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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Cannes Critics for Week One / More on Rasoulof's Seed / Interviews and Profiles for Cannes Films

CANNES CRITICS FOR WEEK ONE

As of this morning here are what some of the critical polls from Cannes are showing from among the Palme d'Or contenders that have already screened:

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

1) Caught by the Tides 2.6

2) Emilia Perez 2.5

3) Kinds of Kindness 2.4

4) Bird 2.3

4) Three Kilometers from the End of the World

Link to the Screen Daily chart.

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

1) Emilia Perez 3.7

2) Caught by the Tides 3.5

3) Oh, Canada 3.1

4) Bird 2.9

5) The Girl with the Needle 2.8

Link to Ioncinema's chart.

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

1) Caught by the Tides 3.28

2) Bird 3.00

3) Oh, Canada 2.70

4) The Substance 2.69

5) The Girl with the Needle 2.65

5) Three Kilometers from the End of the World 2.65

The link to the ICS chart.

Normally I would have Reini Urban's massive Cannes list accessible but the link to that has been broken for a couple of days now.  Perhaps by Thursday's post it will be available.

MORE ON RASOULOF'S SEED

A new note this week on the continuing journey for Mohammad Rasoulof''s The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  NEON has picked up the film on Friday ahead of its premiere Cannes scheduled as the next to last film to screen in the Palme d'Or competition.  The acquisition probably bolsters the chances that the Rasoulof film makes it into the TFF #51 lineup as their presence at Telluride in recent years has been substantial.

Rasoulof is currently in hiding somewhere in Europe after fleeing Iran to escape from an eight year prison sentence.

The acquisition news is covered here by Indiewire.

PROFILES AND INTERVIEWS

Of Cannes films that might be a TFF contender:

Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice from The Playlist.

Andrea Arnold for Bird from The Hollywood Reporter.

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Megalopolis Teaser / Rasoulof Escapes from Iran / New Bikeriders Trailer for the U.K. / Critics from Cannes

MEGALOPOLIS TEASER

As Francis Ford Coppola nears premiering his latest and self-financed epic at Cannes, he released a teaser trailer on Tuesday.  It looks impressive.  Here it is from YouTube:

RASOULOF ESCAPES FROM IRAN

We've been following the latest travails of Iranian film maker Mohammad Rasoulof for the past few weeks.  Rasoulof has a number of films screen at Telluride (Manuscripts Don't Burn, A Man of Integrity) and has another film set to bow at Cannes on May 24th that could well be a TFF #51 possibility.

We reported recently that Rasoulof had been sentenced to an eight year prison term as well as other punishments as the Iranian regime seeks to silence him and stifle the release of his films.

Now comes word from multiple sources that Rasoulof has managed to get out of Iran and is in hiding somewhere in Europe.

Rasoulof did release a statement regarding the escape:

"I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated journey.

About a month ago, my lawyers informed me that my eight-year prison sentence was confirmed in the court of appeal and would be implemented on short notice. Knowing that the news of my new film would be revealed very soon, I knew that without a doubt, a new sentence would be added to these eight years. I didn’t have much time to make a decision. I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile. The Islamic Republic confiscated my passport in September 2017. Therefore, I had to leave Iran secretly."

At this point it is not known whether Rasoulof will attempt to make a live appearance for the premiere of his Cannes competition film The Seed of the Sacred Fig. 

NEW BIKERIDERS TRAILER FOR THE U.K.

Late last week Universal and Focus Features released a third trailer for Jeff Nichols The Bikeriders for consumption in the U.K.  Here it is from YouTube:

The Bikeriders opens in the U.S. on June 21st.

CRITICS FROM CANNES

Now that the 77th Cannes Film Festival is underway you can expect to see MTFB's usual compilation of critical responses coming your way beginning with Monday's post.  I'll be following multiple collections of critical response in order to get a sense of what films are capturing the moment in Cannes and as a way to assess TFF potential.  One of those sources will be, again, the massive critical collection from Reini Urban.  Last year TFF films that appeared at Cannes first had these ratings from Urban's list using a ten point scale:

The Zone of Interest 8.16

Perfect Days 7.91

Anatomy of a Fall 7.90

La Chimera 7.46

Fallen Leaves 7.46

The Taste of Things 7.01

Occupied City 6.97

Anselm 6.41

Little Girl Blue 6.21

Room 999 also played Cannes then Telluride last year but is nowhere to be found on Urban's list.

