Post-TFF #49 / The People's Telluride / Ok, It's Not TFF, But... / Trailers for Armageddon Time and Close

POST-TFF #49

Well, the 49th Telluride Film Festival is in the books.  

My prediction rate for 2022 ended up at 24/25.  Here were the FINAL Bets that I posted on Monday, Aug. 29th with films that did NOT play TFF #49 highlighted:

1) Empire of Light/Mendes

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) The Wonder/Lelio

4) Bardo/Iarritu

5) TAR/Field

6) Broker/Kore-eda

7) Holy Spider/Abbasi

8) Armageddon Time/Gray

9) Bones and All/Guadignino

10) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

11) Godland/Palmason

12) A Compassionate Spy/James

13) Good Night Oppy/White

14) Theatre of Thought/Herzog

15) Sr./Smith

16 The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns

17) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed/Poitras

18) Close/Dhont

19) March to Rome and/or My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock/Cousins

20) Aftersun/Wells

21) Living/Hermanus

22) Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy/Buirsky

23) The Pupils/Rohrwacher

24) Anastasia/McCarthy

25) Athena/Gavras

Others Possibilities:Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins

The additional Netflix film that showed up was Lady Chatterley's Lover rather than Athena.  

Hottest in-line buzz: Good Night Oppy and Wildcat.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

Now that TFF #49 has included...you know what to do!  Send in your ratings of the films you saw.  You have one week to get them to me-Thursday, Sept. 15th.

Remember to rate as follows: 1 to 5 scale with 1 meaning it was bad and 5 means it was great.

Email them to mpgort@gmail.com ORmichael_speech@hotmail.com

OK...IT'S NOT TFF...BUT

Vanity Fair dropped first look stills from Damien Chazelle's Babylon yesterday and while that film did nit play TFF #49...I sure wish it had.  At any rate...what is likely to be at the top of my first set of Oscar predictions (coming soon!). At any rate,   here's a look at a couple of images and the link to the entire VF article.

TRAILERS FOR ARMAGEDDON TIME AND CLOSE

One of my favorites of TFF #49.  Here's the trailer for Armageddon via YouTube:

 And a film I would have liked to have gotten in Lukas Dhont's Close.  Here's its trailer from YouTube:

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Venice and Telluride / Toronto Films-An Evolving List / And Babylon?

VENICE AND TELLURIDE

Venice announces its lineup tomorrow.  There is a lot of speculation out there that Bardo, Blonde and White Noise will all be in that announcement.  I fully expect that Bardo will make the trek to TFF #49 and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel is reporting that White Noise will screen for TFF in August.  All of which leads me to ask Netflix...why not Blonde at Telluride?

Again, Netflix and TFF programmers, hear my plea...Blonde in the San Juans!  Ioncinema's Eric Lavallee suggests the possibility:

"We can finally put to rest all the chatter surrounding this one but we wonder if this could be a premiere title that passes on TIFF for a Telluride and then NYFF showing instead."

See the full Ioncinema Venice spec post (part one) here.

And Part Two here.

Other probable Venice inclusions that could double dip at Telluride: TAR, The Master Gardener, Bones and All, Athena, The Whale and No Bears.

TORONTO FILMS - AN EVOLVING LIST

TIFF is using a drip-drip-drip method of announcing World Premieres that they haven't used before.  As that list grows, I will be posting so we know which films are at TIFF and won't be at TFF#49. Those announced to date are:

Green Onions: A Knives Out Mystery

Brother

Bros

On the Come Up

The Woman King

My Policeman

The Fablemans

and Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel says The Greatest Beer Run Ever will also be a TIFF World Premiere.  Further, big props to Cameron Bailey and TIFF for landing the WP for Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans.

AND BABYLON?

Word is that Damien Chazelle's Babylon is "Picture locked".  MTFB friend Jason Osiason passed that along via Twitter this weekend.:

https://twitter.com/jasonosia/status/1551229707210866688

Now, the buzz has been that Babylon was likely off the board re: fall film fests.  

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has had his ear to the ground about Babylon and had reported that director Damien Chazelle and Paramount have been at odds regarding the film fest fate of the much-anticipated film.  Ruimy has also reported that TFF folk have been aggressive in seeking to screen the film.  Assuming that any of this is true, if Babylon is that far down the trail, one assumes that it could be ready for a TFF #49 bow.

Yes please.

