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
AFI IS IN FULL SWING AND FEATURES FILMS FROM TFF#43
The American Film Institutes's Film Festival began late last week and will continue through the 17th. The fest is the last festival to feature premieres of films that could find their way into the Oscar conversation before we start to hear from critic's groups. Films such as Miss Sloane and Rules Don't Apply that have gotten a good deal of awards speculation will screen or have screened at AFI.
The National Board of Review announces their list of films in just over two weeks (Nov. 29) with the New York Critics announcing on Dec. 1 and LA critics on Dec. 4. AFI will announce their top films on Dec. 8. Golden Globe nominations are announced on Dec. 12 and Screen Actors Guild nominations are announced Dec. 14. The British Academy announces nominees on Jan. 10.
Oscar voters begin voting for nominees on Jan. 5 and that closes Jan. 13. Oscar nominees are announced Jan. 24.
Thanks to Sasha Stone's Awards Daily for the comprehensive calendar of awards dates. You can find that complete list here.
At any rate, Telluride 2016 films are a significant presence at this year's AFI fest: Included in the AFI schedule from TFF #43 are: La La Land, Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds, Fire at Sea, Toni Erdmann, Graduation, Neruda, Things to Come and Mifune: The Last Samurai.
Werner Herzog, not surprisingly premiered his Volcano Around the World documentary, Into the Inferno, at Telluride. Herzog's doc travels the globe and seeks to place volcanic natural phenomena into the contexts in which various cultures have interacted with them.
Additionally, here's the official trailer for the film:
Into the Inferno opened on Oct. 28 and is available to stream on Netflix.
OSCAR PUNDITS UPDATE
I've got a new FAC update coming for Thursday's post that will update the acting races but until then, here are the latest updated Oscar pics from two of the Oscar experts that are used for The FAC metric.
Sasha Stone's weekly update on Friday has TFF #43 films La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight and Arrival as the top four films contending for Best Picture. She also has Sully at #9. Best Actor candidates include: Casey Affleck/Manchester and Tom Hanks/Sully. Actress: Emma Stone/La La Land, Amy Adams/Arrival. Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali/Moonlight and Lucas Hedges/Manchester. Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris/Moonlight and Michelle Williams/Manchester, Best Director: Damien Chazelle/La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan/Manchester and Denis Villeneuve/Arrival. Check the link above for the rest of Stone's updated predictions.
THE FAC UPDATES SUPPORTING ACTING AND SCREENPLAY CATEGORIES
Last Thursday I updated the four major categories as the New York Film Festival was drawing to a close. That fest has concluded and it's time to update the Supporting Acting and Screenplay categories and assess whether the screenings in New York shifted the landscape (they did...a bit).
Kris Tapley maybe summed it up best when he tweeted earlier this week:
Though Tapley doesn't mention the film by name, it seems pretty obvious that he's talking about Ang Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. And you'll see some of the effect of its NYFF reception as we go through the categories I'm updating today. So without further dithering...
Here's the latest FAC snapshot for four major Oscar categories that I originally posted back on Sept. 29th.
I have used the publicly available Oscar predictions from the following pundits:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Greg Ellwood/The Playlist-Awards Campaign
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
The number in parenthesis is the position the film held three weeks ago.
TFF #43 films are inBold. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1) Naomie Harris/Moonlight (1) 2) Michelle Williams/Manchester by the Sea (2)
3) Nicole Kidman/Lion (3)
4)Greta Gerwig/20th Century Women (6)
5) Kristen Stewart/Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (4)
6) Octavia Spencer/Hidden Figures (5)
7) Janelle Monae/Hidden Figures (NR)
8) Lupita N'yong'o/The Queen of Katwe (7)
9) Helen Mirren/Eye in the Sky (10)
10) Felicty Jones/A Monster Calls (8)
On the Cusp: Molly Shannon/Other People
Dropping Off: Margo Martindale/The Hollars
Hot: Gerwig and Monae.
Cold: N'yong'o
Comment: The NYFF Billy Lynn response doesn't seem to have hurt Stewart much (but wait until you get to Adapted Screenplay below). Gerwig definitely benefits from a strong positive NYFF response to 20th Century Women.
