MTFB Oscar Take: Updated Best Picture and Director / More from Todd Haynes / Hansen-Love and Bergman Island / AFI-TFF Crossover

MTFB OSCAR TAKE: UPDATED BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTOR

Here's the MTFB latest update on predictions for Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.  These categories were last predicted here on Oct. 4th.  As always TFF #48 films are indicate in Bold and the film's previous position is indicated to the right in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE

1) Belfast (1)

2) King Richard (3)

3) The Power of the Dog (2)

4) Licorice Pizza (4)

5) Dune (5)

6) West Side Story (6)

7) Nightmare Alley (7)

8) Spencer (9)

9) The Tragedy of Macbeth (8)

10) House of Gucci (New)

Alternates: CODA, Don't Look Up, and tick, tick...BOOM

 BEST DIRECTOR

1) Kenneth Branagh/Belfast (1)

2) Jane Campion/The Power of the Dog (2)

3) Denis Villenueve/Dune (3)

4) Guillermo del Toro/Nightmare Alley (5)

5) Paul Thomas Anderson/Licorice Pizza (4)

Alternates: Reinaldo Marcus Green/King Richard and Pablo Larrain/Spencer

MORE FROM TODD HAYNES

My last post included a Todd Haynes' interview with The Playlist.  Today I include a link to a separate Haynes interview that was posted last Thursday at Awards Daily.  Frank J. Avella wrote it up and it is linked here.

HANSEN-LOVE AND BERGMAN ISLAND

The Playlist's Andrew Bundy posted an interview with Bergman Island director and writer Mia Hansen-Love.  Hansen-Love has made my list of Telluride "Usual Suspects" with fest appearances over the years that have included: Things to Come and Goodbye First Love.

Here's the link to the interview.

AFI-TFF CROSSOVER

The American Film Institute has announced its full lineup for AFI Fest.  AFI's list includes a number of films that cross over with TFF #48 titles, especially documentaries.  They include:

Cow

Red Rocket

Petite Maman

King Richard

Unclenching the Fists

Bernstein's Wall

Citizen Ashe

Julia 

Procession

The Real Charlie Chaplin

And the Shorts:

Love, Dad

Motorcyclists Happiness Won't Fit Into His Suit

Play It Safe

Soft Animals

The complete rundown of AFI programming can be found here from Awards Watch.

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The Thursday After / Blog Biz / What's Next? Posters / Teasers and Trailers / The People's Telluride

THE THURSDAY AFTER

So another TFF is in the books.  We arrived back home about 9:30 on Monday night.  I had planned to catch King Richard and attend the picnic and then leaving but decided at the last minute to head home early.  I hate that we missed the picnic and the chance to hobnob one last time but it also felt good to get home before midnight especially since I was back in my classroom on Tuesday.

Fest stuff:

I saw fewer films (even with the extra day) this year than normal.  Chalk it up to a more leisurely approach to the fest.  In order of preference they were:

The Power of the Dog

Belfast

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Cyrano

Land of Gold

Julia

The French Dispatch

The Velvet Underground

BLOG BIZ

With the addition of The Card Counter to the program that meant that MTFB went 24/25 for the Final Bets with an additional couple of correct predictions from the "Other Possibles" category: Bergman Island and Unclenching the Fists.

The single miss was The First 54 Years.

Additionally, from the original Ten Bets list back in June, MTFB had eight titles on that list that played the fest.  Here's a re-look at those predictions from June 24:

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

5) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

6) Bergman Island/Hansen-Love

7) Cow/Arnold

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Blonde/Dominik

10) The Story of Looking/Cousins

Don't discount the possibility of: Dune, Julia, Mothering Sunday, Petite Maman, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

Missed on Nightmare Alley and Blonde.  From the "possibility" list that also made the TFF #48 lineup: Julia and Petite Maman.  Without backtracking...that might be the best initial Ten Bets since I started predicting in that manner.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Professionals and the People's Telluride film ratings will coming in the next week or so.  After they post I'll do what I call the Combination Telluride.  As is the usual case, I'll also begin to talk about the Oscar season with the focus being on the films that played at TFF #48.

Also, per suggestion of an MTFB reader, I'm going to work on adding a section that contains all of the ratings that I have compiled over the years.