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Roger Corman 1926-2024 / Last Word on Cannes Before It Launches

 ROGER CORMAN 1926-2024

Film pioneer and legend Roger Corman died on Saturday.  Among other things, Corman was a Telluride tribute recipient in 2012.  That afforded me the opportunity to meet him and express my appreciation for what he had done for the universe of film.  It was a brief exchange and he graciously accepted my gratitude.  

I'm sure most of the readers of this space are abundantly aware of Corman's legacy in film.  The film Stage listed the following as film folk to whom Corman helped to launch:

Martin Scorsese
Francis Ford Coppola
Jack Nicholson
Robert De Niro
James Cameron
Jonathan Demme
Peter Bogdanovich
John Sayles
Dennis Hopper
Joe Dante
Ron Howard
Bruce Dern
Sylvester Stallone
William Shatner

Here's my photo of meeting Corman in 2012 just outside the Galaxy:

The eulogies and remembrances have been all over social media.  They have strongly reminded us of the legacy that Corman leaves behind.  You could make the argument that ne was as responsible as anyone for the greatness of the films of the 1970s.

A titan.

Here are Corman obituaries from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

LAST WORD ON CANNES BEFORE IT LAUNCHES

Both The Playlist and The Film Stage have posted lists of Cannes films they regard as most anticipated and so as we head into the two week fest which traditionally crosses over around an average of eight films to TFF each year.

And so, with one more eye toward that here are the films that each source listed that, to me, feel like possibilities for The SHOW.

From both lists (including "Honorable Mentions":

Bird (Arnold)

Emilia Perez (Audiard)

Oh, Canada (Schrader)

The Apprentice (Abassi)

Megalopolis (Coppola)

Parthenope (Sorrentino)

Rumours (Maddin and Johnsons)

Additionally from The Playlist:

Meeting with Pol Pot (Panh) 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Rasoulof)

The Most Precious of Cargoes (Hazanavicius)

Additionally from The Film Stage:

Napoleon (Gance)

Here are the complete posts from:

The Playlist

The Film Stage

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Is Cannes #77 in Trouble? / Views from The Bikeriders / More on Rasoulof

IS CANNES #77 IN TROUBLE?

And the root of that question stems from a threatened strike by a collective of 200 or so film festival workers who have called for a strike of the fest.  With the festival set to start on May 14th, it seems like there would be some sense of urgency on the part of Cannes organizers.

An open letter to Deadline.com from the collective says, in part:

"Our warnings and demands have been received with polite consideration so far, but no concrete measure has been offered by the CNC or the Ministry of Culture. That is why the upcoming opening of the Cannes Festival is leaving us with a bitter taste.

In a context of extreme vulnerability and absolute emergency to protect our work, and after consultation and vote of the members of the collective, we call for a strike of all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and of its sidebars."

Here's the story from Deadline.

Variety reported yesterday that Cannes officials had responded with a statement of their own:

“We wish to emphasize that they are aware of the difficulties faced by some of their staff who, working on strings of contracts for film festivals, are affected by the reform of the French unemployment insurance scheme, and must grapple with a drop in their benefits.

Faced with this situation, we hope that solutions will be found, and are prepared to set up lasting dialogue conditions to support them.

Aware of the sounding board that the Cannes Festival and its parallel selections represent, we understand the timeliness of these demands. But in order to undertake a constructive reflection aimed at reforming the status of these workers, all the festivals concerned, the institutions and the unions need to come together around the bargaining table. This is the work that must now be undertaken collectively.”

The complete story from Variety is here.

More as it develops...

VIEWS FROM THE BIKERIDERS

As the release date approaches for TFF #50 film The Bikeriders from director Jeff Nichols, we're seeing an increase in P.R. moves.  Including recent releases of a new trailer as well as a new poster.  Now comes two separate posts from Variety and Entertainment Weekly focusing on behind-the-scenes photos from the film.

Take a look at the photos...

From Variety.

From Entertainment Weekly.

The Bikeriders opens June 21st.

