Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
"But it's our job." - Anne Thompson, Indiewire
Just announced this morning after the blog's post time, the New York Film Festival has added Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to its lineup as a Spotlight Gala. Noteworthy is that the language of the press release refers to it as a premiere but does NOT indicate what level of premiere.
I have also been told that the original release may have suggested that it was a World premiere but that has been scrubbed for the current language.
All of this tends to support the notion that the film will, in fact bow initially at Telluride.
Here's the link to the NYFF announcement in its current form:
We haven't heard much about Lynne Ramsay and Die, My Love since Cannes. But now, over the weekend, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel sourcing from Screen Daily suggests that Ramsay has been re-editing the film since Cannes. Ruimy also reminds us that the same scenario occurred when Ramsay screened We Need to Talk About Kevin at Cannes in 2011 and then worked on further editing it afterwards. Of course that film went on to screen at Telluride.
Ruimy even suggests that a repeat of that scenario is not completely out of the question writing:
"IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast seems to now be hinting that Ramsay went back to the editing room after Cannes to further shape “Die, My Love,” which might potentially explain its absence at the fall fests — although I still wouldn’t rule out a Telluride appearance."
GOLD DERBY OSCAR RANKINGS FOR WHAT WE THINK IS HEADED TO TFF #52
As many of you readers know, when the fest concludes on Sept. 1st and this space will then become focused on the awards season fortunes of the films that make up the TFF #52 lineup. So I took a look at how the experts at Gold Derby had rated some of the films that we think may play T-ride in a few weeks. Here's where they sit:
#3 Sentimental Value
#4 Jay Kelly
#7 Bugonia
#8 Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
#13 It Was Just an Accident
#15 Hamnet
#21 The Ballad of Small Player
#35 The History of Sound
#39 The Mastermind
#47 The Secret Agent
#48 Nouvelle Vague
If the Gold Derby experts are correct TFF #52 would have four films get Oscar nominated for Best Picture.
Unlike the previous seven weeks, Mubi comes to Telluride with a much shorter resume only having initially screened a film at the fest in 2021. Overall Mubi has screened five films in the last four fests.
2021: Unclenching the Fists
2022: No film
2023: Fallen Leaves, High and Low-John Galliano, Tehachapi
2024: Bird
This year Mubi is loaded with potential TFF film after having gone on a buying spree at Cannes.
To start off, let's note that the Jim Jarmusch film, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother is not Telluride bound. This Mubi distributed film is going to North American Premiere as the Centerpiece of the New York Film Festival...so no T-ride play. But here's the rundown of those Mubi films that could play TFF #52 with an * indicating when a participant has previously attended Telluride.
The first of which we covered last Monday as Focus Features also has a piece of its U.S. distribution. Here that info is again:
The History of Sound. Dir. Oliver Hermanus*. Stars: Paul Mescal, Chris Cooper, Josh O'Connell. Release date: Sept. 12th.. IMDb description:
Two young men during World War I set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.
Mescal and O'Connor are two of the hottest tickets around right now. I had been pretty high on its chances of a Telluride play what with the distributor and Oliver Hermanus having previously having Living at TFF #49.
La Grazia (Grace). Dir. Paolo Sorrentino*. Stars: Toni Servillo, Anna Ferzetti. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A love story set in Italy.
Seriously, that's the description.
La Grazia is opening the Venice Festival on Aug. 27th giving it plenty of time to make the jump to Colorado.
The Mastermind. Dir. Kelly Reichardt.* Stars: Josh O'Connor, John Magaro*, Bill Camp. The Mastermind played at Cannes in the Plame competition. The film had a fair critical average from Cannes-Ratings.org with a 6.29 our of 10 average. Release date: Oct.17th. IMDb description:
In 1970, Mooney and two cohorts wander into a museum in broad daylight and steal four paintings. When holding onto the art proves more difficult than stealing them, Mooney is relegated to a life on the run.
Reichardt was last at Telluride in 2019 with First Cow.
