Who's On the Guest List? / Gold Derby Spills Some Tea / Does Gibney Play Anyway?

WHO'S ON THE GUEST LIST?

One of the great things about Telluride is the folks that come to support the films that screen there.  Bountiful Q&A's give regular Joe's an opportunity to hear from great directors, actors and other creatives about the film's they're involved in.

So it's always fun to take a look at the talent who might make the trip to southwest Colorado.  Here's a rundown of some of the films that MTFB thinks will make the grade at Telluride and the stars that might be in town with those projects.

ALPHA GANG: Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Lea Seydoux

BUCKING FASTARD: Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson

CLUB KID: Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva

THE DEBUT: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Jesse Eisenberg

ELSINORE: Andrew Scott, Oliva Colman.

FATHERLAND: Sandra Huller, August Diehl

FJORD: Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan

GENTLE MONSTER: lea Seydoux, Catherine Denueve

THE IDIOT(S): Amy Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Kreips

INK: Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy

LA BOLA NEGRA (THE BLACK BALL): Penelope Cruz, Guitarricardelafuente, Glenn Close

THE LIBERATION: Carrie Coon, Tracy Letts, Lily James

A LONG WINTER: Kit Connor, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitriona Balfe

THE MAN I LOVE: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall

ROSE: Sandra Huller

TENDER LOVING CARE: Kate O'Flynn

TENZIG: Willem Dafoe, Tom Hiddleston, Caitriona Balfe

THE UNKNOWN: Lea Seydoux

WILD HORSE NINE: Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Parker Posey, Tom Waits

And a few from the "Possibilities" list:

THE BASICS OF PHILOSOPHY: Bill Pullman, Dana Delaney, Jack Huston

DIAMOND: Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray

PRIMETIME: Robert Pattinson, Merritt Weaver

GOLD DERBY SPILLS SOME TEA

In a post from Gold Derby from last week titled: 

"2026 fall festival scorecard: Who’s heading to Venice, Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF — and who’s skipping the circuit?" 

They name seven films that..."Despite the Telluride Film Festival's long-standing tradition of keeping its official program strictly under wraps until the eve of Labor Day weekend, the tea leaves are brewing up some obvious premieres..."

The films:

Bucking Fastard

The Debut

Elsinore

Ink

A Long Winter

Tender Loving Care

Wild Horse Nine

They also suggest that Primetime is a possibility.

The complete Gold Derby article is linked here.

https://www.goldderby.com/film/2026/2026-venice-telluride-toronto-new-york-festivals-scorecard/

DOES GIBNEY PLAY ANYWAY?

We already have discerned that Alex Gibney's documentary about Elon Musk is not going to play Telluride, but could another Gibney doc make the TFF #53 lineup?

I'm talking about Knife, Gibney's look at the 2022 attempt on the life author Salman Rushdie.  Rushdie, as of TFF #52 was still listed among a member of TFF's "Esteemed Council of Advisors in last year's TFF #52 program so it seems like a no-brainer, except...the doc has screened already in the USA.

Knife world premiered at Sundance this year and has also been programmed at Sundance, Chicago's DOC 10 fest, Nantucket and it has screened in New York.  On the other hand, the film is being distributed by Abramorama which had Ask E. Jean at TFF #52.

I'm putting its chances at 40% and let's see what happens.

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Venice Looming/Armstrong Lie

Good Thursday Everyone...

VENICE LOOMING

The Venice Film Festival is set to announce their lineup today so just as I did on Tuesday, there will be a double post today.  I'll be posting some thoughts about want the Venice lineup might mean for Telluride's program a little later today.  Meanwhile, here's an analysis of the films that ave doubled up between Telluride and Venice over the past 8 years:

Films in the last seven years that have played at both Telluride and Venice.

2012: "At Any Price", "Stories We Tell", "The Iceman", "Superstar"
2011: "Shame", "A Dangerous Method", "Crazy Horse", "Diana Vreelend: The Eye Has to Travel"
2010: "A Letter to Elia", "Black Swan"
2009: "Terra Madre", "Life During Wartime", "My Son My Son What Have Ye Done", "The Road"
2008:
2007: "I'm Not There", "Redacted"
2006: "Infamous", "The U.S. vs. John Lennon"
2005: "Brokeback Mountain", "Edmond", "Everything is Illuminated"

The last seven years have seen 21 films play in both Telluride and Venice so you could reasonably expect 3 films will share the two festivals.  The trick is trying to figure out which three.

We already know that Alfonso Curaon's "Gravity" is Venice's opening film.  Terry Gilliam has let slip that his "The Zero Theorem" will play in competition.  We have seen/heard strong indications that "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (His and Hers)" is a likely selection.  Venice usually programs about 60ish films with 20 or so in competition and the rest relegated to other categories.

From Toronto's announcement on Tuesday we know some notable films listed as "World Premieres" translates to: "They won't be playing Venice":

"12 Years a Slave", "August: Osage County", "The Fifth Estate", "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom", "The Railway Man", "Dallas Buyers Club", "The Devil's Knot", "Dom Hemingway", "The Invisible Woman", "Labor Day", "Prisoners", "Le Weekend", and "You Are Here".

Let's see what happens later this morning.  I WILL POST AGAIN LATER TODAY with Venice news.

THE ARMSTRONG LIE

News yesterday that Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the Alex Gibney directed documentary about the unraveling of Lance Armstrong's career.  That immediately brought suggestions from some quarters that the film was an instant possibility to play Telluride.

That sounds about right to me too.  Frank Marshall is one of the films producers and he has a close relationship with the fest as does SPC...so it is a real possibility.

Here's the story from a couple of sources:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/alex-gibneys-lance-armstrong-doc-592419

http://movies.broadwayworld.com/article/Sony-Pictures-Classics-to-Release-Documentary-THE-ARMSTRONG-LIE-20130724




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More later today...