Harris and Williams seem like locks even this early in the scheme of things. Kidman is close to lock status as well.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1) Liam Neeson/Silence (1)
2) Hugh Grant/Florence Foster Jenkins (2)
3) Jeff Bridges/Hell or High Water (6) 4) Lucas Hedges/Manchester by the Sea (4)
5) Michael Shannon/Nocturnal Animals (5)
6) Mahershala Ali/Moonlight (3)
7) Stephen Henderson/Fences (7) 8) Aaron Eckhardt/Bleed for This (8)
9) Peter Saarsgard/Jackie (9)
10) Steve Martin/Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (10)
On the Cusp: Kevin Costner/Hidden Figures
No Drops
Hot: Bridges
Cold: Ali
Comment: Steve Martin also not affected by Billy Lynn's NYFF response...yet. I don't think anyone is a lock in this category just yet. The top six look like where the nominees will come from and are tightly bunched using The FAC metric but positions 7-9 are definitely possible.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1) Fences (2)
2) Silence (3)
3) Lion (4) 4) Arrival (5)
5) Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (1)
6) Hidden Figures (6)
7) Love and Friendship (8)
8) Live by Night (10) 9) Sully (9)
10) Nocturnal Animals (7)
On the Cusp: Indignation
No Drops
Hot: ?????
Cold: Billy Lynn, Nocturnal Animals
Comment: Here's your first solid evidence that Oscar experts are factoring in the NYFF reactions to Billy Lynn as the film's screenplay drops a precipitous four spots. I fully expect that when check back into this category next time that Billy Lynn will have slid even further.
Fences, Silence and Lion are very, very tightly bunched.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1) Manchester by the Sea (1) 2) La La Land (2) 3) Moonlight (3)
4) 20th Century Women (6)
5) Loving (4)
6) Jackie (5)
7) Hell or High Water (7)
8) The Lobster (8)
9) Captain Fantastic (10)
10) Florence Foster Jenkins (9)
On the Cusp: Miss Sloane
No Drops
Hot: 20th Century Women
Cold: Nada
Comment: Another sign that 20th Century Women made some waves in New York evidenced by its rise in this category.
For now Manchester seems the only lock and has a sturdy lead over La La Land, which is near lock status.
If The FAC is 100% accurate then Telluride 2016 films will add the following:
Manchester by the Sea adds three nominations.
Moonlight adds two nominations with a possible third.
La La Land adds one nomination.
Arrival adds one nomination.
Sully adds a possible nomination.
Bleed for This adds a possible nomination.
If all goes according to plan, next Thursday's post will include an early look at Film Editing, Cinematography, Original Score and Original Song categories.
HERZOG'S INFERNO HAS A TRAILER
Werner Herzog's volcanic documentary, Into the Inferno, dropped a new trailer this week. Here it is from YouTube:
"THE NEXT BIG THING"?...MOONLIGHT'S BARRY JENKINS (SAYS INDIEWIRE... AND THEY'RE RIGHT)
One of the hottest titles critically since Telluride has been Barry Jenkins' Moonlight. The film has captivated film goers at every stop it has made along the way. It could well turn into one of the two or three best reviewed films of the fall season before it's all said and done. Currently the film has a 98 at both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.
Will that translate to Oscar success? The stories above and below seem to indicate that it probably will earn several nominations.
All of this has led Indiewire's Eric Kohn to proclaim that Jenkins is "the next big thing". I've been telling my students the same thing since I got back from the festival.
Now, as Moonlight gets ready tom open for general audiences (it opens tomorrow) a number of outlets are doing pieces about Jenkins and the film including the Indiewire article. Those are linked below:
At the start of this week we got Oscar nomination updates from two of the nine experts that I use for The FAC. Both Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter and Clayton Davis of Awards Watch posted new predictions in the wake of the conclusion of the New York Film Festival. Those very recent predictions are factored into the latest FAC listings above.
Feinberg is currently predicting the 21 feature categories with most categories divided into Frontrunners, Major Threats, Possibilities and Long Shots. I'm focusing on the Frontrunners and Major Possibilities here.
According to Feinberg, La La Land would land 13 nominations and is listed as a Major Threat for two others. The nominations would be: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Original Screenplay, Original Score, two for Original Song, Film Editing, Cinematography, Production Design, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. The two other Major Threats are an additional Original Song possibility and also Best Costumes. My personal count has been at 12. I haven't been thinking about a nomination for Production Design.
