamite (World Premiere) – dir. Kathryn Bigelow***

It Was Just An Accident – dir. Jafar Panahi*

Jay Kelly-dir. Noah Baumbach**

Left-Handed Girl – dir. Shih-Ching Tsou***

The Love That Remains – dir. Hlynur Pálmason**

A Magnificent Life – dir. Sylvain Chomet***

Mother Mary (World Premiere) – director. David Lowery

The Perfect Neighbor – dir. Geeta Gandbhir

The President’s Cake – dir. Hasan Hadi***

Rental Family (World Premiere) – dir. Hikari*

The Secret Agent – dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho**

Seeds – dir. Brittany Shyne

Sentimental Value – dir. Joachim Trier*

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (World Premiere) – dir. Scott Cooper*

Train Dreams – dir. Clint Bentley***

Urchin – dir. Harris Dickinson***

The Young Mothers’ Home – dir. Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne*

Films that Matt predicts for Venice or Toronto that I want to be at Telluride:

Anemone

The Ballad of a Small Player

Eleanor the Great

Frankenstein

Is This Thing On?

One Battle After Another

Nuremburg

Orwell: 2+2=5

Pressure

You can find Matt's predictions for all four major fall fests here.

KNIVES AND DEFINITIONS

Word from Netflix yesterday that Rian Johnson's Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery will open the BFI/London Film Festival on October 8th.  The interesting thing is that multiple sources reported that as being its International Premiere.  That means it will have World Premiered somewhere else before Oct. 8th.  

Some have speculated that means a Toronto World Premiere.  But hold up.  The traditional definition of "International Premiere" is that it is a first screening outside the film's nation of origin.  Okay.  It's just that Canada is not the "nation of origin" for Wake Up Dead Man.  According to IMDb Pro the nation of origin is the U.S.A.

So, what gives?  That set of circumstances seem to suggest that WUDM World Premieres at Telluride or Fantastic Fest.  The original Knives Out did world premiere at Toronto and followed that with a screening as a part of Fantastic Fest.  Glass Onion also World Premiered at Toronto and then followed that up with a number of high profile regional fests like Mill Valley, Middleburg and Hamptons.

So, again, what gives?  I think there are three possibilities:

1) Wake Up Dead Man plays Telluride.

2) Wake Up Dead Man plays Fantastic Fest and skips Toronto.

3) Wake Up Dead Man World Premieres at Toronto.

The third option is maybe the most likely because the "International Premiere" designation has been inconsistently applied for some time.

I'll keep an eye on this to see how it finally checks out.

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Ten Bets #3 for TFF #52 / Sentimental Value Trailer / The Mastermind Is Dated

TEN BETS #3 FOR TFF #52

We're creeping up on the time frame for rapid discovery of probable Telluride selections based on information as other major fall film festivals begin to announce their lineups.  For Telluride watchers that chiefly means Toronto, Venice and New York.  Fantastic Fest and BFI/London can also provide clues.  

When those announcements happen they can rapidly change the look of the Ten Bets.  It's all about how a fest frames the premiere status for the films that they include.  Designations that are key over the next few weeks are:

"World Premiere" which is exactly what it sounds like...some fest is telling you that they will be hosting the very first public screening of a film anywhere.  So when Toronto tells you they are "World Premiering" a film that means it won't play Telluride which occurs before TIFF.  

Almost all of Venice's titles are World Premieres.  The best info from Venice comes when they announce their actual screening schedule.  As Venice cranks up a couple of days before TFF starts, films that get scheduled the first three or four days of Venice have time to get to the Colorado Rockies for a portion of TFF.

"International Premiere" which means the first screening outside the films country of origin (though "country of origin" can be a slippery term).  This designation can cut both ways in as far as ruling a film in or out of the TFF lineup.  For example, an American film the screens at Telluride and then at Toronto could be designated by TIFF as an "International Premiere".  When TIFF frames their announcement that way it could be a predictor that the film will play T-ride.  On the other hand, if a French film screens at Cannes and  is announced as an International Premiere by Toronto, that means it is skipping Telluride.

"North American Premiere":  A very useful piece of information for announcements from Toronto or New York as it means no previous play at Telluride.

