Twenty Bets / More Trailers for Films Playing TFF #46 / Mr. Jones...Still in the Convo / The People's Telluride

Friday...one week...just one more week...

TWENTY BETS

Here's the next to last wagers about films that I believe are likely to make an appearance next week at the 46th Telluride Film Festival.  First, though, a reminder of what I had last week:

10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Judy
6) Pain and Glory
5) Uncut Gems
4) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3) Motherless Brooklyn
2) Marriage Story
1) Parasite


Bonus Bets:

Bonus 1) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 2) First Cow
Bonus 3) A Hidden Life
Bonus 4) The Report
Bonus 5) The Kingmaker
Bonus 6) The Climb
Bonus 7) Waves
Bonus 8) Lyrebird
Bonus 9) Verdict

The Truth and Beanpole drop out of the Bonus Bets as Toronto lists them both as North American premieres...but...I can tell you that there is some background noise that one or both might still be mis-identified in terms of that premiere status and that there is still some outside possibility that either one of them could still screen at Telluride.

And the remaining list of other possibles gets smaller:

Family Romance LLC, Country Music, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.

Now, here is this week's latest Ten (20) Bets.  This week in alphabetical order:

The Aeronauts

1) The Aeronauts

2) Beanpole

3) The Climb

4) Country Music

5) Family Romance LLC

6) First Cow

Ford v. Ferrari

7) Ford v Ferrari

8) A Hidden Life

9) Judy
10) The Kingmaker

11) Lyrebird

12) Marriage Story

13) Motherless Brooklyn

14) Pain and Glory

15) Parasite

16) Portrait of a Lady on Fire

17) The Report

The Two Popes

18) The Two Popes

19 ) Uncut Gems

20) Varda by Agnes

Other possibilities that could land at T-ride:

Waves, Verdict, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917, Bombshell, Wasp Network, Chicuarotes, No One Left Behind, Mr. Jones.

The final Bets for TFF #46 will be posted Wednesday morning!

MORE TRAILERS FOR FILMS PLAYING TFF #46

From YouTube, new trailers for Motherless Brooklyn and The Report:


MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN

THE REPORT

MR. JONES...STILL IN THE CONVO

Variety reported yesterday that Agnieszka Holland's Mr. Jones has been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films for U.S. distribution.  The film premiered originally in competition at the Berlin Festival in February and has played an additional half dozen international festivals since that time.

Since it has yet played in the U.S. nor has it been announced for Toronto... and considering that Holland has had a Telluride presence in the past (In Darkness, Burning Bush), Mr. Jones could still show up next Thursday when the TFF #46 lineup is released.

Mr. Jones is described at IMDb as being about:

 "A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s."

  

The film is scheduled for its non-festival debut in Poland on Oct. 25th.

I have linked the Variety story about the acquisition here.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the eighth consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

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Latest Gurus of Gold / First Look From the Berlin Fest / I Nominate / Behind the Scenes of First Man

We're back on this last Thursday in January...

LATEST GURUS OF GOLD

The Gurus of Gold have begun the transition from predicting Oscar nominees to predicting Oscar winners.  Editor Ray Pride tasked all of the Gurus with predicting winners in eight categories: Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actress, Actor, Supporting Actor, Original Score and Original Song.  

For what it's worth, my number one choices in each category are the overall leaders after all the Gurus that responded were counted.  Here's Anne Thompson's analysis from Indiewire on her take about the effect of the SAGs on Oscar.

It should be noted that the poll was conducted prior to winners being announced at the SAG Awards this past weekend.  Wins there by Rami Malek and Emily Blunt could change the landscape.

Here's the latest Gurus.

FIRST LOOK AT BERLIN FEST TITLE

One of the first titles from the Berlin Film Fest to draw my eye as a potential TFF #46 title was Agnieska Holland's Mr. Jones (formerly Gareth Jones).  For those who really follow this space closely you know that I had this film on my radar last year as a possible choice for TFF #45.

Holland has some history with TFF and Berlin usually provides a couple of titles to each year's Telluride lineup.

