Showing posts with label Fallen Leaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fallen Leaves. Show all posts

Thursday, January 4, 2024

MTFB Oscar Update: Makeup/Hair and Costumes Plus First Predictions for Shorts / Coming Up... / Interviews and Profiles: Giamatti, Glazer and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: MAKEUP/HAIR AND COSTUMES PLUS FIRST PREDICTIONS FOR SHORTS

In today's MTFB Oscar Update I update predictions for the Makeup/Hair and Costume categories as well as adding first predictions for the Shorts.  For Makeup/Hair their previous rank appears in parentheses to the right of the title.  As always, TFF films are in Bold.


COSTUMES (last predicted on Dec. 21st)




1) Barbie (1)
2) Poor Things (2)
3) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)
4) The Color Purple (3)
5) Maestro (5)

Alternates: Oppenheimer, Napoleon and Wonka.


MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Maestro (1)
2) Poor Things (2)
3) Oppenheimer (-)
4) Killers of the Flower Moon (-)
5) Society of the Snow (-)


Alternates: Golda, Napoleon and Ferrari.

ANIMATED SHORT

1) War Is Over Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko
2) Once upon a Studio
3) I'm Hip
4) A Kind of Testament
5) Eeva

Alternates: Boom, Wild Summon and Letter to a Pig.

LIVE ACTION SHORT

1) The Wonderful Life of Henry Sugar
2) Strange Way of Life
3) Good Boy
4) The After
5) Knight of Fortune

Alternates: The Anne Frank Gift Shop, Yellow and Invincible.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1) The Last Repair Shop
2) Last Song from Kabul
3) The ABCs of Book Banning
4) The Barber of Little Rock
5) Deciding Vote

Alternates: Oasis, Camp Courage and Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games.

As of this morning's post I am predicting TFF films with a total of 36 nominations with another 16 "alternates".  Here's the TFF breakdown:

Poor Things (11 noms and one alternate) : Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor (Ruffalo), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Score, Production Design, Visual Effects and Makeup/Hair.  The alternate is a second Supporting Actor nomination for Willem Dafoe.

The Zone of Interest (Six noms and two alternates): Best Picture, Direction, International Film, Cinematography, Score and Sound.  Alternates are Huller for Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay.

The Holdovers (Four noms and three alternatives): Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.  Alternates are for Direction, Supporting Actor and Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall (Three noms and one alternate):Best Picture, Actress and Original Screenplay and the alternate is for Original Screenplay.

American Symphony (Two noms): Best Doc feature and Song.

All of Us Strangers (One nom and one alternate): The nom for Adapted Screenplay and a Best Actor alternate.

Nyad (One nom and one alternate): The nom for Supporting Actress with a Best Actress alternate.

Rustin (One nom and one alternate): The nom for Best Song with an alternate possibility for Best Actor.

In addition to The Zone of Interest in International Feature I'm predicting three other TFF films to be nominated in that category: The Taste of Things, The Teachers' Lounge and Fallen Leaves.  Totem and Perfect Days could also make it into the category.  Were it not for Society of the Snow I'd likely be predicting that all five nominees for International Feature would be TFF films.

In Documentary feature, in addition to American Symphony, I have Beyond Utopia making it into the list of nominees.

And finally, in the Shorts categories I have three TFF films being nominated as you can see above: Strange Way of Life, The Last Repair Shop and Last Song from Kabul.

In terms of other predictions not TFF films I have Killers of the Flower Moon leading the pack with 12 nominations.  Could KOTFM replicate The Irishman and have this many nominations and not win any?  Percentages right now suggest that is unlikely.  Lily Gladstone isn't certain to win Best Actress but she is certainly the frontrunner.  That said, she could be the only winner for KOTFM on Oscar night.

Other non-TFF films with double nomination totals predicted:  Oppenheimer with 11 and Barbie with 10 though Barbie could add up to three additional nominations.  Maestro is now predicted for seven  nominations with a shot at two others.

COMING UP...




It's a big Oscar pre-cursor period between now and MTFB's next post on Monday.  

Tomorrow the BAFTA longlists are released.
Saturday we'll see the National Society of Film Critics announce the top three vote getters in each of 10 categories.
And on Sunday The Golden Globes announce their winners.

I'll have a lot to talk about in Monday's post.


INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES













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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays


Thursday, December 28, 2023

MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays, International and Documentary Features, Cinematography and Editing / Interviews and Profiles: Dafoe, Mescal. Pike, Randolph and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS, INTERNATIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY FEATURES, CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING.

Here's the latest MTFB Oscar Update.  As we move to less than a month before nomination announcements I am consolidating categories for each post. Today I'm updating the Screenplay, International Feature, Documentary Feature, Cinematography and Editing categories.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.



BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY



1) The Holdovers (1)
2) Barbie (2)
3) Past Lives (3)
4) Anatomy of a Fall (4)
5) May December (-)


Alternates: Maestro, Air, Saltburn.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY




1) Oppenheimer (1)
2) American Fiction (2)
3) Poor Things (3)
4) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)
5) All of Us Strangers (5)

Alternates: The Zone of Interest,  Spiderman  Across the Spider-Verse and Are You There God, It's Me Margaret


BEST DOCUMENTARY 



1) American Symphony (1)
2) 20 Days in Mariupol (2)
3) Beyond Utopia (4)
4) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (3)
5) Four Daughters (5)

Alternates: The Eternal Memory, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project and Stamped from the Beginning.



BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE




1) The Zone of Interest (1)
2) The Taste of Things (2)
3) Society of the Snow (5)
4) The Teachers' Lounge (3)
5) Fallen Leaves (-)

Alternates: Perfect Days, 20 Days in Mariupol and Totem.


CINEMATOGRAPHY




1) Oppenheimer (1)
2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)
3) Poor Things (3)
4) Maestro (4)
5) The Zone of Interest (5)

Alternates: Saltburn, Barbie and The Color Purple.


FILM EDITING




1) Oppenheimer (1)
2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)
3) Poor Things (3)
4) Barbie (4)
5) Maestro (5)

Alternates: The Holdovers, Anatomy of a Fall and Air.

In all from 13 TFF films are represented in these categories with a predicted overall total of 13 nominations with another seven possibilities.  Here's the inventory from these six categories of nominations or possible nominations involving TFF films:

Poor Things with three nominations: Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Editing.

The Zone of Interest with two nominations: International Feature and Cinematography with another possible nomination for Adapted Screenplay.

The Holdovers with one nomination for Original Screenplay and another possible in Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall with one nomination for Original Screenplay and another possible for Editing.

Single predicted nominations for:

All of Us Strangers: Adapted Screenplay
American Symphony: Documentary 
Beyond Utopia: Documentary
The Taste of Things: International Feature
The Teachers' Lounge: International Feature
Fallen Leaves: International Feature

Films just outside the predicted nominations but still possible:

Saltburn with two possibilities: Original Screenplay and Cinematography.
Perfect Days could sneak into International Feature.
Totem could also slide into International Feature.

MTFB's Oscar Update will look at Animated Feature, Score, Song, Production Design, Visual Effects and Sound in the next post on New Year's day.




INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: DAFOE, MESCAL, PIKE, RANDOLPH AND MORE


FOR ALL OF US STRANGERS:









FOR POOR THINGS




FOR THE HOLDOVERS



FOR FALLEN LEAVES




FOR THE ZONE OF INTEREST


Sandra Huller from Backstage.com (also includes some talk of Anatomy of a Fall)


FOR SALTBURN





EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (TWITTER): @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays



Thursday, November 9, 2023

Oscar Update: Best Picture and Direction / European Film Awards Nominations and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND DIRECTION




Here's MTFB's  Oscar Update.  Today I'm updating the Best Picture and Direction categories.  The last prediction for these two categories were posted on Oct. 16th.  As usual TFF #50 films are in Bold.  A film's previous position on the MTFB Oscar chart is listed in parentheses.

BEST PICTURE




1) Oppenheimer (1)
2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)
3) Barbie (4)
4) Poor Things (3)
5) American Fiction (8)
6) The Holdovers (5)
7) Maestro (6)
8) Past Lives (7)
9) Anatomy of a Fall (-)
10) The Zone of Interest (9)

Alternates: The Color Purple, Air, Saltburn, All of Us Strangers

BEST DIRECTION

1) Christopher Nolan/Oppenheimer (1)
2) Martin Scorsese/Killer of the Flower Moon (2)
3) Greta Gerwig/Barbie (3)
4) Yorgos Lanthimos/Poor Things (4)
5) Jonathan Glazer/The Zone of Interest (5)

Alternates: Alexander Payne/The Holdovers, Cord Jefferson/American Fiction,  Bradley Cooper/Maestro and Justine Triet/Anatomy of a Fall. 


EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF



The European Film Academy announced its nominations for film excellence on Tuesday and a number of TFF films were in the mix:.  Here's the listing of EFA nominations earned by TFF films:

The Zone of Interest (5): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Huller), Best Actor (Freidel), Best Screenplay.

Fallen Leaves (5): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Poysti), Best Actor (Vatanen), Best Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall (4): Best European Film, Best Direction, Best Actress (Huller), Best Screenplay.

The Teachers' Lounge (2): Best Actress (Benesch), Best Screenplay.

La Chimera (1): Best Actor (O'Connor).

The Promised Land (1): Best Actor (Mikkelsen).


The EFA's winners will be announced on Dec. 9th.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: 


Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from apnews.com.

Composer Mark Orton on The Holdovers from Screen Rant.

