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
Hard news over the weekend as cinephiles the world over learned of and mourned the passing of revered filmmaker Agnes Varda.
Varda was a giant of European cinema as one of the prominent voices that emerged with the French New Wave.
Varda was an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary for her 2017 collaboration with artist JR: Faces Places which played at TFF #43. Varda also was a recipient of an Honorary Oscar. She was among TFF's first tribute recipients being recognized at the 4th Telluride Film Festival. Here's a snap of the entry for her tribute from the official TFF #4 program:
Tributes and reminiscences poured in from the film community from around the world over the weekend and I have linked several of those below:
It wouldn't surprise me that Varda could have the TFF #46 program dedicated to her in five months much like Pierre Rissient last year. I had already thought that some version of her latest and last film, Varda by Agnes (listed by IMDb as a television series), which screened at the Berlin Fest in February, might show up as a part of the TFF #46 program and with her death, I suspect that becomes even more likely. That is unless the producers/distributors choose to release it in the U.S. before Labor Day weekend.
One other note...among my favorite things to stumble across as I was preparing this story was the IMDb entry for Varda's 1967 documentary short Uncle Yanco which featured none other than Tom Luddy. Yes. There's a picture and a credit and the description mentions that the two were friends. Here's the pictorial evidence:
GARRONE'S BIG WEEKEND
Word this weekend that Matteo Garrone's Dogman, which played TFF #45 fared very well at the David di Doantello Awards picking up nine trophies out of a total of 15 nominations including Best Picture, Direction and Screenplay. The David di Donatello Awards are described by Varitey as Italy's equivalent of the Oscars.
Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, we got our first glimpse of Garrone's next project...a live action version of Pinocchio starring Oscar winner Roberto Begnini.
Here's a pic of Begnini as Pinocchio's creator Geppeto:
Still via Greta De Lazzaris via The Hollywood Reporter
THR reports that Garrone plans to wrap principal photography by May... which could mean that with a quick turnaround...maybe people might see it as early as Labor Day...just saying...
I did this last year at the same time. That is to say that I collated results about where films stand in critical eyes as we approach the end of the year.
I look at what we've been told by nominations or awards from The Golden Globes (GG), Critics Choice Awards (BFCA), National Board of Review (NBR), American Film Institute (AFI), New York Film Critics Circle (NY) and Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG).
Last year the list looked like this:
10) The Disaster Artist (NBR, GG)
7) The Florida Project (NBR, BFCA, AFI)
7) The Big Sick (BFCA, AFI, SAG)
7) The Shape of Water (BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) The Post (NBR, BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) Dunkirk (NBR, BFCA, GG, AFI)
4) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)
2) Call Me By Your Name (NBR, LA, BFCA, GG, AFI)
2) Get Out (NBR, BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)
1) Lady Bird (NBR, NY, BFCA, GG, SAG, AFI)
So it included TFF #44 films Lady Bird, and The Shape of Water. It also included eventual Oscar Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. and nominees Lady Bird, Three Billboards, Dunkirk, The Post, Get Out, Call Me By Your Name and Dunkirk. So, the top seven got in with the additions, of TFF #44 film Darkest Hour and also Phantom Thread.
With that in mind, here's what the data from the same seven groups tells us in 2018:
9) Six films tied here with two mentions each: Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Rich Asians, Eighth Grade, First Reformed, A Quiet Place and Vice.
7) Mary Poppins Returns (3): NBR, AFI, BFCA
7) The Favourite (3): GG, AFI, BFCA
4) If Beale Street Could Talk (4): NBR, GG, AFI, BFCA
4) Green Book (4): NBR (best picture), GG, AFI, BFCA
4) BlacKkKlansman (4): GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA
1) A Star Is Born (5): NBR, GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA
1) Roma (5): NBR, NY, LA, AFI (special citation), BFCA
1) Black Panther (5): NBR, GG, AFI, SAG, BFCA
With single mentions: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and First Man.
Based on last year, if you're film is sitting at #7 or above, it's got a great chance to be Oscar nominated for Best Picture on the morning of Jan. 22nd.