Manchester by the Sea would grab six nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay. Feinberg also says it's a Major Threat for two other nominations: Film Editing and Original Score.
Moonlight would earn six nominations for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay and Film Editing. It also is a Major Threat for nominations for Cinematography and Original Score.
Sully could two nominations for Best Picture, and Best Actor and is a Major Threat for five more: Director, Adapted Screenplay, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.
Feinberg says that Telluride documentary features with the best shot at a nomination are: The Eagle Huntress, The Ivory Game and Fire at Sea.
Best chances for Best Foreign Language Film from TFF #43 are Fire at Sea and Toni Erdmann. He lists Neruda as a Major Threat.
Feinberg has Arrival on the outside looking in with no listing stronger than a "Possibility".
Feinberg's Telluride tally would be 32 nominations with an additional 12 Major Threats.
Meanwhile, Clayton Davis at Awards Watch could not have a more different take on Denis Villenueve's Arrival.
Awards Watch currently has the Oscar race predicted as follows:
La La Land with 12 nominations: Best Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costumes, Sound Editing and two for Best Song. AW also suggests that another three nominations are possible: Another for Best Song as well as Original Score and Sound Mixing.
Arrival rivals La La Land in Davis' estimation with ten predicted nominations: Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Arrival also is listed with a "possible" nomination for Best Actress.
Manchester by the Sea would have four nominations: Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay. It's also suggested as a possible nominee for Director, Supporting Actor and Film Editing.
Moonlight would be nominated for three Oscars: Best Picture, Supproting Actor and Original Screenplay. It has another couple of possibilities: Director and Original Screenplay.
Sully would have a single nomination for Film Editing but be a possible nominee for five other categories including Best Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
Toni Erdmann is suggested as a Best Foreign Language Film nominee as well as a possibility for Original Screenplay.
Neruda would be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
The Eagle Huntress would be a Best Doc nominee with Fire at Sea a possibility.
The Awards Watch Telluride tally would be 33 nominations with an additional 14 possibilities.
Welcome to the next the third Monday in October...
A MASTER PASSES
Pierre Etaix in The Dardennes' Le Havre-TFF #38-2011
Film aficionados from around the world paused in sadness this week as French film comedy master Pierre Etaix died Indiewire reported on Friday. Etaix was one of Telluride's tribute recipients in 2011. Etaix won an Oscar in 1963 for his short film Happy Anniversary. Etaix was venerated by film makers from Jerry Lewis to Woody Allen and is frequently compared to Chaplin, Keaton and Tati.
Here's the text from TFF's 2011 program about Etaix and the tribute:
OSCAR BIZ BUZZ: BUSINESS INSIDER, VARIETY LOOKS AT FOREIGN AND AWARDS DAILY UPDATES
As we count down the second half of October, we're beginning to finally see the plans studios have for their Oscar possibles. We learned, for example, just this past week that 20th Century Fox has dated Hidden Figures for a limited (and therefore Oscar qualifying release) on Dec. 25th.
We also found out that Martin Scorsese has trimmed the running time for Silence , which was originally going to run over three hours, to a meager 2 hrs. 39 min. Reportedly more than a half an hour of the original cut has disappeared. Wow. That's a lot of film to have been edited out.
Ang Lee's much anticipated Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk received decidedly mixed reviews at its premiere at the New York Film Festival. A lot of Oscary types think that it's probably toast in the major categories but Awards Daily's Sasha Stone says "not so fast" reminding everyone that Lee's Life of Pi also opened to mixed responses and was discounted by Oscar pundits and ended up with 11 nominations and four wins.
In as afar as Oscar Biz Buzz that relates to Telluride films this week, I offer the following...
Business Insiders Entertainment section offered their take on what they believe are the most likely Oscar winners in several categories at the midpoint of October. To wit:
Best Picture: La La Land. Also in contention according to BI: Arrival, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea and Sully.