 

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

Thursday, November 2, 2023

An Experiment / BIFA Awards Nominations / Writers Guild Moves Awards / Interviews and Profiles: Herzog, Nikou and Hemingson

AN EXPERIMENT




For a long while I have been fascinated by what happens to TFF films after they screen at Telluride.  I've watched, over the last several years, announcements from other fests concerning their lineups and where TFF films landed.  So I decided this year to actually survey what the pedigrees became for films that played The SHOW.

To keep the project from becoming ridiculously large I limited the assessment to two fests that precede Telluride that always screen films that then play at Telluride-Cannes and Venice. I included four major post-Telluride fests-Toronto, New York, London and AFI and then I included what are often referred as Regional fests.  I asked a number of journalist friends which fests fit that description and landed on: Mill Valley, Middleburg, Savannah and The Hamptons.  There is a fifth fest that fits the profile and that's Palm Springs which doesn't happen until Jan. 4-15, 2024.

39 TFF #50 films played at least one other festival in addition to its Telluride screening.

So which films play the most of these 10 festivals (it'll be 11 after Palm Springs)?  Any film that plays as many as possible would have a total of nine as Cannes and Venice screenings are mutually exclusive.  The only film to have made that happen is Wim Winders Perfect Days.

Three films made appearances at eight of these fests:

Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves which only missed Savannah.
Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera which didn't play London.
Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest. It isn't scheduled to play at the AFI Fest which just got under way this past Sunday.

A single film will have made seven stops in addition to TFF and that is Tran Ahn Hung's The Taste of Things.

Six films will score six fest screenings beyond Telluride: Anatomy of a Fall, The Promised Land, All of Us Strangers, Fingernails, The Holdovers and The Teachers' Lounge.

Films with five screenings: The Pigeon Tunnel, Rustin and Totem.

Films that would seem to be likely Oscar possibilities that each have four are Poor Things, The Bikeriders and Nyad.

So, does this little exercise mean anything?  

At a minimum it may give us a bit of insight into the International Feature Oscar race.  Eight films that were submitted for the International Oscar played TFF #50: Fallen Leaves, The Taste of Things, Perfect Days, The Zone of Interest, The Promised Land, The Monk and the Gun, The Teacher's Lounge and Totem.  The only one of those eight that will have screened at less than five of these fests is Bhutan's selection The monk and the Gun.

The other thing I think this may show us is the perhaps hidden strength of Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest and their chances of making the final field of ten films nominated for best Picture.  

I'll check back as we move through awards season to assess if this exercise had anything to reveal.


BIFA AWARDS NOMINATIONS




Overnight the British Independent Film Awards announced its nominees.  Six TFF films earned a total of  21 nominations lead by 14 for Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers.  Here's the breakdown:

All of Us Strangers: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance-Andrew Scott, Supporting Performance-Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, Screenplay, Casting, Cinematography, Editing, Music Supervision, Makeup and Hair, Production Design and Sound.

Bobi Wine: The People's President (from TFF #49): Best Documentary Feature, Best Debut Direction of a Documentary Feature and Documentary Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Independent Film.

Fallen Leaves: Beat International Independent Film.

Occupied City: Best Feature Documentary.

High and Low: John Galliano: Best Editing.



WRITERS' GUILD MOVES AWARDS




The writers' strike continues to alter the film landscape with the announcement yesterday from the WGA that they will hand out their awards on April 14th.  The WGA will announce their nominees on Feb. 21st, one day before final Oscar voting begins.  Variety reported that the WGA issued a statement which said, in part:

“This year’s Writers Guild Awards are being held in April to allow for a full awards submissions process to occur after the strike."

So at least one major Guild precursor is set to occur after the Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

One wonders if other Guilds might re-visit their plans with the Actors' strike still on-going.


INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: HERZOG, NIKOU AND HEMINGSON




Werner Herzog on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend Podcast. (Shout out to MTFB friend Patrick Pringle who alerted me to this)



Thursday, September 28, 2023

Fingernails Trailer / Denmark Chooses The Promised Land / Speaking of International Films

FINGERNAILS TRAILER

Apple has dropped an official trailer for Christos Nikou's Fingernails which had its World Premiere at the 50th edition of the Telluride Film Festival. Here that is from YouTube:



Fi

DENMARK CHOOSES THE PROMISED LAND



Deadline, among other outlets reported earlier this week that Denmark has chosen to submit The Promised Land for the International film Academy Award.  

The Promised Land is being distributed domestically by Magnolia Pictures and is set for U.S. release on Feb. 2, 2024.


SPEAKING OF INTERNATIONAL FILMS




Indiewire's Anne Thompson's current handicapping of the Oscar race for Best International Film has a huge TFF #50 flavor.  

Thompson lists six films as "Frontrunners" all of which were playing at Telluride four weeks ago.  They are:

“The Monk and the Gun” (Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan)
“Perfect Days” (Wim Wenders, Japan)
“The Promised Land” (Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark)
“The Taste of Things” (Tràn Anh Hùng, France)
“The Teachers’ Lounge” (İlker Çatak, Germany)
“The Zone of Interest” (Jonathan Glazer, United Kingdom)

Additionally Thompson includes a couple of contenders including TFF films:

"Fallen Leaves" (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland)
"Godland” (Hlynur Pálmason, Iceland-TFF #49

Could this be the year where all nominees in a category screened over Labor Day at The SHOW?