"Canadian" or "New York" premieres.  In each case this kind of  "local" premiere designation almost always means a Telluride play....but NOT 100% of the time.  You have to remember that Sundance, South by Southwest and Fantastic Fest film titles could also result in the "local" designation for either TIFF or NTFF.

Ultimately all of this explains why changes in the early versions of the Ten Bets are glacial and then become quite dynamic when we begin to see announcements from these other major fests. 

All that said, here's a review of last week's Ten Bets for TFF #52:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Blue Moon/Linklater

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) Sentimental Value/Trier

5) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardennes

6) Hamnet/Zhao

7) Sirat/Oliver Laxe

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

9) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

10) The Love That Remains/Palmason

Other possibilities: Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great, After the Hunt, Family Rental, Pressure, Marty Supreme, Die My Love, The Mastermind.

And now, this week's Ten Bets:

1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

2) Sentimental Value/Trier

3) Bugonia/Lanthimos

4) Hamnet/Zhao

5) Blue Moon/Linklater

6) Sirat/Oliver Laxe

7) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

8) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardenne Brothers

9) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

10) After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Other possibilities: The Love That Remains/Palmason, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great, After the Hunt, The History of Sound, Family Rental, Pressure, Marty Supreme, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.

Comment: Sentimental Value and Hamnet both gain a couple of spots.  Sirat and Deliver Me from Nowhere move up one spot. Blue Moon and Young Mothers' Home lose some ground and, for now, After the Hunt supplants The Love That Remains in the #10 spot.

SENTIMENTAL VALUE TRAILER

Currently sitting at #2 in the Latest Ten Bets is Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value.  The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes in May and is considered a hot property moving through the fall fest season.  Neon is the film's distributor and they're larder is stacked with Cannes projects that they acquired during and after the festival.

Mubi released a trailer a couple of days ago.  Here it is from YouTube:

Sentimental Value is set to open in the United States on Nov. 7th.

THE MASTERMIND IS DATED

Nest Best Picture revealed this week that Mubi will release Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind theatrically in the U.S. on Oct. 17th.

That date means it could line up potential plays at Telluride, Toronto and/or New York.  Reichardt was in Telluride in 2019 with the enigmatic First Cow.  

The Mastermind played the Cannes Fest in the Palme d'Or competition.  It stood somewhere in the middle of the competition group critically with a 6.29 average rating as reported by Cannes-Ratings.org.

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TFF #52 Poster Released / 50 Fall Film Possibilities / Cannes Sales Update /

TFF #52 POSTER RELEASED

It dropped yesterday and here it is:

And the press release from TFF:

We are proud to unveil our 2025 Festival poster, created by celebrated cartoonist and graphic novelist Daniel Clowes.

Daniel Clowes is one of the most influential and acclaimed figures in contemporary graphic storytelling. Best known for his seminal comic-book series Eightball and the cult classic graphic novel Ghost World, Clowes has defined the landscape of alternative comics for over three decades. His body of work includes Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, David Boring, Ice Haven, The Death-Ray, Wilson, and Patience. His most recent book, Monica, was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the 100 greatest works of fiction of the 21st century.

Clowes received an Academy Award nomination (with Terry Zwigoff) for the screenplay adaptation of Ghost World and has been recognized with a PEN America Literary Award, as well as numerous Eisner and Harvey Awards. His work has been exhibited in a solo retrospective, Modern Cartoonist, at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and other venues. His illustrations have appeared on movie posters, album covers, multiple covers of The New Yorker, and even a Hermès scarf. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife Erika.

Clowes shared, “I’m thankful to the Telluride Film Festival for giving me the opportunity to focus my energy on something unassailably positive and noble in these dystopic times.”

Festival director Julie Huntsinger adds, “We’ve long admired Dan’s unparalleled ability to tell emotional, layered stories through both image and language. His poster for this year’s festival is a rich and brilliant capsule of that – a perfect reflection of his depth and wit through the lens of cinema and all that it can offer.”

50 FALL FILM POSSIBILITIES

Ezra Cubero writing for Silver Screen Express has posted his annual set of speculation about which films might go where as regards Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York.  It's an interesting take with some surprise.

I culled the post and began by creating a list of the films that Cubero thinks have some shot at the TFF #52 lineup.  It's a lengthy list which follows below (with director listed to the right).