COLD WAR DOMINATES THE EFA
The European Film Awards were passed out Saturday and TFF #45 film Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War dominated the field picking up five wins including Best European Film. The film's female lead, Joanna Kulig, was named Best Actress and Pawlikowski won for Best Direction and Screenwriting. The film also won for Best Editing.
In other TFF #45 EFA news, Matteo Garrone's Dogman did well too with wins for Best Actor (Marcello Fonte), Costume Design and Hair/Makeup.
Lukas Dhont's Girl was named winner for European Discovery and Ali Abassi's Border won the award for visual effects.
Steve Pond of The Wrap reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces all of their short lists for a variety of categories today.
That's a departure from the past when the categories that include the "short list" process have traditionally parcelled those announcements over a period of weeks but that won't be the process this year.
Pond tells us that will mean nine different categories will be trimmed to definitive lists by this afternoon.
Here are those categories and the number that they will be trimmed to:
Foreign Language Film (9)
Documentary Feature (15)
Original Song (15)
Original Score (15)
Makeup/Hair (7...probably)
Visual Effects (10)
Documentary Short (10)
Animated Short (10)
Live Action Short (10)
Pond also takes a look at what he thinks are the most likely inclusions and exclusions in his article which you can find linked here.
I'll have a look at how the short lists all shake out vis-a-vis Telluride in Thursday's regularly scheduled post.
That's the Monday MTFB. I'll be back with more on Thursday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
The first wave of Toronto announcements and the bulk (if not all) of the Venice announcements dropped this week and that additional information helps form today's new Ten Bets.
Last week's Ten Bets were:
1) If Beale Street Could Talk
2) The Other Side of the Wind
3) Capernaum
4) Roma
5) Widows
6) Cold War
7) Beautiful Boy
8) The Old Man and the Gun
9) Boy Erased
10) First Man
Shocking info from the TIFF announcement means that from last week's list Beale Street, Capernaum, Widows and Beautiful Boy are gone from TFF #45 consideration. With that in mind as well as the indications from TIFF about films that seem to be probable for Telluride; here's this week's Ten Bets:
1) Roma
2) First Man
3) The Old Man and the Gun
4) Cold War
5) The Front Runner
6) Dogman
7) Shoplifters
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me?
9) Non Fiction
10) The Favourite
Others just under these Ten Bets:
The Other Side of the Wind, White Boy Rick, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, On the Basis of Sex, Girl, Happy as Lazzaro, He Dreams of Giants, Cheney (Backseat), At Eternity's Gate, Nothing Like a Dame, Peterloo, Mid 90s, Mary Queen of Scots, Boy Erased, American Dharma, 22 July
CUARON ON ROMA
Indiewire posted an interview with Roma director/writer/cinematographer Alfonso Cuaron recently. Zack Sharf wrote the piece which appeared on Wednesday.
Roma moved up to the top spot on this week's Ten Bets after its premiere status for Toronto was revealed on Tuesday.
Anton Volkov's Trailer Track reported that a long form trailer for Damien Chazelle's First Man, starring Ryan Gosling as astronaut Neil Armstrong, will be screening starting today in IMAX theaters before showings of Mission Impossible: Fallout.
THE SURPRISING FILM THAT ANNE THOMPSON SAYS IS YOUR OSCAR FRONT RUNNER
I'm linking the story without giving it away so that you can see/read Anne's reporting/prognosticating first hand. Suffice it to say that the film is on this week's Ten Bets list.
News early this morning from Britain that Steve McQueen's Widows will open the BFI-London Film Fest on Oct. 10th. Of particular interest is that fact that the film is listed as its International Premiere. That means a couple of things. It will not have played Venice but, as it is not the World Premiere, it will have played somewhere else prior to BFI-London. If I understand the designation that would mean that it would be playing in London for the first time outside its nation of origin.
To me that sounds like a Telluride play though I have seen some commentary that it could mean Toronto. I think the former os more likely.