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Friday, September 1, 2023

Friday Plan / Thursday Films

FRIDAY PLAN

The Bikeriders at The Galaxy at 9:15
The Holdovers at 1:15 at The Palm
Fallen Leaves at La Pierre at 4:15
All of Us Strangers at The Galaxy at 7:30

TBA's for Friday:

9:15 AM- Sheridan Opera House: Three Songs about Tom Luddy and They Shot the Piano Player
9:00 PM- Masons: The Teacher's Lounge
9:30 PM-The Zog: The Last Waltz
10:00 PM- The Galaxy: The Zone of Interest

THURSDAY'S FILMS

American Symphony is a triumph.  
Saltburn is beautiful to look at but derivative, tonally inconsistent, a bit long and tries to cram in way tooo much in the final 30 minutes.  And as my wife says..."cringe".

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

The 50th Telluride Film Festival Lineup

THE 50TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP

After months of anticipation and intense analysis and speculation, here is your official lineup for the 50th iteration of the Telluride Film Festival.  Note here: I expect that the weekend will have 2-3 "surprises/sneaks".

The official press release:

Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, today announces its official program selections for its 50th anniversary edition. TFF’s celebration of artistic excellence brings together cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, and artists to discover the best in world cinema in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. TFF is screening over eighty feature films, short films, and revival programs representing twenty-nine countries, along with filmmaker Tributes, Conversations, Seminars, Student Programs, and Festivities. Telluride Film Festival’s 50th anniversary edition takes place Thursday, August 31 through Monday, September 4, 2023.

 

The 50th Telluride Film Festival proudly presents the following new feature films playing in its Main Program, the SHOW: 

 

•      ALL OF US STRANGERS (d. Andrew Haigh, U.K., 2023)

•      AMERICAN SYMPHONY (d. Matthew Heineman, U.S., 2023)

•      ANATOMY OF A FALL (d. Justine Triet, France, 2023)

•      ANSELM (d. Wim Wenders, Germany, 2023)

•      BALTIMORE (d. Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy Ireland-U.K., 2023) 

•      BEYOND UTOPIA (d. Madeleine Gavin, U.S., 2023)

•      THE BIKERIDERS (d. Jeff Nichols, U.S., 2023)

•      CASSANDRO (d. Roger Ross Williams, U.S., 2023)

•      DADDIO (d. Christy Hall, U.S., 2023)

•      EL CONDE (d. Pablo Larraín, Chile, 2023)

•      FALLEN LEAVES (d. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2023)

•      THE FALLING STAR (d. Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, France-Belgium, 2023)

•      FINALLY DAWN (d. Saverio Costanzo, Italy, 2023)

•      FINGERNAILS (d. Christos Nikou, U.S., 2023)

•      FOOD, INC. 2 (d. Robert Kenner, Melissa Robledo, U.S., 2023)

•      HIGH & LOW-JOHN GALLIANO (d. Kevin Macdonald, U.K., 2023)

•      THE HOLDOVERS (d. Alexander Payne, U.S., 2023) 

•      HOLLYWOODGATE (d. Ibrahim Nash’at, U.S.-Germany, 2023)

•      JANET PLANET (d. Annie Baker, U.S., 2023)

•      LA CHIMERA (d. Alice Rohrwacher, Italy-France-Switzerland, 2023)

•      THE MISSION (d. Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, U.S., 2023)

•      THE MONK AND THE GUN (d. Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan, 2023)

•      NYAD (d. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, U.S., 2023)

•      OCCUPIED CITY (d. Steve McQueen, Netherlands-U.K.-U.S., 2023)

•      ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY (d. Paul B. Preciado, France, 2023)

•      PERFECT DAYS (d. Wim Wenders, Japan, 2023)

•      THE PIGEON TUNNEL (d. Errol Morris, U.K., 2023)

•      POOR THINGS (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.S.-Ireland-U.K., 2023)

•      THE PROMISED LAND (d. Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark-Germany-Sweden, 2023)

•      THE ROYAL HOTEL (d. Kitty Green, Australia, 2023)

•      RUSTIN (d. George C. Wolfe, U.S., 2023)

•      SALTBURN (d. Emerald Fennell, U.S., 2023)

•      THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (d. Ilker Çatak, Germany, 2023)

•      TEHACHAPI (d. JR, France, 2023)

•      THANK YOU VERY MUCH (d. Alex Braverman, U.S., 2023)

•      TUESDAY (d. Daina O. Pusić, U.S.-U.K., 2023)

•      WILDCAT (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2023)

•      THE ZONE OF INTEREST (d. Jonathan Glazer, U.S.-U.K.-Poland, 2023)

 

The 2023 Silver Medallion Awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, will go to Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (with POOR THINGS), Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher (with LA CHIMERA), and German filmmaker Wim Wenders (with ANSELM and PERFECT DAYS). Tribute programs include a selection of clips, the presentation of the Silver Medallion, and the film screening. 