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Anemone/Day-Lewis

At the Sea/Mundruczo

Blue Moon/Linklater*

Bugonia/Lanthimos

Christy Martin Biopic/Michod

Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper

Eleanor the Great/Johansson

Hamnet/Zhao

Hedda/DaCosta

The History of Sound/Hermanus

It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

Jay Kelly/Baumbach

Kiss of the Spiderwoman/Condon*

Late Fame/Jones

A Magnificent Life/Chomet

Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

The Mastermind/Reichardt

Nouvelle Vague/Linklater

Rental Family/Hikari

The Rivals of Amziah King/Patterson**

Roofman/Cianfrance

The Secret Agent/Filho

Sentimental Value/Trier

Sirat/Laxe

The Smashing Machine/B. Safdie

Sound of Falling/Schiliniski

* indicates a premiere at Sundance

** indictaes a premiere at South by Southwest

Notable films that Cubero does not mention as a Telluride possibility at all:

Alpha/Ducournau

The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

Die My Love/Ramsay

Father Mother Sister Brother/Jarmusch

Frankenstein/Del Toro

One Battle After Another/PT Anderson

And one last note.  Cubero doesn't pick Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On for Telluride but does write about it saying: "Telluride might not happen."  Which isn't a total rejection of its chances.

Cubero was pretty solid on this last year hitting 13 films he listed as "Yes" or "Maybe" for Telluride that actually made the lineup.  His post last year went up on June 24th.

Cubero's entire fascinating piece is linked here.

CANNES SALES UPDATE

Indiewire has kept track of sales during and after the 78th Cannes Film Fest and I have taken a look at buyers/titles that do not have an announced release date or do have a release date post-Telluride.  I also focused on distributors that have had a fairly serious presence at TFF over the past few years.

Here's the rundown beginning with Neon, which went on a buying spree.

Neon (7): It Was Just an Accident, Sirat, The Secret Agent, Alpha, Orwell 2+2=5, Sentimental Value, Splitsville.

Mubi (5): Sound of Falling, Die My Love, The History of Sound, The Mastermind, My Father's Shadow.

Sony Pictures Classics (3): The President's Cake, Eleanor the Great, A Magnificent Life.

Janus Films (3): Magellan, The Love That Remains, Resurrection.

Netflix (2): Left-Handed Girl, Nouvelle Vague.

A24 (1): Pillion.

Kino Lorber (1): Amrum.

Lots of TFF potential here.

The complete list from Indiewire is here.

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Last Shot at Cannes / A Look at the E-Mailbag

LAST SHOT AT CANNES

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has been keeping a steady eye on the speculation about what may be screening at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.  His extensive list has been developing for months.  Now, on the brink of the titles being revealed (on Thursday, April 10th) we take a last look at his predictions and assess possible Telluride selections.  From Ruimy's list, the most likely TFF #52 players are:

After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino

Couture/No Distrib/Alice Winocour

Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay

Orphan/No Distrib/Laszlo Nemes

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov

The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus

The Love That Remains/No Distrib/Hylnur Palmason

The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt

The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Sony Pictures Classics/Sylvain Chomet

The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick

The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers

Untitled Jafar Panahi Film

Here's the link to Ruimy's entire article.

A LOOK AT THE E-MAILBAG

I have a file in one of my email accounts labeled "Future Telluride".  That's where I file away posts/articles about future films that, for some reason...and not always the same reason, strike me as having some Telluride Film Fest potential.  There are some dating all the way back to 2014 that I've held onto.

So, anyway, I was cleaning the folder up a bit over the weekend and kind of went down a rabbit hole of films that I had tagged and that had ultimately screened at TFF over the last couple of fests.  The folder contains links for TFF #50 films such as: The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, Nyad, All of Strangers and The Bikeriders.  For TFF #51: The Outrun, Emilia Perez, Maria, Bird and A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things.