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The Usual Suspects / Babylon Still Up in the Air / Armageddon Arrives in October / She Said Trailer Coming

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Each summer around this time I take some time to check out what Telluride's "Usual Suspects" have in the pipeline that could end up on the list films named to the TFF lineup.  The process is not always predictive but there have been many times when it has.

The striking thing this year is that there seem to be fewer "Usual Suspects" projects that could be in the pipeline.  That said...

Werner Herzog-The Fire Within which world premiered at the Sheffield Doc Fest last month.  The film focuses on Katia and Maurice Krafft who were featured in Herzog's 2016 Into the Inferno.  The couple were also the subject of a documentary that premiered at Sundance earlier this year: Fire of Love.

Ken Burns- The U.S. and the Holocaust.  The three part series is set to begin screening on PBS stations on Sept. 18th which suggests to me that a Telluride showing of some and perhaps all of the episodes are screened at TFF #49.

Paul Schrader-The Master Gardener.  Schrader has been represented at Telluride many times over the years: The Card Counter, First Reformed, Adam Resurrected.  I'd normally think that Master Gardener would be a Telluride lock BUT- Schrader has been announced as the recipient of this year's Venice Film Fest's Golden Lion award for Lifetime achievement.  How Venice schedules that presentation and where in their schedule they program The Master Gardener likely will determine whether Schrader's film plays Telluride.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-Bardo.  There was some back and forth occurring last week as to whether the film would be playing any fall fests.  At the end of the week the notion seemed to land on "probably".  My guess is a Venice early slot followed by a jump across the Atlantic to T-ride.  Inarritu has presented Babel, Biutiful and Birdman at Telluride. He's also been in town for Cuaron's Roma and Del Toro's The Shape of Water. I am expecting, if Bardo is ready for it to be at TFF #49.

Jean Pierre and Luc Dardennes- Tori and Lokita- The film premiered at Cannes, which, if anything, bolsters the probability that it makes its way to The SHOW.  The Dardennes have made a number of appearances at TFF:  The Child, The Kid with a Bike and Two Days One Night-their last TFF film in 2014.

Sebastian Lelio-The Wonder.  Lelio has made a splash at Telluride in recent years: Gloria in 2013 and A Fantastic Woman in 2017.  The wonder is also a Netflix title, which doesn't hurt.  

Bill Pohlad-Dreamin' Wild.  Pohlad has been a supporter of Telluride as well as a producer of films that play there for a good long while: A Hidden Life, Wild, 12 Years a Slave, Into the Wild, Fur, Brokaback Mountain.  Pohlad has a couple of directing credits including Love & Mercy which did not play Telluride but did screen at the Toronto Fest.  The film is also in the Focus Features bin.  

Producers that could be represented at TFF #49 that are "Usual" as well.

Martin Scorsese-The Eternal Daughter.  Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon will not be ready for fall fests and likely wouldn't play them even if it was. However, Scorsese is often represented at Telluride in his capacity as a producer: The Card Counter, Uncut Gems, Bleed for This.  Eternal Daughter is also being distributed by A24.

Barry Jenkins-Aftersun.  Aftersun played well at Cannes winning the French Touch Prize of the Critics' Week Jury and was produced, in part, by Barry Jenkins PASTEL.  It's also distributed by A24 which doesn't hurt either.  I'm bullish on its chances to screen at TFF.

Alfonso Cuaron-Raymond and Ray.  Cuaron producing a Rodrigo Garcia directed film here (Garcia was at Telluride in 2011 with the Glenn Close starrer Albert Nobbs.  The film's distributor is AppleTV+ which was at Telluride last year with The Velvet Underground.

And a special note here.  Sort of a "Usual Suspect" Daina Oniunas-Pusic who had shorts at TFF in 2015-The Beast and 2016-Rhonna and Donna and is now directing Tuesday starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  And it's from A24. (shout out to Jason Osiason who tipped me to this).

 BABYLON STILL UP IN THE AIR

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel is keeping tight tabs on the status of Damien Chazelle's Babylon.  The latest word there is that its festival fate is still up in the air and it appears to be a tussle between Chazelle and Paramount.  Ruimy writes in his July 8th post:

"At the time of this article, Paramount and Chazelle are still in disagreement over whether they should bring “Babylon” to the fall festivals."

Ruimy also reveals a ton of details about the film including its current runtime of nearly three hours and that there is buzz that the film could be rated NC-17.  The link to Jordan's story is here BUT HERE IS YOUR SPOILER ALERT!  The post is rather detailed.

