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

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-SCREENPLAYS

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

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (-)

3) Sing Sing (2)

4) Nickel Boys (4)

5) Dune Part Two (3)

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

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (3)

3) A Real Pain (4)

4) September 5 (-)

5) Saturday Night (2)

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

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

ZUWARSKI V. TEXAS HAS A PLAN

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

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

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

It's that good.  But...

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

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

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

Deadline continued:

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

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

The complete Deadline story is linked here.

TRAILER FOR BIRD

NEW POSTERS

CONCLAVE

THE PIANO LESSON

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

INETRVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saturday Night Behind the Scenes.

Mikey Madison for Anora from BFI.org.

Sean Baker for Anora from Awards Radar.

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

Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Den of Geek.

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MTFB EXTRA: FINAL BETS FOR TFF #51 / Emila Perez Trailer / Tidbits: Potential Guests, Tributes?, Guest Director???, Another Sundance Title? / The People's Telluride

FINAL BETS FOR TFF #51

Well, here we are.  24ish hours from Telluride's big reveal for the 2024 SHOW.  I'm driving somewhere in New Mexico as you read this.  Here is your final list of "Bets" to make the SHOW:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Maria/Larrian

10) The Outrun/Fingscheidt

11) Bird/Arnold

12) Disclaimer/Cuaron

13) Separated/Morris

14) Better Man/Gracey

15) Piece by Piece/Neville

16) September 5/Fehlbaum

17) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

18) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

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

20) The Apprentice/Abassi

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

22) Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns and McMahon

23) Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

24) Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

25) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

Other possibilities:

Santosh/Suri

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Homegrown/Premo

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

A Real Pain/Jesse Eisenberg

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

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

The Actor/Johnson

Last year I was 24/25 on the final bets.

Previous years of "Bets" track record:

2023: 24 of 25

2022: 24 of 25

2021: 24 of 25

2020: No fest

2019: 24 of 25

2018: 25 of 25

2017: 24 of 25

2016: 20 of 20

That's 165 0f 170 for a correct percentage of  97.05%

Come back tomorrow to see how I did.

 EMILIA PEREZ TEASER/TRAILER (with english subtitles)

TIDBITS

A REMINDER OF POTENTIAL GUESTS

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

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

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

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

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

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

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

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

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

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

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

Better Man: Robbie Williams

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

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

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

A Real Pain: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin

TRIBUTES?

Here are what feel like your possibilities:

1) Saorise Ronan

2) Thelma Schoonover

3) Jason Reitman

4) Jacques Audiard

5) Samuel L. Jackson

6) Ralph Fiennes

7) Angelina Jolie

8) Denzel Washington

9) Michael Shannon

10) Naomi Watts

Alternatives: John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci

GUEST DIRECTOR???

I don't know what to tell you.  

Multiple directors like last year?  I don't feel that.  That's an approach that the Fest took in anniversary years #40 and #50.

No Guest Director?  Maybe.  The Guest Director position hasn't always existed.  Its inception was 1988.  I just don't think that's likely.

A BIG NAME?  Maybe.  Spielberg?  Scorsese? Nolan?  If you wanted to make a big splash, holding that name for your official announcement would sure be a way to achieve that.  Cautiously, that's where I'm going to place my money.

ANOTHER SUNDANCE TITLE?

I'm not saying it's in for TFF #51 but I've been seeing/hearing low level background noise about a possible play for Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain.  I already think that The Outrun which played at Sundance is likely to screen at T-ride this weekend.  So, is a second "big" Sundance film possible?