MORE ON RASOULOF

We've been following news of Mohammad Rasoulof for a bit now as Iran Has been pressuring him and others to withdraw his film The Seed of the Sacred Fig from the Cannes competition lineup.  Now Indiewire is reporting that the Iranians have sentenced Rasoulof to eight years in prison, flogging as well as confiscation of property and a fine.

Rasoulof;s films have been a frequent selection at Telluride and could possibly be again this year with this new film.

The Indiewire story is here.

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Cannes Adds Titles

 CANNES ADDS TITLES

We got the announcement Monday that the Cannes Film Festival had, as expected, added some new films to a variety of sections.  In all 13 new films were added including three to the Palme D'or competition lineup.  Of those three, two have some serious chance at a Telluride play, I believe.

Here's the complete list of added films per Variety:

Un Certain Regard

“When the Light Breaks,” Rúnar Rúnarsson

“Niki,” Céline Sallette

“Flow,” Gints Zilbalodis

Cannes Premiere

“Vivre, Mourir, Renaitre,” Gaël Morel

“Maria,” Jessica Palud

Special Screenings

“Spectateurs,” Arnaud Desplechin

“Nasty,” Tudor Giurgiu

“Lula,” Oliver Stone

“An Unfinished Film,” Lou Ye

Out of Competition

“Le Comte de Monte-Cristo,” Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte

Competition

“The Most Precious of Cargoes,” Michel Hazanavicius

“Trois kilomètres jusqu’à la fin du monde,” Emanuel Parvu

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof

TFF #51 best chances are for Michel Hazanavicius' The Most Precious of Cargoes"  and Mohammed Rasoulof's The Seed of the Scared Fig.

Hazanavicius was in Telluride in 2011 with his Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist. Though he hasn't been back sense, the subject matter of thus new film sounds promising vis-a-vis a possible TFF placement.  Here's a description from Variety:

[It is] "An auteur-driven allegorical feature, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel of the same name, set during World War II against the backdrop of the Holocaust." 

Rasoulof would have last been represented at Telluride in 2020 with There Is No Evil had the fest not been bagged due to Covid-19.  He was also selected for A Man of Integrity in 2017 and Manuscripts Don't Burn in 2013.

Here's the full Variety post from Monday.

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Another Early Oscar Look / Will Abel Screen at Abel? / Speaking of Cannes...

ANOTHER EARLY OSCAR LOOK

Joey Magidson of Awards Radar has posted his first set of picks for the 2025 Oscars and as has been my way, I've looked through them for possible TFF #51 titles.  Magidson has divided them into two parts.  Part One went up last Friday focusing on "Above the Line" categories.  Part Two will be posted later this week.

Here's what I'm seeing from Part One beginning with films Magidson thinks are Best Picture contenders:

Blitz-Steve McQueen

Conclave-Edward Berger

Maria-Pablo Larrain

The Nickel Boys-Ross

SNL 1975-Reitman

Queer-Gaudagnino

Bird-Arnold

The End-Oppenheimer

The Apprentice-Abbasi

The Piano Lesson-Washington

From the other "Above the Line" Categories:

Megalopolis-Coppola

The Actor-Johnson

We Live in Time-Crowley

Here's the link to Magidson's post.

WILL ABEL SCREEN AT ABEL?

News this week that a newly restores print of Abel Gance's monumental silent film Napoleon will lead off the Cannes Classics section on May 14th.

From Cannes' press release:

"A legend known to cinephiles the world over, a major work of the silent era, one of the most monumental restorations in the history of filmmaking will be unveiled on May 14 as a world premiere: Napoléon by Abel Gance (1st period), in a version resulting from a colossal, passionate effort by the Cinémathèque française, with the support of the CNC."

Naturally that makes one think that the restoration could be a natural choice for TFF.  I can see this screening at Elk Park which is re-christened the Abel Gance Open Air Cinema each year for the festival.

The entire press release is here.

AND SPEAKING OF CANNES...