ARMAGEDDON ARRIVES IN OCTOBER

The Playlist reports that Focus Features has dated  James Gray's Armageddon Time for limited release on Oct. 18th.  That dating allows for it to be a part of Telluride, Toronto and/or New York.  The film premiered at the Cannes Fest back in May.

I have felt an upturn in its chances to be a Telluride selection in the last 2-3 weeks.

The film's IMDb description is as follows:

"A deeply personal coming-of-age story about the strength of family and the generational pursuit of the American Dream."

Armageddon Time stars Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong and Anthony Hopkins.  

The story from The Playlist is here.

SHE SAID TRAILER COMING

Again, looking at World of Reel reporting that Maria Schrader's She Said will likely have a trailer drop in the next couple of weeks.  The film features Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan starring as the true life reporters who were instrumental in revealing Harvey Weinstein's abuse.

She Said is set for a Nov. 18th release.

WOR suggests that "The Oscar campaign for Maria Schrader’s “She Said” will kickstart with the trailer being released either next week or the week after that. Then, possibly a Telluride world premiere."

The complete WOR post is linked here.

The single fly in the ointment in the film's TFF-ishness is that it's from Universal which has a sketchy TFF track record having, by my count, screened only three films there over the past 15 years:

2008-Flash of Genius

2015-Steve Jobs

2018- First Man

Still I have had it in the Ten Bets or on the list of additional possibilities since the first Bets almost three weeks ago.

Stay tuned as I will share the trailer as soon as it becomes available.

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Focus on Focus / 40 Possible Oscar Films For 2022 and Telluride / From World of Real / Marcel Behind the Scenes / Trailer for Ticket to Paradise

 FOCUS ON FOCUS

My review of distributors with a recent significant Telluride history and what they may have to offer for TFF #49 continues today with Focus Features.  Focus has had a more-or-less consistent presence at the fest over the past few years:

2021 Belfast, The Card Counter, Red Rocket

2020- The Way I See It

2019 Waves

2018- Boy Erased
2017- Darkest Hour
2015- Suffragette
2012- Hyde Park on Hudson
2006- Catch a Fire

As you can see, Focus has been a solid entrant at T-ride particularly from 2015 forward and had large presence last year with three films that were featured as a part of The SHOW.

For 2022, Focus has three films that seem like they might be under consideration:

Todd Fields TAR with Cate Blanchett (a Blanchett tribute please?)

James Gray's Armageddon Time with Jessica Chastain (a Chastain tribute please?), Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins (maybe Hopkins could get the Tribute that probably would have happened in 2020 with The Father)

Michael Showalter's Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies with Sally Field and Jim Parson (a Field tribute please?)

Bill Pohlad's Dreamin' Wild.  Pohad has an extensive history with TFF.

I have these films listed in the order from top to bottom that I feel like are most likely to make the TFF #49 list.

TAR 40% chance

Armageddon Time 35%

Spoiler Alert 25%

Dreamin' Wild 20%

40 POSSIBLE OSCAR FILMS FOR 2022 AND TELLURIDE

Tim Gray writing for Variety posted an Oscar speculation piece for Variety.  Gray breaks the categorization down into early fest contenders (Berlin, Sundance and Cannes) and from those the films that I could see as Telluride potentials would be: 

Armageddon Time 

One Fine Morning

Triangle of Sadness

 Then Gray switches to organizing by the month that the film will be released...so looking at September onward, other potentials would be:

Blonde

See How They Run ( a Searchlight film that I didn't include on my assessment of their slate a few days ago-but-you never know.  Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan star and that's an attention-getting duo)

The Banshees of Inisherin

Till

Amsterdam

Bones and All

The Menu

Golda

My Policeman

She Said

Babylon

Women Talking

And finally, Gray has a category of undated films from which possible TFF players include:

Bardo

Empire of Light

The Good Nurse

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio

The Lost King

The Pale Blue Eye

Shirley

The Son

White Noise

The Whale 

The Wonder

The complete listing is here.

FROM WORLD OF REEL

Jordan Ruimy's World of Reel continues to be a go to place for Telluride and Telluride-adjacent news.  Since my last post on Thursday Jordan has added a couple of items of interest.  First, there's a new list from him of "Not Going to TFF/film fests".  Included on the list is Damien Chazelle's Babylon which Ruimy reports has been pursued fervently by The SHOW.  Jordan writes:

"I know for a fact that Telluride is trying VERY HARD to get Chazelle’s film. Paramount hasn’t budged just yet, it’s still set to skip the fall festivals"

Earlier in the piece Jordan characterizes Babylon's status as "possibly" skipping the fall fests so it seems unlikely but not entirely 100% off the table.