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

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

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

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

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

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

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #9 FOR TFF #51

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

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

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Dahomey/Diop

12) Grand Tour/Gomes

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

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

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

17) The Apprentice/Abassi

18) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

19) Maria/Larrain

20) Saturday Night/Reitman

Other possibilities:

Separated/Morris

Oh, Canada/Schrader

Flow/Zibalodis

Santosh/Suri

Megalopolis/Coppola

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

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

The Outrun/Fingscheidt and/or Blitz/McQueen

This week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Separated/Morris

12) Better Man/Gracey

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

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

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

17) Maria/Larrain

18) Bird/Arnold

19) Disclaimer/Cuaron

20) Santosh/Suri

Other possibilities:

The Outrun/Fingsheidt

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

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

The Apprentice/Abassi

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

NYFF SPOTLIGHT ANNOUNCMENT

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

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

Sound familiar?

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

Here's the announcement from NYFF.

SOME OTHER POSSIBLE GUESTS

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

Today I'm adding a few more possibilities:

Better Man: Robbie Williams

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

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

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

NEW POSTER FOR SATURDAY NIGHT

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

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

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

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

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

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

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

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

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

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

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

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

WHO COULD BE AT TFF#51?

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

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

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

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

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

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

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

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

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

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

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

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

Parthenope: Paolo Sorrentino, Gary Oldman

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

The Actor: Duke Johnson, Andre Holland

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

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

LOOKS AT POSSIBLE DOUBLE PLAYS

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

All We Imagine as Light:

Allegorie Citadine:

Bird:

Conclave:

Emilia Perez:

The End:

Maria:

Misrecordia:

The Piano Lesson:

Piece by Piece:

Separated:

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Ten Bets #5 for TFF #51 / Conclave Reportedly to TFF and First Looks / Anora Has A Trailer / Almodovar's The Room Next Door Set for Venice

TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #51

Some movement this week primarily around the news about Edward Berger's Conclave (see below).  Here's this week's updated Ten bets for TFF.  Next week we should know more with added information from Toronto and Venice.

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Maria/Pablo Larrain

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

CONCLAVE REPORTEDLY TO TFF AND FIRST LOOKS

Jordan Ruimy writing at World of Reel reported Monday that Edward Berger's Conclave will screen at Telluride.

Here's the key line from that WOR item:

"Now, I’m hearing that “Conclave” is going to premiere at the Telluride Film Festival during the first week of September. No word yet on whether it’s a world premiere given that Venice could still be an option."

MTFB has had Conclave on each of the weekly Ten Bets lists from the initial list.

With Ruimy's reporting and Indiewire's Anne Thompson reporting that Sean Baker's Anora will also play Telluride (reported here last week).

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has released the first images of  Conclave.  Here's a couple of those:

ANORA HAS A TRAILER

Speaking of Anora, NEON dropped a first trailer this week for the Palme d'Or winning film.  Here that is from YouTube.  Fair warning, it's billed as a "Red Band" trailer.

ALMODOVAR'S THE ROOM NEXT DOOR SET FOR VENICE

Variety reported on Tuesday that Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door will screen at the Venice Film Fest.  Of course that doesn't preclude a TFF North American Premiere.  We'll see where it gets scheduled for Venice when they announce that.  If it's set to screen the first couple of days there, that would be an indicator that it could head to Telluride.

The Variety story has tells us that Mike Leigh's Hard truths is not screening at Venice.  That the film wasn't selected for either Cannes or Venice is a little concerning.

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Ten Bets #4 for TFF #51 / Bits and Pieces / Another One Bites the Dust

TEN BETS #4 FOR TFF #51

There is a bit of movement in the Ten Bets this week.  One move is the result of Mark Cousin's winning the Crystal Globe, the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, last week.  Relatedly, I re-read the Indiewire article about that and discovered this line from its author, Anne Thompson:

"Word is, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora” (Neon) may play exclusively at Telluride, which does not announce its slate in advance..."

 

Anne Thompson is an impeccable source so that tidbit is enough for me to move Anora up even more on the Ten Bets list.

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

3) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

5) Nickel Boys/Ross

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Maria/Pablo Larrain

8) Conclave/Berger

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

ODDS AND ENDS

I've spent some time looking at the most common distributors who screen films at TFF.  To date that has included these distribs and their most likely films to be possible for Telluride:

A24: Parthenope, Babygirl, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

NEON: Anora, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, The End, The Actor

Searchlight: Solitary

Sony Pictures Classics: The Room Next Door, I'm Still Here, Marcel Pagnol

Focus Features: Conclave, Piece by Piece, Nosferatu

Netflix: Emilia Perez, The Piano Lesson, Untitled Noah Baumbach

Amazon/MGM: Nickel Boys, Hedda, Long Days' Journey Into Night, Unstoppable

Over the last five fests these seven distributors have been behind a number of films that have played each year.  Here's the total number of films from all seven combined from those years (leaving out the incomplete list from the Covid canceled 2020 fest):

2023: 19

2022: 17

2021: 16

2019: 16

2018: 15

So, you can see that if recent history is a guide, anywhere between 15-20 TFF #51 titles are from these peeps.

BUT...there are also distributors that are hit and miss with Telluride but with enough history to at least take a quick glance at what they might bring to The SHOW.  That group includes:

Cohen Media Group, Janus Films, Mubi, Apple, IFC Films, Magnolia, Kino Lorber and Bleecker Street.  Among those outfits, here's what I think might have a shot to be a TFF #51 selection:

Cohen Media Group: Black Tea

Janus Films: All We Imagine as Light, Caught by the Tides

Mubi: Bird, Grand Tour, Dahomey, The Substance, The Girl with the Needle

IFC Films: Memoir of a Snail

Magnolia: Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Bleecker Street: Hard Truths, Rumours, The Return, The Wedding Banquet

I don't think we're likely to see anything from Apple (since Blitz is World Premiering in London) or Kino Lorber this year.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

On Tuesday the Toronto International Film Festival announced five more films that will World Premiere there.  Among them was John Crowley's We Live in Time which I had been listing as a TFF #51 possibility for some time.  The WP designation means that the film will not be making a stop in southwest Colorado over Labor Day weekend.

Other films announced by TIFF on Tuesday were Eden, Superboys of Malegaon, K-Pops and Shepherds.

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Ten Bets for TFF #51-Third Edition / Blitz Goes to London / Trailer and Poster for Napoleon Restoration

TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-THIRD EDITION

Happy Independence Day to everyone!

Here's 2024's third installment of MTFB's "Ten Bets" for the Telluride Film Festival.  The big move this week is that Steve McQueen's Blitz comes off the possibilities list (see the story below).  Additionally Emilia Perez and The Room Next Door move up a couple of spots while Anora and The Seed of the Sacre Fig each drop a couple of spots. Nickel Boys moves up to #5.

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

2) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

3) Anora/Sean Baker

4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

5) Nickel Boys/Ross

6) Bird/Andrea Arnold

7) Maria/Pablo Larrain

8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Conclave/Edward Berger

Other possibilities:

We Live in Time/Crowley

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

BLITZ GOES TO LONDON

(Saorise Ronan in Blitz via Apple)

Apple+ and the BFI London Film Festival announced on Monday that Steve McQueen's Blitz will World Premiere as the Opening Night Film. Assuming that the premiere designation is accurate that means that the film will not play Telluride nor Venice and Toronto.

I had written here on the blog on May 30th that:

"I'd reallllly...love for Blitz to get to TFF and McQueen has a solid past with the fest, but...given the story is about the blitz of London by the Nazis in WWII, I can see McQueen wanting to hold the World Premiere as a part of the London Film Fest in October."

Looks like I was spot on.

Now, Ioncinema posted this on X Monday:

"BLITZ could still premiere in Telluride ... but chances are indeed low." and "Telluride has "grabbed" world premiere status titles away from other fests before. It's unlikely, but could happen."

And that's true as far as it goes but since Toronto started announcing what they call "honest" premiere designations, the occurrence of a film being designated as a World Premiere somewhere else but still playing at T-ride has become almost non-existent.

Here are the details from The Hollywood Reporter.

TRAILER AND POSTER FOR NAPOLEON RESTORATION

Ever since Cannes screened the newly renovated version of Abel Gance's Napoleon I have thought there was a real chance that the film (now nearly seven hours long!) could be a part of the TFF #51 lineup.  Now we have a new poster as well as a new trailer for the film.  You can see the poster above and here's the trailer from YouTube: 

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Ten Bets for TFF #51-Second Edition / Checking the Distributors: Focus Features /A New Source of T-ride Spec

TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-SECOND EDITION

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Anora/Sean Baker

2) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) Bird/Andrea Arnold

6) Maria/Pablo Larrain

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Conclave/Edward Berger

Other possibilities:

We Live in Time/Crowley

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Blitz/McQueen

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOCUS FEATURES

Today's look at frequent TFF distributors and what films they have with a chance at making the TFF #51 lineup turns to Focus Features.

Here is the moderately recent past of Focus at TFF:

2023- The Holdovers

2022- TAR, Armageddon Time

2021- Belfast, The Card Counter, Red Rocket

2020- The Way I See It

2019- No film

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

Focus' big player this fall is from All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger.  Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

Its IMDb description:

"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."

Also in Focus' basket is Robert Eggers Nosferatu set for release on Dec. 25th and Morgan Neville's Piece by Piece an animated documentary about Pharrell Williams set to be released Oct. 11th.

My assessment is that Conclave has a decent shot at a Venice/Telluride play.  Though unlikely, both Nosferatu and Piece by Piece can't be totally ruled out.  The chances:

Conclave 50%

Piece by Piece 20%

Nosferatu 15%.

 

A NEW SOURCE OF T-RIDE SPEC

I'm always looking for fresh insight into what might make the Telluride lineup and this week stumbled across Ezra Cubero's WordPress column about the fall fest season.  So, I took a look at what Cubero had predicted last year for Telluride in a post from June 22, 2023 and you know what, it was more than decent.  Cubero had predicted 16 films for TFF #50 and got nine right.  Not bad...not bad at all.  So, I thought it was worth my time, and maybe yours, to see what Cubero thinks for TFF #51.  And here's what that is:

Films that are flat out predicted to play TFF #51:

Anora

Bird

Hard Truths

Nickel Boys

The Piano Lesson

A Real Pain

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Above you' ll see that this week's Ten Bets includes Anora, Bird, Nickel Boys and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  I also have Hard Truths and The Piano Lesson on the possibilities list.  I do not have A Real Pain on either list as it premiered at Sundance.

Then there are the films he refers to a "Maybes" for Telluride:

The Actor

All We Imagine as Light

The Apprentice

Conclave

A Different Man

Emilia Perez

The End

The Fire Inside

Maria

Memoir of a Snail

Queer

The Room Next Door

From the "Maybes" list I have Conclave, Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Queer and The Room Next Door all as "Bets"...at least at the moment.

"Maybe" films that are also appearing in my "possibilities" list include The Actor.

As for the other "Maybes"...

All We Imagine as Light might have to go on my list of possibles.

The Apprentice, at least for now, seems dicey as a call for any festival.

A Different Man played Sundance.

The Fire Inside (Flint Strong)...I don't know how I feel about this one.  The change of release dates to an awards friendly Dec. 25th, the fact that its coming from Amazon/MGM and that the script is from Barry Jenkins (who is also listed as a producer) screams a Telluride screening but I had been told at one point, from what I feel is a reliable source, that it's not a "Telluride" film.  So...I dunno.

Memoir of a Snail...intriguing. from IFC Films and won the top prize at the Annecy Animation Fest.  Might have to move this to my list of possibles.

Cubero's complete list for 2024 Fall Fests (Venice, TIFF, NYFF in addition to Telluride) is here.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED...

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Cannes Concludes / Final Critical Appraisal for Cannes / Interviews and Profiles from Cannes: Rasoulof

CANNES CONCLUDES

The 77th Cannes Film Festival came its conclusion Saturday with Sean Baker's Anora winning the Palme d'Or.

Here's the complete list of award winners:

Palme d’Or: “Anora,” Sean Baker

Grand Prix: “All We Imagine as Light,” Payal Kapadia

Director: Miguel Gomes, “Grand Tour”

Actor: Jesse Plemons, “Kinds of Kindness.”

Actresses: “Emilia Pérez”

Jury Prize: “Emilia Pérez”

Special Award (Prix Spécial): Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia was all over Cannes this year and posted on X some serious Telluride speculation:

"Films I saw at #Cannes that I think could screen at Telluride:

Anora

The Apprentice

Bird

Emilia Perez

Limonov - The Ballad

Oh, Canada

Parthenope

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig"

All of these save for Limonov have been fairly consistently on my pre-Cannes TFF possibles list.  I am a little less bullish on both Oh, Canada and Parthenope post Cannes because of fairly weak critical response.

FINAL CRTICAL APPRAISAL FOR CANNES #77

Here's top five films from Cannes from a few of the critic panels:

Screen Daily (on a four point scale):

1) The Seed of the Sacred Fig 3.4

2) Anora 3.3

2) All We Imagine as Light 3.3

4) Grand Tour 3.0

5) The Substance 2.7

International Cinephile Society (on a five point scale):

1) Grand Tour 3.88

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig 3.70

3) All We Imagine as Light 3.63

4) Anora 3.55

5) Caught by the Tides 3.28

Reini Urban's Cannes collective (on a ten point scale):null

1) Anora 8.35

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig 8.16

3) The Substance 7.70

4) Bird 7.45

5) Emilia Perez 7.43

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES FROM CANNES: RASOULOF

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from the Associated Press.

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The Critics Past the Cannes Half Way Point / Rasoulof Saga Continues / Deadline Details Film Fest Woes / Interviews and Profiles from Cannes: Gary Oldman

THE CRITICS PAST THE CANNES HALF WAY POINT:

Screen Daily has their top five thus far (on a four point scale):

1) Anora 3.3

2) Grand Tour 3.0

3) The Substance 2.7

4) Caught by the Tides 2.6

5) Emilia Perez 2.5

Link to the Screen Daily chart.

Ioncinema's panel's top five (on a five point scale):

1) Anora 3.5

2) Emilia Perez 3.4

3) Bird 3.0

3) Oh, Canada 3.0

3) Caught by the Tides 3.0

Link to Ioncinema's chart.

The International Cinephile Society's top five (on a four point scale):

1) Anora 3.55

2) Grand Tour 3.50

3) Caught by the Tides 3.28

4) Bird 3.0

5) The Substance 2.79

Link to the ICS chart.

RASOULOF SAGA CONTINUES

The latest wrinkle in the saga of Mohammad Rasoulof, his film, the government of Iran and Cannes is that the film maker will attend the 77th edition of the prestigious fest.

Multiple sources are reporting Rasoulof will be in Cannes in person for the screening of his The Seed of the Scared Fig.  Here's the story from Indiewire and The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is set to premiere tomorrow.

DEADLINE DETAIILS FILM FEST WOES

Deadline's Matthew Carey contributed to an article on Film Fests and their current tribulations that was published on Tuesday, May 21st.  The article focuses on European and North American fests and details some of the challenges facing a number of major festival including Telluride.

In the North American section of the story Carey writes of TFF :

"Both Sundance and the Telluride Film Festival benefit from the allure of their exclusive mountain settings, but the high price of travel and lodging have made it increasingly difficult for industry to attend.

“Telluride is really under pressure for the cost to house their own programmers and just to house the people who work for the festival,” says a senior sales agent and veteran Telluride attendee. “We feel that, just attending the festival alone. It is so high and it’s getting higher.”

The complete Deadline article is here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES FROM CANNES

Gary Oldman on Parthenope from The Hollywood Reporter.

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