A wild couple of days with more announced films from New York and Toronto since Monday's post. As a result, some shakeup in the Ten Bets for this week. Here's a look at last week's Ten Bets:
1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love
2) Women Talking/Polley
3) Broker/Kore-eda
4) Holy Spider/Abbasi
5) The Wonder/Lelio
6) Empire of Light/Mendes
7) Armageddon Time/Gray
8) Bardo/Inarritu
9) TAR/Fields
10) Bones and All/Guadagnino
11) Good Night Oppy/White
12) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper
13) A Compassionate Spy/James
14) Aftersun/Wells
15) Close/Dhont
Others Possibilities: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins, Athena/Gavras.
And now for this week:
1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love
2) Women Talking/Polley
3) Broker/Kore-eda
4) Holy Spider/Abbasi
5) The Wonder/Lelio
6) Empire of Light/Mendes
7) Armageddon Time/Gray
8) Bardo/Inarritu
9) TAR/Fields
10) Bones and All/Guadagnino
11) Good Night Oppy/White
12) A Compassionate Spy/James
13) Godland/Palmason
14) Theatre of Thought/Herzog
15) Living/Hermanus
Others Possibilities: Close/Dhont, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins, Athena/Gavras, Aftersun/Wells, Godland/Palmason, Anastasia/McCarthy, Sr./Smith, The Holdovers/Payne
PALE BLUE EYE WON'T BE SEEN
"Cooper’s latest, titled “Pale Blue Eye,” will finally not be going to Telluride...Supposedly, there was a pretty bad test-screening earlier in the year.
I'm disappointed as Plae Blue Eye would have been a definite watch on my TFF dance card.
AFTERSUN...MAYBE NOT
You'll notice that I have moved Charlotte Wells Aftersun from a spot in the 15 Bets to "Other Possibilities" this week. That owes to the fact that the film was added this week by the Toronto Fest as a North American Premiere. I have had a notion that it would be a Telluride film from its reception at Cannes back in May. That, I thought, was seemingly confirmed when the New York Fest announced it as part of their Main Slate with no premiere designation.
Now, with the TIFF selection and designation, you have one of those classic moments we've all come to know when the status of a film is contradictory between two fests. What to do?
At this late date I have a hard time believing that Toronto would get this wrong. Accordingly I moved Aftersun off the Bets list for this week and even really thought that I wouldn't even include it as an "Other Possibility".
HERZOG YES...JUST NOT WHAT WE THOUGHT
Photo via TIFF
Werner Herzog's Theatre of Thought was announced on Wednesday as an International Premiere for Toronto. The film is so fresh that you can't find it listed on Herzog's IMDb Pro page. The International Premiere status means that it will have played within its country of origin. So one can surmise that the film will likely play Telluride (rather than Fantastic Fest which doesn't start until TIFF is over).
Here is the TIFF description for the film:
"Werner Herzog sets his sights on yet another mysterious landscape — the human brain — for clues as to why a hunk of tissue can produce profound thoughts and feelings while considering the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of fast-advancing neural technology."
As a side note, this seeming confirmation that this Herzog doc is playing TFF #49 don't discount the possibility that The Fire Within might also screen at Telluride.
LIVING AND VENICE-A CLUE?
So many chunks of information to sift through this week including the release of the schedule for the Venice Film Fest. That is often a good indicator of films that will play at Venice first before making the trans-Atlantic flight to Telluride.
To make the leap films generally play the first three to four days of the Venice affair. This year Venice opens on Aug. 31st. So what films that we believe are playing Telluride are loaded in that time frame?
8/31- TAR and Living
9/1- Bardo, A Compassionate Spy
9/2 Bones and All, Athena, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
9/3 Argentina 1985
So, we've been pretty sure about Bardo, TAR and Bones and All for awhile. I'm also pretty confident about A Compassionate Spy.
I think most of you have seen my theory about Living making a stop at Telluride and this early screening time for it fits that theory really well.
As for Athena...timing works well enough. Argentina 1985 is problematic with the screening on Day 4 and I'm still leery that All the Beauty is, in fact as advertised by some portions of the Toronto PR, a North American Premiere there and won't be at TFF #49.
GODLAND LOOKS TELLURIDE BOUND
Toronto's announcement yesterday included Hylnur Palmason's Godland as a Canadian Premiere. The film played Cannes as a part of the Un Certain Regard program where it was generally well regarded by critics.
Godland has played a number of other international film fests including: Sydney, Transylvania and New Horizons. The Canadian Premiere designation means an almost certain play at TFF #49.
The IMDb description of the film:
"In the late 19th century, a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, his mission and morality."
OTHER THOUGHTS:
Looks like Sarah McCarthy's short Anastasia could be Telluride bound as it is listed by Toronto as a Canadian Premiere.
NYFF announced a screening of Chris Smith's Sr. a documentary focused on the life of Robert Downey Sr. NYFF listed without any premiere designation which could mean a TFF #49 play.
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