MTFB Oscar Update: A Look at Tight Races / ICYMI: The Producers Guild and TFF

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: A LOOK AT TIGHT RACES

In today's update I'm spotlighting the instances in major categories that are tight.

Best Picture:  It feels like seven films are safely locked: Conclave, Anora, Emilia Perez, The Brutalist, Wicked, A Complete Unknown and Dune Part Two.  The last three slots look like a fight between The Substance, A Real Pain, Nickel Boys and Sing Sing.  Also, All We Imagine as Light could sneak in with massive support from non-domestic members of the Academy.

I'm actually thinking that The Substance is nearly locked.  I won't be particularly surprised at any arrangement of Real Pain, Nickel Boys or Sing Sing in that last two slots.  I would be surprised if All We Imagine makes the list of ten.  I'd really like to see September 5 make it.  We'll see when I post the MTFB FINAL NOMINATION PREDICTIONS IN A SPECIAL POST ON WEDNESDAY.

Best Direction: Locks: Corbet, Baker, Bergen and Audiard.  Last spot: Mangold, Villenueve, Fargeat, Ross or Kapadia.  

Best Actress: Locks: Moore, Erivo, Madison and Gascon.  Last Spot: Torres, Jean-Baptiste, Jolie or Kidman.  Shocker: Winslet.

Best Actor: Locks: Fiennes, Brody, Chalamet.  Last two spots: Domingo, Stan (Apprentice), Craig, Grant.  Shocker: Eisenberg.

Best Supporting Actress: Locks: Saldana, Grande-Butera, Rossellini.  Last two spots: Barbaro, Curtis, Jones, Gomez, Qualley or Deadwyler.  The chicken bones are tending toward Curtis to grab one of these two remaining spots.  Shocker: Fanning.

Best Supporting Actor: Locks: Culkin, Norton, Borisov and Pearce.  Last spot: Strong, Washington, Maclin or Tucci.  Shocker: Magaro.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Locks: Conclave, Emilia Perez, A Complete Unknown.  Last two spots: Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, Dune Part Two, Wicked, Inside Out 2.  Shocker: Hit Man .

Best Original Screenplay: Locks: Anora, The Brutalist and A Real Pain.  Last two spots: The Substance, September 5, All We Imagine as Light or Hard Truths.  Shockers: Challengers or The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Best Animated Feature: Locks: The Wild Robot, Flow and Inside Out 2.  Last two spots: Memoir of a Snail, Wallace and Gromet: Vengeance Most Fowl, Moana 2, Piece by Piece.  Shocker: Chicken for Linda.

Best International Film: Locks: Emilia Perez, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and I'm Still Here.  Last two spots: Vermiglio, The Girl with the Needle, Flow, Kneecap or Dahomey.  Shocker: 

Best Documentary Feature: Locks:  (probably): No Other Land, Sugar cane and Daughters.  Last two spots: Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, Dahomey, Will & Harper, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin or Black Box.  Shocker: Union.

ICYMI: THE PRODUCERS GUILD AND TFF

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced their own nominees for Best Film last Thursday after MTFB had posted for the day.  So, doing my due diligence, here are their ten nominees (including the FIVE TFF #51 films in Bold):

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Perez

A Real Pain

September 5

The Substance

Wicked.

September 5 was a pleasant surprise.  Tough for Sing Sing and Nickel Boys.  I'll be honest, though, I've thought Nickel Boys Oscar chances were dicey from the start based on how my Telluride crowd reacted to it and also the film's ratings for both MTFB's People's and Professional's polls.

So, could half the Best Pic field be comprised of TFF #51 films?  It could happen.  Previously I have noted that TFF has had four films make the Best Picture lineup a couple of times but never five.  Of course, Sing Sing could bump September 5 or A Real Pain off the Producers' list putting TFF films back at the most four TFF films making the lineup. 

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BAFTA and TFF #51 / MTFB Oscar Update-It's in Flux-Updating the Big Eight / Writers Guild and TFF #51 / Interviews and Profiles

BAFTA AND TFF #51

First came the longlists and now we have the actual nominees from the British Academy of Film and Televisions Arts (BAFTA).  The Brits have nominated 14 films that played at TFF #51 for a total of 45 nominations.  Conclave and Emilia Perez had the most noms with a dozen and 11 respectively.  Here's the complete rundown of BAFTA nominations and TFF films:

Conclave (12): Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Casting, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Score and Costumes.

Emilia Perez (11): Best Film, Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Supporting Actress (Gomez), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Makeup/Hair.

Anora (7): Best Film, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay, Casting and Editing.

The Apprentice (3): Best Actor (Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong) and Casting.

A Real Pain (2): Best Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.

The Outrun (2): Outstanding British Film and Best Actress (Ronan).

All other films have a single nomination as follows:

Nickel Boys: Best Adapted Screenplay.

No Other Land: Best Documentary.

Will & Harper: Best Documentary.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig: Best Film Not in the English Language.

All We Imagine as Light: Best Film Not in the English Language.

Bird: Outstanding British Film.

Santosh: Outstanding Debut.

Better Man: Best Special Visual Effects.

The BAFTA Awards will be handed out on Feb. 16th.

The complete set of all BAFTA nominations is linked here.

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-IT'S IN FLUX

It's all pretty messy now.  Oscar nominations are now set to be announced on Jan. 23rd.  Today I'm updating the nomination predictions for the Big Eight categories: Picture, Direction, all four acting categories and the two screenplay categories.  My plan at the moment is to focus on updating close races in Monday's post and do a Special Final Oscar Nom post on Wednesday the 22nd assuming that the Thursday, Jan. 23rd date remains in tact.  I'll do some sort of post on Thursday after the nominations are announced.

That said, here are updated predictions for the Big Eight with their last posted ranking to the right of each title in parentheses.  And, as always, TFF films are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Conclave (1)

2) Anora  (2)

3) Emilia Perez (3)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Wicked Part 1 (5)

6) A Complete Unknown (7)

7) Dune Part Two (6)

8) The Substance (-)

9) A Real Pain (9)

10) Nickel Boys (10)

Others: Sing Sing, All We Imagine as Light.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

2) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)

3) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

4) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

5) Coralie Fargeat/The Substance (-)

Others: James Mangold/A Complete Unknown, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and Payal Kapadia/All We Imagine as Light.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Demi Moore/The Substance (5)

2) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Cynthia Erivo/Wicked Part 1 (4)

5) Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here (-)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Angelina Jolie/Maria and Pamela Anderson/The Last Showgirl.

BEST ACTOR

1) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (3)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (1)

3) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (2)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Sebastian Stan/A Different Man and Hugh Grant/Heretic.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Ariana Grande-Butera/Wicked Part 1 (2)

3) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (3)

4) Monica Barbaro/A Complete Unknown (-)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (4)

Others: Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson, Jamie Lee Cutis/The Last Showgirl and Margaret Qualley/The Substance.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown (4)

3) Yura Borisov/Anora (3)

4) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (2)

5) Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice (-)

Others: Denzel Washington/Gladiator II, Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing and Jonathan Bailey/Wicked Part 1.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) A Complete Unknown (-)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Sing Sing (3)

Others: Dune Part Two, Wicked Part 1 and Hit Man.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) The Substance (4)

5) September 5 (5)

Others: All We Imagine as Light, Hard Truths and Challengers.

Comment: Conclave, A Complete Unknown and The Substance make big moves up.  Tough sledding for Sing Sing, Denzel and Deadwyler.

WRITERS GUILD AND TFF #51

The Writers Guild of America announced its nominees for Best Screenplays for 2024 yesterday.  Three TFF films earned nominations.  A Real Pain and Anora  made the list for Original Screenplay while Nickel Boys was nominated for Adapted Screenplay.  It's worth noting that a number of screenplays that are thought to be Oscar contenders were not eligible under the WGA's rules including: Conclave, Emilia Perez, The Outrun, All We Imagine as Light, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and September 5.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Director Michael Gracey for Better Man from Next Best Picture.

Stanley Tucci for Conclave from Variety.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Shorts / The Precursors' Tale / Oscar Voters: Hear My Plea(s) Please / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SHORTS

For the first time I'm taking a stab at the most difficult Oscar categories to predict both in terms of nominations and ultimate winners.  These may or may not change prior to my final Oscar nomination predictions on Jan. 16th.  This year of the short listed shorts TFF had two films make those lists: A Swim Lesson in Documentary Shorts and  Beautiful Men in Animated Shorts.

Here's where I'm guessing the nominations will land on Jan. 19th:

ANIMATED SHORTS

1) Me

2) Maybe Elephants

3) Bottle George

4) Magic Candles

5)Wander to Wonder

Others: In the Shadow of the Cypress, The 21 and Yuck.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

1) Makayla's Voice: A Letter to the World

2) The Only Girl in the Orchestra

3) A Swim Lesson

4) Incident

5) Once Upon a Time in Ukraine

Others: The Quilters, Death by Numbers and Instruments of a Beating Heart.

LIVE ACTION SHORTS

1) The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

2) Dovecote

3) An Orange from Jaffa

4) Room Taken

5) The Masterpiece

Others: Crust, I Am Not a Robot and Clodagh.

THE PERCURSORS' TALE

A bunch of us that try to tell you what's going to happen when Oscar nominations and winners are announced take a look at various "precursor awards".  It's a way to try to divine what the film industry is thinking as we move closer to the nomination reveal and then the Oscar ceremony itself.

And there are, if you choose to look at them, a ton of precursors.  My buddy Mark Johnson of The Awards Alchemist (housed at Erik Anderson's Awards Watch) annually puts together what he refers to as the Big Board of Precursors You can find its current status here.  Mark's Awards Alchemist predictions are linked here.

Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia does a super job of tracking and posting a ton of regional critics organizations choices. For example, Matt posted the results from the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association last week.  Your best access to that coverage is through Matt's X account or his Bluesky account.

I look at precursors too but not nearly at the depth that either Mark or Matt do.  

My focus goes to these precursors:

National Board of Review (NBR)

American Film Institute (AFI)

New York Film Critics Circle (NY)

Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA)

Critics' Choice Awards (CC)

Golden Globes nominations (and wins) (GG)

National Society of Film Critics (NF)

BAFTA longlist (and nominations list) (BF)

Screen Actors Guild (cast nominations)  (SAG)

Directors Guild of America (DGA)

Producers Guild of America (PGA)

Still to add are the Writers Guild and the actual nominations from BAFTA.  That said, here's where this set of precursors are pointing at the moment (with TFF films in Bold).

On top is Sean Baker's Anora with nine of these precursors naming the film one of the Best of 2024.  Anora makes the following lists (an * indicates that body has named the film Best of 2024): NBR, AFI, CC, GG, NF, LA*, SAG, DGA, BF

Other films break down as follows:

Two films with seven mentions:

The Brutalist: AFI, CC, GG*, NY*, LA, DGA, BF

A Complete Unknown: NBR, AFI, CC, GG, SAG, DGA, BF

Three films with six mentions:

Conclave: AFI, CC, GG, SAG, DGA, BF

Emilia Perez: AFI, CC, GG*, SAG, DGA, BF

Wicked: NBR*, AFI, CC, GG, SAG, BF

Two Films with four mentions:

Dune Part Two: AFI, CC, GG, BF

Nickel Boys: AFI, CC, GG, NF*

Two films with three mentions:

Sing Sing: NBR, AFI, CC

The Substance: CC, GG, BF

And those could well be your 10 Oscar Best Picture nominated films. 

The only other film with more than one mention is A Real Pain with two (NBR, AFI).  

It looks to me like this list of precursors suggest that the six films with six or more mentions are locked for a Best Picture nomination with Dune Part Two, Nickel Boys, Sing Sing, The Substance and A Real Pain duking it out for the other four slots.  It also seems to me that both A Complete Unknown and The Substance are both pretty hot right now.

The films with single mentions:

Babygirl: NBR

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: NBR

Gladiator II: NBR

Juror #2: NBR

Queer: NBR

September 5: GG

Challengers: GG

All We Imagine as Light: NF

The Apprentice: BF

Kneecap: BF

The Apprentice BF

We'll see how the Writers Guild and actual BAFTA nominations alter this picture next week (depending on possible further delays because of the L.A: wildfires).

OSCAR VOTERS: HEAR MY PLEA(S) PLEASE

I would love to see:

From Conclave: Tucci and Rossellini which are both possible but not at all certain.  I'm also an advocate for Sergio Castellitto who plays the role of Cardinal Tedesco...the "villain" of the film.

Some love...any love for September 5 or Saturday Night.

And, again, I will bemoan the fact that Zurawski v. Texas wasn't on any shortlist and isn't eligible for Best Picture.  Write it in!

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice from Gold Derby.

Robbie Williams for Better man from Pop Culture Confidential.

Behind the Scenes of All We Imagine as Light from IndieWire.

Sebastian Stan on The Apprentice from Awards Watch.

Robbie Williams for Better Man from Time.com.

Conclave writer Peter Straughan from Awards Radar.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / Poster and Trailer for Better Man / Making of and Behind the Scenes: Anora, Emilia Perez and Conclave / Interviews and Profiles: Rasoulof, Kapadia and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 4th.  A film's or director's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (1)

2) Conclave (2)

3) Emilia Perez (3)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Wicked (10)

7) Gladiator II (6)

8) Sing Sing (9)

9) A Real Pain (7)

10) Blitz (-)

Others: A Complete Unknown, September 5 and The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

2) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (4)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (3)

5) Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two (-)

Others: Ridley Scott/Gladiator II, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown

BETTER MAN POSTER AND TRAILER

Here they are from director Michael Gracey, the film about musician Robbie Williams:

MAKING OF AND BEHIND THE SCENES

For Anora from The Hollywood Reporter.

For Anora from IndieWire.

For Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

For Conclave from Next Best Picture.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Film at Lincoln Center.

Paypal Kapadia for All We Imagine as Light from Slant.

Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase) from Saturday Night from The Contending.

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MTFB Oscar Update-Screenplays / Zuwarski v. Texas Has a Plan / New Posters: Conclave, The Piano Lesson, All We Imagine as Light / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Sept. 30th.  An film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (-)

3) Sing Sing (2)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (3)

Others: The Room Next Door, The Piano Lesson and Hit Man.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (3)

3) A Real Pain (4)

4) September 5 (-)

5) Saturday Night (2)

Others: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Hard Truths and Blitz.

I'll be updating the Best Picture nomination predictions on Monday.

ZUWARSKI V. TEXAS HAS A PLAN

Many of you know that I'm high on the documentary Zurawski v. Texas.  I think it was the best thing I saw at TFF #51...and that's saying something as I was a big fan of Emilia Perez, Saturday Night, Conclave and September 5.  Sadly I missed out on seeing Anora. 

Consequently, I have been low key pushing it forward as awards season has become fully alive. I honestly think it should be a serious player for the Best Doc Oscar at a minimum and if I had an Oscar ballot, at this point it would be atop my Best Picture ballot.

The film was the top rated movie on this year's MTFB People's Telluride.  It didn't make the Pros Poll or The Composite because not enough of the Pros saw it Labor Day weekend.  The limited Pros rating was a 4.25 which would have put it at #2 and combined with its Peoples rank (had there been a sufficient number of Pro ballots that kept the 4.25 average) would have put it atop of the Composite Poll.

It's that good.  But...

So, I have been understandably a bit nervous as no distributor has picked up the film since it's stunning debut at T-ride.  So nervous that I reached out to some of the journos I know to ask them if they were hearing anything about distribution or a release date.  By and large the responses were along of the lines of "no idea".  I did get an encouraging note from one prominent journalist that there was a plan in place for the movie to qualify for Oscar consideration.  Then yesterday afternoon came the word from Deadline.com:

"EXCLUSIVE: Zurawski v Texas, the urgent documentary about women who sued Texas after the state’s strict anti-abortion laws almost cost them their lives, will reach theaters before the presidential election.

Deadline can report the film directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and executive produced by a team including Jennifer Lawrence, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, will launch in New York, Los Angeles and cities across Texas beginning October 25."

Deadline continued:

"The theatrical run will qualify the film for Oscar consideration as Best Documentary Feature."

In addition to the announced screenings in New York, Los Angeles and in Texas the film will screen at the upcoming AFI Fest.  I'd encouraging anyone who didn't catch in Telluride to grab a chance to screen it.

The complete Deadline story is linked here.

TRAILER FOR BIRD

NEW POSTERS

CONCLAVE

THE PIANO LESSON

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

INETRVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saturday Night Behind the Scenes.

Mikey Madison for Anora from BFI.org.

Sean Baker for Anora from Awards Radar.

The Cast and Sean Baker for Anora from Next Best Picture.

Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Den of Geek.

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Maria Revealed / Elk's Park Films and Clues / Nickel Boys Screened / International Buzz / And Then There's This... / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 MARIA REVEALED

Are you prepared for a return of Angelina Jolie to Telluride?  Looks like that's going to happen after Pablo Larrain's film Maria (starring Jolie) will screen in Venice on Aug. 29th and then head to the San Juans.

Vanity Fair had a couple of "first look" stills up at the end of last week.

The Vanity Fair article is linked here.

ELK'S PARK FILMS AND CLUES

Long time TFFers know that in the past that the films that the fest chooses to screen in Elk's Park the two nights prior to the fest taking off on Friday often (but not always) provide clues as to who (or in the case of Apocalypse Now-what) will be getting Tributes.  The last really good year for predicting tributes based on Elk's Park films was 2019 when the free flicks were Bridget Jones's Diary, The Right Stuff and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which pointed to Renee Zellweger, Philip Kaufman and Adam Driver as tributees.  

Soooo...here's the flyer for the free films in Elk's Park:

After Hours: My bet is that if it signals anything that it's a tribute for Thelma Schoonmaker.  I'd be surprised but very excited if it were for Martin Scorsese...that's not impossible.  Or maybe it's the two of them together.  At any rate, should either or both be tributed I'd also count on a screening of David Hinton's Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.  Scorsese is a producer of the doc (which did screen at Tribeca but TFF has presented docs from Tribeca in the past).  Schoonmaker is in the film as herself, the wife of Michael Powell, and she also is a producer.

Lady Bird: Does this validate my Saoirse Ronan theory that I first wrote about back on June 3rd?  It was my original thought that Ronan would get a tribute and that Steve McQueen's Blitz might screen at TFF as well as The Outrun.  The announcement that Blitz would world premiere in London made me alter that theory but...

I still think a Ronan tribute likely occurs and occurs with some clips from Blitz.

Hottest possibilities for a tribute beyond these two: Ralph Fiennes, Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, Jacques Audiard and Samuel L. Jackson.

NICKEL BOYS SCREENED

According to World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy  RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys has screened privately in London and the response appears to have been very good.  Ruimy writes:

"“Nickel Boys” just had a preview screening at London’s Curzon Soho. A few folks who attended the screening have chimed in on Letterboxd, and you can read their reactions near the tail end of this article. They’re all very positive."

Ruimy continues:

"This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel has been loaded with buzz for months. The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. "

Nickel Boys is currently #2 on my "to see" list for later this week.

INTERNATIONAL BUZZ

Pablo Larrain, director of Maria talks to Indiewire.

Screen Daily reports that Germany will submit Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its selection for the International Film Oscar.

Variety reveals that Cannes sensation All We Imagine as Light has set a U.S. release date of Nov. 15th.  It's very likely India's entry for the International Film Oscar.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

From the "Local News Network/Telluride, Colorado for Aug. 21st, a report that the fest has asked the Telluride Parks and Recreation Dept. for permission to offer tethered hot air balloon rides during the fest (in Town Park) and that the request is somehow related to a "program related event".  You can see the report yourself at about the 1:48 mark:

https://www.telluridelocal.news/newsstories/tln-august-21-2024

What "program" would hot air balloons be connected to?  I'm stumped.  One follower suggested over the weekend a connection to Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls with this balloon sequence (from YouTube):

The speculation then focused on the possibility of a Schnabel tribute and, I would assume, a screening of Hand of Dante.

A REMINDER: I WILL POST "FINAL BETS" FOR TFF #51 ON WEDNESDAY MORNING and then, of course, the actual lineup when it pops on Thursday morning.  MTFB will post daily from TFF #51.  Mostly during the fest I like to make sure to get the TBAs posted each night for the following day.  I sometimes will include what I think my itinerary will look like for each day and also an occasional comment or two about some of the film I've seen.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th 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 to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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Ten (Plus) Bets #9 for TFF #51 / NYFF Spotlight Announcement / Some Other Possible Guests / New Poster for Saturday Night / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #9 FOR TFF #51

Well, with what purports to be the last set of announced films for Toronto on Tuesday and the release of the Venice screening schedule on Monday, we have some shifting occurring in this week's Ten (Plus) Bets for TFF #51.

Here was last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Dahomey/Diop

12) Grand Tour/Gomes

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) The Apprentice/Abassi

18) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

19) Maria/Larrain

20) Saturday Night/Reitman

Other possibilities:

Separated/Morris

Oh, Canada/Schrader

Flow/Zibalodis

Santosh/Suri

Megalopolis/Coppola

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The Outrun/Fingscheidt and/or Blitz/McQueen

This week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Separated/Morris

12) Better Man/Gracey

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) Maria/Larrain

18) Bird/Arnold

19) Disclaimer/Cuaron

20) Santosh/Suri

Other possibilities:

The Outrun/Fingsheidt

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

The Apprentice/Abassi

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

NYFF SPOTLIGHT ANNOUNCMENT

The New York Film Festival announced the rest of the films playing in its Spotlight section yesterday and that offered up minimal clues regarding the TFF #51 lineup.  It does appear the one more Venice selection will also play Telluride as NYFF labeled the documentary Apocalypse in the Tropics (dir: Petra Costa) without a premiere status.  The film is slated to screen in Venice on Sept. 29th which would give it time to make it to T-ride.  The IMDb description says the film...

"Focuses on how the evangelical movement paved the way for the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro and poses the threat of a national theocracy."

Sound familiar?

Otherwise three other films we thought were playing TFF #51 seem to be confirmed by their lack of premiere status: Maria, Emilia Perez and The Friend.

Here's the announcement from NYFF.

SOME OTHER POSSIBLE GUESTS

Back on Aug. 5th I wrote a bit about what folks might turn up at TFF#51 as guests based on some of the films that looked like they could or would play as a part of the fest.

Today I'm adding a few more possibilities:

Better Man: Robbie Williams

Disclaimer: Alfonso Cuaron, Cate Blanchett, Sasha Baron Cohen, Kevin Kline

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; Embeth Davitz

NEW POSTER FOR SATURDAY NIGHT

We have the release on Tuesday of a second poster for Jason Reitman's Saturday Night.  Here it is:

I'm pretty sure this is playing at TFF but I did see some references to a "world" premiere occurring in Toronto from some film media outlets on Tuesday.  TIFF continues to list it as a Canadian Premiere which is reassuring regarding its Telluride status.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th 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 to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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Hints and Allegations / Who Could Be at TFF #51? / Looks at Possible Double Plays

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

I had a couple of readers send me information about possible confirmations/inclusions about films and/or attendees this past week.  

Back on July 23rd I posted an MTFB special about announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York.  One of the films I especially noted was Andrea Arnold's Bird as it was labeled as a North American Premiere on the TIFF official website but had been posted here on X as a Canadian Premiere.  However, MTFB reader Bobby Harris contacted me to reveal that TIFF's entry for Bird on the website has been changed to Canadian:

So, for me, that's going to mean that I'm putting Bird back on the Ten Bets/Possible list when it gets updated on Thursday.

Additionally, I had another reader reach out to convey intell about three possible attendees for TFF.  I'm going to be a little cagey here as to who/where the info came from as well as explicitly naming names-at least for now.  I will say that a couple of the names would confirm that Anora and Emilia Perez will play Telluride.  The third person's presence would indicate one or possibly two films neither of which are currently among the "Bets" or "Possibles".

WHO COULD BE AT TFF#51?

For fun, let's assume I'm right about almost everything playing at TFF #51; what star wattage could we see in town, on panels, doing Q&A's?

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

Conclave: Edward Berger, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini

Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Adriana Paz

The End: Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay

The Piano Lesson: Malcolm Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Dedwyler, John David Washington, Denzel Washington

Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjunue Ellis-Taylor

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

The Friend: Scott McGeehee, David Siegel, Carla Gugino, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

Saturday Night: Jason Reitman, Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Nicolas Braun, Jon Batiste

Megalopolis: Francis Ford Coppola, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza. Dustin Hoffman

Parthenope: Paolo Sorrentino, Gary Oldman

Hand of Dante: Julian Schnabel, Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese

The Actor: Duke Johnson, Andre Holland

Harvest: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Caleb Landry Jones, Henry Melling

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

LOOKS AT POSSIBLE DOUBLE PLAYS

Inspired by a "first look" post from World of Reel, here are some promo shots of films that will possibly screen at Telluride as well as Toronto or Venice: No guarantees that all of these make it to T-ride.

All We Imagine as Light:

Allegorie Citadine:

Bird:

Conclave:

Emilia Perez:

The End:

Maria:

Misrecordia:

The Piano Lesson:

Piece by Piece:

Separated:

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