Here's the release from the BFI-London Fest: LONDON, Thursday 12th July, 2018 – The 62nd BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American
Express® is thrilled to announce that this year’s Opening Night gala will be Academy Award®- winner Steve
M
cQueen’s WIDOWS. The International premiere will take place on Wednesday 10th October at the
Cineworld, Leicester Square. Co-written by McQueen and best-selling novelist and screenwriter Gillian
Flynn and starring Academy Award®- winner Viola Davis, WIDOWS is a complex thriller about a group of
women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities. A
star-studded ensemble cast includes: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo,
Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya and Jacki Weaver with Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson.
BFI Fellow, WIDOWS Director and Co-Writer Steve McQueen comments: “I am absolutely delighted that
WIDOWS will be opening this year's BFI London Film Festival. Watching the UK TV version of Lynda La
Plante's original thriller as a teenager in the 80s had a major impact on me and so it feels very special to be
sharing this film with a UK audience."
BFI London Film Festival Artistic Director, Tricia Tuttle says: “We treasure the work of BFI Fellow and
Festival alumni Steve McQueen, so it’s an utter pleasure to open our Festival with the International
Premiere of WIDOWS. Adapted from a ground-breaking UK television classic into a feature to savour on
the biggest cinema screens, this is scintillatingly rich storytelling from a magnificent filmmaker, probing
issues around race, class and gender, while always delivering immense style and crackingly sharp thrills.”
From Steve M
cQueen (12 Years a Slave) and co-writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) comes a blistering, modernday
thriller set against the backdrop of crime, passion and corruption. Taking place in contemporary
Chicago, amid a time of political and class turmoil, tensions build when Veronica (Oscar® winner Viola
Davis), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) take their fate into
their own hands and conspire to forge a future on their own terms. WIDOWS also stars Liam Neeson, Colin
Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Lukas Haas and Brian Tyree Henry. Based on the TV series “Widows”
by Lynda La Plante, the film sees Steve M
cQueen serve as producer, together with Iain Canning, Emile
Sherman and Arnon Milchan.
From Twentieth Century Fox, Regency Enterprises and See-Saw Films in association with Film4, WIDOWS is
released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 9 November.
The 62nd BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express® takes place from Wednesday 10
October-Sunday 21 October 2018. The full Festival programme will be announced on Thursday 30 August
2018.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS 2018-PART TWO
I started on Tuesday looking at people with significant Telluride pasts that have films that could make an appearance at TFF #45. Tuesday's crew was Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, Jacques Audiard, Jason Reitman and Alfonso Cuaron (with an assist from Alejandro Inarritu).
Today a look at six more:
Ken Burns...a Telluride staple. Burns doesn't officially seem to have anything ready, however he's been working on his Muhammed Ali documentary for PBS since March of last year. It's not outside the realm of possibility that some or all of that might show up on a screen in Telluride over Labor Day.
Roger Michell...Michell has been to Telluride in the past with Hyde Park on Hudson, Venus and Persuasion and Enduring Love. He's been to T-ride a lot and this year has a special documentary... Nothing Like a Dame features four grand dames of British acting: Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins. IFC Films has the U.S. distribution. Definitely think this is possible.
Sebastian Lelio...Great T-ride success for Lelio in the recent past with Gloria in 2013 and A Fantastic Woman last year. This year his Disobedience made a splash. Now, he could possibly return to Telluride with the English language version of Gloria starring Julianne Moore in the title role. The film is reportedly in post-production. Would it be odd to see the new version of a film that played in TFF in 2013? Sure, but not impossible.
Mark Cousins...Cousins was, at one time, one of the surest picks for TFF. The Story of Film, What is This Film Called Love?, The Story of Children and Film but he hasn't been in the San Juans since 2013. That could change this year with his latest doc, The Eyes of Orson Welles. I could certainly see that being a selection to complement the expected screenings of Welles' The Other Side of the Wind...which seems very likely to me to play TFF.
Mike Leigh...Leigh has also deep T-ride roots with High Hopes, Naked, Secrets and Lies (as a part of his 1996 tribute), Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year and more. And he has a new film ready to go: Peterloo. I have been thinking its inclusion is a no-brainer...but...I've heard some rumblings over the past week and the latest from Mr. Leigh may be less likely a cinch than I originally thought. Peterloo may be out of the Ten Bets tomorrow.