 

TFF selects four documentary shorts for its Main Program:

 

•      IF DREAMS WERE LIGHTNING (d. Ramin Bahrani, U.S., 2023)

•      INCIDENT (d. Bill Morrison, U.S., 2023)

•      THE LAST REPAIR SHOP (d. Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers, U.S., 2023)

•      THE LAST SONG FROM KABUL (d. Kevin Macdonald, Afghanistan-Qatar-Portugal-Germany, 2023)



“Fifty years is a long time to do anything. And while we might be a little biased, we feel the work that TFF does is pretty important,” comments Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger. “We take the charge of preserving the theatrical experience and promoting film seriously, but with necessary winks here and there. We’re ecstatic to share a program we feel reflects so much of the past fifty years, naturally and organically, films old and new, which stand as a testament to our beloved co-founders Tom Luddy and Bill Pence who are no longer with us.”

 

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, TFF is honoring its long and diverse history by selecting some of its most celebrated past guests to curate its Guest Director program. Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Curtis, Ethan Hawke, Rachel Kushner, Steve McQueen, and Mira Nair’s selections include:

 

•      JUVENILE COURT (d. Frederick Wiseman, U.S., 1973) Selected and presented by 

Rachel Kushner

•      ALL THAT JAZZ (d. Bob Fosse, U.S., 1979) Selected and presented by Ethan Hawke

•      JONAH WHO WILL BE 25 IN THE YEAR 2000 (d. Alain Tanner, France-Switzerland, 

1976) Selected and presented by Alfonso Cuarón

•      THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (d. John Mackenzie, U.K., 1980) Selected and presented 

by Adam Curtis

•      ZÉRO DE CONDUITE (d. Jean Vigo, France, 1933) Selected and presented by Steve 

McQueen

•      THE MUSIC ROOM (d. Satyajit Ray, India, 1958) Selected and presented by Mira Nair

 

The Special Medallion celebrates a hero of cinema who preserves, honors and presents essential, meaningful films. This year’s award goes to Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation. Film restorations by The Film Foundation to screen along with the program are Idrissa Ouédraogo’s YAM DAABO (Burkina Faso, 1986), Bahram Beyzaie’s DOWNPOUR (Iran, 1972), and two shorts by Agnès Varda: BLACK PANTHERS (France-U.S., 1970) and UNCLE YANCO (France-U.S., 1968) which will be shown alongside THE GLEANERS AND I (France, 2000) as part of a celebration of the late filmmaker.

 

Additional film restorations playing throughout the Festival include THE UNKNOWN (d. Tod Browning, U.S., 1927); MY GRANDMOTHER (d. Kote Mikaberidze, Soviet Union, 1929) with Finnish music ensemble Cleaning Women performing a live score; Abel Gance’s LA ROUE (France, 1923) shown in four chapters; and two films remembering TFF 21 Special Medallion recipient Ninón Sevilla: VÍCTIMAS DEL PECADO (d. Emilio Fernández, Mexico, 1951) and LLÉVAME EN TUS BRAZOS (d. Julio Bracho, Mexico, 1954).

 

Special Screenings and Festivities include Pedro Almodóvar’s short film STRANGE WAY OF LIFE (Spain, 2023); Ross White and Tom Berkeley’s short THE GOLDEN WEST (Ireland-U.K., 2023); a live performance by Jon Batiste following Thursday’s screening of AMERICAN SYMPHONY, Tina Satter’s REALITY (U.S., 2023); Agnès Varda’s art installation, Patatutopia; and Festival poster signing by Luke Dorman.

 

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room features behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians, and filmmakers is showing the following programs:

 

•      AKA MR. CHOW (d. Nick Hooker, U.S., 2023)

•      ALL THAT IS SACRED (d. Scott Ballew, U.S., 2023) with TARPON (d. Guy de la 

Valdene, Christian Odasso, U.S., 1973)

•      ANGEL APPLICANT (d. Ken Meyer, U.S., 2023)

•      CAROL DODA TOPLESS AT THE CONDOR (d. Marlo McKenzie, Jonathan Parker, 

U.S., 2023)

•      CINEMA HAS BEEN MY TRUE LOVE: THE WORK AND TIMES OF LYNDA MYLES 

(d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2023)

•      KIM’S VIDEO (d. David Redmon, Ashley Sabin, U.S.-U.K.-Italy, 2023)

•      LITTLE GIRL BLUE (d. Mona Achache, France, 2023)

•      MUSICA! (d. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, U.S., 2023)

•      NOTES FROM SHEEPLAND (d. Cara Holmes, Ireland, 2023)

•      ROOM 999 (d. Lubna Playoust, France, 2023)

•      ZINZINDURRUNKARRATZ (d. Oskar Alegría, Spain, 2023)

 

Telluride Film Festival’s shorts section, Filmmakers of Tomorrow, includes three programs: Student Prints, now in its 30th year, screening films from the best in student-produced work from around the globe; Calling Cards, exceptional new works by promising filmmakers; and Great Expectations, featuring works from innovative and diverse filmmakers. 

