Conclave Has a Trailer / Ioncinema on Venice / Hard Truths Delayed / Nickel Boys to Open New York Fest

CONCLAVE HAS A TRAILER

Edward Berger's Conclave currently sits at #2 on the MTFB Ten Bets for TFF #51.  There's a lot of buzz that the film will premiere early in the Venice lineup and then hop the Atlantic to screen in Telluride.  The film stars Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.  It's set to release in the U.S. on Oct. 6th.

Here's the description from IMDb:

"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."

And here's the trailer from YouTube:

 Lots of fun here thinking about which talent might make the trip.  Fiennes seems fairly likely but it would be cool if Lithgow, Tucci and/or Rossellini also made it to town.  Also, it feels like any of the four could be potential tribute recipients, though, again, Fiennes seems the most likely to me.

Erik Anderson of Awards Watch currently has the film predicted as a Best Picture nominee.  He also has Berger as a Directing nominee, Fiennes for Best Actor, Lithgow for Supporting Actor and Rossellini for Supporting Actress.  

IONCINEMA ON VENICE

Ioncinema put up its extensive set of speculated titles for Venice (which is reportedly announcing its lineup tomorrow).  From their list, here are what seem the most likely titles to play Venice then Telluride.

I'm Still Here/Salles

Chocobar/Martel

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Maria/Larrain

Nickel Boys/Ross

Queer/Guadagnino

The Brutalist/Corbet

The Last Shopgirl/G. Coppola

The Return/Pasolini

The Room Next Door/Almodovar

Interesting that there is no mention here of Conclave.  This makes me think that the film may World Premiere at TFF #51.  On the other hand, the release of the trailer a week before the Venetian announcement could portend a World Premiere in Italy.

We'll find out more tomorrow.

HARD TRUTHS DELAYED

World of Reel reports that Bleecker Street has moved Mike Leigh's Hard Truths off of its original release date in October to Jan. 10th 2025.  The move comes after news that the Venice Film Festival  has not chosen to screen the film.

These factors don't definitively tell us anything about TFF #51 but I have to say it doesn't sound like the film is likely to make an appearance at The SHOW.

Leigh's films have been frequently been included in past Telluride lineups beginning with High Hopes in 1988 and subsequently: Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2008), Mr. Turner (2014) and Peterloo (2018).

NICKEL BOYS TO OPEN NEW YORK FEST

Just minutes ago the New York Film Festival announced that RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys will be their opening night film.  I have had Nickel Boys as a Ten Bets often in the last month and I'm not sure that this announcement changes that.  The media release does not mention the film's release status.  If I were running the P.R. I would have its World Premiere status in the announcement if that were the case.  The absence of a designation of status suggests to me that it will have screened elsewhere before Sept. 27th.

Additionally, The favourite opened NYFF after playing at Telluride, so there is precedent.

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LATE BREAKING: SAG-AFTRA AUTHROIZES STRIKE / May December Not in September / MTFB's Ten Bets #4 / Ioncinema Predicts Venice

LATE BREAKING: SAG/AFTRA AUTHORIZES STRIKE

The National Board of SAG-AFTRA officially announced that the organization's members would be on strike at noon Pacific Time today.  The strike goes into effect at midnight (Pacific) tonight.

In addition to a shutdown of active film making those of us who pay attention to film festivals note that this action means that no SAG-AFTRA member will be allowed to promote projects in which they are involved.  How this affects fest like Telluride and others is not totally clear.  I have seen some speculation that some studios may be reluctant to send a film to a fest or feasts without the fire power of its stars being able to accompany a film.

Will news outlets shift the amount and intensity of their coverage with no talent to pursue?

Whatever happens it seems that the Fall Film Fests have a new wrinkle to deal with.

Roger Friedman of ShowBiz411.com provides some analysis about the potential effect of the strike on fall film fests including Telluride.

MAY DECEMBER NOT IN SEPTEMBER

The headline above is my faux-clever way of passing on that it appears that Todd Haynes' May December will NOT be playing at Telluride 2023. 

The New York Film Fest announced on Tuesday from the frequent TFF attendee, will North American Premiere as the Opening Night Film for NYFF.  The "North American Premiere" status tells us that the film will not have played anywhere in North America prior to its NYFF gig and that means no Telluride play.

Honestly, the last couple of weeks has really got me thinking that I don't have much of a grasp of what's going on this year.  

Haynes has been a frequent TFF presence but his films don't always play in the San Juans...just very, very often.

For example, his 2019 thriller, Dark Waters, also premiered at NYFF and did not play TFF but then you have to go all the way back to 1998's Velvet Underground to find a non-Telluride screening.  Haynes has bowed The Velvet Underground, Wonderstruck, Carol, I'm Not There and Far From Heaven all did play TFF.

Which leads to...

MTFB'S TEN BETS #4

As you might expect, with the above news about may December, the new "Ten Bets" has some changes.