See the story and complete list of films skipping fests at this link to WOR.

The other note from Jordan is a semi-report about She Said.  That's the Maria Schrader film about the takedown of Harvey Weinstein.  The film has been test screened and Ruimy writes:

 “She Said” test-screened in the east coast last week. I’m not allowed to post the reaction I got from it, but it’s a very positive one."

The film has been flirting with my Ten Bets list during June.

Ruimy's complete post on She Said is here.

MARCEL BEHIND THE SCENES

A24 debuted a behind the scenes video concerning the animation of TFF #48 breakout hot (in select theaters now!) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.  I'm a fan.

Here's the video from YouTube:

TRAILER FOR TICKET TO PARADISE

Do I think Ticket to Paradise will play TFF #49...nope.  Could it?  Maybe.  Does it have a trailer?  It does now.  From YouTube:

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My First Ten Bets for 2022 / A Look at Blonde / World of Reel's List of Films for Fests / To Babylon or not to Babylon / GDT's Pinocchio?

MY FIRST TEN BETS FOR 2022

Normally my first list of predicting 10 possible Telluride films comes a little later in June but the news that Toronto will announce some titles this week has made it imperative that I launch the first TFF #49 Ten Bets a bit earlier.  So, to that end, here are Ten Bets for TFF #49 (in order of my feeling that they make the list):

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

3) The Son/Zeller

4) Close/Dhont

5) Women Talking/Polley

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) Showing Up/Reichardt

8) White Noise/Baumbach

9) Broker/Kore-eda

10) She Said/M. Schrader

Others: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abdasi, Blonde/Dominik, The Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Next Goal Wins/Waititi, The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, TAR/Fields

A LOOK AT BLONDE

I have been reticent to include Andrew Dominik’s Blonde as a serious contender for screening at this year’s Telluride Film Festival.  The NC-17 rating, the rumors about some of the content and the additionally rumored clash between Dominik and Netflix over that content have all been reasons that I have been hesitant to conclude that it could be at TFF #49.

But… the release this week of what I think is a killer teaser, the reveal that Netflix is releasing the film on Sept. 23rd plus persistent buzz that the film is likely premiering at Venice and the good relationship over that last few years between TFF and Netflix have me re-thinking my position.  

At this point I think there is some chance that Blonde makes an appearance in the San Juans.  

As many readers are aware, I have been following the film for some time now with the notion that it could land at Telluride at some point.  It has been and remains one of my most anticipated films of the year.

Here's the teaser from Netflix (which I bet a lot of you have already seen) via YouTube:

Here are the details directly from Netflix.

WORLD OF REEL'S LIST FOR FESTS

Jordan Ruimy posted a list of 70 films that he believes are likely to play at least part of the festival gauntlet this fall.  That generally means the quartet of fests: Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York.  Venice is actually the kickoff each season with Telluride taking off before Venice ends.  Toronto follows quickly thereafter and New York then happens in October.

Jordan breaks it down into various categories starting with what he calls "The Hot 20".  Taking a look at those, for fun, I have repeated Jordan's list but placed the films in the order of what I think right now is the likeliest to make the TFF #49 lineup.  So...from most to least likely:

1) Bardo (Inarritu)

2) White Noise (Baumbach)

3) Women Talking (Polley)

4) The Son (Zeller)

5) The Master Gardener (P. Schrader)

6) TAR (Field)

7) The Wonder (Lelio)

8) The Pale Blue Eye (Cooper)

9) She Said (M. Schrader)

10) Bones and All (Guadagnino)

11) Blonde (Dominik)

12) The Whale (Aronofsky)

13) Next Goal Wins (Waititi)

14) The Good Nurse (Linholm)

15) Passages (Sachs)

16) Red, White and Water (Neigebauer)

17) The Banshees of Inisherin (McDonagh)

18) Don't Worry Darling (Wilde)

19) Eileen (Oldroyd)

20) The Eternal Daughter (Hogg)

Ruimy then adds "The Next 20" and from that list the films that seems most possible are:

The Lost King (Frears)

Marlowe (Jordan)

Ticket to Paradise (Parker)

Then among the 30 other films that Ruimy includes:

Chevalier (Williams)

No Bears (Panahi)

Persuasion (Cracknell)

We'll see what happens and may have some early news this week as Toronto is reportedly going to name some of their lineup this week.