So, I thought, what the heck...what films possible for TFF #52 are tucked away in the folder?  Here they are:

After the Hunt/Luca Guadagnino/Amazon-MGM

Ballad of a Small Player, The/Edward Berger/Netflix

Bride, The/Maggie Gyllenhaal/Warners

Bugonia/Yorgos Lanthimos/Focus

Deliver Me From Nowhere/Scott Cooper/Searchlight

Die, My Love/Lynne Ramsay/No Distribution

Frankenstein/Guillermo Del Toro/Netflix

Hamnet/Chloe Zhao/Focus

History of Sound, The/Oliver Hermanus/Focus

Jay Kelly/Noah Baumbach/Netflix

Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, The/Sylvain Chomet/SPC

Marty Supreme/Josh Safdie/A24

Mastermind, The/Kelly Reichardt/Mubi

Pressure/Anthony Maras/Focus

Roofman/Derek Cianfrance/Miramax

Untitled Alejandro Inarritu Project/Alejandro Inarritu/Warners

Not saying these will all make the TFF #52 lineup...but I bet some of them do.

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Cannes Announcement Draws Near / One Battle Trailer Drops / Something Else to Keep an Eye On

 CANNES ANNOUNCEMENT DRAWS NEAR

We'll get the bulk of the Cannes lineup for Palme competition as well as Une Certain Regard, Out-of-Competition and Special Screenings on April 10th.  Between now and then, I'll be adding Cannes Guesswork from Variety (today) and then Next Best Picture and World of Reel next week prior to the actual announcement.

For today, I've drawn from Variety's Cannes spec piece published March 14th.  From that piece here are ten Cannes to TFF possibilities:

After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino

Couture/No Distribution/Alice Winocour

Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay

Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes

The Chronology of Water/No Distribution/Kristen Stewart

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov

The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus

The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt

The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick

The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers

Variety also unequivocally reports that Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia and Julian Schnabel's In the Hands of Dante will not be playing Cannes.

The entire Variety piece is linked here.

ONE BATTLE TRAILER DROPS

So remember a couple of week's ago when Warners moved Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another to a Sept. 26th release date opening the door to a potential selection by Telluride and/or Venice and/or Toronto?  That was followed by small teaser for a forthcoming full trailer.  Then, the full trailer dropped last week.

Here the trailer is from YouTube:

I'm intrigued.

On a related note, there is a good deal of hubbub about wrangling between PTA and Warners over the final cut of the film that may be related to reported test screenings.  

I'm keeping my eyes and ears open.

SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP AN EYE ON

I'm sure a lot of you saw the news this past week that A24, Barry Jenkins and Zendaya are all on board for a biopic (of a sort) about the life of Ronnie (Bennett) Spector.  That combination is eye catching and could be Telluride material for, say, 2026?

Details are sparse but you can check out these stories from last week about the project:

Deadline.

The Hollywood Reporter.

The Playlist.

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Last Look for Early Oscar Predictions / TFF and Cannes

 LAST LOOK FOR EARLY OSCAR PREDICITONS

From Gold Derby, here's the last look at an early Oscar Prediction list as a guide to potential TFF #52 films.  Here's my best shot from their list:

After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino

The Ballad of a Small Player/Netflix/Edward Berger

Bugonia/Focus/Yorgos Lanthimos

Deliver Me from Nowhere/20th Century/Scott Cooper

Die, My Love/No Distributor/Lynne Ramsay

Frankenstein/Netflix/Guillermo Del Toro

Hamnet/Focus/Chloe Zhao

Jay Kelly/Netflix/Noah Baumbach

Marty Supreme/A24/Josh Safdie

Pressure/Focus/Anthony Maras

Here's the complete list from Gold Derby.

TFF AND CANNES

I get all entangled in the speculation about the Cannes Film Festival and its lineup every year at this time because historically there has been a steady cache of films that do Cannes in May and then North American Premiere at Telluride over Labor ay weekend.

Over the last ten years (leaving out the Covid year of 2020) the fests share 7-8 titles per year.  Last year, as near as I can discern, Telluride screened eight films that had premiered at Cannes, right on the average.  They were:

All We Imagine as Light

The Apprentice

Bird

Emilia Perez

Misericordia

Santosh

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

And Palme d'Or winner Anora. 

Of these eight, I had five pretty consistently in my posts about Cannes from last year.  Not on my radar: All We Imagine as Light, Misericordia and Santosh.

Though TFF has screened the last two Palme d'Or winners, the Golden Palme is no guarantee that a film will be featured at Telluride.  As a matter of fact, it's often less likely that a Palme winner makes the Telluride lineup. 