Die, My Love. Dir, Lynne Ramsay*. Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek*. Also played in competition at Cannes and had a critical rating just above that of The Mastermind with a 6.53. Release date: Nov. 7th. IMDb description:
In a remote forgotten rural area, a mother struggles to maintain her sanity as she battles with psychosis.
Lynne Ramsay was last in Telluride with We Need to Talk Abut Kevin in 2011.
My Father's Shadow. Dir: Ankinola Davies. Stars: Sope Dirisu, Godwin Egbo. This film was in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes where critics responded strongly giving it a 7.47 average, the 12th best of all the films that were included in the composite ratings. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.
I have to believe that Mubi lands at least one of these titles. Probably more than one. The two "name" directors, Ramsay and Reichardt are the familiar possibilities but My Father's Shadow and Sound of Falling were more of the critical darlings at Cannes. As to La Grazia, I'm still skeptical it opens Venice and then travels.
Chances:
My Father's Shadow 45%
Die, My Love 40%
The Mastermind 40%
La Grazia 30%
WORLD OF REEL CONFIRMS AND REVEAL TITLES FOR TFF #52
Over the weekend World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy posted some updated Telluride news. The big reveals in the post were the seeming confirmations for Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern and The History of Sound starring Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal.
Ruimy also confirms films we were already pretty sure locks: Hamnet, The Ballad of a Small Player, Tuner, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value and Nouvelle Vague.
Ruimy also confirms films that will NOT play Telluride including: The House of Dynamite, The Smashing Machine, Frankenstein, Mother Father Sister Brother and Marty Supreme.
And finally he's uncertain about whether Bugonia will or won't go the Telluride after Venice. I'm still cautiously optimistic.
And, here from YouTube, is the trailer for The History of Sound:
ANOTHER TELEVISION POSSIBILTY?
Last Thursday I posted a speculation about Apple TV+ returning to Telluride this year with The Savant starring Jessica Chastain. It seemed to me that after Disclaimer last year, that kind of situation might be repeated.
Then over the weekend I found out that Vince Gilligan's new series is set to be released by Apple TV+ on November 7th. The series is titled Pluribus and stars Rhea Seehorn, who, of course, was Kim Wexler for Gilligan for six seasons on Better Call Saul.
IMDb describes the series this way:
Follows the most miserable person on Earth and the one who must save the world from happiness.
So maybe this might be a candidate if TFF decides they want to partner up with Apple TV+ again this year.
PS...TIDBIT...Focus Features has dated Ronan Day-Lewis's Anemone for Oct. 3rd. So...maybe?
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Welp...here it is. 2025's first "Ten Bets" attempt to suss out films that might make the TFF #52 lineup. I do a good deal of research and study to come up with these lists and even then...this first one usually does well to have six titles on it that actually make it to Telluride.
This was my first Ten Bets for last year (with the films that actually made it to TFF #51 in Bold):
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) Oh, Canada/Paul Schrader
8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer
9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino
10) Conclave/Edward Berger
So seven out of the Ten...a better than average year.
Here's the track record for the first Ten Bets for the last
The puts the average at 5.8 correct guesses per year.
So, with that caveat, here is your first Ten Bets for TFF #52:
1) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
2) Blue Moon/Linklater
3) Bugonia/Lanthimos
4) The Love That Remains/Palmason
5) Sentimental Value/Trier
6) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardennes
7) The Secret Agent/Filho
8) Hamnet/Zhao
9) Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper
10) The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
Let's see what happens.
DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE HAS A TRAILER AND POSTER
Here's the poster:
Scott Cooper's Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere, dropped a trailer for the film. Jeremy Allen White plays "The Boss" with Jeremy Strong as Springsteen's manager Jon Landau. The film reportedly focuses on the period in Springsteen's life when he was working on his Nebraska album.
I have high hopes for the film and also hopes for it to be in Telluride Labor Day. I hope its appearance at #9 on the first Ten Bets list doesn't jinx its chances.