Now, Variety has exclusively premiered a first look at the a clip from the film and further, the clip has become available on YouTube  and is included here:

The Variety story is linked here.

 Here's some of the description of the film from the Variety story:

"Mr. Jones tells the little known story of Gareth Jones, an ambitious young Welsh journalist who travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933, and discovered the appalling reality behind the myth of a communist "utopia"".

I NOMINATE

Every year some film or films emerge from the Sundance Film Fest that catch the eye of the critical community and inevitably there is speculation that one or two of those might end up on the Telluride list .

As readers of this space know, that's not impossible but it is exceedingly rare.  In terms of feature films, the last to do it was Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea in 2016.  Prior to that it had been Lone Scherfig's 2009 Carey Mulligan starrer An Education.

Despite the rarity, though, there will be a few of the Sundance titles that some will think have a shot.  So...despite the fact that it's phenomenally unusual...I hereby nominate Scott Z. Burns The Report.  The film has been well received in Utah and stars current Oscar nominee Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman) and focuses on the investigation into CIA "enhanced interrogation" techniques following 9/11.  Amazon Studios nabbed the distribution rights this week for a solid $14 million.  Reportedly Amazon is looking to position the film for a fall release.

Sounds like a fine addition for TFF #46 to me.

Here's Variety's report of the film's acquisition.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF FIRST MAN

SlashFilm posted a new behind-the-scenes clip of Damian Chazelle's First Man last week.  he clip focuses on what Chazelle and crew was able to do using the actual resources of NASA as they put together the film about the first lunar landing and the path that Neil Armstrong took on his way to becoming the first human to walk on the lunar surface.

Here's the clip from YouTube:

In addition, here is the coverage SlashFilm provided with the posting of the clip.

First Man is available to stream now.

That's your Thursday edition of MTFB.  It will return on Monday.

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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Venice Speculation and the Road to Telluride / Holland Could Return / Restorations for TFF #45?

Good Memorial Day to everyone...

VENICE SPECULATION AND THE ROAD TO TELLURIDE

Mike Leigh's Peterloo

The Hollywood Reporter's staff compiled a list of 15 films this week that they think have a shot at making the Venice lineup.  The scuttlebutt I've been reading is that the Venice lineup may be stronger this year (and have an even more pronounced crossover with Telluride than in past years) due to the films that passed on or were passed over for a Cannes slot.

Last year saw an uptick in films that made the trip between the two fests and that trend, at least for the moment seems like it is likely to continue this year.

Among the 15 films listed by THR here are your most likely TFF #45 prospects:

If Beale Street Could Talk
The Sisters Brothers
Peterloo
First Man
Non Fiction
Beautiful Boy
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
Sunset
Work Without Author

The article also lists Terrence Malick's Radegund, which, frankly sounds like the most interesting Malick project since The Tree of Life.

The complete THR article is linked here.


HOLLAND COULD RETURN

Gareth Jones still from Variety

Agnieszka Holland has been a past TFF participant (1986, 1995, 2001, 2011, 2013) and her new project, Gareth Jones, seems like it could mark the return to Telluride for the director of Burning Bush and In Darkness.

Gareth Jones tells the true story of a a reporter trying to cover the story of a man made famine in Russia in the 1930s.

This week, Variety posted an interview with actor James Norton who plays Gareth Jones, the welsh journalist who tried to shine a light on that story.

The interview from Variety is here.


RESTORATIONS FOR TFF #45?

Serge Bromberg 

News this week of a  restoration project that I think could find its way to the San Juans for Labor Day weekend.   A new Serge Bromberg presentation  has been announced, that, owing to Bromberg's lengthy track record with Telluride,  has to be seriously considered as a part of this year's lineup.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center reported this week that Bromberg will present  a program of recent restoration treasures in New York on June 20.  That program will include films from Georges Melies and the Lumiere Brothers.

The press release for that presentation is here.

It wouldn't be all that surprising to see Bromberg back in Telluride this year.


That's your T-ride film news for Memorial Day 2018.  More to come on Thursday...


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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG