Who's Got What? Distributors: A24 / The Artificial Switcheroo / SPC Adds Bunker

 WHO'S GOT WHAT? DISTRIBUTORS: A24

Our fifth look at frequent film distribution companies that have been represented at Telluride over the last five years lands today on A24.

Over the last five TFFs, these are the films from A24 that have screened:

2021: Red Rocket, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

2022: Aftersun, Close.

2023: Janet Planet, Occupied City, Tuesday, The Zone of Interest.

2024: No films.

2025: If I had Legs I'd Kick You, Pillion.

As you can see, A24 has had 10 films at TFF over these last fests with 2024 being the anomaly with no A24 films.

I'm tracking three films from A24 that show the most promise for a TFF berth:

The Debut, Club Kid, Primetime and Ancient History.

I honestly could see all four making the TFF #53 lineup.

Their chances:

The Debut 75%

Club Kid 65%

Primetime 50%

Ancient History 40% (added as a possible title on 8/3)

THE ARTIFICIAL SWITCHEROO

Artificial Director Luca Guadagnino

It wasn't more than about an hour after I pinched the button and published last Monday's MTFB, which included the latest "Ten Bets" that Neon messed with me.

I had re-instated Luca Guadagnino's Artificial to the Ten Bets.  An hour later news broke that:

 "Luca Guadagnino‘s much-talked about Artificial is expected to forgo a traditional fall festival rollout, we understand."

That reporting came from Deadline.com

Now, the story backed off the wholistic claim of  "traditional festival rollout" later in the article stating:

"We understand there has been interest from multiple A-list festivals, and while things can change, we hear the film isn’t likely to go down the standard festival route. That doesn’t mean it won’t pop up at a festival in some form (we bet it will), but it won’t have the traditional launch with the bells and whistles of a red carpet, press conference, junkets, etc."

Soooo, does that mean a TFF berth is still in play?  Maybe.

The complete Deadline article is linked here.

https://deadline.com/2026/07/artificial-not-getting-traditional-fall-festival-rollout-1236978281/

SPC ADDS BUNKER

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Florian Zellers' Bunker for North American distribution according to multiple sources.  The film stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.

Deadline reports that, "An Oscar campaign is being lined up with a qualifying run end of year before release in early 2027."

The IMDb description:

"Follows a married couple of 17 years. The husband is an architect who accepts a controversial project to build a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire. This decision leads his wife to question their marriage."

Zeller's The Father reportedly would have played Telluride had Covid not nuked the fest in 2020.

The complete Deadline post is linked here.

https://deadline.com/2026/07/javier-bardem-penelope-cruz-bunker-sells-sony-classics-1236978273/

So, in retrospect, I profiled SPC's possible TFF chances on July 6th.  Bunker now gets added to he list of SPC possibilities for Telluride with an equal chance as Almodovar's Bitter Christmas to make the list.

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Ten Bets for TFF #53-Vol. 4 / Pause: Moves This Week... / Back to the 4th Ten Bets / Who's Got What? Distributors: Focus Features

TEN BETS FOR TFF #53-VOL. 4

Last week's Ten Bets list:

Bucking Fastard

Club Kid

Coward

The Debut

Fatherland

Fjord

La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)

Minotaur

Paper Tiger

Yellow Letters

Other possibilities: A Long Winter, Artificial and The Story of Documentary Film.

PAUSE: MOVES THIS WEEK...

We'll get to the new Ten Bets after this ...

Variety reports that hot property Elsinore starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman has been acquired by Focus Features after what they report as a:

"a competitive bidding war among several studios for the Simon Stone-directed drama"

MTFB has been following the emergence of the film since last week marking it as a late breaking possibility for TFF #53.  Variety's tory on the acquisition by Focus also had something to say about that:

"Sources tell Variety that programmers at each of the fall festivals — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — are circling the title, though a premiere venue has yet to be set."

The Playlist  underscored the point reporting that:

"(Elsinore) is also a movie that, like “Artificial,” has gotten into every festival it has screened for."

The way I read that is that all four fests are eager to program the film and now it's matter of what Focus wants to do...where they wan to with the film.  It sure doesn't slow down the speculation that it might well be included for The SHOW.

Add that to the other notices last week that Artificial had been invited by "all the major fall festivals" per The Playlist.  

On top of that, Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut seems to be picking up steam with his claim that the film will debut at a fall film fest.  Don't discount that A Real Pain played Telluride nor should we ignore that Emma Stone, who we believe is a big fan of Telluride, is/was a producer for both films.  

