Incoming from Toronto / Cannes Awards Winners / The Last Duel for TFF #48? / Late Breaking: Pedro Opens Venice

 INCOMING FROM TORONTO

It's all been speculation, slips of the tongue and cryptic references about Telluride up to this point.  That changes tomorrow with the Toronto International Film Festival's announcement of Galas and Special Presentations.  It TIFF follows what has become the custom, each film announced will include a mention of that film's premiere status and if you know what each of those designations mean you can get a very good idea of some of the films that will or will not play at Telluride.

For TIFF's announcement tomorrow the designations you need to know are:

World Premiere which means the first public screening anywhere on the planet (test screenings don't count).

International Premiere which means the first screening of a film outside the film's nation of origin.  This designation signals that the World Premiere has occurred in that nation of origin.  This designation is bit "squishy" for a number of reasons.  For example, films with multiple producers/financers from different nations make this designation difficult to nail down sometimes.

North American Premiere which means the first public screening on the continent.  You' likely see it tomorrow on films that have already screened at Cannes.  That means no U.S. play will have occurred.

Canadian Premiere which means the first public screening in Canada. 

An International Premiere or Canadian Premiere status points to a possible Telluride play but isn't a lock.  For example, if TIFF programs a Sundance Film that would be classified as an International Premiere.  If that Sundance film also played Cannes, then TIFF would label it a Canadian Premiere.  So these two designations don't automatically mean a Telluride play.

If a film is designated a World or North American Premiere...that means no Telluride.

We've already had an example of how this works this season with the New York Film Fest's announcement that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will have its U.S. Premiere there.  Since TFF precedes NYFF we can conclude two things: the film won't play Telluride because if it had, New York couldn't designate it as a U.S. Premiere.  We also know that it will have played Toronto because if it hadn't, New York would bill it as a North American Premiere.

Couple of other notes: there will be errors.  Sometimes that's on the part of TIFF inaccurately designating a film's status.  Sometimes it's because of the "squishy" nature of the International Premiere status and sometimes I just miss something I should have caught.

The other note is that there will be joy and disappointment.  Joy at the inclusion of films that I'll be thrilled to be chosen for Telluride and disappointment that films I am hoping for will likely not be making it to the San Juans.

There will also be that first moment that affirms or denies the efficacy of this summer's Ten Bets.

Here's the latest Ten Bets that I posted last Thursday...we'll start to see if any of this lands tomorrow:

1) Something from Mark Cousins***

2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) The Power of the Dog/Campion

5) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro

8) A Hero/Farhadi

9) Julia/Cohen and West

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday and Bergman Island.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

My biggest hopes for Telluride at this point are: Nightmare Alley, Dune and Blonde.

I'll likely have a SPECIAL EDITION tomorrow with a rundown of what the TIFF announcement tells us.

CANNES AWARDS WINNERS

Julia Ducournau's Titane won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or from a Spike Lee led jury on Saturday.  The film's IMDB description:

"Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years. Titane : A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys."

The film's Palme win likely increases its chance to play at Telluride but it's not a lock.  In the years since I've been doing this the Palme to Telluride connection only happens about half the time.  Titane's distributor is NEON which probably tips the scales a bit toward TFF #48 inclusion.

Other notable awards included a the Grand Prix to Asghar Farhadi's A Hero (tied with Compartment #6).  Leos Carax was named Best Director for Annette.

The complete list of Cannes' winners is here from Variety.

THE LAST DUEL FOR TFF #48?

Chris Evangelista posted an article about what is known about Ridley Scott's The Last Duel for SlashFilm last Wednesday.  It included casting info (Adam Driver, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jodie Comer), release dates (Oct. 15th) descriptions of the film and the book upon which it's based.  Damon, Affleck and Nicole Holofcener co-wrote the screenplay.

Of note was these two sentences early on in the post:

"For now, though, you can bank on this one being a strict theatrical release. You can also probably expect it to play some fall festivals, like TIFF or Telluride (that’s just a guess on my part, but I think it’s a good guess)."

An extra note here to remind readers that Affleck's Argo debuted at Telluride in 2012 and that worked out well for him.  Holofcener was in Telluride in 2018 with Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3 Oscar nominations).

Could The Last Duel make an appearance at TFF #48?  Evangelista thinks it's a possibility.

Here's the entire SlashFilm article.

LATE BREAKING: PEDRO OPENS VENICE

Just in as I go to post this morning is news that Pedro Alomodovar's Madres Paralelas will open the Venice Film Festival.  That keeps it in good position as a possible inclusion for Telluride.  Details here from The Playlist.

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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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Assessing A24 / Indiewire's Oscar List / French Dispatch News Leaves the Door Open

 ASSESSING A24

Continuing my look at film distributors who have had a significant presence at TFF over the last half decade my attention today is on A24.

Here's their footprint at TFF over the past few years:

2012: Ginger and Rosa

2013: Under the Skin

2015: Room

2016: Moonlight

2017: First Reformed, Lady Bird, Lean on Pete

2019: Uncut Gems, Waves, First Cow

And A24's stockpile is large for the end of 2020.  The most likely films to play Telluride are probably:

C'mon C'mon

The Humans

The Tragedy of Macbeth

But there are others that could be in the TFF convo:

The Eternal Daughter

When You Finish Saving the World

Red Rocket

And actually, A24 still has others in the pipeline that could be selected.

INDIEWIRE'S OSCAR LIST

Indiewire's Zack Sharf has taken a stab at an early look at this next year's potential Oscar Best Picture contenders with a list of 30 films.  Indiewire posted the list last Thursday.  Looking it over it crosses my mind that I could make some sort of case for a Telluride bow for about half of them.  Let's give it a whirl in the order that the Indiewire article lists them and with a note or two about why they might be a T-ride player.

Spencer: Because it's directed by Pablo Larrain who doesn't have every project at Telluride but he's no stranger either.  Also, it's from NEON...which doesn't hurt.

C'mon C'mon: Because it's from A24 (see above).

Last Night in Soho: Because it's from Focus Features.  Also, I have a hunch it will be announced as a Cannes selection later this week which could be a sign of a Cannes-Telluride double play.  Also, the Oct. 22nd release date gives the film space to play T-ride, TIFF and/or New York.

The Humans: Also from A24 (see above).

The Card Counter: Because it's directed by Paul Schrader who has a lengthy relationship with TFF. It's also from Focus and its release date, Sept. 10th, suggests it could play Cannes/Telluride or Venice/Telluirde or Telluride as a stand alone festival appearance.

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project (Soggy Bottom):  It's been since 2007 since PTA was in Telluride to aid in feting tribute recipient Daniel Day-Lewis and screen the first few minutes of There Will Be Blood.  Since then PTA has directed: The Master (2012-Venice, TIFF),  Inherent Vice (2014-NYFF, AFI) and Phantom Thread (2017-Palm Springs).  Persistent rumors that it will be announced for Cannes on Thursday and a November release date leave the door open for a number of fall fest scenarios if MGM decides to pursuer them.  Also, does the Amazon acquisition of MGM change any of the festival calculus?  

Nightmare Alley: Because it's directed/produced by Guillermo Del Toro and co-written by Kim Morgan (who co-guest directed the fest in 2014).  The distributor is Searchlight which has a long and fruitful relationship with Telluride.  The Dec. 3rd release date works too.

Dune:  Because it's directed by Denis Villenueve who has a substantial Telluride record.  Being from Warner Brothers doesn't necessarily hurt.  Oct. 1 is the release date which works too.  I won't be surprised if Dune has some spot in Cannes' or Venice's lineup.

The Power of the Dog: Because it's directed by Jane Campion whose last feature, Bright Star, played at TFF back in 2009 and who's best known triumph, The Piano, played T-ride in 1993.  It's from Netflix which likely bolsters its TFF chances.

The French Dispatch:  Because...well...it is from Serachlight.  Also, see below...

The Tragedy of Macbeth:  Director Joel Coen was in Telluride in 2013 with Inside Llewyn Davis and the film is being distributed by A24.  

Don't Look Up: Because it's from Netflix.  Normally, Adam McKay's lack of a Telluride trail over the past decade would keep me from posting the film as a TFF #48 possibility but...Netflix.

Tick, Tick...Boom: Also a Netflix joint and yes, I know that Netflix won't land everything in their larder in Telluride.  And, yes, there's their whole "no festival" approach to last year-though I did hear rumors that had Telluride gone on in 2020 that Mank would have screened there.

The Hand of God: Netflix

The Eyes of Tammy Faye: From Searchlight which is the biggest reason to think it could be in Telluride.  It also has a Telluride friendly release date of Sept. 17th.

The complete Indiewire list is linked here.

FRENCH DISPATCH NEWS LEAVES THE DOOR OPEN

I believe Variety broke the news late this week that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a part of the Cannes lineup.  Also among the items of interest about the film are its selection for the New York Film Fest and an official theatrical release date for Oct. 22nd.

What's interesting to me is that the Cannes screening is given as the "world premiere" but I couldn't find any premiere designation for the New York Fest in any of the stories that appeared after the initial announcement.  To me that suggests at least the chance that it could also screen at Telluride and/or Toronto.

Here's the story from:

Variety

Indiewire

The Playlist

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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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Searching Searchlight / Cannes and Venice This and That

 SEARCHING SEARCHLIGHT

My ongoing look at distributors who have been frequently represented at Telluride over the last five years continues today with Searchlight (Fox Searchlight prior to its acquisition by Disney).  Searchlight is one of four distributors that have had seven films at Telluride in the last half decade and their has been particularly noticeable:

2020: Nomadland (Oscar wins for Best Picture, Director and Actress)

2019: A Hidden Life 

2018: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3 Oscar nominations), The Favourite (10 Oscar nominations  and 1 win for Best Actress) and The Old Man and the Gun.

2017: The Shape of Water ( 13 Oscar nominations with 4 wins including Best Picture and Director), Battle of the Sexes

Other notable appearances by (Fox) Searchlight at Telluride:  

2008: Slumdog Millionaire (won eight Oscars including Best Picture and Director)

2010: 127 Hours (six Oscar nominations), Black Swan (six Oscar nominations including a win for Best Actress)

2011: The Descendants (five Oscar nominations and a win for Best Adapted Screenplay)

2013: 12 Years a Slave (nine Oscar nominations with wins for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress)

2014: Birdman (nine Oscar nominations with  four wins including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay) and Wild (nominated for two Oscars).

That's five Best Picture winners from Searchlight through Telluride in the past 13 years.

So with all that in mind, here's what Searchlight currently has in its larder:

Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley

Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch

Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Scott Cooper's Antlers

There are another one or two outside shots but these five represent the most likely choices for TFF #48.  Del Toro and Cooper have the actual connections to Telluride with Del Toro's The Shape of Water and The Devil's Backbone having played TFF.  For Cooper it's been Black Mass and Hostiles.

The other three would all be good gets for Telluride based on buzz surrounding them.  Past history suggests one or two Searchlight films will make the lineup.  Three tops.

CANNES AND VENICE THIS AND THAT

I've seen some scuttlebutt over the past few days about films that are be eagerly sought for Cannes and/or Venice.

Buzz has been substantial about both Paul Thomas Anderson's Soggy Bottom (or whatever it is ultimately called) as well as Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog in terms of both Cannes and Venice.

Meanwhile, rumors persist that Denis Villenueve's Dune will be at Venice and have been fairly consistent for some time.  However a bit of rhetoric from Cannes director Thierry Fremaux about the possibility of a "planetary blockbuster" at the French fest has created speculation that Dune might bow in France in July rather than in Italy in September.

None of these scenarios would preclude any or all three of the films from making an appearance at Telluride and wouldn't that blow your mind?

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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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Indiewire Looks Ahead to Oscar Contenders for 2022 / Kohn Talks Cannes / New Mainstream Teaser

 INDIEWIRE LOOKS AHEAD TO OSCAR CONTENDERS FOR 2022

The industry turn of the page from the end of Oscar #93's season continued this past week with Indiewire's look forward to potential Oscar players for what we think will be an Oscar ceremony that happens roughly 10 months from now.

As is the custom here at MTFB, I look at their list of possible films to try to sniff out some Telluride possibilities.  This soon after The Academy Awards is always iffy in terms of projecting what might be in play by the time Labor Day comes around.  Compounding the parsing, of course, is the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and what transpires because of it.  

Nevertheless, here's a list of films from the Indiewire piece that could be Telluride choices (in the order they're presented in the story):

Paul Schrader's The Card Counter

Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley

Denis Villenueve's Dune

Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch

Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth

Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye

The complete Indiewire article is linked here.

KOHN TALKS CANNES

Thierry Fremaux, the Cannes Film Festival director, has been very vocal and adamant about that French fest's intent to be a live event from early to mid July.  Eric Kohn, writing at Indiewire raises some concerns about what films and film distribution outlets would be willing to be on the Croisette in nine weeks.

With announcement date now less than a month away, plans will have to come together very quickly for all involved.  Some titkles are known-Leos Carax's Annette, which is set to open the fest, wes Anderson's The French Dispatch and Paul Verhoeven's Benedatta.  Several other films have serious speculation swirling about them.

That said, Kohn raises some salient points that will surely have to be dealt with by all parties prior to the May 27th announcement.