 

Telluride Film Festival’s Student Programs present students with the opportunity to experience film as an art and expand participants’ worldviews through film screenings and filmmaker discussions. The Student Symposium provides graduate and undergraduate students with a weekend-long immersion in cinema. The City Lights Project brings together high school students and their teachers from various schools to participate in a concentrated program of films and discussions. FilmLAB, in partnership with the American Film Institute, brings exceptional AFI Fellows to learn from world-class filmmakers in a masterclass setting. The FilmSCHOLAR program, created in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin, gives young film scholars and aspiring critics the opportunity to immerse themselves in a weekend of cinema and learn from some of the best voices in the field. 

 

Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. Conversations about cinema and culture and outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of Festival guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public. 

 

As we look to the next 50 years of the Telluride Film Festival, our corporate, institutional, and philanthropic supporters light the path ahead. We have incredible momentum in our $25M capital campaign to achieve a decades-long dream of a forever home at Telluride's historic Nugget Building. In addition to rescuing a beloved small-town movie theater, this investment at the Nugget site will create a year-round hub for filmmaker residency programs and TFF's nationally recognized education programs. “We are filled with gratitude for our exceptional long-term relationships,” says Huntsinger. “It is the magic of film in our transformational setting that uniquely provides opportunities to align in support of a shared experience.” TFF is honored to feature some of the world’s most renowned consumer and entertainment brands and to engage a vibrant philanthropic community of passionate and committed donors. Together, they play a dynamic role in the life of the Festival and underscore TFF's commitment to quality, adventure, and distinction in the art of cinema. TFF welcomes Festival Luxury Vehicle Lucid Motors and remains proud to enjoy Meyer Sound's extraordinary audio experience at the Galaxy, Werner Herzog, and Nugget Theaters.



For more information about Telluride Film Festival, or to download the 2023 program guide, please visit www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

Monday, August 28, 2023

FINAL TEN (PLUS) BETS FOR TFF #50 / A Look at Lists / Some Stars Could Be in Town / My Top Ten / Late Breaking / The People's Telluride for TFF #50

FINAL TEN (PLUS) BETS FOR TFF #50




Here are my final "bets" for the TFF #50 lineup.  Over the past few years this final list has normally been off by one or two titles.


1) The Holdovers
2) Poor Things
3) Saltburn
4) The Zone of Interest
5) Anatomy of a Fall
6) Nyad
7) Rustin
8) The Royal Hotel
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers 
12) Fallen Leaves
13) Perfect Days
14) El Conde
15) Janet Planet
16) The Promised Land
17) Orlando, My Political Biography
18) The Pigeon Tunnel
19) The Bikeriders
20) Daddio
21) Occupied City
22) They Shot the Piano Player
23) The Taste of Things
24) La Chimera
25) The Settlers

Other possibilities: Without Blood, The American Buffalo, About Dry Grasses, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, The End, Freud's Last Session, Tuesday and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.



A LOOK AT LISTS




Lots of sources have begun laying out their "Must See" lists for fall films.  Included among them are lists from The Film Stage, Indiewire, The Playlist and World of Reel.  I compiled likely Telluride films from each of those lists to get a sense of what films might be hot tickets this weekend.

A total of eight probable TFF films made all four of the lists:

All of Us Strangers
The Bikeriders
El Conde
Fingernails
The Holdovers
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Zone Interest

Anatomy of a Fall made three of the lists missing only the World of Reel.

Films with two mentions:

Nyad
Rustin

Films with a single mention include:

Fallen Leaves
Janet Planet
Occupied City
Orlando, My Political Biography
The Pigeon Tunnel
The Royal Hotel
Wildcat


SOME STARS COULD BE IN TOWN?


Dakota Johnson at Telluride in 2021.



Over the weekend SAG/Aftra released a statement encouraging films that have an interim agreement with the organization to allow their talent to attend upcoming film festivals.

I scoured the updating list from Deadline.com for films that we think are playing Telluride as well as for films at Venice.

I spied two TFF #50 possibilities that have an interim agreement in place.  One is Christy Hall's Daddio which stars Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn-both of whom have attended Telluride previously and the other was Ethan Hawke's Daddio.  Hawke has been to Telluride on a number of occasions.

Venice films that have an interim agreement are Sofia Coppola's Priscilla and Michael Mann's Ferrari..