TO BABYLON OR NOT TO BABYLON?

We've seen reports that Paramount is unsure whether to take Damien Chazelle's Babylon to fall fests.  The above mentioned post from World of Reel suggests both possibilities.  Jordan writes both that "Chazelle...is skipping the fall fests" and then in the next paragraph Jordan writes:

 "A few surprises could (probably will) sneak in. I’m thinking maybe Chazelle’s “Babylon” ultimately decides to go the way of fall festivals."

We know that the film is more or less ready as reports of test screenings were coming in late March.  I've reminded readers that Chazelle has played both La La Land and First Man at Telluride but that history might cut both ways.  La La Land's ultimate Best Picture loss and First Man's inability to ignite much Oscar love (save for its win for Visual Effects and three other tech nominations) might make a difference in the choice of whether to offer the film to T-ride.

I'd like to believe that it makes the TFF #49 list.  Just like Blonde...Babylon is high on my list of most anticipated.

GDT'S PINOCCHIO?

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio screened a new trailer and other footage at the Annecy Animation Festival this week.  Del Toro told audience members that the film was:

“10 minutes from being finished', and that crews are currently working on 60 different sets at once to get the film done in time."  according to Screen Daily.

GDT has been beloved at Telluride.  The fest screened his Oscar Best Picture winner The Shape of Water in 2017 and last year TFF collaborated for a special screening of Nightmare Alley on Dec. 1st 2021.  So you have to think that if Pinocchio is ready, it could be a Telluride selection.

Here's the teaser that appeared back in January from YouTube:

Here's the article from Screen Daily.

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Another Bump / Babylon's Fate? / White Noise Rumors / Dardennes' Tori and Lokita Acquired

ANOTHER BUMP

Pardon the interruption.  MTFB didn't publish last Thursday as I was in the middle of a trip to NYC.  But I'm back (albeit later than normal) today.  Apologies to any and all that were waiting on on a Thursday post.  To be honest, this summer is crazy busy so don't be all that surprised if the Blog isn't as consistent as it usually is regarding the Monday/Thursday posting schedule.

BABYLON'S FATE?

Margot Robbie on the set of Babylon (per Fox)

Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel) is reporting that the highly anticipated Damien Chazelle film Babylon ,ay or may not be a festival player.  Ruimy says that Paramount hasn't yet decided on what path they want to take with the film which is set for a December release.  

Babylon has been high on the MTFB radar since it was announced as Chazelle was selected for Telluride twice over the last few years for La La Land in 2016 and First Man in 2018.

Babylon is described as a history of Hollywood as the film community makes the transition from silent films to talkies.  The film stars Margo Robbie and Brad Pitt.

The World of Reel post is here.

WHITE NOISE RUMORS

Another story from Jordan from the last week concerns rumors of a difficult shoot of another film that has been high on the MTFB anticipation and TFF expectation list: Noah Baumbach's White Noise.  Baumbach's Telluride pedigree has been solid with appearances for Margot at the Wedding (2007), Frances Ha (2012) and Marriage Story (2019).

Nevertheless, the Ruimy post suggests the film might be on shaky ground.  

IMDb has the film listed as being in post-production and expected as a 2022 release from Netflix with A24 also acting in a production capacity.

DARDENNES' TORI AND LOKITA ACQUIRED

Deadline reports that The Dardenne's Brothers' Tori and Lokita, which picked up a special 75th Anniversary prize at Cannes last month has been picked up for U.S. distribution by the combination of Janis and Sideshow.  That coupling was the same crew that brought Oscar winner Drive My Car to the U.S. (and Telluride) last year.

That acquisition surely keeps the Dardennes fellows on the TFF #49 watch list.

Anthony D'Alessandro reported the acquistion for Deadline.

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Two 2023 Oscar Lists: Indiewire and World of Reel / Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

TWO OSCAR 2023 LISTS

Both Indiewire and World of Reel posted lengthy Oscar Best Picture lists for 2023 this past week.  Indiwire's list had 35 titles while World of Reel had a list of 23.  Between the two list there were 11 films that made both lists (in no particular order):

Baz Lurman's Elvis

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon 

Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans

Maria Schrader's She Said

Damien Chazelle's Babylon

Kasi Lemmons' I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Kelly Reicharadt's Showing Up

Martin McDaonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo

Florian Zeller's The Son

Todd Field's TAR

Your five best Telluride bets from this combined list: Bardo, Showing Up, The Son, Babylon and TAR.