Best Director: Damien Chazelle/La La Land. Others in the mix: Eastwood/Sully, Jenkins/Moonlight, Lonergan/Manchester, and Villenueve/Arrival
Best Actress: Emma Stone/La La Land. Also in play from TFF #43: Amy Adams/Arrival
Best Actor: Casey Affleck/Manchester by the Sea. In the running: Ryan Gosling/La La Land, Tom Hanks/Sully
Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris/Moonlight. Also in play: Michelle Williams/Manchester
Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon/Nocturnal Animals. TFFers: Mahershala Ali/Moonlight
Original Screenplay: Hell or High Water. TFF #43 peeps: Chazelle/La La Land, Jenkins and
McCraney/Moonlight and Lonergan/Manchester
Adapted Screenplay: Lion. BI lists no TFF candidates for Adapted Screenplay although I think they're overlooking Eric Heisserer fro Arrival.
Animated Feature: Zootopia. Nada from TFF.
Cinematography: Billy Lynn. TFF possibles; La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival
Documentary Feature: OJ: Made in America. Telluride docs in the mix: Into the Inferno and The Eagle Huntress
Also in the Oscar Biz Buzz today...Variety's Guy Lodge takes an impressive deep look at the possible players for Best Foreign Language Film. He does make mention of the three TFF #43 films that have the best shot at making the final five: Toni Erdmann, Neruda and Fire at Sea. Check Lodge's assessment here.
And, as she always does, Sasha Stone at Awards Daily put up her latest Oscar assessment of Friday. Her focus this week was on the Best Actor race. Look at Sasha's latest Oscar musings here.
TELLURIDE FILMMAKERS IN NY
I have appended a couple of interviews that have occurred as a result of TFF #43 films that have played at the New York Film Festival over the past two weeks. Two form Moonlight's writer/director Barry Jenkins and another from Manchester by the Sea writer/director Kenneth Lonergan;
I hope it's a good Monday for everyone and welcome back from the weekend.
LA LA LAND WILL BE LATER
We found put over the weekend that the release plan for Telluride (and Venice and Toronto) hot and what looks to be the momentary Oscar front runner for Best Picture, Damien Chazelle's La La Land has had its release plan altered. The film was originally scheduled to open inn a limited capacity on Dec. 2nd but as of this weekend the limited release date has been moved to a week later on Dec. 9th. The wide release date will remain Dec. 16 which has been its announced wide release date all along. Here's the full story from Variety.
Meanwhile, we also learned this week that the film's cast was almost very different with Emma Watson penciled in for the Emma Stone role and Miles Teller-who starred in Chazelle's breakout hit, Whiplash, a couple of years ago, was very close to re-upping with the writer/director but reportedly turned down a $4 million offer to play the role that went to Ryan Gosling. That story is here from Indiewire.
ASSESSING TORONTO IN A TELLURIDE CONTEXT
We're a week removed from the close of the Toronto International Film Festival and three weeks from the close of TFF #43. As occurred after Telluride, critics have now weighed in individually and collectively. Indiewire and The Film Stage have both weighed in with critical consensus and it's interesting to look at that in the context of films that first played T-ride and then followed with screenings at TIFF.
Here's what Indiewire came up with...
the top film from Toronto critics was the same film that ended up with Toronto's audience award as well as finishing in the #2 spot in MTFB's People's, Professionals' and Composite ratings: Damien Chazelle's La La Land. Other multi-critic favorites from TIFF were:
Meanwhile, The Film Stage named their 20 Best films at Toronto last week as well and included in that listing were: Into the Inferno, Moonlight, Una and Wakefield. The complete article and grades for a ton more TIFF films can be found here.
LISTENING TO THE OSCAR WHISPERERS
Awards Circuit is hot and heavy into Oscar analysis after the close of the three bog fall film fests with their weekly podcast Clayton Davis and his crew are hard at it trying to decipher which way the Oscar wind is blowing. Here are links to the last couple of podcasts.
And, not strictly and Oscar crystal ball, but New York Times film critic A.O. Scott takes podcasts his preview of the fall film season in the context of Telluride, Toronto and Venice. That podcast is here.
That's a wrap fro Monday. More to come on Thursday including The FAC's look at the Supporting Acting categories and the screenplay categories.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Good Thursday everyone. Hope that you've been having a good week.
THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE REVEALED
Ten days removed for the conclusion of TFF #43 and it's time to reveal the results of this year's view of films from the festival of a collection of industry professionals, critics and pundits.
Serving this year as MTFB's Professionals are:
Alex Billington/FirstShowing.net
David Ehrlich/Indiewire
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Galloway/The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Johnson/AwardsCircuit.com
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Kenny Miles/The Movie Blog
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-In Contention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
The Professionals (just as The People's Telluride) used a 1-5 rating scale with 1 being "abysmal" and 5 being "outstanding", A film had to be rated by at least a third of the Pros to earn an average. 15 films met that criteria.
Here are The Professionals' results for TFF #43:
1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)
MOONLIGHT SETS MTFB PROS RECORDS
Barry Jenkins' Moonlight becomes the first film in the five years that I've been doing these ratings to top both The Pros and The Peoples ratings AND it is also the highest rated film by The Pros in that five year span (see below).
There is a lot of agreement this year between The People's ratings and the Pros. Numbers one and two are the same in both polls. The biggest disconnect occurs on Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come which the Pros have at #3 with a 4.20 average rating. The People had Things to Come as their #19 (of 21) with a composite rating of 3.05)
The Pros were more generous at the top of their list. For example, #1 Moonlight (in both polls) gets a high 4.82 average from the Pros but The People's average was substantially lower (though still the best rating of all films) at 4.37.
However, The Pros only gave three films a rating of 4+: Moonlight, La La Land and Things to Come whereas the People gave six films a 4+ rating: Moonlight, La La Land, Maudie, The Eagle Huntress, Manchester by the Sea and Arrival.
As mentioned above, Moonlight became the highest rated film in the five years I've been doing this project with its stunning 4.82 rating. Here's the latest version of The Pros Top Ten with 2016 films added into the mix:
1) Moonlight-2016 (4.82)
2) Birdman-2014 (4.72)
3) 12 Years a Slave- 2013 (4.70)
3) Central Park Five-2012 (4.70)
5) Foxcatcher- 2014 (4.63)
6) La La Land- 2016 (4.58)
7) Argo- 2012 (4.50)
8) Son of Saul- 2015 (4.44)
9) Anomalisa-2015 (4.42)
10) Spotlight- 2015(4.41)
2016's #2 film according to The Pros-La La Land- also landed in the top ten all time at #6. The rise of Moonlight and La La Land bumped Blue is the Warmest Color and Steve Jobs out of The Pros all time Top Ten.
Coming on Monday...The Combination Ratings...adding The Pros and The Peeps together.
OVERVIEWS OF TFF #43
Eugene Hernandez took a look at his highlights from the recently concluded 43rd Telluride Film Festival for Film Journal. Hernandez singles out: Moonlight, California Typewriter, Sully and Bright Lights for detailed commentary.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy et. al. took a larger view and has named ten films from across the triple threat fall film fest lineups: Telluride, Venice and Toronto. TFF 43 films that make the cut for The THR article include: Moonlight, La La Land, Arrival, Frantz and Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer. Check out the complete THR list here.
Also, Variety's Kristopher Tapley runs down a number of the films that have played over the past two weeks at the fall festivals in this Variety post. He places attention on Telluride films: La La Land, Sully, Moonlight, Arrival, Bleed for This and Manchester by the Sea.
That's it for Thursday. Return Monday for a look at The Pros and The Peeps combination film ratings.
Contact me at:
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
I think we have another Toronto announcement today...we'll see what we see...
WHEN THEY DO YOUR JOB FOR YOU
It doesn't get easier than this though the confirmation comes from a surprising source. Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno, which I had penciled into last Friday's Ten (Plus) Bets as probable for Telluride owing to its announced premiere status from Toronto is confirmed by...wait for it...Werner Herzog.
Herzog, speaking on Mark Maron's podcast pronounced that the film would be a part of the TFF #43 lineup. The admission was reported by a number of film outlets (see below).
It's something of a shocker, as Herzog, who has a lengthy history with the fest, has to be abundantly aware that Telluride doesn't reveal the lineup until the day before the festival begins.
Still, I'll take the confirmation and move on.
Reports of the admission from Mr. Herzog are here:
Hot on the heels of its Olympic debuting trailer the Theodore Melfi film Hidden Figures revealed a poster yesterday:
Again, you have to figure that it's not really a likely Telluride play...as Melfi (or someone purporting to be Melfi) said himself on Twitter over the weekend but there is a difference between "Not likely" and "never gonna happen".