All of this has altered the new Ten Bets from last week.  Which leads us back to...

Here's the complete story from Variety.

https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/focus-features-elsinore-andrew-scott-acquisition-1236801625/

And also from The Playlist.

https://theplaylist.net/halfway-to-oscars-2027-project-hail-mary-la-bola-negra-digger-andrew-scott-20260701/

BACK TO THE 4TH TEN BETS

Here's your latest Ten Bets for TFF #53...

Artificial

Bucking Fastard

Club Kid

Coward

The Debut

Elsinore

Fatherland

La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)

Minotaur

Paper Tiger

Other possibilities: A Long Winter, Fjord, Yellow Letters and The Story of Documentary Film.

WHO'S GOT WHAT? DISTRIBUTORS: FOCUS FEATURES

I MTFB's continuing look at common distributors of films that make the Telluride lineup we turn for Focus Features which, over the last five years, has been the fourth most ubiquitou distributor at TFF.  They've screened 11 films at The SHOW in that time:

2021: Belfast, The Card Counter.

2022: TAR, Armageddon Time.

2023: The Holdovers, The Bikeriders

2024: Conclave, Piece by Piece.

2025: Hamnet, Bugonia, Hamlet.

11 films, six of which were nominated for Best Picture.  That's an impressive list.  So going into TFF #53 you have to think Focus will have at least two films make the grade... Here's their most likely applicants:

(The newly acquired) Elsinore, Sense and Sensibility, Hope and The Uprising.

Chances for TFF #53:

Elsinore 70%

Sense and Sensibility 40%

Hope 25%

The Uprising 20%

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Ten Bets for TFF #53 Vol. 3 / Who's Got What: Distributors-Neon / Dating News

TEN BETS FOR TFF #53 VOL. 3

Here's the new update of MTFB's Ten Bets for TFF #53.  First, last week's bets:

The Black Ball

Bucking Fastard

Club Kid

Coward

The Debut

Fatherland

Fjord

Minotaur

Paper Tiger

Yellow Letters

Other possibilities: A Long Winter and The Story of Documentary Film.

Now a look at this week's Ten Bets and Other Possibilities:

Bucking Fastard

Club Kid

Coward

The Debut

Fatherland

Fjord

La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)

Minotaur

Paper Tiger

Yellow Letters

Other possibilities: A Long Winter, Artificial and The Story of Documentary Film.

WHO'S GOT WHAT: DISTRIBUTORS-NEON

I'm continuing my look at distributors who have a significant presence at Telluride over the past five years.  Last Monday we started with Netflix, which has been the most ubiquitous in the half decade.  Today we look at Neon...the 2nd most "present" outfit since 2021 with 15 films over that span:

2021: Flee, Petite Maman, Spencer, Three Minutes...a Lengthening.

2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Broker.

2023: Anatomy of a Fall, La Chimera, Perfect Days, The Royal Hotel.

2024: Anora, The End, The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

2025: It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value.

And the Neon larder is stacked with primarily Cannes Fest films and a new addition just this week:

All of a Sudden (Hamaguchi)

Clarissa (Erisi/Erisi)

Fjord (Mungiu)

Hope (Hong-Jin)

Paper Tiger (Gray)

A Place in Hell (Dumont)

Sheep in the Box (Kore-eda)

The Unknown (Hariri)

And the late breaking addition (and non-Cannes film) Luca Guadagnino's Artificial.  Neon picked this up after Amazon-MGM decided they would not release it.  Artificial had been a film I have been keeping an eye on re: TFF #53 but Amazon-MGM had made noise that it was going to premiere at South by Southwest and release in 2027 which moved it right off the MTFB watch list.

Neon has already made it clear they intend to place the film square in the middle of the upcoming Oscar season and there is a good deal of buzz that it will be submitted for Venice.  All this puts it back on the table as a TFF #53 potential selection. So much so, in fact, you'll note that it has already made the list of "Other Possibilities" in this week's "Ten Bets".

As to the other eight Neon possibles and their chances?  

Paper Tiger 70%

Fjord 50%

Clarissa 50%

All of a Sudden 40%

Hope 25%

A Place in Hell 25%

Artificial??? Say 45% for right now.

[Revised 7-13-26]

We'll look at Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) on Monday.