Here's the trailer from YouTube:
DIE MY LOVE HAS A DATE
Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reports that Lynne Ramsay's Die, My Love will have a wide release on Nov. 7th. That date puts it in place for possible screenings at Telluride, Toronto, Venice, New York and/or London. Ruimy suggests Toronto is a real possibility.
Ramsay was at Telluride in 2011 with We Need to Talk about Kevin. Prior to that she screened Morvern Callar at T-ride in 2002. So, chances aren't impossible for a Telluride run.
The film screened at Cannes back in May to mixed reviews but generally universal praise for Jennifer Lawrence's performance. The Nov. 7th date sets up a reasonable time frame for an awards push for her specifically.
Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel posted a list of "20 hot festival titles this fall" on Saturday. The context for the list of films is within Ruimy's discussion of the Venice festival and the number of possible American films that could make that lineup. Many of them are on my TFF #52 "watch list".
Here's Ruimy's list with what I think are the most serious Telluride possibilities indicated with ***.
Matt Neglia, who heads up Next Best Picture, published via "X" on Friday a list of Cannes films that he thinks could also play Telluride. It looks like this:
The Chronology Of Water
Die My Love
It Was Just An Accident
Left Handed Girl
The Love That Remains
The Mastermind
My Father’s Shadow
Nouvelle Vague
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Urchin
Young Mothers
I have frequently mentioned Chronology of Water, Die My Love, It Was Just an Accident (or A Simple Accident), The Love That Remains, The Mastermind, and Young Mothers.
Post Cannes I have warmed to the notion of Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent for T-ride.
I'm back and forth on Nouvelle Vague. Linklater has, to the best of my knowledge, never been to The SHOW but with both Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon...I could see a Linklater double bill and a possible tribute.
Other films that Matt names, Left Handed Girl, The Father's Shadow and Urchin...we'll see.
I think there could be other Cannes players that make the trip. Sirat and Eleanor the Great come to mind. Remember, though, Matt was on the ground in France and probably has a better sense of what's going on as a result.
A LOOK AT DEL TORO'S FRANKENSTEIN
Netflix had what they call TUDUM. It's their annual sort CinemaCon thing. Anyway, as a part of that there was a presentation for Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming imagining of Frankenstein. The film stars Oscar Isaac (as Victor Frankenstein) who was at the TUDUM presentation, as well as Christoph Waltz and Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Netflix dropped a trailer for the film as a part of the event and then very quickly put it up online. Here it is from YouTube:
I'm thinking Frankenstein could make a visit to TFF owing to Del Toro's success there in 2017 with The Shape of Water and Netflix's usually robust presence at The SHOW. Del Toro presented The Devil's Backbone at Telluride in 2001.
INTERESTING COMMENT TO THE BLOG
Over the weekend some anonymous person posted a comment to last Thursday's MTFB. It really caught my attention because it's a poem about me and the blog. And whoever this is knows their stuff. I approved the comment and you can find it on the 5/29/25 post. I've also re-posted it here:
"In Oklahoma classrooms he was once all the rage, A master of drama, debate and stage. Now each Labor Day he ascends to the peak, Where cinephiles gather and the big stars all sneak. With a blog as his weapon, a hunch as his guide, He guesses the films they try hard to hide. Reads gossip like scripture, decodes all the lines.
The SHOW bosses in Berkeley grit teeth in dismay, As his summer "BEST BETS" always steal the day. But Michael just shrugs, lets critics all chatter-- To him it's just the puzzle that truly must matter. So let's raise a toast, with blog posts in hand, To the Teacher who does what few understand."
Thanks to the unknown author.
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We've entered the Post-Cannes/Pre-Venice phase of the countdown to Telluride. One of the things to look at not that Cannes is over and while we wait for Venice to announce titles and then their schedule is what distributors acquired films that screened at Cannes. Distributors that have had a substantial relationship with Telluride and that do snag new titles during or post-Cannes can spotlight a film that makes the trip to T-ride. The biggest players this year were Neon and Mubi, both of which could position any of their newly acquired films as a TFF #52 offering.