POSTERS

***BELFAST

***THE CARD COUNTER

***THE HAND OF GOD

***BERGMAN ISLAND

***C'MON C'MON

***ENCOUNTER

TEASERS AND TRAILERS

***BELFAST

***BERGMAN ISLAND

***C'MON C'MON

***ENCOUNTER

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the ninth non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".  This years People's cutoff date is SUNDAY, SEPT. 12TH.

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

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

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SPECIAL PRE-TFF #48 FRIDAY EDITION: Power of the Dog Teaser and Poster / Spencer Teaser and Poster / Schrader on The Card Counter / Visions of Cyrano / Awards Watch Talks TFF Films

 SPECIAL PRE-TFF #48 FRIDAY EDITION

Preface: Just too many things piled up yesterday to let dangle until Monday's regularly scheduled MTFB post...so here are quick hits about some of the things that popped on Thursday.

POWER OF THE DOG TRAILER AND POSTER

Teaser:

Poster:

SPENCER TEASER AND POSTER

Teaser:

Poster:

SCHRADER ON THE CARD COUNTER

Two Posts!

From Indiewire.

From The Playlist.

VISIONS OF CYRANO

Vanity Fair's has stills from Cyrano.  Here are a couple:

The entire vanity Fair spread is linked here. 

AWARDS WATCH TALKS TFF FILMS

Erik Anderson's Awards Watch posted a Telluride-centric piece with a view toward guessing/predicting the lineup.  It lines up well with what I've been talking about of late with some interesting additional notes.

Among the films he lists as "Most Likely" he includes three that I don't necessarily have as sure things on my list: Bergman Island, Blue Bayou and Red Rocket.

Otherwise, here's the link to Erik's entire T-ride post from yesterday.

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Back and Forth / A New Possibility?/ WWBP? / Trailer for The Hand of God

 BACK AND FORTH

Three films keep giving me fits regarding whether they will or won't be on the TFF #48 lineup when it's announced in nine days:

The French Dispatch

Bergman Island

Dune

In the cases of The French Dispatch and Bergman Island it's a matter of conflicting claims about the accuracy of their premiere status that has been reported.

For Dune it's a conflict between what premiere status has been telling us and definitive claims that it will not play from sources who have better access than I do.  

At the moment, we await the second wave of films for Fantastic Fest.  Should Dube popup there, that would all but confirm the "No Dune at Telluride" narrative.  Could Dune play at FF?  Well, I think that's it's possible.  The genre based film fest proudly proclaims on its webpage that it has screened Parasite, There Will Be Blood and Jojo Rabbit among others so a Dune screening would not shock me.

I'm currently slightly leaning to the notion that The French Dispatch will play at Telluride.  Bergman Island, I think may still be a Telluride no-show.

There are also a couple of things that I'm pretty close to saying they'll be at Telluride.  I'll likely get to those in Thursday's post of the 10th Ten Bets list.

A NEW POSSIBILITY?

Friend of MTFB Chris Schneider caught a Tweet the other day that points to the possibility of the inclusion of a film that hasn't been on my radar at all.  

The film: Peter Hedges' The Same Storm. Hedges has an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of About a Boy.  Hedges has also directed and written Ben Is Back, What's Eating Gilbert Grape for which Leonardo DiCaprio received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and Pieces of April for which Patricia Clarkson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.  He's also Lucas Hedges' father.

The best evidence that this is a real TFF possibility?  The tweet has since been deleted.

Here is the IMDb entry for The Same Storm.

WWBP?

He's a Telluride favorite and an Oscar winner and he's back this year as The SHOW's Guest Director.  He is Barry Jenkins.  Frankly, I think he's the perfect choice for the gig.

So I began to wonder...could a guy predict what would Barry program (WWBP) ?

There's a wealth of material from the last five years about the films that Mr. Jenkins has said have influenced him.  Do they point to some film choices that the 2021 TFF Guest Director might program?  He's already said that the selections are locked via Twitter:

Maybe.  For fun, let's say that they do and make some guesses based on publicly available interviews and such.  As I recall, the TFF Guest Director normally programs around six selections.  So here are some thoughts (with something of a bibliography following):

1) Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher.  I think this popped up more than any other individual film that Jenkins has named as a a film of influence and quality. Also, there's a new restoration that's also scheduled to screen at the New York fest.