TRAILERS ARE HAPPENIN'
Yesterday gave us a couple of new posters for Mary Queen of Scots starring Saorise Ronan and Margot Robbie. Additionally, we found out that a trailer for the film will drop today. I'll tweet that out on my @Gort account when that happens and include it here tomorrow.
We also know from earlier in the week via Anton Volkov's Trailer Track website that On the Basis of Sex should be showing up with a trailer very soon as well.
Last night Volkov let spill that a trailer for Boy Erased is also soon to be released. That story is linked here.
Very exciting that we're going to get to see the wares from Focus Features.
ACQUISITION NEWS
A couple of pieces of intriguing acquisition news. Magnolia has reported nabbed domestic rights to Matteo Garrone's Dogman. The film played well at Cannes. It could portend at Telluride play. Or not. Magnolia hasn't placed a film at T-ride since Viva! in 2015.
Also in the news was Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate/ LD Entertainment acquiring the Julia Roberts starrer Ben Is Back, also starring Lucas Hedges (who also has Boy Erased in place for this fall). The film has been dated for a Dec. 7th release making me wonder if it will also see some time on the fall fest circuit.
Welcome back from your weekend...hope it was a good one...
THE AWARDS FROM THE 71ST CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
The Cannes Film Fest closed Saturday with the presentation of awards. The winners were:
Main Competition:
Palme d'Or: Shoplifters
Grand Prix: BlacKkKlansman
Jury Prize: Capharnaum
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski-Cold War
Screenplay: Happy as Lazzaro and Three Faces
Actress: Samal Yeslyamova-Ayka
Actor: Marcello Fonte-Dogman
Special Palme: The Image Book
Here's the trailer for the Palme d'Or winner from YouTube:
Un Certain Regard:
UCR Prize: Border
Screenplay: Sofia
Best Performance: Victor Polster-Girl
Director: Sergei Loznitsa-Donbass
Special Jury Prize: The Dead and the Others
From among the Palme winners, I suspect every film is a potential TFF player at this point with the exception of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman which Focus Features has set for release on Aug. 10th and I also have my doubts about Goddard's Image Book.
Another wrinkle is the acquisition of Happy as Lazzaro and Girl during the fest and, at this point, trying to divine what that will me for how those films get released and the implications for a possible Telluride play are difficult.
Netflix has been a presence at Telluride the past three years but that was prior to the brouhaha that played out in France this past few weeks that resulted in Netflix screening nothing in Cannes. How that factors into their plans heading to the fall and if it has a residual effect regarding TFF programmers...I don't know.
In addition to the Cannes acquisitions, Netflix also has Martin Scorsese's The Irishman which one would think would be a major player come awards season if it's done... and that's a BIG IF. And they also have Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind (which I really believe will play TFF #45).
Stand by to hear what the Netflix plan is for releasing these acquisitions. Maybe that will give us some insight.
Regular readers of this space probably know from past posts that the Cannes/Telluride crossover averages between seven and eight films each year. Most of those titles come from the main competition and Un Certain Regard sections that. Occasionally titles will come from some part of the non-competition slate or even the Directors Fortnight presentations.
So, as I have said, the Cannes/Telluride crossover is strong and has a lengthy history but the connection to the Cannes prize winners is fairly tenuous. Over the past decade, only three Palme d'Or winners have made the journey to Telluride: The White Ribbon ('10), Amour ('12) and Blue Is the Warmest Colour ('13).
Actually, in the last ten years, the film that wins the Grand Prix (second place essentially) is more likely to make the trip to the San Juans: Gomorrah ('08), A Prophet ('09), Of Gods and Men ('10), Inside Llewyn Davis ('13), Son of Saul ('15).
The other modestly successful predictor, weirdly, is Best Actor: Biutiful ('10), The Artist ('11), The Hunt ('12), Nebraska ('13), Mr. Turner ('14).