You can take a look at the complete lists and  analysis for each outlet.  

The Indiewire post is here.

The World of Reel post is here.

COMNG SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

The Film Stage posted a list of 40+ films with release dates this summer which is revelatory in two ways in as far as Telluride film fans are concerned.  First, the list lets us know what films are OFF the list for TFF consideration i.e. David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future.  The list also tells us when films that have screened (or would have screened at Telluride in one case) will be released.

According to the article these TFF films are pout as follows:

TFF #47 announced film Apples on June 24th.

From TFF #48:

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On on June 24th

Bitterbrush on June 24th 

Three Minutes: A Lengthening on August 19th

The complete Film Stage post is linked here.

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Trailer for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker / Nathaniel Rogers April Foolish Oscar Predix and TFF #49

TRAILER FOR HIROKAZU KORE-EDA'S TRAILER

Playing Cannes in a few weeks is the latest film from Hirokazu Kore-eda.  Broker is described my IMDb as:

"Boxes that are left out for people to anonymously drop off their unwanted babies."

Seriously...that's what IMDb actually says.  I have seen the film titled "Baby Broker" which gives, perhaps, a little more insight into the film.

Kore-eda played TFF in 2018 with Shoplifters.  Now, with his latest film playing Cannes and competing for the Palme d'Or, we could see his return to Telluride.

Here's the recently released trailer ahead of its screening at Cannes:

Additionally, news about the film and trailer are linked here from The Film Stage.

NATHANIEL ROGERS APRIL FOOLISH PREDIX AND TFF #49

Nathaniel Rogers who runs The Film Experience Blog has up his initial 2022-23 Best Picture Oscar contenders and here's what films are on it (and "in contention") that could make noise at TFF #49:

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Son

White Noise

Babylon

Poor Things

Armageddon Time

Empire of Light

Rustin

The Killer

Women Talking

And among the films listed also are:

Red, White and Water

Showing Up

The Stars at Noon

The Whale

Cassandro

Golda

Crimes of the Future

Tar

Blonde

Shirley

The Wonder

Pinocchio

Chevalier

Next Goal Wins

Carmen

Asteroid City

Bardo

Rogers' complete Best Picture take is liked here.

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Cannes Reveals the 75th Lineup / Mark Johnson Is as Good as Gold / Stay Prayed Up Has a Date

CANNES REVEALS THE 75TH LINEUP

Very early this morning the lineup for the 75th Cannes Film Festival was revealed in France.  Why does this matter to us?  The Cannes/Telluride connection has been deep and lengthy and so parsing Cannes announcements for films that eventually could make an appearance at TFF later in the year is an interesting and, at times, illuminating.

Over the last 10 TFF's here are the numbers of films that have crossed-over from France to Colorado;

2021: 6

2020: 3

2019: 8

2018: 7

2017: 8

2016: 7

2015: 6

2014: 9

2013: 10

2012: 10

As you can see, the connection has diminished somewhat especially the last couple of fests but that may be a Covid caused aberration.  The average over the decade- 7.5 films shared per year.

And some of the titles that have screened at Cannes first and then TFF since 2011:

The Artist

Rust and Bone

Amour

Nebraska

Inside Llewyn Davis

All Is Lost

Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Foxcatcher

Son of Saul

Carol

Toni Erdmann

Cold War

Parasite

Cannes films that I speculated might play both fests from last year were Bergman Island, Cow, The French Dispatch, A Hero, Red Rocket, The Velvet Underground.

With that all said as a prelude, here are the announced titles for Cannes #95:

Opening Night

“Z,” Michel Hazanavicius

Competition

“Holy Spider,” Ali Abbasi

“Les Amandiers,” Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

“Crimes of the Future,” David Cronenberg

“The Stars at Noon,” Claire Denis

“Frere et Soeur,” Arnaud Desplechin

“Tori and Lokita,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

“Close,” Lukas Dhont

“Armageddon Time,” James Gray

“Broker,” Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Nostalgia,” Mario Martone