DATING NEWS

There have been a number of notices for release dates for some films that could be under considration for TFF:

Sense and Sensibility: Sept. 25.

Fjord: Oct. 9.

Saturn Return: Oct. 9.

Klara and the Sun: Oct. 23.

Wild Horse Nine: Nov. 6.

Minotaur: Nov. 20.

Clarissa Dec. 25.

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50 Fall Film Possibilities 2026 / The Travails of Guadagnino

50 FALL FILM POSSIBILITIES 2026

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

Cubero had 11 films on his list last year the did make the TFF #52 lineup.

I culled the post and began by creating a list of the films that Cubero thinks have some shot at the TFF #53 lineup.  It's a lengthy list which follows below (with director listed to the right).  He has three categories..."Possible". "Could Happen" and "Nope".

Telluride "Possibles"

All of a Sudden

Behemoth!

The Black Ball+++

Coward+++

The Debut+++

Fatherland+++

Fjord

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!**

Josephine**

A Long Winter+++

Minotaur+++

Mouse

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York**

Paper Tiger+++

Prima Facie

Rose

Sense and Sensibility

Tender Loving Care

The Weight**

Among the "Could Be's":

Being Heumann

Bitter Christmas

Club Kid

The Dreamed Adventure

Look Back

A Place in Hell

Primetime

Saturn Return

Tangled

+++ Indicates the film's presence on MTFB's first Ten Bets for TFF #53

** Indicates a Sundance Fest film which usually mitigates a film's chances at playing Telluride.

Of note, Cubero lists Herzog's Bucking Fastard as a "No" for TFF #53.  I feel pretty good about its chances.

The complete list of 50 films can be found here.

https://silverscreenxpress.wordpress.com/2026/06/17/50-potential-films-at-the-fall-film-festivals-2026/

THE TRAVAILS OF GUADAGNINO

There was a time that I had Lucas Guadagnino's Artificial on my TFF #53 watch list.  The film was housed at Amazon-MGM and Guadagnino's past with films at Telluride (Bones and All, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams) made it seem like a good bet.  Then it was announced the film would open in 2027 and that took it right out of my speculation.

New turns have made the film's future murky.  Reportedly Amazon-MGM has cut ties with the film and are seeking a buyer for it;  Word is that A24, NEON, Netflix and Focus Features and others have seen the film but as of this morning, no deal has been made.

If Artificial lands at any of the aforementioned distributors that could, conceivably, put it back into play for fall fests including Telluride.

The IMDb description for the films:

"Follows the confusing firing and rehiring cycle of Sam Altman at OpenAI where the board gained control of the company and removed him, and Altman still returned."

Stay tuned.

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Film Fest Heads Discuss the Future / Awards Radar Updates for Best Picture and TFF Potentials

 FILM FEST HEADS DISCUSS THE FUTURE

A couple of weeks back Indiewire hosted a conversation at Cannes  featuring four film festival directors including Telluride's Julie Huntsinger.  Other fest directors included were from Sundance, Berlin and New York.  The convo was hosted by Indiewire's Anne Thompson.

The focus was the future of film festivals.  You can see the entire 44 minute video at Indiewire's website.

That video and article are linked here.

https://www.indiewire.com/news/events/film-festival-directors-discuss-future-cannes-1235195002/

AWARDS RADAR UPDATES FOR BEST PICTURE AND TFF POTENTIALS

Joey Magidson of Awards Watch has updates his Best Picture predictions as of the end of the Cannes Film Fest.  He lists 25 films in all and in their order of likelihood in terms of being nominated and winning the 2027 Oscar.  I've broken those down into various categories as it relates to the potential for a TFF #53 play.

No chance: (Because they already have premiered before Telluride): 

#2 The Odyssey

#4 Project Hail Mary

#9 Tony

#11 Disclosure Day

#14 Josephine (Sundance) 

#21 The Invite

#24 Wuthering Heights

#25 Michael

Unlikely: (for a variety of reasons):

#1 Dune: Part Three

#6 Digger

#8 The Adventures of Cliff Booth

Smallish chance at Telluride:

#3 Wild Horse Nine

#5 The Social Reckoning

#10 Saturn Return

#12 I Play Rocky

#13 Being Heumann

#16 The Uprising

#17 Behemoth!