Hidden Figures is currently scheduled to open on Jan. 13, 2017.
THE PLAYLIST'S 50 FALL FILMS
The Playlist was up yesterday with a list of 50+ films that they say are their most anticipated for this coming fall/awards season. Probable Telluride films are well represented in the article:
Moonlight, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Things to Come, Neruda, Julieta and Toni Erdmann all make the list.
Also included are a number of films with no fall film fest agenda for the moment:
Sully, Rules Don't Apply, The Accountant, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Allied, Silence, Miss Sloane, Fences, Collateral Beauty, Passengers, Gold and The Founder.
Some of these films aren't ready for screening. Some will almost certainly be announced for The AFI Fest. Some won't play a major festival at all. I can see anywhere between none and five still showing at The SHOW.
RATE FILMS FROM THE SHOW AND FOLLOW...FOLLOW...FOLLOW
It's your annual call to rate the films you see at the Telluride Film Festival. MTFB is once again asking YOU to participate in The People's Telluride...a gathering of film ratings from the ticket buying public at the fest.
It's simple...rate the films you see on a 1 to 5 scale (1 being awful and 5 being masterpiece) and then send those to me via email: mpgort@gmail.com or michael_speech@hotmail.com OR via the comments section here on the blog or to my twitter account @Gort2.
IT'S EASIER TO FOLLOW MTFB NOW
I've added a "FOLLOW" button to the blog page. You'll see it in the upper right hand area of the page. Just click on it and you can make it much easier to keep up with what's going on here.
Contact MTFB at:
mpgort@gmail.com
OR on Twitter @Gort2
OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:
NEW YORK AND TORONTO ANNOUNCEMENTS SHINE SOME LIGHT
The New York Film Festival revealed the bulk of its lineup yesterday after having already revealed it opener (The 13th), Centerpiece (20th Century Women) and Closer (The Lost City of Z).
With its revelations, I feel we can fairly confidently conclude that these films are headed to Telluride:
Fire at Sea
Graduation
Julieta (Almodovar returns to Telluride?)
Moonlight
and maybe a South Korean film called Yourself and Yours.
Additionally the NYFF announcement underscored the probable Telluride appearance for:
Neruda
Manchester by the Sea
Things to Come
Toni Erdmann
Maybe more interesting are the films that WON"T be playing TFF #43 if New York's premiere designations are accurate:
Aquarius
I, Daniel Blake
Sieranevada
Staying Vertical
The Unknown Girl (no Dardennes at T-ride)
Meanwhile, the Toronto International Film Fest announced a number of additions to its Docs, Vanguard and Midnight Madness sections. That information allow us to suggest that docs from Errol Morris (The B Side) and Werner Herzog (Into the Inferno) will probably play Telluride. Additionally a number of other docs could/might make The SHOW as well.
These are maybes:
Beauties of the Night
Chasing Trane
I Called Him Morgan
India in a Day
The Ivory Game
Water and Sugar
We can also scratch Paul Schrader's Dog Eat Dog, Nacho Vigolando's Colossal and Ben Wheatley's Free Fire from Telluride's possible list.
For those keeping track, these films are still in fall film fest limbo:
Rules Don't Apply
Allied
Fences
Gold
Passengers
Miss Sloane
Live by Night
The Accountant
Hidden Figures
Sully
The Founder
The Girl on the Train
The Mercy
Passengers
Wild Oats
Eternity
Three weeks (and a couple of days) out, all three fests may still have further films to reveal. Venice head Alberto Barbera hinted at one more possibility but that's been two weeks ago and hasn't materialized, so maybe not. TIFF should have one more announcement next week and NYFF programmers have said that more films could be added to their lineup as well.
ARRIVAL TEASER LOOKS PHENOMENAL
After bowing early yesterday morning on NBC, the first teaser for Denis Villenueve's Arrival arrived online. I am very, very intrigued about this film and also torn about watching the teaser and leaving it all to be revealed at Telluride (because we're reasonably sure it's going to play).
However, I succumbed and have actually watched it a few times.
Annecy Animation winner and possible Telluride selection My Life as Courgette (Courgette means Zucchini or Cucumber depending on who's doing the translation) quite probably boosted its Telluride chances/profile with the revelation this weekend that it will be Switzerland's Foreign Language Oscar submission.