“R.M.N.,” Cristian Mungiu

“Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Ostlund

“Decisions to Leave,” Park Chan-Wook

“Showing Up,” Kelly Reichardt

“Leila’s Brothers,” Saeed Roustayi

“Boy from Heaven,” Tarik Saleh

“Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” Kirill Serebrennikov

“Hi-Han (Eo),” Jerzy Skolimowski

Un Certain Regard

“Les Pires,” Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret

“Burning Days,” Emin Alper

“Metronom,” Alexandru Belc

“Retour a Seoul,” Davy Chou

“Sick of Myself,” Kristoffer Borgli

“Domingo y La Niebla,” Ariel Escalante Meza

“Plan 75,” Hayakawa Chie

“Beast,” Riley Keough and Gina Gammell

“Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer

“Butterfly Vision,” Maksym Nakonechnyi

“Volada Land,” Hlynur Palmason

“Rodeo,” Lola Quivoron

“Joyland,” Saim Sadiq

“The Stranger,” Thomas M. Wright

“The Silent Twins,” Agnieszka Smoczynska

Cannes Premiere

“Outside Night,” Marco Bellocchio

“Nos Frangins,” Rachid Bouchareb

“Irma Vep,” Olivier Assayas (Series)

“Dodo,” Panos H. Koutras

Special Screenings

“The Natural History of Destruction,” Sergei Loznitsa

“Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” Ethan Coen

“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen

Midnight Screenings

“Moonage Daydream,” Brett Morgen

“Smoking Makes You Cough,” Quentin Dupieux

“Hunt,” Lee Jung-Jae

Out of Competition

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Joseph Kosinski

“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann

“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” George Miller

“November,” Cédric Jimenez

“Masquerade,” Nicolas Bedos

What could come from these selections to Telluride?  Here's a list:

The Stars at Noon

Tori and Lokita

Close

Armageddon Time

Broker

RMN

Showing Up

Those are all Palme competition titles.  Among the other sections I'm not immediately seeing anything that jumps out as a TFF potential.  As a couple of wishes...George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing and Ethan Coen's Jerry Lee Lewis documentary which likely has been the surprise film that has had people guessing the last few days.  That film may well be a project that IMDb has had listed as being under the direction of music man and frequent Coen collaborator, T. Bone Burnett- who, with both Coen brothers, was a Tribute recipient at Telluride in 2013.  Inside Llewyn Davis screened at TFF that year after having premiered at Cannes.

Reportedly there will be more films announced in the days ahead.

Here's the lineup and some discussion from Ryan Lattanzio for Indiewire.

MARK JOHNSON IS AS GOOD AS GOLD

My Telluride buddy, Mark Johnson, runs the Oscar prediction outfit Good as Gold that's housed at Awards Daily.  Mark, as you might expect, has put up his early, early Oscar predictions for next year and, as I am wont to do, I have culled his Best Picture predictions for potential TFF #49 titles.  From the 10 he has as his predicted BP nominees:

Killers of the Flower Moon (mostly because I want to will into a TFF slot...and make the final cut as a background player)

Babylon

White Noise

Empire of Light

Women Talking

Poor Things

Bones and All

and among the films that Mark lists as "On the Radar":

The Whale

Armageddon Time

Bardo

The Son

Asteroid City

Rustin

STAY PRAYED UP HAS A DATE

Deadline, among others, reports that Greenwich Entertainment has taken the North American rights to the gospel documentary Stay Prayed Up.  The film was screened at Telluride last Labor Day weekend as a part of TFF #48.  The film has been dated for a June 17th release.

More details can be gleaned here from the Deadline post written by Matt Grobar.

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2022 Post-Oscars / Oscars 2023-The 95th / Possible Venice Choices

2022 POST-OSCARS 

Well, the 94th Oscar ceremony is in the books.

TFF #48 films end up with three Oscar wins with Jane Campion winning Best Direction, and the only Oscar out of 12 nominations, for The Power of the Dog.  Sir Kenneth Branagh won his first Oscar for Original Screenplay for Belfast.  It's only win out of seven nominations.  The third win was Will Smith's for Best Actor for King Richard.  

As I mentioned on Monday, in terms of prediction accuracy I went 21 of 23.  That might be my best year for predictions ever.  That said, lots of people did very well.  Over at Awards Daily there were reportedly 28 different folks tied for the top spot in their annual Oscar prediction contest with a 22/23 rate of success.

On Sunday, part of my final predictions post included a segment called "Ten Categories That Will Determine Your Oscar Pool."  It was a list of the 10 categories that seemed to me the most likely places where the category was competitive and an upset could occur.  Didn't miss a one except Best Picture and I was on the under side of that with my Power of the Dog prediction. As it turned out the biggest "surprise" came in Animated Short when The Windshield Wiper surprised perceived frontrunners Robin Robin and Bestia.

The three wins for Telluride films was the smallest haul for films that played The SHOW since 2009 when no TFF film won any Oscar (out of 16 nominations).