#19 Jack of  Spades

#20 A Place in Hell

Decent chance at Telluride:

#7 Fjord

#15 Paper Tiger

#18 Clarissa

#22 All of a Sudden

#23 Artificial

 

Here are all of Magidson's predictions complete with commentary.

https://awardsradar.com/best-picture/

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Herzog and Cannes in 2026 / Tony Comes Off the List / Gaudagnino and Artificial Move to 2027

HERZOG AND CANNES IN 2026

The confusion surrounding whether Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard might or might not screen at Cannes seems to have been cleared up.  Variety has reported that the film was selected but not for Palme d'Or competition.  That appears to have not sat well with the Herzog camp as they reportedly turned down the invitation.  

Variety further reports that the impetus for that decision has to do with the eligibilty for Rooney and Kate Mara who play sisters in the film.  From Variety:

"The reason that “Bucking Fastard” won’t be playing at that the Palais is that it wasn’t offered a Cannes competition slot. Herzog had hoped that stars Rooney and Kate Mara, who are said to give searing performances as twin sisters, would be eligible for awards, according to a source close to the filmmakers."

Open speculation is that Herzog will likely now premiere the film at Venice...which would still leave it positioned to make the TFF #53 lineup.

The complete story from Variety is linked here.

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/werner-herzog-bucking-fastard-turns-down-cannes-invite-1236741890/

TONY COMES OFF THE LIST

I had included Matt Johnson's Tony (sort of origin story for celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain starring Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) in the title role) on a couple of speculative lists for Telluride.  That's moot now as we.ve seen that the film has been dated for release on August 7th.

GUADAGNINO AND ARTIFICIAL MOVE TO 2027

Another film that is probably off the list of TFF #53 possibles is Luca Guadagnino's Artificial.  World of Reel reports that the film will be moving toa 2027 release primarily to avoid competing with Aaron Sorkin;s The Social Reckoning.  Both films had been dated for Oct. 9th according to IMDB.

The story from WOR (and PageSixHollywood) reads:

"...Amazon/MGM has decided that “Artificial” won’t be released in the fall — instead it is now aiming for an early 2027 release because it “didn’t want the film to go up against [Aaron Sorkin’s] ‘The Social Network’ sequel,” which is set to release in October, given that the two films “share similar themes of cutthroat tech billionaires.”

The 2027 dating likely moves Artificial off the Telluride watch list.

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Two Million Times / Collating You Didn't Know You Needed / Looks and Re-looks / No No Narnia

TWO MILLION TIMES

MTFB blew past the two million view mark since the last post.  The average views per post now is 818.  That's a lot of reading...and writing.  Thanks for taking a look...2,000,000 times.

COLLATING YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED

So, I went through the various lists that I have used to try to get a bead on TFF #53 including "Too Early" Oscar predictions, Cannes Speculation and ultimate choices, and "Most Anticipated" lists from the beginning of the year to get a sense of where my mind has been over the first four months of 2026 concerning potential TFF #53 films and here's what I discovered...

James Gray's Paper Tiger leads my take from all the different lists...not by much, but it is the film I have mentioned the most.

The next group all are close to Paper Tiger.  Four films are grouped here: 

Hamagichi's All of a Sudden, Guadagnino's Artificial, Inarritu's Digger and Munigiu's Fjord. 

Weirdly, despite these four being the second most mentioned in my speculations I can't say any of them feel like a sure thing for TFF.  And, of course, Warner Brothers has stated that Digger won't be doing any festivals much like Inarritu's The Revenant back in 2015).

The next group includes:

Almodovar's Bitter Christmas, Joel Coen's Jack of Spades, Farhadi's Parallel Tales and Kore-eda's Sheep in the Box.

And like the previous group, they all feel possible and none of them feel certain.

The final group has six films:

Herzog's Bucking Fastard, Pawlikowski's Fatherland, Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, Kwedar's Saturn Return and Harari's The Unknown.

I actually feel pretty good about Herzog and Pawlikowski. The other films in this group seem borderline possible.

Among the 18 other films that have appeared somewhere in m musings over the last four months, the most likely TFF candidates would appear to be:

The Long Winter (Haigh)

Coward (Dhont)

The Basics of Philosophy (Schrader)

As we begin the month of May we'll be paying particular attention to critical responses and ultimately the awards presentations out of Cannes which kicks off on May 12th and concludes May 23rd. 