2) Something from John Cassavetes.  Jenkins appears to reference Cassavetes as a director and his a number of his films more than any other single director at least from the various lists and interviews that I have come across.  He mentions a number of Cassavetes' films that it's a substantial list to choose from.  I'm assuming that he will only program a single Cassavetes' film (but maybe it could be more than one).  So...what Cassavetes?  I'm going to go with A Woman Under the Influence.  I'm almost certainly wrong, but if it's not this, I still kind of expect a John Cassavetes' selection: Shadows?, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie?, Faces? Opening Night?

3) Something from Jacques Tati...Let's go with The Big Day.

4) Something from Jacques Demys...Lola?

5) David Gordon Green's George Washington

6) Claire Denis' Beau Travail

Some other possibilities (or maybe I'm just projecting): Blood Simple, Pather Panchali, Stalker, Solaris The Dekalog.

Of course, it's likely that Mr. Jenkins programs films that are not on the above list at all.  Still, fun to think about.

Here's the bibliography:

https://mubi.com/lists/barry-jenkins-favorite-films

https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/barry-jenkins-favorite-films/

https://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/barry-jenkins-film-style-wong-kar-wai-claire-denis-lynne-ramsay-1201834261/

https://t.co/em5qdtMde1?amp=1

TRAILER FOR THE HAND OF GOD

We're pretty sure that Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God will be playing Telluride.  We got a new trailer for the film this past week.  Here it is from You Tube:

That's it for today.  Will have a new Ten Bets on Thursday...

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TFF #48- A Big Return? / New Digs for TFF in Telluride / Trailers, Teasers, Posters and Pics of TFF Possibilities

 TFF #48- A BIG RETURN?

We already know that TFF #48 will be bigger than usual with a five day fest rather than the typical four day event.  We also know, officially this week as reported by news outlets in Telluride as well as nationally by Awards Watch and Indiewire that the fest has purchased the Nugget Theater building with plans to establish a substantial continuing presence in Telluride.

But in addition to all that, there are whispers in the ether that Telluride might be a larger than usual locus for films launching at the fall fests.

Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson writing for Indiewire yesterday had some interesting observations in that direction:

(Telluride) "which chose to cancel its VIP mountain gathering last year when it could not stage a live event, is prepping a substantial comeback. The Labor Day gathering has ambitious plans, with an extra day of programming and a slate of expected Oscar hopefuls that may include both Wes Anderson’s Cannes entry “The French Dispatch” and the animated Sundance documentary breakout “Flee.” Telluride is returning strong with its recent acquisition of frequent screening site the Nugget Building, where it intends to create a year-round “cultural center devoted to film, filmmakers, and film culture.” Meanwhile, awards consultants are eager to return to in-person campaign events with a Telluride awards launch."

The momentum about thinking that The French Dispatch could be a  TFF selection has been building a bit over the past few weeks, so Indiewire's speculation adds some fuel to that fire.  Interesting, as well, is the mention of Flee, which has been earning good buzz since its debut at Sundance.  Because Flee is a documentary, it's debut at Sundance doesn't diminish its chances at playing TFF as much as if it were a feature film.  Also, its acquisition by NEON doesn't hurt either.

The concluding sentence from this paragraph also intrigues.  

There have also been a couple of other allusions from other film journos that Telluride could well be in the "sweet spot" this year for a fall film fest and domestic film makers with Covid restrictions and uncertainties regarding European Fests and Toronto. 

Another interesting note here is the reveal that TFF has bought the Nugget Theater building.  That news had been bubbling for a bit and has now been reported by local Telluride media as well Erik Anderson's Awards Watch.  See the news release from the fest about the purchase below.

Not to brag, but I have been sitting on the news for a couple of months.

The complete Indiewire article is linked here.

Stand by!

NEW DIGS FOR TFF IN TELLURIDE

From the TFF Press Office and Shannon Mitchell:

Telluride Film Festival (September 2 – 6, 2021) and the National Film Preserve LTD, a Colorado nonprofit corporation, today announced its acquisition of the Nugget Building in the town of Telluride, Colorado. The Festival’s intent is to maintain and further create a cultural center devoted to film, filmmakers and film culture. 