OSCAR 2023-THE 95TH

Wasting no time, Oscar predicting website Next Best Picture had a post up on Tuesday with a list of films that will/could be released in 2022 that they think might be in the Oscar race for this next season.  As usual, I have parsed it for possible films that we might see over Labor Day weekend.  Here's that list of films with their directors.

Asteroid City/Wes Anderson

Armageddon Time/James Gray

Babylon/Damien Chazelle

Bardo/Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

The Killer/David Fincher

Killers of the Flower Moon/Martin Scorsese

Next Goal Wins/Taika Waititi

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

The Son/Florian Zeller

Tar/Todd Field

White Noise/Noah Baumbach

Women Talking/Sarah Polley

  

From NBP's "Other Contenders" list:

Barbie/Greta Gerwig

Bones and All/Luca Guadagnino

Broker/Hirokazu Kore-eda

The entire NBP post is linked here.

POSSIBLE VENICE CHOICES

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel posted yesterday reporting that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo will premiere at Venice.  The Venice/Telluride one-two  has intensified over the past few years.  Consequently, the potential of a Venice bow doesn't guarantee that Inarritu makes the trip, but it sure doesn't diminish the chances wither.  Other films that Ruimy mentions as Venice possibilities: Damien Chazelle's Babylon, Noah Baumbach's White Noise and Paul Schrader's The Master Gardener.

The complete piece is linked here.

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The Way Ahead? / "Soggy Bottom" Has a Date / Spring Cleaning

 THE WAY AHEAD?

In a normal year, I'd have made a hard turn from Oscar related stuff into serious tea-leaf reading about the possible films that we could see at TFF #48.  The Oscars would have happened two-three weeks back and as such, I'd be knee deep in trying to parse spec pieces about possible Oscar players for the coming year.  Which ones feel like TFF film choices?  I'd be eye-balling stories about possible Cannes selections and which of them might make the Cannes/Telluride double play? 

But, as you know, it's still not a normal year.  Oscar is still five weeks away.  Cannes plans are still unsettled.  Maybe a version of that fest happens in July.  Maybe it gets pushed to an even later date.  So, speculation about what films might end up as a Cannes selection is a sea of shifting sand.

Nevertheless, I was perusing the internet for items of interest to this blog and came across a post that included some early thoughts on films that could be potential films for Oscar talk at the end of 2021.  So, using that as a jumping off point, I've snagged some of those titles as worth at least thinking about as far as a TFF #48 play might be concerned.  I've opted to list these alphabetically.

Bergman Island

Blonde

The Card Counter

Don't Look Up

Dune

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

The French Dispatch

The Last Duel

Next Goal Wins

Nightmare Alley

Petite Maman

The Power of the Dog

Soggy Bottom

Stillwater

The Tragedy of MacBeth

Some of the above have a really good chance of being Telluride films (Card Counter, Bergman Island, Power of the Dog).  Others (Soggy Bottom, The French Dispatch, Dune) seem less likely.

SOGGY BOTTOM HAS A DATE

Bradley Cooper on the set of "Soggy Bottom" (via World of reel)

Of interest regarding "Soggy Bottom", which is still officially the "Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project", is the announcement this past week that the film has an announced release date.  World of Reel reports the film is set for release on Sept. 10th which gives it time to play at Cannes (maybe), Venice (maybe) and/or Telluride.  The date makes a bow at Toronto unlikely but not impossible, as TIFF starts on Sept. 9th.  

The World of Reel story is linked here.

SPRING CLEANING

I've written about this a couple of times before.  I have a folder in the email account that I primarily use as the conduit for the news I think might be handy to have for the blog.  Every now and then I clean it out.  

I still have emails in the folder that date from as early as 2014...because you never know when an announced project will actually get up and go.  The earliest thing in there right now is announcements that Brit director Steve McQueen's next project would be a Paul Robeson biopic.  That project is still listed on my IMDb Pro account as a "project in development".

Anyway, Among the emails I just removed were tidbits for TFF selections The Way I See It, Charlatan, Mainstream, Judy and current Oscar frontrunner Nomadland.

I also dumped emails that at various points I had saved regarding The Trial of the Chicago 7, Mank, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and 1917 among others.

So what else is still sitting in there?  The most recent announcements that I have culled are for:

The Ploughman

The Pale Blue Eye

Exit West

The Killer

White Noise

Being the Ricardos

Babylon

A Hero

Maestro

Lots more... 

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