LOOKS AND RE-LOOKS

We have a clip from Oren Jacoby's This Is Not a Drill.  The documentary screened at TFF #52.  Here's the clip from YouTube and The Film Stage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQNqE6lUk7Q

Also, we have a teaser/trailer for Asghar Farhadi's Parallel Tales with subtitles.  Also from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BV9KeJzGM

MTFB had it last week but didn't have a subtitled version.

NO NO NARNIA

I have been rather whimsically including an occasional mention that Greta Gerwig's Narnia; The Magician's Nephew might be a TFF #53 selection.  Admittedly, it seemed unlikely but entirely outside the realm of possibility given the frequent appearance of Ms. Gerwig and/or her partner, Noah Baumbach at TFF over the years.  Additionally, the fact that the it's from Netflix doesn't hurt in as far as a possible TFF play is concerned.

But all of that has been laid to rest as the film has been re-dates for a 2027 release.  The Hollywood Reporter, among many outlets reported this on Friday.  From THR:

"Gerwig’s adaptation of the sixth book in the C.S. Lewis fantasy series, The Magician’s Nephew...will now be getting a release on Feb. 12, 2027 and then will hit on Netflix April 2, 2027. Sneak previews of the film will begin on Feb. 10, 2027, only in Imax."

I guess it's still possible in a far-fetched scenario, that the film could still screen at Telluride, but with a release now coming nearly six months later...probably not.

Here's the link to the complete Hollywood Reporter article.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/netflix-narnia-movie-greta-gerwig-release-date-1236581880/

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Mark Johnson's (The Awards Alchemist) First Oscar Stab (and Which Could Be at Telluride) / Titles and Rumors...AND I MEAN RUMORS!

MARK JOHNSON'S (THE AWARDS ALCHEMIST) FIRST OSCAR STAB (AND WHICH OF THEM COULD BE AT TELLURIDE)

Mark Johnson who is housed at Awards Watch as "The Awards Alchemist" has posted his first look at predicting Oscar nominees for Best Picture for the 2026 run of films.  MTFB analyzes his list and names "possible" TFF #53 selections.  Today I'll also add for each, the biggest reason I think each of them could play TFF.  Here's what that looks like:

*Wild Horse Nine (dir: McDonagh)...Best hint it plays: From Searchlight.

*Digger (dir:Inarritu)...Hint: Inarritu ( a reminder, this film has been reported to not play ANY fall fest).

*Saturn Return (dir: Kwedar)...Hint: From Netflix.

*Fjord (dir: Munigu) Hint: Cannes Selection and it's from NEON.

*The Social Reckoning (dir: Sorkin) Hint: I'm wishful thinking here.  If it means anything, three major cast members have been recent TFF attendees: Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White.

*Fatherland (was titled 1949 for a long time) (dir: Pawlikowski) Hint: Cannes Selection, Pawlikoski

and it's from MUBI.

*All of a Sudden (dir: Hamaguchi) Hint: Cannes Selection and from NEON.

*Jack of Spades (dir: J. Coen) Hint: Coen. sort of...mostly me wishing again.

*Bucking Fastard (dir: Herzog) Hint: Herzog.

*Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (dir: Gerwig) Hints: Gerwig  and it's from Netflix.

*Behemoth! (dir: Gilroy) Hint: from Searchlight.

*Untitled Jesse Eisenberg Musical (dir: Eisenberg) Hints: Eisenberg and from A24.

*I Am Rocky (dir: Farrelly) Hint: From Amazon-MGM.

*Artificial (dir: Guadagnino) Hints: Guadagnino and from Amazon-MGM

*A Long Winter (dir: Haigh) Hints; Haigh and from MUBI.

*Paper Tiger (dir: Gray) Hints: Cannes Selection, Gray and from NEON.

*Being Heumann (dir: Heder) Hint: from Apple.

*Clarissa (dir: Esiri and Esiri) hint: from NEON.

*Tony (dir: Johnson) Hint: from A24.

*Parallel Tales (dir: Farhadi) Hints: Cannes Selectionand Farhadi.

*Bitter Christmas (dir: Almodovar) Hints: Cannes Selection, Almodovar and it's from SPC.

Here's the link to the complete list from Mark at Awards Watch.

https://awardswatch.com/2027-oscar-predictions-the-awards-alchemists-first-look-at-the-99th-academy-awards/

TITLES AND RUMORS...AND I MEAN RUMORS!

Spooking around the interwebs seeing fall film/Telluride speculation that mentions:

Danny Boyle's Ink

Andrew Haigh's A Long Winter

Ink is supposedly a 2027 release...sooo....

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