Check out Kohn's story linked here.

NEW MAINSTREAM TEASER

On Friday The Playlist tweeted a new 17 second teaser for Gia Coppola's Mainstream.  The film stars Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke.  It's set for release on May 7th.

You can take a peek at the peek by accessing the original tweet from IFC Films linked here.

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Oscar Predix #6: Screenplays and Shorts / The Gurus Update / Cannes Commits and Late Breaking News from Cannes/ The Truffle Hunters Collect More Hardware

OSCAR PREDIX #6: SCREENPLAYS AND SHORTS

I'm back predicting the winners of this year's Oscars with less than a week left until the awards are passed out.  Today I am updating the Screenplay and Shorts categories.  As always TFF #47 film are in Bold.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Promising Young Woman

2) The Trial of the Chicago 7

3) Minari

4) Judas and the Black Messiah

5) Sound of Metal

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Nomadland

2) The Father

3) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

4) One Night in Miami

5) The White Tiger

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

1) If Anything Happens I Love You

2) Burrow

3) Genuis Loci

4) Opera

5) Yes-People

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1) A Concerto Is a Conversation

2) A Love Song for Latasha

3) Colette

4) Do Not Split

5) Hunger Ward

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

1) Two Distant People

2) Feeling Through

3) The Present

4) The Letter Room

5) White Eye

I'll have another set of predictions on Thursday and then a special Sunday morning edition of  MTFB with final predictions for this long, long Oscar season.

THE GURUS UPDATE

The newest Gurus of Gold is up at Movie City News.  We were tasked this week with predicting Best Picture as well as picking three upsets that would make us happy...not that would necessarily actually win.

You can find the latest Gurus of Gold predictions linked here.

CANNES COMMMITS

Lots of outlets were reporting this week that Cannes International Film Festival Director Thierry Fremaux is adamantly claiming that the fest will take place July 6-17 and will be a live not virtual event.

Variety was the first source that I could find that was talking about the commitment to the date back on April 8th.  The article also says the effort to schedule the world premiere of Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch for Cannes has been ongoing.  

Subsequently, I have discovered further news stories that are bolder about the fest's plans.  Rappler.com reporting that:

“We are sure that Cannes will take place in July,” declared Thierry Fremaux, director of Cannes Film Festival in our recent video conversation.

Thierry vowed that the world’s most prestigious film festival, which he has led since 2004, will go live, in-person from July 6 to 17 this year."

Fremaux is also quoted as having lined about The French Dispatch as well as Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta for the French fest:

“Regarding films, I, of course, won’t tell you any title except the films that we all know were already selected from last year, including by Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch) and Paul Verhoeven (Benedetta). They will be back in the official selection.”

Fremaux is also quoted as saying that he expects to announce the lineup in late May or early June.

Should Cannes actually take place in July, the fall film fests, including Telluride would largely be unaffected.  For TFF that probably means that the sharing of what is an on average of eight or so films with Cannes could still be likely.

The complete article from Rappler.com is linked here.

LATE BREAKING NEWS FROM CANNES...

Variety is reporting this morning that the 74th Cannes Film Festival will open with Leos Carax's Annette starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver.  Variety reports the film will screen on July 7th and will play in competition.

From Variety.

Here's the trailer that dropped with the announcement from YouTube:

THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS COLLECT MORE HARDWARE

Fresh off their DGA for Best Direction of a Feature Documentary on April 10th,  The Truffle Hunters directors Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw won the American Society of Cinematographers Award for Best Cinematography for a Documentary this past weekend.

The Truffle Hunters was a selection of TFF #47.

Mank won Best Cinematography for a Feature Film beating out Nomadland in a bit of a surprise.

Indiewire has the coverage of the ASC wards here.

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Oscar Winners Predix #3: Picture and More / Mainstream Trailer / More Cannes Date Speculation

 OSCAR WINNERS PREDIX #3: PICTURE AND MORE

I'm back predicting the winners of this year's Oscars with 17 days left until the awards are passed out.  Today I am updating Best Picture and Director categories as well as predicting the winners for Cinematography, Film Editing and Production Design for the first time since nominations were announced.  As always TFF #47 film are in Bold.