Here's the official poster for the 77th Edition of the Cannes Film Festival:

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Cannes Lineup Revealed

CANNES LINEUP REVEALED

Early this morning the Cannes Film Festival officially revealed most of its lineup.  This is of particular interest to Telluride Film Fest followers because most years there is a substantial cross over from Cannes to T-ride.  The average is somewhere around 7-8 films per year.  So let's see what Cannes 2024 will be screening.  Per Variety:

OPENER

“Second Act,” Quentin Dupieux

COMPETITION

“All We Imagine as Light,” Payal Kapadia

“Anora,” Sean Baker

“Bird,” Andrea Arnold

“Caught by the Tides” (“Feng Liu Yi Dai”), Jia Zhang-Ke

“Emilia Perez,” Jacques Audiard

“Grand Tour,” Miguel Gomes

“Kinds of Kindness,” Yorgos Lanthimos

“L’Amour Ouf,” Gilles Lellouche

“Limonov: The Ballad,” Kirill Serebrennikov

“Marcello Mio,” Christophe Honore

“Megalopolis,” Francis Ford Coppola

“Motel Destino,” Karim Ainouz

“Oh Canada,” Paul Schrader

“Parthenope,” Paolo Sorrentino

“The Apprentice,” Ali Abbasi

“The Girl With the Needle,” Magnus von Horn

“The Shrouds,” David Cronenberg

“The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat

“Wild Diamond” (“Diamant Brut”), Agathe Riedinger

UN CERTAIN REGARD

“Armand,” Halfdan Ullman Tondel

“Black Dog” (“Gou Zhen”), Guan Hu

“The Damned” (Les Damnes”), Roberto Minervini

“L’Histoire de Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine

“Le Royaume,” Julien Colonna

“My Sunshine” (“Boku No Ohisama”), Hiroshi Okuyama

“Norah,” Tawfik Alzaidi

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” Rungano Nyoni

“Santosh,” Sandhya Suri

“September Says,” Ariane Labed

“The Shameless,” Konstantin Bojanov

“Viet and Nam,” Truong Minh Quy

“The Village Next to Paradise,” Mo Harawe

“Vingt Dieux!,” Louise Courvoisier

“Who Let the Dog Bite?” (“Le Proces du Chien”), Laetitia Dosch

OUT OF COMPETITION

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” George Miller

“Horizon, an American Saga,” Kevin Costner

“Rumours,” Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin

“She’s Got No Name,” Chan Peter Ho-Sun

CANNES PREMIERE

“C’est Pas Moi,” Leos Carax

“En Fanfare” (“The Matching Bang”), Emmanuel Courcol

“Everybody Loves Touda,” Nabil Ayouch

From these lists it seems like the most probable TFF choices might include:

Andrea Arnold's Bird

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez

Francia Ford Coppola's Megalopolis

Paul Shrader's Oh, Canada

Paolo Sorrention's Parthenope

Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice

Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson's Rumours

Rithy Pahn's Rendezous with Pol Pot

I had been including Sean Baker's Anora but this past week World of Reel suggested that the film would be released this summer.

Here's the entire Variety story.

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Final Cannes Speculation / Amy Adams Film Back in the Game? / Janet Planet Trailer, Poster and Release Date

FINAL CANNES SPECULATION

All of the anticipation about what films will be selected for the 77th Cannes film Festival comes to a conclusion on Thursday when the bulk of the films that have been invited will be revealed.  The unveiling is set for 11:00 AM Paris time.  That should mean I'll have the skinny in Thursday morning's regularly scheduled post.  A quick note here, however, is that may mean that Thursday's post doesn't go up as early in the morning as it usually does.  

With that, here are the final two Cannes spec pieces that I'll pass along with my guesses from those lists which films seem most Telluride-ish.  From Indiewire and Ioncinema.

From Indiewire:

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

The End- Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer

Juror #2- Dir: Clint Eastwood

Marcel and Mister Pagnol- Dir: Sylvain Chomet

Megalopolis- Dir: Francis Ford Coppola

Oh, Canada- Dir: Paul Schrader

Queer- Dir: Luca Guadagnino

Rumours- Dir: Guy Maddin

Parthenope- Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

The complete list from Indiewire is here.

And from Ioncinema:

Anora- Dir: Sean Baker

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

Emilia Perez- Dir: Jacques Audiard

Hard Truths- Dir: Mike Leigh

Parthenope- Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

The End-  Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer

 

And here are three films that are included on Ioncinema's list and have been on others that I've not included previously on my guess list but...do have a slim possibility of a T-ride play"

The Shrouds- Dir: David Cronenberg

The Most Valuable Commodity- Dir: Francois Ozon

When Autumn Comes- Dir: Michel Hazanavicius

The Ioncinema list is here.