The building, an iconic piece of Old West history located in the town’s center near the New Sheridan Hotel, will provide a permanent hub for the Festival focused on a fully remodeled Nugget Theater; a regional jewel that will be upgraded to the country’s highest presentation standards. In addition, the Festival intends to construct a rooftop gathering space that will be a site for major Festival events and a year-round venue for education and community programming. Plans also involve the construction of an adjacent filmmaker residency building. A capital campaign, Nugget Project: The SHOW at 50, is underway to raise the necessary funds for the purchase, construction and vital endowments towards future programming.

“The Telluride Film Festival believes that film is best experienced together, in a beautiful cinema, talking afterwards in a communal space with the artists who create these magical stories in the first place,” said Executive Director Julie Huntsinger. “We hope to make the picturesque Nugget Building a beacon for our global society of cinephiles to experience the art form at its best.”

The Nugget Building has been restored by its past owners, and Telluride Film Festival intends to build on their work. 

“The Telluride Film Festival wishes to deeply thank Katrine and Bill Formby for their twenty-year preservation efforts in bringing the Nugget Building back to its former glory, and for generously donating to the Nugget Project: The SHOW at 50 capital campaign that helped us to acquire the building,” said Huntsinger. “We are committed to preserving its history.”

“When we purchased the crumbling, partially blue-stained Nugget Building in 1999, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” said former building owners Katrine and William Formby. “Twenty years later, we are now somewhat experts on historical preservation. We are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish in bringing this 129-year-old building back to its former glory. All of our decisions have been made with the following in mind: ‘What is the best for the Nugget Building and for Telluride?’ Selling the Nugget Building to the Telluride Film Festival sounds like a happy and appropriate ending to our time as stewards of the building.”

 For more information about Telluride Film Festival’s Capital Campaign or to make a donation, please visit www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

 

TRAILERS OF TFF POSSIBILITIES

With Cannes upcoming and other films getting into the game, we have had a run of teasers and trailers recently for films that could be contenders for TFF inclusion.  Beginning with yesterday's release from Searchlight for Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye:

Petrov's Flu

Bergman Island:

The Year of the Everlasting Storm:

Where Is Anne Frank poster:

Photo from Audiard's 13th District Paris:

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Cannes Lineup Revealed / Your 10 Best Cannes-Telluride Crossover Prospects / Outlets with Cannes Analysis

 CANNES LINEUP REVEALED

OPENING NIGHT FILM

ANNETTE by Leos Carax

COMPETITION

UN HÉROS (A Hero) by Asghar FARHADI

TOUT S’EST BIEN PASSÉ by François OZON

TRE PIANI by Nanni MORETTI

TITANE by Julia DUCOURNAU

THE FRENCH DISPATCH by Wes ANDERSON

RED ROCKET by Sean BAKER

PETROV’S FLU by Kirill SEREBRENNIKOV

PAR UN DEMI CLAIR MATIN by Bruno DUMONT

NITRAM by Justin KURZEL

MEMORIA by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

LINGUI by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN

LES OLYMPIADES (Paris 13th District) by Jacques AUDIARD

LES INTRANQUILLES (The restless) by Joachim LAFOSSE

LA FRACTURE by Catherine COARSEN

JULIE (EN 12 CHAPITRES) (The worst person in the world) by Joachim TRIER

HYTTI NRO 6 (Compartment NO.6) by Juho KUOSMANEN

HAUT ET FORT (Casablanca beats) by Nabil AYOUCH

HA’BERECH (Le genou d’Ahed / Ahed’s knee) by Nadav LAPID

DRIVE MY CAR by Ryusuke HAMAGUCHI

BERGMAN ISLAND by Mia HANSEN-LOVE

BENEDETTA by Paul VERHOEVEN

A FELESÉGEM TÖRTÉNETE (L’histoire de ma femme / The story of my wife) by Ildikó ENYEDI

FLAG DAY by Sean PENN

OUT OF COMPETITION

DE SON VIVANT by Emmanuelle BERCOT

EMERGENCY DECLARATION by HAN Jae-Rim

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND by Todd HAYNES

STILLWATER by Tom MCCARTHY

ALINE (Aline, the voice of love) by Valérie LEMERCIER

BAC NORD by Cédric JIMENEZ

UN CERTAIN REGARD

AFTER YANG by Kogonada

BONNE MÈRE by Hafsia HERZI

BLUE BAYOU by Justin CHON

COMMITMENT HASAN by Hasan Semih KAPLANOGLU

DELO (House arrest) by Alexey GERMAN JR.

FREDA by Gessica GÉNÉUS (First film)

THE INNOCENTS by Eskil VOGT

LAMB by Valdimar JÓHANSSON (First film)

MONEYBOYS by C.B Yi (First film)

NOCHE DE FUEGO by Tatiana HUEZO

UN MONDE by Laura WANDEL (First film)

REHANA MARYAM NOOR by Abdullah Mohammad SAAD

ET IL Y EUT UN MATIN (Let there be morning) by Eran KOLIRIN

UNCLENCHING THE FISTS by Kira KOVALENKO

LA CIVIL by Teodora Ana MIHAI (First film)

WOMEN DO CRY by Mina MILEVA and Vesela KAZAKOVA

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

H6 by Yé Yé (First film)

CAHIERS NOIRS (Black notebooks) by Shlomi ELKABETZ

O MARINHEIRO DAS MONTANHAS (Le marin des montagnes/Mariner of the mountains) by Karim AÏNOUZ

JFK REVISITED: THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS by Oliver STONE

JANE PAR CHARLOTTE by Charlotte GAINSBOURG (First film)

BABI YAR. CONTEXTE (Babi Yar. Context) by Sergei LOZNITSA

THE YEAR OF THE EVERLASTING STORM by Jafar PANAHI, Anthony CHEN, Malik VITTHAL, Laura POITRAS, Dominga SOTOMAYOR, David LOWERY and Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

CANNES PREMIERE

EVOLUTION by Kornél MUNDRUCZO

TROMPERIE (Deception) by Arnaud DESPLECHIN

COW by Andrea ARNOLD

CETTE MUSIQUE NE JOUE POUR PERSONNE (Love songs for tough guys) by Samuel BENCHETRIT

MOTHERING SUNDAY by Eva HUSSON

SERRE-MOI FORT (Hold me tight) by Mathieu AMALRIC

IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE by HONG Sang-Soo

VAL by Ting POO and Leo SCOTT

MIDNIGHT

ORANGES SANGUINES (Bloody oranges) by Jean-Christophe MEURISSE

Other films are yet to be added.  Netflix, again, had no films announced though Cannes Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux said that discussions between the fest and the streaming giant were ongoing.

YOUR 10 BEST CANNES-TELLURIDE PROSPECTS (sight unseen and in alphabetical order):

13th District

Bergman Island

Cow

Everything Went Well

Flag Day

The French Dispatch

A Hero

Mothering Sunday

Red Rocket

The Velvet Underground

OUTLETS WITH CANNES ANALYSIS

Here with a look at some analysis of the Cannes announcement:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

The Playlist

The Film Stage

Awards Daily

More on Monday including thoughts about what was NOT announced.

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Shining a Light on Neon / Odds for the Unannounced Palme d'Or Cannes-idates

SHINING A  LIGHT ON NEON

Distributor Neon's existence has not been terribly long.  The outfit was founded in 2017 and in that short span has landed seven films at Telluride:

2020: Ammonite

2019: Parasite (nominated for six Academy Awards and won four including Best Picture and Director). Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Amazing Grace

2018: Border (Oscar nominated for Best Makeup and Hair), The Biggest Little Farm

2017: The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography

Seven films in four years and still basking in then glow of the success that was Parasite, you have to figure that Neon will land a film or two or three at TFF #48.  What might they be?

My guess that the most likely is Celine Sciamma's  Petite Maman, her follow-up to the very well received Portrait of a Lady on Fire (noted above as having played at TFF #46).  Sciamma could actually double-dip at Telluride should the fest chose to screen Jacques Audiard's Paris 13th District as she is a co-writer of that screenplay.

Also possible for TFF #48 from Neon include:

Pablo Larrain's Spencer starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana 

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria

Michael Sarnoski's Pig starring Nicolas Cage as a man searching for his kidnapped truffle hunting pig

Julia Ducournau's Titane

And a couple of documentaries: The First Wave and Ailey.