Additionally, as a warning, next week (7/19) we get a big slew of announcements from Toronto that historically wrecks the "Bets".  Maybe I should re-think my hobbies...

Last week's Ten Bets were:

1) May December/Haynes

2) Poor Things/Lanthimos

3) Strangers/Haigh

4) The Holdovers/Payne

5) Monster/Kore-eda

6) Saltburn/Fennell

7) Nyad/ Chin and Vasarhelyi

8) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet

9) El Conde/Larrain

10) The Teachers' Lounge/Catak

Now...with some chagrin, here's this week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Alexander Payne

2) Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

3) Saltburn/Emerald Fennell

4) Strangers/Andrew Haigh

5) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

6) Monster/Kore-eda

7) Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet

8) Fallen Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki

9) The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak

10) The Pot-au-Feu/Trinh Hung

Other possibilities: The Zone of Interest/Glazer, The End/Oppenheimer, El Conde/Pablo Larrain, Freud's Last Session/Brown, The Royal Hotel/Green, Rustin/Wolfe, The American Buffalo/Burns, Priscilla/Coppola and Shirley/Ridley.

IONCINEMA PREDICTS VENICE

Ioncinema put together a three part list of 75 possibilities for the Venice Fest.  Some Venice films are very likely to subsequently play at Telluride.  From the Ioncinema lists, here's a guess about some of the films that might make the trans-Atlantic jump:

From Part One:

The Burial/Maggie Betts

Daaaaaali!/Quentin Dupieux

Drive-Away Dolls/Ethan Coen***

El Conde/Pablo Larrain

Fingernails/Christos Nikou

From Part Two:

The Captain/Matteo Garrone

Lee/Ellen Kuras

Love Lies Bleeding/Rose Glass

Maestro/Bradley Cooper

From Part Three:

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

Priscilla/Sofia Coppola***

Strangers/Andrew Haigh

**I'm actually fairly convinced that this film is going to play Toronto and play T-ride BUT, it's only one of two films that Ioncinema lists and specifically suggests that Telluride is a possibility.

***The other film that specifies that Telluride is a possibility

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The Ninth Telluride Film Festival / Reminder: Telluride and Best Picture / The Continuation of Cannes Guesses

Hell o to everyone on this Thursday...


THE NINTH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL

Here's another installment in the months long sporadic project to document the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  The focus today is on the 9th fest that occurred from Sept. 3-6, 1982.

TRIBUTES:

Joel McCrea
Pierre Braunberger
Athol Fugard


SHOWS:

Arruza
Boseman and Lena
Bona
Broken Blossoms
Burden of Dreams
City of Lovers
Coaster
Country Lovers
Endangered Species
Fire on the Water
Fitzcarraldo
Foreign Correspondent
The Great Moment
The Grey Fox
The Guest
Koyaanisqatsi
La Chienne
Longshot
Marigolds in August
Mules of Smiles, Years of Struggles
Money and the Woman
Mr. Dynamite
My Life to Live
Night of the Shooting Stars
Padre Padrone
Painted Boats
The Palm Beach Story
Paris
Parsifal
Ride Lonesome
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Rope
Say Amen, Somebody
Smithereens
The Thirteenth Chair
Veronika Voss
Victor Sjostrom: A Film Portrait
We of the Never Never
The Wind
Yol

GUESTS:

Joe Dante
Richard Farnsworth
Lillian Gish
Philip Glass
Werner Herzog
Chuck Jones
JoBeth Williams
Robert Wise

YOUR REMINDER ABOUT TELLURIDE AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST PICTURE

I couldn't help but notice a tweet from Peter Howell, film critic for The Toronto Star and President of the Toronto Film Critics Association, this week.


Peter and I have exchanged messages over the past few years regarding both Telluride and Toronto's film fests.  He's been very kind to me as I have worked on this blog.  Anyway...

He tweeted a chart from Vanity Fair that graphically underscores fall film fest premiere relationships and Best Picture Oscar winners.

Here's a screen grab of that tweet:

Sorry about the size here, but it gives you a better look at the graph which really does highlight what has happened in terms of Telluride and the Best Picture Oscar.

Of course, I would add that although The Artist (2011), Birdman (2014) and Spotlight (2015) didn't "premiere" as T-ride...they did screen there.  In the case of both Birdman and Spotlight, they screened within hours of dropping at Venice.  This year The Shape of Water joined their company.

THE CONTINUATION OF CANNES GUESSES

Ioncinema opened up its Cannes speculation this week with a post that focused on films from North and South America that could make the grade when Thierry Fremaux announces the lineup on April 12th.  Ioncinema says they'll continue next week with looks at other films from around the planet that they think might get in.

Among the North and South American possibilities are these that have the pedigree to suggest a Telluride crossover:

Terrence Malick's Radegund

Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk

Tony Zierra's SK13

Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind

Alfonso Cuaron's Roma

Sebastian Lelio's English language version of Gloria

The complete Ioncinema post is here.

That's the MTFB for Thursday.  I'll have more on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

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