MY TOP TEN




Going into the week, my top ten films at the moment to try to catch are (in alphabetical order):

All of Us Strangers
Anatomy of a Fall
El Conde
Fallen Leaves
The Holdovers
Nyad
Poor Things
Rustin
Saltburn
The Zone of Interest

Honorable Mention: Fingernails, The Bikeriders, The Settlers and Janet Planet.

We'll drive part way tomorrow and roll into Telluride Wednesday afternoon.
SEE YOU IN THE 'RIDE!


LATE BREAKING

 A number of readers reached out to me yesterday with the news of the free screening in Elks Park on Wednesday of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz.



In the past you could reliably infer some things about TFF tributes from the selection of films scheduled to run in Elks Park prior to the start of the fest but that has proven to be not necessarily the case in the past couple of years.  Last year's screenings were the documentary Navalny and Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show.  Neither of them pointed  to the tributes to Cate Blanchett, Sarah Polley and Mark Cousins.

So for those of us who have gotten used to discerning Guest Directors and who would read this as Martin Scorsese getting a tribute (and a likely screening of Killers of the Flower Moon)...hold on.

Additionally, some buzzing in my ear has me sold that the three tributes will go to three different foreign directors.  Marty's not foreign.

Sooo, I still am subscribing to the notion that KOTFM doesn't screen in Telluride.

That said, we still don't know who the Guest Director(s) might be.




THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE FOR TFF #50




For the 11th non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com





Thursday, August 17, 2023

Ten (Plus) Bets #9 / Cryptic Message from Kris Tapley / Fantastic Fest Announces / There Goes Maestro / The People's Telluride Returns

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #9




We're in the home stretch now with mere days left before TFF #50 takes off.  I'll have the 10th installment of 2023's Ten Bets a week from today and the FINAL BETS for this year will be published on Monday, August 28th.  And, of course, I'll post the announced list of films and other information on Wednesday August 30th.

Here's reminder of where we were with last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) Saltburn
6) Poor Things
7) The Royal Hotel
8) Rustin
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers (previously titled Strangers)
12) The Bikeriders
13) Fallen Leaves
14) Perfect Days
15) The Settlers

Other possibilities: El Conde, The Pigeon Tunnel, Without Blood, The Promised Land, The End, The American Buffalo, The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, Janet Planet, Orlando, My Political Biography, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.

And here is the latest Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) Saltburn
6) Poor Things
7) The Royal Hotel
8) Rustin
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers 
12) The Bikeriders
13) Fallen Leaves
14) Perfect Days
15) El Conde
16) Janet Planet
17) The Promised Land
18) Orlando, My Political Biography
19) The Pigeon Tunnel
20) Without Blood

Other possibilities: Daddio, They Shot the Piano Player, The Settlers, The End, The American Buffalo, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, La Chimera, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Tuesday and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.


CRYPTIC MESSAGE FROM KRIS TAPLEY

Yesterday Kris Tapley posted on X (used to Twitter? Still is Twitter?):



Now, what does that mean?

Could it portend Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon landing at Telluride?

Will Rustin's World Premiere at Telluride draw out the founders of the production company behind the film?  That's Higher Ground Productions which was founded by a couple named Obama.

Or is it something else entirely?

Tapley has been around the biz for awhile and a Telluride attendee for a good long time as well.  He clearly knows something is in the wind.  That doesn't necessarily mean that Telluride would be included in whatever he's teasing but there's a chance.


FANTASTIC FEST ANNOUNCES




Fantastic Fest, the primarily genre film festival based in Austin Texas announced its lineup on Tuesday.  The news from FF each year usually doesn't provide a ton of Telluride intelligence but almost always provides a little and this year's announcement met that tradition.

First, Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things was not announced and, unless there is some late surprise addition, that all but assures that the film will play at TFF #50.

Additionally, Michel Gondry's The Book of Solutions which I had semi-considered as a possible choice for Telluride will not be.  FF announced it as a North American premiere taking it off the table for TFF.

To look for films from Fantastic Fest's list you want to pay attention to films that are listed as "Texas" premieres.  I found 16 of those on Tuesday and ran them down.  It appears that Gareth Edwards the Creator might be a T-ride possibility as it is listed as a Texas premiere and has not screened anywhere up to this point.

The film from 20th Century Studios/New Regency/Disney is described at IMDb as:

"...a post-apocalyptic thriller involving a future impacted by a war between humans and AI."


Meanwhile, another film that meets the Texas premiere and hasn't played anywhere else in the U.S. is Wonsuk Lee's Killing romance.  It's FF profile describes it:

"A fallen actress falls in love with a man, but when he turns out to be a monster, her next-door überfan helps her escape the only way they know how — by trying to kill him".

Honestly, I have a little difficulty believing that either of these films are necessarily Telluride bound but the premiere status and available data suggest otherwise.