ODES FOR THE PALME D'OR

The Film Lounge has set odds for films that are rumored as possible Cannes competition selections.  At the top of the list is Apichatpong Weerasethekul's Memoria. Weerasethekul previously won the Golden Palm at Cannes back in 2010 for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.  Its odds are set at 4-1.  Currently in the 2nd spot is Asghar Farhadi's A Hero at 9-2.  Farhadi's film is on my TFF #48 watch list.  

Films that are also on my watch list and their odds are:

Bergman Island 9-1

Where Is Anne Frank 9-1

The Power of the Dog 20-1

Paris, 13th District 28-1

The Card Counter 33-1

Flag Day 50-1

Mothering Sunday 50-1

  

And from the wish list:

The French Dispatch 22-1

Soggy Bottom 25-1

Check out the complete list of odds here.

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Cannes Spec heats Up /A Look at SPC

 CANNES SPEC HEATS UP

With the official announcement of the Cannes Film Festival lineup now just two weeks away (June 3), the guessing game about what films make the list is warming up.  As always here, a reminder that, historically, Cannes and Telluride have had a substantial overlap of films in their official selections.

Now, does that continue in this year where we still have Covid concerns, that traditional sharing of titles may be lessened, increased, skewed...

But I'm going to run for awhile on the assumption that there will be that connection between the two fests that has been true for quite some time and that's an average of about 8 or so films that play both.

Just this past week I ran across big "Cannes lists" from Indiewire, Screen Daily and World of Reel and put together a list of TFF possibilities that popped up.

All three publications included: Jacques Audiard's Paris 13th District and Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch.  However, Screen Daily reports that Searchlight has not yet committed to premiering on the Croisette and is still gaming out what it feels would be the best release strategy for the highly anticipated film.

Many films that I feel have a shot at TFF #48's lineup are listed in two of the publications including:

Asghar Farhadi's A Hero (IND, WOR)

Andrea Arnold's Cow (IND, SD)

Michelangelo Frammartino's The Hole (IND, SD)

Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday (IND, SD)

Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth (IND, WOR)

Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground (IND, SD)

Ari Folman's Where Is Anne Frank (IND, WOR)

Mia Hansen Love's Bergman Island (WOR, SD)

Francois Ozon's Everything Went Fine (WOR, SD)

Sean Penn's Flag Day (WOR, SD)

{IND= Indiewire  WOR = World of Reel  SD= Screen Daily}

The complete articles from each publication are linked below:

Indiewire

Screen Daily

World of Reel

Check them out and see what other titles you think might screen at Cannes before coming to Colorado on Labor Day weekend.

A LOOK AT SPC 

Today we continue our stroll through film distributors that have had strong presences over the last five years at Telluride,.  Last Monday I got that started with a look at Netflix which has had 16 (maybe 17) films play at TFF in that time span.  Matching it (or nearly matching it ) has been Sony Pictures Classics with 16 films in five years.  

Beyond the five year limitation I placed on looking at recent TFFs and distributors, SPC and Telluride's relationship has been much longer than that.  So, unless the world stops spinning, you can expect to see some SPC titles this year as in many others.

SPC is coming off a very successful one-two punch with last year's The Father picking up two Oscars among six nominations (Anthony Hopkins for Best Actor and Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton for Best Adapted Screenplay) and The Truffle Hunters, which didn't make the Oscar final list of five nominated documentary feature films but won a number of critics' awards and was universally beloved.

Currently in SPC's hands and with what seems to be Telluride potential:

Clint Bentley's Jockey

Ty Roberts 12 Mighty Orphans

Andreas Koefoed's The Lost Leonardo

Julie Cohen and Betsy West's Julia

Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday 

Benjamin Millepied's Carmen

And then there's a couple of real wild cards:

Zachary Fuhrer's John Prine: Hello in There which I really thought was going to play TFF #47 last year and then it was not on the announced list.  I swear I saw someplace that it was going to be released or pop-up at some other fest virtually...but I can't find any evidence that happened. SPC acquired the doc in February of 2019.  So???

And then there's Pedro Almodovar's latest Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers).  Its IMDb Pro entry says it's a 2022 release and that it's "filming" as of March 10th.  But after Almodovar's triumphant return to Telluride screenings with Pain and Glory at TFF #46...who knows?  OK, it's much more likely that it screens at next year's Cannes and then maybe TFF #49.