 Let's see what happens on Thursday!

AMY ADAMS FILM BACK IN THE GAME?

I had written off Marielle Heller's Nightbitch starring TFF tribute recipient Amy Adams (2016) last year amid reports that Searchlight was unsure what to do with the film.  I had included it in early TFF #50 speculation owing to Adams past tribute and that Heller had Can You Ever Forgive Me? at TFF 2018 and that film earned three Oscar nominations (Best Actress for Melissa McCarthy, Best Supporting Actor for Richard E. Grant and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jeff Whitty and Nicole Holofcener)  All that seemed like a confluence of factors that made for a solid case that we'd see it announced for the TFF #50 lineup.  But noop.

Now comes news that Searchlight has announced an awards friendly release date of  Dec.6th.  That makes me think that a TFF #51 play could be in the cards.

The hubbub last year was that the film sounds, well...weird.  The IMDb description is fairly innocuous:

"A woman pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her domesticity takes a surreal turn."

Left unsaid in that description is that the "surreal turn" is that the woman believes that she's turning into a dog.

What motivated Searchlight to finally decide to release the film in the awards window?  I have no real proof but I wonder if the response to Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things (also from Searchlight) convinced them that "weird" was okay?

Here's more of the lowdown from The Hollywood Reporter.

JANET PLANET TRAILER, POSTER AND RELEASE DATE

A24 has just released a trailer and poster for Annie Baker's Janet Planet which screened at TFF #50.  The film will be released on June 21st.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

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More Cannes Thoughts / The Cannes-Oscar Scoreboard

MORE CANNES THOUGHTS 

With a week left until the announcement of the lineup for the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, I've added a look at analysis from Deadline as to what may be in and out.

Those films that Deadline mentions that feel like a Telluride possibility include:

Parthenope- Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

Conclave- Dir: Edward Berger

Touch- Dir: Baltasar Kormakur

Deadline also mentions Frances ford Coppola's Megalopolis is still possible but uncertain due to Coppola's aiming for an IMAX release.

The piece also includes a listing of a number of films that have had Cannes speculation that likely will not be in France in May including:

Pablo Larrain's Maria

Sean Baker's Anora

Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada

Mike Leigh's Hard Truths

Luca Guadagnino's Queer

Joshua Oppenheimer's The End

Ali Abbasi' The Apprentice

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez

And one other surprising Telluride related nugget:  Deadline suggests that Jeff Nichol's The Bikeriders which played at TFF #50 might actually get a slot at Cannes.  Author Andreas Wiseman writes:

"Another movie in the wildcard section of this discussion is Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, which is being discussed by insiders for a potential slot somewhere in the lineup. On paper, this seems an unlikely choice given that it launched at North American festivals and at London last year but Nichols has history with Cannes and the starry movie isn’t released until June. The door isn’t shut on this one."

That would be a wild reversal of the often occurring Cannes to Telluride pipeline.

The complete Deadline post is here.

THE CANNES-OSCAR SCOREBOARD

Beginning with my March 14th post I have been scouring early Oscar predictions and Cannes spec pieces for clues about films which could be potential selections for TFF #51.  I'll have a couple of more Cannes looks on Monday next week prior to the actual announcement from France.  right now, though, these are the films that have shown up on the lists most frequently and how many times they've been mentioned:

Magalopolis (7)

Bird (6)

Conclave (6)

Maria (6)

Parthenope (5)

The End (5)

The Apprentice (5)

Blitz (5)

The Piano Lesson (5)

Queer (5)

Emilia Perez (4)

The Actor (4)

The Nickel Boys (4)

Long Day's Journey Into Night (4)

Anora (3)

Hard Truths (3)

SNL 1975 (2)

Oh, Canada (2)

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More Cannes Speculation / Orlando Has a Date

 MORE CANNES SPECULATION

Over the weekend I checked in on Jordan Ruimy /World of Reel's evolving list of possible films that will be invited to the Cannes Film Festival in less than two weeks (April 11th).  As always, I look to Cannes for the emergence of films that could World Premiere there in May and then emerge at Telluride as North American premieres.