Other Cannes prizes and their TFF crossovers the past ten years are:
Jury Prize (third place): Fish Tank ('09), Loveless ('17)
Director: Foxcatcher ('14), Graduation ('16)
Actress: The Past ('13), Carol ('15)
Screenplay: Poetry ('10), Footnote ('11), Leviathan ('14)
UCR Prize: Tulpan ('08), Rams ('16), A Man of Integrity ('17)
This history suggests that the most likely Cannes plays for TFF #45 would be BlacKkKlansman but we know it won't be as it will be released three weeks before the festival which points us toward the Best Actor winner-Dogman. That has a real shot.
THE LAST ROUND-UP OF CRITICS FOR CANNES 2018
Here's the final critical assessment of films that played these last two weeks in Cannes beginning with the behemoth from Reini Urban:
Overall from all sections the top five films critically were:
1) Dead Souls
2) Burning
3) Thunder Road
4) Shoplifters
5) Happy as Lazarro
(Note: the short film Ultra Purple/Apocalypse After actually would sit at #4 but was scored by only five critics. Dead Souls was also only scored by 16 critics)
Top five from the Palme d'Or section:
1) Burning (8.10/10)
2) Shoplifters (7.67)
3) Happy as Lazarro (7.63)
4) The Wild Pear Tree (7.49)
5) Cold War (7.42)
Top three from the UCR section
1) Long Days Journey Into Night (7.40)
2) Girl (7.15)
3) The Dead and the Others (6.91)
From Ioncinema's ratings of the Palme d'Or competition:
1) Burning (3.8/5-TIE)
1) The Wild Pear Tree (3.8)
3) Cold War (3.7)
4) Shoplifters (3.6)
5) Ash Is the Purest White (3.3 TIE)
5) Leto (3.3)
5) Three Faces (3.3)
Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has finally screened for live humans in a theater!!!
And now that it has...I can't say that I'm surprised that I have been seeing a number of reviews that have used words like "confused" and "missing a bit of soul". As I type (with a small number of reviews counted, RT has it at 57% and Metacritic has it at a 50.
It sounds like what I've come to expect from Gilliam...
Does that mean it's off the table for TFF #45? Can't say that yet.
Another note about the 71st Cannes: I was a little alarmed at how often I saw the phrase "slow burn" in takes about films that played...which I sometimes think is code for "it's slow but important".
Now that Cannes is in the books, I'll pay attention to acquisition news and release dates concerning these titles for additional TFF clues.
A FIRST LOOK AT BEAUTIFUL BOY
Felix Van Groeningen's Beautiful Boy will probably be on my first Ten Bets list (which is about six weeks away). From Amazon Studios, the film features Timothee Chalamet (Oscar nominated last year for Call Me By Your Name) and Steve Carell (Oscar nominated for Foxcatcher) as son and father dealing with the youngsters addiction to meth.
It's likely going to be a part of our conversations for the next several months.
That said, this week, we saw the first footage for the film via a 30 second teaser which is here from YouTube:
Additionally, here is coverage from Indiewire and The Playlist of the release of the teaser.
That's your MTFB for this Monday. Have a good week everyone...and more to come on Thursday.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Good Monday morning to everyone...a visually dominated post today...
PICS FROM CANNES FILMS
Indiewire put up 36 stills from a bunch of the films that are playing Cannes next month last Tuesday and I thought I'd re-post the photos of the films among that group that seem, at least to me and at this time, to be the most likely Telluride crossovers:
We have our first this week at posters for potential Telluride films The Other Side of the Wind and Dogman.
The look at the poster for Orson Welles' final film comes to us from WorldofReel:
And the Dogman poster comes from the Twitter account of Richard Lorman:
AND THE FIRST STILLS FROM OLD MAN AND THE GUN
From Indiewire comes a look at couple of photos from David Lowery's Old Man and the Gun starring Robert Redford (TFF Tribute 2013) which is reportedly his last acting role.
Here are the peeks at Redford (and co-star Sissy Spacek):
Fox Searchlight has announced that the film will be released October 5th.
That's a wrap for this Monday. I'll be back on Thursday with more...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