At this point I have no strong intell or intuitions about any of these SPC films.   If you made me I might point at Julia, Mothering Sunday and Jockey and I'd likely throw in the Prine doc because I'm stubborn.

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Word on the Street / 25 Films for Cannes? / Inarritu's Return?

WORD ON THE STREET

As best as I can tell, we got our first word about the status of the 47th Telluride Film Festival from a story posted on The Denver Post's "The Know" website.  That story was posted Tuesday.  The post focused on any number of film related activities in Colorado for the rest of 2020 and their status at this point in relation to the Covid-19 health crisis.

Included as a part of the story was an assessment concerning film festivals within the state including TFF #47.  The relevant paragraph is here:

"The popular Film on the Rocks program at Red Rocks Amphitheatre is scheduled to go on as planned this summer, pending city restrictions, Erickson said. Separate from Denver Film, so is the 47th Telluride Film Festival, an internationally acclaimed event (scheduled for Sept. 4-7) where many Oscar-winning features make their debut, according to a spokeswoman."

So, the status at the moment for TFF #47 is a go. 

The complete Denver Post/The Know story is linked here.

Complicating matters, as I have been detailing here for the past few weeks, is the decision by organizers of the Cannes Film Festival to postpone that fest.  Reports have been that the Cannes soiree is likely to be re-set for late June or early July.  At least that's the plan for the moment. 

The reality is that what form Cannes will take for 2020, when it will happen or even if it will happen still seem to be relevant questions.  And, again, not to beat the drum too much, but the Cannes/Telluride overlap of  titles from year to year is substantial averaging 7.5 films shared per year which, again on average, means that Cannes titles are somewhere in the neighborhood of nearly 20% of the feature films that screen at TFF. 

The point being that whatever Cannes does will have some ripple effect in as far as TFF #47 os concerned.

More to come, as I will continue monitoring for whatever information I can find for both T-ride and Cannes in the coming days.

Now...speaking of Cannes...again....


25 FILMS FOR CANNES

In the midst of uncertainty regarding the fate and form of the 73rd Cannes Film Fest, Indiewire writers (Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Ryan Lattanzio and Zack Sharf) posted their 25 film Cannes wish list earlier this week.  Not only is is a "wish list" but it's also a list of films with very high Cannes potential.

So, as is my custom, I took a look at what the Indiewire folks were pointing at and whether some of the films they are signaling might have a shot at screening at The SHOW.

Here's what I found as TFF possibles:

Annette/dir: Leos Carax.  Why? It features one of last year's TFF tribute recipients, Adam Driver as well as TFF #39 tribute recipient Marion Cotillard.  It's from Amazon Studios.  It has no set U.S, release date but IMDb says it is set for a Nov. 27th release in Turkey.

Bergman Island/dir: Mia Hansen Love.  Why?  Hansen-Love has made Telluride appearances before: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come). 

The French Dispatch/dir: Wes Anderson.  "Hold up there Newt"  my mind hears some of you saying..."The French Dispatch is set for release on July 24th".  And, yeah, that's true...for the moment.  I suspect that July 24th date was set with a Cannes bow in mind in May.  Now that the Cannes date has changed, I think a whole different strategy might emerge for the film.  The film is under The Searchlight banner (new since the Disney folks dropped the word "Fox" from in front of Searchlight) and I could see them deciding that a new release date after some fall fest presence might be a smart play even with a Cannes that premiered the film in late June/July.  It's still an unlikely TFF choice but now it's not outside of the realm of possibility.

Summer of '85/dir: Francois Ozon.  Ozon has played TFF before with 2016's Frantz. 

Where Is Anne Frank/dir: Ari Folman.  The director of Waltz with Bashir (TFF #35) returns with this animated meditation on Anne Frank. 

The Woman in the Window/dir: Joe Wright.  A film that was on my TFF #46 watchlist for some time and then got dropped when its release date was changed.  It could be back in the convo for TFF #47 if it does make a Cannes appearance.  Certainly there are plenty of TFF connectives involved: Wright who was at TFF #44.  Stars Amy Adams (TFF #43 tribute), Jennifer Jason Leigh (TFF #20 tribute and back in 2007 with Margot at the Wedding), Gary Oldman (at TFF #44 with Darkest Hour). Writer Tracy Letts (at TFF #44 with Lady Bird).  Who knows?