Neon picked up seven films in total. Three of them have been floating around my Telluride radar: A Simple Accident (Palme d'Or winner), Splitsville and Orwell: 2+2+5. Neon also bought Grand Prix winner Sentimental Value in addition to Sirat (Jury Prize), The Secret Agent (Best Director, Best Actor and Alpha.
At this point I don't think its a matter of whether Neon will have films at Telluride, the question instead is how many will it be?
Mubi was almost as active as they acquired five titles. Three of those have been on my screen: Die, My Love, The Mastermind and The History of Sound. In addition to those, Mubi has also picked up Sound of Falling and My Father's Shadow.
Long time Telluride presence Sony Pictures Classics has Eleanor the Great, The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol and The President's Cake. Any or all of these may be on your TFF #52 menu.
Other acquisitions of note include:
Netflix: Nouvelle Vague
Janus: Ressurection
Apple TV+: Bono: Stories of Surrender
A24: Pillion
DOWN THE STRETCH...
As May comes to a close, MTFB really starts to get cranked up in a serious way regarding the potential TFF lineup. The run from June to Labor Day will include weekly looks as distributors that often have films at T-ride and I'll try to assess the TFF chances of some of the titles each outfit has.
Additionally, the weekly list of "Ten Bets" will begin in three weeks. As frequent readers know, I'll start out with 10 guesses and that list will actually expand right up to the day before Telluride announces the TFF #52 lineup (expected Thursday, Aug. 28th.). We also expect Venice to announce its lineup at the end of July and their schedule a couple of weeks into August. And, as has become the norm, Toronto's announcements (last year the first big drop of titles came in the third week of July.
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We're not quite a week into Cannes but we do have some critical responses to take a gander at. Initially, here is a look from Cannes-ratings.org regarding 13 films at Cannes that I have my eye on regarding a possible play at Telluride:
From the Palme Competition category (on a 10 point scale):
The Mastermind: 6.65
Die, My Love: 6.59
Young Mothers: 5.73
The History of Sound: 5.41
A Simple Accident: 6.12
From Un Certain Regard:
Eleanor the Great: 8.83
The Chronology of Water: 6.19
Out of Competition:
Splitsville: 8.67
Orwell: 2+2=5: 7.12
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele: 6.11
The Wave: 5.88
The Love That Remains (Palmason) 7.79
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol 6.16
Looking at the Palme competitors, the top five currently are:
1) Sentimental Value (Trier) 9.00
2) Sirat (Laxe) 7.95
3) Nouvelle Vague (Linklater) 7.27
4) Romeria (Simon) 7.20
5) Fuori (Martone (7.00) and Resurrection (Gan) 7.00 (tie)
In conjunction with its screening in Palme competition at Cannes, we saw the release of a clip from Lynne Ramsay's Die, My Love. Here that is via YouTube and The Upcoming:
DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE HAS A DATE
Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in Deliver Me from Nowhere (via IMDb)
20th Century Studios announced this past week that Scott Cooper's Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me from Nowhere, has been dated for an Oct. 24th release. The date is very fall fest friendly leaving the door open for the film to screen at TFF #52 as well as Venice, Toronto and/or New York. As I have mentioned here, Cooper has had a good relationship with Telluride over the years with Black Mass appearing at T-ride in 2015 and Hostiles in 2017. It also doesn't hurt that Searchlight is involved in the film's distribution.
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The 78th Cannes Film Festival starts up on Tuesday and runs through May 24th. As MTFB has done over the past few years, I'll continue to take snapshots of the critical reactions to films and pass those along with each post over the next couple of weeks.
One of the things that can happen during the course of the festival is that I'll notice some films that I haven't really considered for TFF emerge with a strong critical endorsement. In other words, a film can move onto my TFF list of possible choices with a strong critical endorsement.
Meanwhile, I took a look at a group of four outlets which have recently posted their "Most Anticipated" Cannes films. I was looking for a couple of things. First, what films already seem to be sparking heat and second, a look at the level of interest for films that I have already listed as TFF possibilities.