BEST PICTURE

1) Nomadland

2) Promising Young Woman

3) The Trial of the Chicago 7

4) Minari

5) Judas and the Black Messiah

6) Mank

7) Sound of Metal

8) The Father

BEST DIRECTOR

1) Chloe Zhao/Nomadland

2) Emerald Fennell/Promising Young Woman

3) David Fincher/Mank

4) Lee Isaac Chung/Minari

5) Thomas Vinterberg/Another Round

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Nomadland

2) Mank

3) News of the world

4) The Trial of the Chicago 7

5) Judas and the Black Messiah

BEST FILM EDITING

1) Sound of Metal

2) The Trial of the Chicago 7

3) Nomadland

4) Promising Young Woman

5) The Father

    BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Mank

2) News of the World

3) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

4) The Father

5) Tenet

MAINSTREAM TRAILER 

Goa Coppola's Mainstream was to have been a film that would have screened ata TFF #47 had it happened.  The film stars Andrew Garfield and Maya Hawke and has been dated for release on May 7th.  IFC, which is distributing the film, dropped a new trailer for the film earlier this week.  That trailer is here via YouTube:

MORE CANNES DATE SPECULATION

Roger Friedman's ShowBiz411 wrote yesterday that:

"I’ve already reported that the Film Festival has been eyeing a move to October. No one would be against that. It would put the festival in closer proximity to Oscar buzz."

That continues to fan the flames of the possibility of a Cannes fall festival that could turn the entire film fest season on its ear.

The complete Friedman article is linked here.

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Oscar Winners Predix: Animated, Doc, International / The Cannes-nundrum

OSCAR WINNERS PREDIX: ANIMATED FEATURE, DOCUMENATRY FEATURE, INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Predicting the winners for the 93rd Academy Awards.  

ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Soul

2) Wolkwalkers

3) Onward

4) Over the Moon

5) Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie

DOCUMENATRY FEATURE

1) My Octopus Teacher

2) Time

3) Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

4) Collective

5) The Mole Agent

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Another Round

2) Quo Vadis, Aida

3) Collective

4) The Man Who Sold His Skin

5) Better Days

Comments: Most years Telluride is represented in both the International and Documentary categories and on occasion TFF films pop up in the Animated feature category as well.  But that's not the case in this year of Covid.

As a matter of fact you have to go all the way back to 2004 for the last time that a TFF film wasn't nominated in at least one of the categories.

Both Soul and Another Round appear to be prohibitive favorites in their respective categories.  Meanwhile, the Doc category remains one of the most competitive and tight races as we count down the last three weeks before the winners are announced on April 25th.

In Thursday's post, I'll predict winners for Cinematography, Editing, Production Design and I'll update the Best Picture and Best Director categories.

THE CANNES-NUNDRUM

So I've written a good deal about the up-in-the-air 2021 Cannes Film Festival.  Those who are regular readers of this space know that Cannes selections often provide fertile ground for films that will eventually also screen at Telluride.  Eight films in 2019 played at Cannes before screening at Telluride over Labor Day weekend.

But the Cannes-nundrum this year is that Cannes is on the move.  Normally by this time we'd be deep into trying to discern what films would be Cannes selections for clues as to what 6-10 of them would end up in Telluride.  In 2019 Cannes named its list of films on April 18th.  But with Cannes saying they're fest will run in July (and rumors that it could be put off until October), what Cannes and/or Telluride watchers are left with is a world where too many uncertainties make predicting films that will play one or the other or both is ridiculously difficult.\

Take Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch.  It is widely assumed that the film will...probably...debut at Cannes.  But that talk has been around since before  Cannes 2020 was canceled because of the pandemic.  It was assumed, at least for awhile, that the film would simply move to Cannes 2021.  Even when Cannes organizers began pointing toward a possible delay until July, it seemed probable that Cannes would be the destination.  

Now add in that The French Dispatch along the way had a release date in mid-September.  That and Searchlight as a distributor made it a tempting film to predict for Telluride.  But The French Dispatch has no official release date as of now.  The Cannes uncertainty is likely the cause.  If the French fest ultimately ends up in October the fall film fest lineup of Telluride, Venice, Toronto and New York all would be impacted.

My guess, and it's just a guess, is that The French Dispatch goes wherever and however Cannes goes.  So if your any of those fall fests that have been thinking they could get Wes Anderson and crew for their fest-an October Cannes likely means that's not going to happen.

What other films could have to make that calculation?