Here are the years when TFF programmed the Palme winner:

1974: The Conversation

1984: Paris, Texas

1993: Farwell My Concubine and The Piano (tie and both played TFF)

1996: Secrets and Lies

1997: Taste of Cherry

2003: Elephant

2005: L'Enfant

2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

2009: The White Ribbon

2012: Amour

2013: Blue Is the Warmest Color

2018: Shoplifters

2019: Parasite

2023: Anatomy of a Fall

2024: Anora

That's just 16 Palme winners at TFF over the 52 fests.

A final note on the probability that this year's Palme winner makes it to TFF #52...Telluride has never scheduled the Palme winner three years in a row.

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Looking to Cannes Possibilities

LOOKING TO CANNES POSSIBILITIES

One of the more common connections that can inform us about potential TFF films is the pipeline between The SHOW and the Cannes Film Festival.  It is long and productive relationship.  In most years recently Cannes and Telluride have averaged sharing around 8 titles per year.  Just this last year the Cannes to Telluride list included Oscar Best Picture and Palme d'Or winner winner Anora as well as other Palme competition films:

Bird

Emilia Perez

The Apprentice

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

From Un Certain Regard:

Santosh

So looking at what is likely/might be at Cannes is an excellent exercise in predicting what could be in the San Juans on Labor Day weekend.

That said, I'm peeking at The Hollywood Reporters' Cannes take from March 10th and it reveals 17 titles as possible Cannes choices that seem to me to have some chance at making the Cannes/TFF double play.

Here they are:

After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino

Bugonia/Focus/Yorgos Lanthimos

The Chronology of Water/No Distribution/Kristen Stewart

Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay

The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov

Eleanor the Great/Sony Pictures Classics/Scarlett Johansson

Hamnet/Focus Features/Chloe Zhao

The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus

In the Hand(s) of Dante/No Distribution/Julian Schnabel

Jupiter/No Distribution/Andrey Zvyaginstev

The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt

Musk/HBO/Alex Gibney

Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes

Orwell/NEON/Raoul Peck

The Wave/No Distribution/Sebastian Lelio 

The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick

The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers

Here's the complete list from The Hollywood Reporter.

I'll have another look at Cannes possibilities on Thursday.

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Coming Attractions: What Could Play TFF #52? / Trailer for One to One: John & Yoko / Spinal Tap???

 COMING ATTRACTIONS: WHAT COULD PLAY TFF #52?

In today's post I continue to take a look at early Oscar predictions as a way of searching for possible TFF titles for this year.  Today we're looking at Daniel Howat's take from Next Best Picture.  From the ten films NBP has as predicted as Best Picture nominees, these might be the ones with the most Telluride potential:

After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino

Bugonia/Focus/Yorgos Lanthimos

The Ballad of a Small Player/Edward Berger

Deliver Me from Nowhere/Scott Cooper

Die, My Love/No Distributor/Lynne Ramsay

Marty Supreme/A24/Josh Safdie

And among the other films NBP assesses for Oscar potential:

Anemone/Focus/Ronan Day-Lewis

The Bride/Warners/Maggie Gyllenhaal

Frankenstein/Netflix/Guillermo Del Toro

Hamnet/Focus/Chloe Zhao

Hedda/Amazon-MGM/Nia DiCosta

The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus

Jay Kelly/Netflix/Noah Baumbach

The complete list from Next Best Picture is linked here.

TRAILER FOR ONE TO ONE: JOHN & YOKO

From directors Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards here is the recently released trailer for TFF #51 documentary One to One: John & Yoko.

The IMBd description:

Set in 1972 New York, this documentary explores John and Yoko's world amid a turbulent era. Centered on the One to One charity concert for special needs children, it features unseen archives, home movies, and restored footage.

The film is set to open in the U.S. on April 18th.

SPINAL TAP???

Many readers know, I'm sure, that a sequel to the classic This Is Spinal Tap has been in the works for some time.  Now word comes that the film has been picked by Bleecker Street for distribution and a release date has been set.  Look for the film in theaters on Sept. 12th.

The combination of the distributor, which has had its share of films play over the years at T-ride, and the weekend date immediately following the close of TFF #52 allows for a possible TFF screening.

Do I have a lot of confidence in this possibility?   Right now...No.  But it's logistically possible and really an intriguing thought.

Here's the story from Indiewire.

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