So, I looked at lists from Harper's Bazaar, W, The Film Stage and Screen Rant. Five films were on all four lists:
Alpha/J. Ducournau/Neon
The History of Sound/O. Hermanus/Focus-Mubi
Eddington/A. Aster/A24
Die, My Love/L. Ramsay/No U.S. Distributor
Sentimental Value/Joachim Trier/Neon
From this list I have already been pointing at The History of Sound and Die, My Love as TFF #52 potentials. Eddington is set for a July release here in the U.S. so no TFF play there but I may have to start considering both Alpha and Sentimental Value especially as they're both coming from Neon.
Films with three mentions were Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme (opening in the U.S. on June 6th so no T-ride) and Kristen Stewart's The Chronology of Water which I have had on my pre-Cannes watch list.
Films that made two of the lists included Eleanor the Great and The Mastermind. Both have popped up here as TFF possibilities. Michael Angel Covino's Splitsville would have made this list save for its August 22nd U.S. release date.
The Film Stage made mention of three other films that have been on my radar: It Was Just an Accident, The Love That Remains and The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol.
The Film Stage also has an "Honorable Mention" section that includes The Chronology of Water and Eleanor the Great.
Deadline dropped an exclusive clip from Scarlett Johansson's directing debut and Cannes Un Certain Regard selection Eleanor the Great starring June Squibb. The film is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.
Well, after a 24 hour delay the 78th Cannes Film Festival announced more than a dozen new titles to the fest yesterday scattered across various platforms.
Three films that I had suggested on Monday that could be announced were, in fact, announced. Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love was added to competition, Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water went to Un Certain Regard and Hylnur Palmason’s The Love That Remains was added to the Cannes Premieres section. I feel (and have felt) that those three films could potentially also screen at Telluride.
One other film of interest, at least to me, and isn’t really on my T-ride radar, is Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t which was added to the Midnight section. The IMDb description is literally “Two women ( Margaret Qualley and Aubrey Plaza) take a road trip.”
Reportedly the 78th Cannes Film Festival will add some other films to their lineup in addition to those already announced. Speculation centers on which films/directors will be added and to what sections. The buzz suggests up to three more films might be added to the Palme d'Or competition. A number of reports suggest that Lynne Ramsay's Die, My Love is locked for a competition slot. After that, it's up in the air.
I've had the Ramsay film on the "Potential Cannes to Telluride" list for a good long while. Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reported late last week that the film had been screened for the fest and as Ruimy writes:
"Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love” just screened for Cannes, and word on the Croisette is—they loved it. Two separate sources tell me the film, starring none other than Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence, is now officially locked for competition. Buckle up."
Here's the minimal description for the film from IMDb:
"In a remote forgotten rural area, a mother struggles to maintain her sanity as she battles with psychosis."
A couple of other titles that might pop up tomorrow that feel like a post-Cannes Telluride play is possible are Kristen Stewart's The Chronology of Water and Hylnur Palmason's The Love That Remains.
Stay tuned.
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Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has been keeping a steady eye on the speculation about what may be screening at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. His extensive list has been developing for months. Now, on the brink of the titles being revealed (on Thursday, April 10th) we take a last look at his predictions and assess possible Telluride selections. From Ruimy's list, the most likely TFF #52 players are:
After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino
Couture/No Distrib/Alice Winocour
Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay
Orphan/No Distrib/Laszlo Nemes
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov
The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus
The Love That Remains/No Distrib/Hylnur Palmason
The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Sony Pictures Classics/Sylvain Chomet
The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick
The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers
I have a file in one of my email accounts labeled "Future Telluride". That's where I file away posts/articles about future films that, for some reason...and not always the same reason, strike me as having some Telluride Film Fest potential. There are some dating all the way back to 2014 that I've held onto.
So, anyway, I was cleaning the folder up a bit over the weekend and kind of went down a rabbit hole of films that I had tagged and that had ultimately screened at TFF over the last couple of fests. The folder contains links for TFF #50 films such as: The Zone of Interest, Poor Things, Nyad, All of Strangers and The Bikeriders. For TFF #51: The Outrun, Emilia Perez, Maria, Bird and A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things.