Looking at Ruimy's list, it seems like there is a lot of agreement with films that I included from Screen Daily's Cannes list last week.  Here are the films from Ruimy's post that I feel like have the most likely chance of playing TFF:

Megalopolis-Dir: Frances Ford Coppola (although there's a good deal of buzz that it may NOT appear at Cannes after all.  It seems that Coppola wants a distribution deal in place before the film screens anywhere and if that doesn't happen, the focus for its first public screening might switch to a fall festival scenario-stay tuned).

Anora- Dir: Sean Baker

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

Emilia Perez- Dir: Jacques Audiard

Hard Truths- Dir: Mike Leigh

Parthenope- Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

The End- Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer

The Apprentice- Dir: Ali Abbasi

In the Hands of Dante- Dir: Julian Schnabel

Rumors- Dir: Guy Maddin

WOR's complete list is linked here.

ORLANDO HAS A DATE

Janus Films has announced a release date for physical media sales of Paul B. Preciado's Orlando: My Political Biography.  Blu-Ray and DVD sales of the documentary will begin on June 25th.

Here's the IMDb description of the film:

"Academic virtuoso turned filmmaker Paul B. Preciado's Berlin Film Festival award-winning doc tells his and others' stories of transition through unique reenactments and visual interpretations of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography."

And here is the announcement from Janus Films.

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Vanity Fair's Too Early Oscar Picks and TFF / Cannes Speculation and TFF / The Best Docs of the 21st Century and TFF

VANITY FAIR'S TOO EARLY OSCAR PICKS AND TFF

I'm continuing my current project of scouring early Oscar prognostications for possible titles that might pop up at the 51st Telluride Film Festival.  Today's source is Joe Reid of Vanity Fair. These predicted films seem to me to have the best chance at TFF (listed in the order they are presented in the article):

Megalopolis- Dir: Frances Ford Coppola

Hard Truths- Dir: Mike Leigh

Blitz- Dir: Steve McQueen

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

The End- Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer

Conclave- Dir: Edward Berger

The Actor- Dir: Duke Johnson

The Piano Lesson- Dir: Malcolm Washington

Maria- Dir: Pablo Larrain

The Nickel Boys- Dir: RaMell Ross

Queer; Dir: Luca Guadagnino

Long Day's Journey Into Night- Dir: Jonathan Kent

The Apprentice- Dir: Ali Abbasi

SNL 1975- Dir: Jason Reitman

The complete list of Vanity Fair predictions is linked here.

CANNES SPECULATION AND TFF

In addition to Oscar speculation as a way to sense some of the films that could be on their way to Telluride, the films that are selected for inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival merit investigation.

Each year there are a number of films that end up playing at Cannes in May and again as a North American premiere at TFF.  Last year I logged 10 films that played both fests including Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest and The Teachers' Lounge.  The average is around eight per year.

So, to begin that part of the process, I took a look at Screen Daily's annual Cannes speculation  article that was posted a week ago.  Screen Daily divides its list geographically.  That said, here are what feel like films that could possibly make the Cannes/Telluride connection:

Anora- Dir: Sean Baker

Maria- Dir: Pablo Larrain

Megalopolis- Dir: Frances Ford Coppola

Bird- Dir: Andrea Arnold

The End- Dir: Joshua Oppenheimer

Emilia Perez-Jacques Audiard

Dear Paris- Dir: Marjane Satrapi

The complete Screen Daily article is linked here.

THE BEST DOCS OF THE 21ST CENTURY AND TFF

Indiewire posted a list of what they have determined to be the 52 best documentaries of the 21st century.  Not surprisingly a good number of the films that made the list also made an appearance at the Telluride Film Festival.

Here's the list of docs from the top 52 that screened at TFF.  These are listed in reverse order by where Indiewire ranked them.  The year the doc appeared at Telluride is indicated to the title's right in parentheses:

43) The Central Park Five (2012)\

31) Procession (2021)

29) Fire at Sea (2016)

17) Waltz with Bashir (2008)

13) Bowling for Columbine (2002)

10) The Look of Silence (2015)

9) Stories We Tell (2013)

6) Faces Places (2017)

5) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022)

4) Flee (2021)

1) The Act of Killing (2013)

The complete list of 52 including description and analysis is linked here.

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My TFF Saved / MTFB Oscar Update: The Penultimate Picks for the Final Seven Categories / Cannes Speculation Heating Up / Interviews and Profiles

MY TFF SAVED

For those who have been following the saga of "no passes for the Patterson's for TFF #51", I am pleased to report that disaster has been averted.  I can't get into what was involved but as of today's post it appears that MTFB will be physically at Telluride over Labor Day weekend complete with pass in hand.

My deepest appreciation for everyone who reached out with suggestions about how to resolve the issue.  Your advice and friendship mean the world to me.

See you in The Ride in late August/early September!

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: THE PENULTIMATE PICKS FOR THE FINAL SEVEN

Here's your MTFB Update for the remining seven Oscar categories that I have not updated in this latest round of predictions.  TFF films are in Bold.

COSTUMES

1) Poor Things (1)

2) Barbie (2)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (3)

4) Oppenheimer (4)

5) Napoleon (5)

MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Maestro (1)

2) Poor Things (2)

3) Oppenheimer (3)

4) Golda (4)

5) Society of the Snow (5)

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) The Creator (1)

2) Godzilla Minus One (2)

3) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (3)

4) Napoleon (4)

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (5)

SOUND

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) The Zone of Interest (2)

3) Maestro (3)

4) The Creator (4)

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (5)

ANIMATED SHORT

1) War Is Over (1)

2) Letter to a Pig (2)

3) Ninety Five Senses (3)

4) Pachyderme (5)

5) Our Uniform (4)

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1) The Last Repair Shop (1)

2) The ABCs of Book Burning (2)

3) Nai Nai and Wai Po (3)

4) The Barber of Little Rock (4)

5) Island in Between (5)

LIVE ACTION SHORT

1) The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1)

2) The After (2)

3) Red, White and Blue (3)

4) Knight of Fortune (5)

5) Invincible (4)

Comment: Very stable predictions over the past couple of weeks.  Only two of these categories seem all but locked: Makeup/Hair and Animated Short.  The rest are very, very competitive.

Final Oscar predictions for all 23 categories will up on Sunday hours before the ceremony.

CANNES SPECUALTION HEATING UP

Frequent readers of MTFB know that the Telluride Film Festival annually screens a substantial number of films that have screened at Cannes.  If you're serious about trying to determine some of the films that will possibly make the TFF lineup, you have to pay attention to films that stop in France first.

Last year, the films that screened both fests included: Anatomy of a Fall, Fallen Leaves, La Chimera, Occupied City, Perfect Days, The Taste of Things, and The Zone of Interest.

So, I have been sifting through some pieces that are spitballing what may and may not be at Cannes that also seem to have the kind of pedigree to make the Labor Day trip to Colorado.  Looking at posts from Variety,  Deadline.com and World of Reel.

Reportedly Cannes will announce the bulk of the 2024 lineup on April 11th.

Variety speculates that the following films could be Cannes bound (and these are the ones that seem to have early TFF potential):

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez 

Ali Abassi's The Apprentice

Paolo Sorrentino's Parenthope

Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness

Andrea Arnold's Bird

Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis

Variety says that Steve McQueen's Blitz is off the table for Cannes.

Deadline is in agreement with Variety in terms of Emilia Perez, Parenthope, Kinds of Kindness, Bird and Megalopolis.  In addition to those they include a couple of other films that "feel" possible for Telluride:  Balthazar Kormakur's Touch and Edward Berger's The Conclave.

Deadline also concurs with Variety reporting the unlikelihood of Blitz playing Cannes and adds other doubtfuls (that could be TFF possibles): 

Clint Eastwood's Juror #2

Pablo Larrain's Maria

Paul Schrader's Oh Canada

Joshua Oppenheimer's The End

Mike Leigh's Hard Truths.

And from World of Reel's constantly evolving list of Cannes possibilities that might also be TFF contenders...agreement on:

Kinds of Kindness

Megalopolis

Bird

Emilia Perez

Parenthope

The Apprentice

Touch

The Conclave

Three additional titles from WOR's list that I would include as TFF possibilties:

Sean Baker's Anora

Julian Schnabel's In the Hands of Dante

Guy Maddin's Rumors

So there's some titles to chew on.

Links to each of the posts:

Variety

Deadline

World of Reel

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Director Alexander Payne and Screenwriter David Hemingson for The Holdovers from The National Board of Review.

Sound Designer Johnnie Burn for The Zone of Interest from The Desert Sun.

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