The complete compilation of 25 films on he Indiewire wish list is linked here .



INARRITU'S RETURN?

News from Mexico is that multiple Oscar winner and frequent Telluride presence, Alejandro Inarritu os prepping his next feature film. 

Inarritu hasn't directed a feature since 2015's The Revenant.  His last film at TFF was 2014's Oscar winner Birdman.  He has also screened Babel and Biutiful at TFF as well as being a frequent guest and attendee of the fest often in support of Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity and Roma) and Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water).

The Film Stage reports that Inarritu has begun very preliminary prep work in Mexico City.

Despite the fact that The Revenant did not make a play at TFF, you still have to believe that, if the timing were right, a new Inarritu would be a very big possibility for a TFF bow.

Here's the link to The Film Stage story.



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Screen Daily's Festival Temptations (Continued) / SAG Awards Handed Out Last Night / Ralph Fiennes' The White Crow Has a Trailer / Interviews / Michel LeGrand 1932-2019

Good Monday everyone.  Welcome back from your weekend...


SCREEN DAILY'S FESTIVAL TEMPTATIONS (CONTINUED)

In my last post I began looking at Screen Daily's series about films "to tempt festival directors".  That post focused on their take on Irish and UK films that might be chosen for film festivals from Cannes all the way to Venice, Toronto and of course Telluride as well as others.

Today we look at their lists for both the U.S., Canada and Latin America and then European selections.

Among the films from U.S., Canada and Latin America that seem like TFF #46 possibilities are:

Coming Home Again dir: Wayne Wang
The Irishman dir: Martin Scorsese (probably more a wish than a possibility)
The Last Thing He Wanted dir: Dee Rees
Little Women dir: Greta Gerwig
Ema dir: Pablo Larrain


The complete post for U.S., Canada and Latin America is linked here.


Here's are films from the Screen Daily European list of tempting titles that seem Telluride friendly:

Ahmed dir: The Dardennes Brothers
Bergman Island dir: Mia Hansen-Love
The County dir: Grimur Hakonarson
Pinocchio dir: Matteo Garrone

The complete article for Europe is linked here.


SAG AWARDS HANDED OUT LAST NIGHT

Winners from last night's Screen Actors Guild from last night:

Best Cast: Black Panther
Actress: Glenn Close/The Wife
Actor: Rami Malek/Bohemian Rhapsody
Supporting Actress: Emily Blunt/A Quiet Place
Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali/Green Book
Stunt Cast: Black Panther

Five performances from TFF #45 films were nominated but none came away with a trophy: Colman, Stone and Weisz for The Favourite and McCarthy and Grant for Can You Ever Forgive Me?


RALPH FIENNES' THE WHITE CROW HAS A TRAILER

Here's a trailer for director Ralph Fiennes under seen TFF #45 entrant The White Crow which tells the story of ballet dancer supreme Rudolf Nuryev:

Trailer posted via YouTube.

I have also linked an accompanying story from Deadline.com here.

The White Crow currently has no U.S. release announced. Sony Pictures Classics has the film for U.S. distribution.

INTERVIEWS

Linked here is an Entertainment Weekly interview with Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy (who was lovely when I talked to her in Telluride) for her role in Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The interview was conducted by Joey Nolfi.

Here's that link.

Additionally, here's a link to Kris Tapley's Variety/Playback podcast with writer/director Jason Reitman (The Front Runner) who is making a lot of news in the last week as it was announced that Reitman will direct the next iteration of the Ghostbusters franchise.

Here's the link to that podcast.

 MICHEL LEGRAND 1932-2019

I felt I needed to write a quick note on the passing of musician/composer Michel Legrand.  Legrand was a Tribute recipient in 2007.  He won three Oscars for his musical additions to Yentl, The Thomas Crown Affair and The Summer of 42.  He was nominated an additional six times.

One of the most electrifying musical moments I ever saw on television was a duet with Legrand and Ray Charles on some talk show probably in the 70's sometime.  It was breathtaking to watch the two master from very different backgrounds and approaches play off one another.  Thrilling.

Legrand was 86.

Here is his obituary from The Guardian.

That's the MTFB for Monday, Jan. 28, 2019.  I'll have more on Thursday... (expecting a link to a new Gurus of Gold that will turn to predicting this year's Oscar winners)

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