THERE GOES MAESTRO




The New York Film Festival announced yesterday that Bradley Cooper's Maestro will be a North American premiere as its Spotlight Gala.  That removes it, at last, off the Telluride possibles list.  I was still holding out a slight hope that it might show up at Telluride since it was scheduled to bow in Venice on Saturday, Sept. 2nd.  I know that would cut it close but also thought since Cooper has said that he will not go to Venice for that premiere that perhaps it might still be at TFF #50.

But noop.


THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE RETURNS




For the 11th non-consecutive year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Ten (Plus) Bets #8 / New York Announces / Venice Schedule

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #8



We're closing in on what is shaping up to be a great fest for TFF's 50th go-round.  As is the custom on Thursday's this time of year here at MTFB, here is my latest update of films that I think will be announced for the lineup on (I beleive) Wednesday August 29th for The SHOW.

First, a re-visit of last week's Ten Bets and possibilities:

1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) The Royal Hotel
6) Saltburn
7) Rustin
8) Wildcat
9) Fingernails
10) El Conde

Other possibilities: The Pigeon Tunnel, Poor Things, Without Blood, The End, The Bikeriders, The American Buffalo,  Fallen Leaves,  The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session.

 And for this week's edition here are Ten+ Bets:

1) The Holdovers
2) Nyad
3) The Zone of Interest
4) Anatomy of a Fall
5) Saltburn
6) Poor Things
7) The Royal Hotel
8) Rustin
9) Wildcat
10) Fingernails
11) All of Us Strangers (previously titled Strangers)
12) The Bikeriders
13) Fallen Leaves
14) Perfect Days
15) The Settlers

Other possibilities: El Conde, The Pigeon Tunnel, Without Blood, The Promised Land, The End, The American Buffalo, The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, Janet Planet, Orlando, My Political Biography, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.

NEW YORK ANNOUNCES




The New York Film Festival announced its Main Slate selections on Tuesday and it contains hints for possible/probable films that will have screened previously at Telluride.

The way NYFF has formatted their announcement means that we want to look at films with no premiere designation.  Films that NYFF has designated as either a North American Premiere or a U.S. Premiere will not have played Telluride.  With that explanation the non-designated films from their list are:

About Dry Grasses/Ceylan
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt/Jackson*
All of Us Strangers/Haigh
Anatomy of a Fall/Triet***
La Chimera/Rohrwacher+++
Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki
Janet Planet/Baker
Orlando, My Political Biography/Preciado
Perfect Days/Wenders
Poor Things/Lanthimos**
The Settlers/Galvez
The Zone of Interest/Glazer***

*All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt premiered at Sundance and so is historically unlikely to also screen at Telluride.  That said, I think there's a reasonable chance that it still makes an appearance over Labor Day weekend.

**Poor Things conceivably could play at Fantastic Fest rather than T-ride and earn the "no designation" from NYFF but I'm feeling fairly confident that its at TFF.

***I've been pretty sure about both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest since they were both announced as Canadian Premieres for Toronto.  Their "no designation" here seems to confirm their presence at Telluride.

+++ Despite a lack of premiere designation, Toronto has listed La Chimera as a North American Premiere so there's a disconnect somewhere.



VENICE SCHEDULE???




Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel reported on Tuesday that at least some of the schedule for the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion competition films had leaked largely from Venice director Alberto Barbera via Twitter or X or Elon's LunchboX...or whatever...

If its accurate it gives us insight about which films might be in play for a Venice/Telluride Two Step.  Meaning that if a film plays early enough in Italy, then there is the possibility that they fly across the Atlantic and screen the film before Telluride is over.

That "Two Step" happens quite a bit each year.  Last year, for example, 11 films made that journey: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Bardo, Bobi Wine, Bones and All, A Compassionate Spy, Desperate Souls, Fragments of Paradise, Living, March on Rome, Salvatore:Shoemaker and TAR.  Over the past seven years the average "share rate" between TFF and Venice has been 7-8 films.

So here's what Ruimy is reporting:

08/30 Comandante
08/31 Ferrari, The Promised Land, Dogman
09/01 Poor Things, El Conde, Finalmente L’Alba, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
09/02 The Palace, Maestro
09/03 The Beast, The Killer, Theory of Everything
09/04 Priscilla, Evil Doesn’t Exist, Coup de Chance
09/05 The Green Border
09/06 Origin
09/07 Holly, Lubo, Io Capitano
09/08 Memory

Now, Telluride, as we know, will open on Thursday, Aug. 31st and runs through Monday, Sept. 4th.  Anything that screens in Venice from Aug. 30th to Sept. 2nd is worth looking at.

Of particular note is The Promised Land, Poor Things, El Conde, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Maestro.

I'm feeling good about Poor Things, El Conde and The Promised Land.  I'm less bullish on Henry Sugar and Maestro.

Additionally, David Fincher's much anticipated The Killer is slated for a Sept. 3rd screening in Venice making a Telluride turn-around very unlikely.

The actual Venice schedule is set to be released tomorrow.




EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com