I am fully of the belief that full length feature animated film The Red Turtle is on its way to T-ride and Courgette would be a second in that category which is somewhat unusual...but I just have a feeling that it could make The SHOW.
Here's coverage of the Swiss announcement from Variety:
God Monday to All. Hope you had a great Mother's Day weekend...
CANNES CATCHES UP TO TELLURIDE: HONORING AGNES VARDA
Telluride honored film maker Agnes Varda back in 1977. It was the fourth edition of the Telluride Film Festival meaning that Varda was one of the fests earliest tribute recipients. Also honored that year were Michael Powell and Ben Carre.
Varda was feted and several of her films were screened over the course of that weekend.
Now comes word that the Cannes Film Fest will catch up with Telluride some 38 years later as Varda will be awarded an honorary Palme d'Or this year. I've included the link to the festival's official announcement as well as Varda's IMDb page:
It looks increasingly less likely that we will have the chance to see Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" in Telluride over Labor Day. Some journos have flat out said that it won't be ready in time for fall fests.
I've said all along that it was a long shot for TFF #42 anyway as Tarantino's festival resume is very small. "Reservoir Dogs" played many fests including Sundance, Cannes and Toronto, but Tarantino was an unknown commodity. "Pulp Fiction" played Cannes, Lorcano, New York and a few others. Certainly fewer than "Pulp Fiction" did.
"Jackie Brown" played Berlin. "Kill Bill 1", "Kill Bill 2" played a couple of smaller fests. "Death Proof" had Tarantino back at Cannes in 2007. "Inglorious Basterds" played Cannes and Berlin and "Django" played no fest schedule.
So, the notion that "Hateful" would play Telluride was really based on two things alone: the fact that the movie was made in/near Telluride and that The Weinstein Company is distributing.
The film is still set for a late 2015 release in Israel. IMDb currently has no set date for the film anywhere else. I can actually see a scenario in which the film is finished and held for Cannes next year and then a late 2016 release. No one has said that, in as far as I'm aware, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised.
Nonetheless, Entertainment Weekly had a slew of photos from the film that then spread like wildfire throughout the internet over the weekend. Check the numerous links below:
Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" stars Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel and has already generated a good deal of pre-Cannes Palme d'Or buzz. Palme winners have about a 50/50 chance of landing in Telluride over the last decade or so.
Palme winners of late that played Telluride:
2003: "Elephant"
2005: "The Child"
2007: "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days"
2009: "The White Ribbon"
2012: "Amour"
2013: "Blue is the Warmest Color"
Last year's Palme went to "Winter Sleep" which didn't play at The SHOW so this year's winner might be more likely.
"Youth" has a new trailer that you can catch here via The Playlist:
Speaking of the Palme and past winners (as I did above) Gus Van Sant's "The Sea of Trees" which is in competition this week at Cannes released some new images as well this past weekend. Take a look:
I reported in my last post that Werner Herzog's next project would be shopped at Cannes to pick up financing, That happened between my Thursday post and today as the film has drawn backing.
We're less than a week away from the opening of the Cannes Film Festival (May 13) and the screening of a number of titles that could also screen in 4 months in The Chuck, The Palm or The Zog. Consequently, The Playlist posted its examination of 20 Cannes film that it is most energized about. Included in its list are such tiles as: "The Sea of Trees", "Carol", "The Cowboys", "Dheepan", The Lobster", "Macbeth", "Sicario", "The Tale of Tales" and "Youth". Take a look at their entire list and the films' details here:
Anne Thompson posted this phone interview this week with British actress and two time Telluride attendee Carey Mulligan. Mulligan could make a third trip to T-ride on Labor Day weekend with Sarah Gavron's "Suffragette" which is among the topics Anne discussed with Mulligan, who is currently in NYC on Broadway in "Skylight". The interview is here:
As we contemplate whether Werner Herzog's "Queen of the Desert" will be a part of TFF #42's lineup, word comes yesterday that the auteur has his sights set on his next project which immediately becomes a Telluride possibility for 2016. Herzog will shop "Into the Inferno" to producers over the Cannes Film Festival with an eye to beginning production soon. Details linked below:
