Another distributor with frequent appearances at Telluride is Searchlight (formerly Fox Searchlight) whose track record of success with films that have made the trip to the San Juans has been terrific.
Past (Fox) Searchlight TFF films include:
2021: The French Dispatch (1)
2020: Nomadland (1)
2019: A Hidden Life (1)
2018: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Old Man and the Gun (3)
2017: The Shape of Water (Best Picture Oscar), Battle of the Sexes (2)
2016: No Show
2015: He Named Me Malala (1)
2014: Birdman (Best Picture Oscar), Wild (2)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture Oscar) (1)
2012: No Show
2011: Shame, The Descendants (2)
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan (3)
2009: No Show
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture) (1)
2007: Juno, The Savages (2)
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake (2)
2005: Bee Season (1)
2004: Kinsey (1)
2018: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, The Old Man and the Gun (3)
2017: The Shape of Water (Best Picture Oscar), Battle of the Sexes (2)
2016: No Show
2015: He Named Me Malala (1)
2014: Birdman (Best Picture Oscar), Wild (2)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture Oscar) (1)
2012: No Show
2011: Shame, The Descendants (2)
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan (3)
2009: No Show
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture) (1)
2007: Juno, The Savages (2)
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake (2)
2005: Bee Season (1)
2004: Kinsey (1)
In 2022 Searchlight has four films by my count that could conceivably be in the mix for a TFF #49 slot:
Sam Mendes Empire of Light with Colin Firth and Olivia Colman (no release date as yet)
Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins with Michael Fassbender (no release date as yet but see below)
Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson(Oct. 21)
Stephen Williams Chevalier starring Kelvin Harrison, Jr. (no release date as yet)
The truth is that none of these seem to be a sure thing for Telluride. On the other hand, they all seem like they could make the grade for TFF #49 as well. Consider the order I listed them in as being the most to least likely with each film having somewhere between a 30%-35% shot at the TFF lineup.
NEXT GOAL WINS THIS FALL
From Reddit a "behind the scenes" photo from Next Goal Wins
Director/writer/producer Taika Waititi has let slip that Next Goal Wins will be dropping sometime this fall. That info comes originally from Vanity Fair's Little Gold Men podcast and was then reported via The Playlist (Edward Davis posting on June 23rd).
Waititi is quoted as saying:
"Asked if that meant if Waititi would have two films out in 2022, “Thor: Love And Thunder” and “Next Goal Wins,” the filmmaker just simply said, “Yeah.” This would make sense and is timely. “Next Goal Wins” footage was screened at CinemaCon in Europe recently, and apparently went over like gangbusters so don’t be surprised if Searchlight finally unveils the release date for this one later in the fall."
IMDb does have the film listed as releasing in 2022.
Sounds like we could expect an announcement from Searchlight soon.
TRAILER FOR DECISION TO LEAVE
Park Chan-wook was named Best Director at Cannes in May for Decision to Leave. The film has an Oct. 14th release date in the United States. It opens in France and South Korea on Wednesday. Alex Billington's FirstShowing.net led me to the release of the international trailer for the film which is described by IMDb as:
"A detective investigating a man's death in the mountains meets the dead man's mysterious wife in the course of his dogged sleuthing."
Here's the trailer from YouTube:
You have to think Decision to Leave is on TFF programmers' radars after the Best Director win at Cannes.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