Take a look at Jordan Ruimy's list of Cannes possibles (he updated it as recently as Mar. 28th):

Directors set to have new films ready by Cannes include 

”Soggy Bottom” (Paul Thomas Anderson)

”The French Dispatch” (Wes Anderson) 

”Annette” (Leos Carax) 

”Macbeth” (Joel Coen) 

”The Way of the Wind” (Terrence Malick)

”Ahed’s Knee” (Nadav Lapid) 

”Blonde” (Andrew Dominik)

”Memoria” (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) 

”Benedetta” (Paul Verhoeven) 

”Blossoms” (Wong Kar-wai)

”The Power of the Dog” (Jane Campion)

”Tromperie” (Arnaud Desplechin)

”Bergman Island” (Mia Hansen-Løve)

”Chocobar” (Lucrecia Martel)

”Les Olympiades” (Jacques Audiard) 

”The Souvenir Part II” (Joanna Hogg)

”Tre Piani” (Nanni Moretti) 

”Triangle of Sadness” (Ruben Ostlund) 

”The Hand of God” (Paolo Sorrentino)

"Mektoub: Canto Duo" (Abdelatif Kechiche)

“Benediction” (Terrence Davies)

“The Green Knight” (David Lowery)

“Italian Studies” (Adam Leon)

“Algerien Par Accident” (Karim Aïnouz)

“Last Night in Soho” (Edgar Wright)

“The Northman” (Robert Eggers)

“After Yang” (Kogonada)

“Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon” (Ana Lily Amirpour)

I'd imagine that for a good number of these directors, playing Cannes in October and not having an appearance at any of the fall fests prior to Cannes would be just fine (I expect Cannes will insist on world premieres regardless of the date they ultimately land on).

But a number of these folks have played Telluride and often as a pairing with either Cannes or Venice:

PTA, Malick, Coen, Campion, Hansen-Love, Audiard, Kechiche, Lowery.  What do they do and how will those choices affect Telluride and other festivals?  It's a puzzle I haven't begun to solve.

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Bertrand Tavernier 1941-2021 / News from a Reader / Updated Cannes List

BERTRAND TAVERNIER 1941-2021

Bertrand Tavernier at the Telluride Film Festival

French film maker Bertrand Tavernier died last Thursday a month shy of his 80th birthday.  Tavernier was a member of TFF's "Esteemed Council of Advisors" and had been for some time.  The first mention I can find for him as a member of the Council of Advisors is in the 1996 program.

Tavernier was guest director for the festival in 1990.  As director he programmed Pursued and Justin de Marseille.  He also presented a restoration of Jean Vigo's L'Atalante.  Tavernier returned to Telluride in 1993 with L627.  Life at Any Cost (Life and Nothing But) screened in 1998 and The Princess of Montpensier screened in 2010.

Tavernier last film to be featured as a part of the TFF program was 2016's My Journey Through French Cinema.  Prior to that Tavernier's Life at Any Cost (Life and Nothing But) screened in 1998; The Princess of Montpensier screened in 2010.

Tavernier won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language in 1990 for Life at Any Cost.  Previously he had been nominated for that same award in 1985 for A Sunday in the Country which also earned him Best Directing honors at the Cannes Film Festival.

He was a 15 time Cesar Award nominee and won four:

 

Let Joy Reign Supreme (Screenwriting) in 1976, 

The Judge and the Assassin (Screenwriting) in 1977

A Sunday in the Country (Screenwriting) in 1985

Captain Conan (Directing) in 1997

Tavernier's IMDb page is linked here

Todd McCarthy posted this tribute to Tavernier at Deadline.com.

Peter Debruge writes about Tavernier in Variety

NEWS FROM A READER

Over the past few months I have occasionally received inquiries asking if I've heard anything about whether TFF #48 is going to happen, or if the Fest is going to sell more passes. Questions like that.  And the truth is that the answer is no.  I have known zip.  I wish I could tell you different.  Wish I had some inside scoop.  But no.  Nothing.  Until this past week.

I received a DM from a reader that's interesting. The conundrum I have now is deciding how much to divulge and that's tricky.  There have items that I have posted in this space before that have not gone over well with some of the fest folks.  It's happened enough that I think about that possible reaction when I run across some tidbit of info and try to decide if or how I should write about it.

So, I'm splitting the difference here.  I won't go into the details of the message but I will say that the gist of the DM makes me think that Fest organizers have a good deal of confidence that the Fest will move forward as planned over Labor Day weekend.  

UPDATED CANNES LIST

World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy remains on the job in terms of trying to ascertain what is happening with the Cannes Film Festival and what could be screening there whenever it does happen (June? July? September? October?).

Jordan posted over the weekend that he had come across a lengthy list of films speculated for Cannes from a site called Spoiler Movies.  From that list he has added to an original list of his from Feb. 8th that I referenced in my post of Feb. 11th.

Ruimy's expanded list from his new post is linked here.

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