So, I thought, what the heck...what films possible for TFF #52 are tucked away in the folder? Here they are:
After the Hunt/Luca Guadagnino/Amazon-MGM
Ballad of a Small Player, The/Edward Berger/Netflix
Bride, The/Maggie Gyllenhaal/Warners
Bugonia/Yorgos Lanthimos/Focus
Deliver Me From Nowhere/Scott Cooper/Searchlight
Die, My Love/Lynne Ramsay/No Distribution
Frankenstein/Guillermo Del Toro/Netflix
Hamnet/Chloe Zhao/Focus
History of Sound, The/Oliver Hermanus/Focus
Jay Kelly/Noah Baumbach/Netflix
Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, The/Sylvain Chomet/SPC
We're almost there. The Cannes lineup announcement is a week from today. In today's post I dissect the Cannes lineup that Next Best Picture advocated the week before last with the intent of trying to guess which films will play in France in May then Telluride over Labor Day weekend.
From NBP's list, my best guesses would be:
Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay
Eleanor the Great/Sony Pictures Classics/Scarlett Johansson
Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes
The Chronology of Water/No Distribution/Kristen Stewart
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov
The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus
The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt
The Wave/No Distribution/Sebastian Lelio
The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick
The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers
NBP is also predicting films from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster, Jim Jarmusch and Spike Lee. For various reasons I doubt any of those will be Telluride bound.
We'll get the bulk of the Cannes lineup for Palme competition as well as Une Certain Regard, Out-of-Competition and Special Screenings on April 10th. Between now and then, I'll be adding Cannes Guesswork from Variety (today) and then Next Best Picture and World of Reel next week prior to the actual announcement.
For today, I've drawn from Variety's Cannes spec piece published March 14th. From that piece here are ten Cannes to TFF possibilities:
After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino
Couture/No Distribution/Alice Winocour
Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay
Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes
The Chronology of Water/No Distribution/Kristen Stewart
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov
The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus
The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt
The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick
The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers
Variety also unequivocally reports that Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia and Julian Schnabel's In the Hands of Dante will not be playing Cannes.
So remember a couple of week's ago when Warners moved Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another to a Sept. 26th release date opening the door to a potential selection by Telluride and/or Venice and/or Toronto? That was followed by small teaser for a forthcoming full trailer. Then, the full trailer dropped last week.
Here the trailer is from YouTube:
I'm intrigued.
On a related note, there is a good deal of hubbub about wrangling between PTA and Warners over the final cut of the film that may be related to reported test screenings.
I'm keeping my eyes and ears open.
SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP AN EYE ON
I'm sure a lot of you saw the news this past week that A24, Barry Jenkins and Zendaya are all on board for a biopic (of a sort) about the life of Ronnie (Bennett) Spector. That combination is eye catching and could be Telluride material for, say, 2026?
Details are sparse but you can check out these stories from last week about the project:
I get all entangled in the speculation about the Cannes Film Festival and its lineup every year at this time because historically there has been a steady cache of films that do Cannes in May and then North American Premiere at Telluride over Labor ay weekend.
Over the last ten years (leaving out the Covid year of 2020) the fests share 7-8 titles per year. Last year, as near as I can discern, Telluride screened eight films that had premiered at Cannes, right on the average. They were:
All We Imagine as Light
The Apprentice
Bird
Emilia Perez
Misericordia
Santosh
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
And Palme d'Or winner Anora.
Of these eight, I had five pretty consistently in my posts about Cannes from last year. Not on my radar: All We Imagine as Light, Misericordia and Santosh.
Though TFF has screened the last two Palme d'Or winners, the Golden Palme is no guarantee that a film will be featured at Telluride. As a matter of fact, it's often less likely that a Palme winner makes the Telluride lineup.
Here are the years when TFF programmed the Palme winner:
1974: The Conversation
1984: Paris, Texas
1993: Farwell My Concubine and The Piano (tie and both played TFF)
1996: Secrets and Lies
1997: Taste of Cherry
2003: Elephant
2005: L'Enfant
2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
2009: The White Ribbon
2012: Amour
2013: Blue Is the Warmest Color
2018: Shoplifters
2019: Parasite
2023: Anatomy of a Fall
2024: Anora
That's just 16 Palme winners at TFF over the 52 fests.
A final note on the probability that this year's Palme winner makes it to TFF #52...Telluride has never scheduled the Palme winner three years in a row.
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Here's another look at films that could play Cannes in May and then Telluride in June. This rumination comes from Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel. He's been steadily tracking Cannes title possibilities for months.
Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov
In the Hand(s) of Dante/No Distribution/Julian Schnabel
The Love That Remains/No Distribution/Hylnur Palmason
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol/Sony Pictures Classics/Sylvain Chomet
The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt
Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes
The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick
The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers
Warner Brothers dropped a stunner of a piece pf news yesterday that Paul Thomas Anderson's latest, One Battle After Another has been re-dated from August 8th to September 26th. The announcement opened a door to speculation about the reasons for the move including the possibility of a fall film festival premiere.
Anderson attended TFF in 2007 for the tribute to Daniel Day-Lewis which included a screening of a few minutes of There Will Be Blood. His track record with fests shows no favoritism regarding any particular fest. Here's the track record:
Hard Eight-Sundance
Boogie Nights-Toronto
Magnolia-No fest
Punch Drunk Love-Cannes
There Will Be Blood-Telluride (sort of) then Fantastic Fest
The Master-Venice
Inherent Vice-New York Film Fest
Phantom Thread-Premiered in New York then the Palm Springs Film Fest
Licorice Pizza-Premiered in Los Angeles then the Santa Barbara International Film festival
Gold Derby name checked T-ride specifically as a possible film fest destination for the new film saying:
"It (the new date) also positions Anderson’s highly anticipated movie in the heart of awards season and opens up the possibility of a fall festival launch at either the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, or Toronto International Film Festival."
Both World of Reel and The Film Stage suggest the possibility of an appearance at a "fall film festival".
As you might expect, I'll be keeping up with developments in this matter. Frankly, I think it's a long shot at best, but...
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One of the more common connections that can inform us about potential TFF films is the pipeline between The SHOW and the Cannes Film Festival. It is long and productive relationship. In most years recently Cannes and Telluride have averaged sharing around 8 titles per year. Just this last year the Cannes to Telluride list included Oscar Best Picture and Palme d'Or winner winner Anora as well as other Palme competition films:
Bird
Emilia Perez
The Apprentice
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
From Un Certain Regard:
Santosh
So looking at what is likely/might be at Cannes is an excellent exercise in predicting what could be in the San Juans on Labor Day weekend.
That said, I'm peeking at The Hollywood Reporters' Cannes take from March 10th and it reveals 17 titles as possible Cannes choices that seem to me to have some chance at making the Cannes/TFF double play.
Here they are:
After the Hunt/Amazon-MGM/Luca Guadagnino
Bugonia/Focus/Yorgos Lanthimos
The Chronology of Water/No Distribution/Kristen Stewart
Die, My Love/No Distribution/Lynne Ramsay
The Disappearance of Joseph Mengele/No Distribution/Kirill Serebrennikov
Eleanor the Great/Sony Pictures Classics/Scarlett Johansson
Hamnet/Focus Features/Chloe Zhao
The History of Sound/Mubi/Oliver Hermanus
In the Hand(s) of Dante/No Distribution/Julian Schnabel
Jupiter/No Distribution/Andrey Zvyaginstev
The Mastermind/Mubi/Kelly Reichardt
Musk/HBO/Alex Gibney
Orphan/No Distribution/Laszlo Nemes
Orwell/NEON/Raoul Peck
The Wave/No Distribution/Sebastian Lelio
The Way of the Wind/No Distribution/Terrence Malick
The Young Mother's Home/No Distribution/The Dardennes Brothers
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