WHO'S GOT WHAT? DISTRIBUTORS: A24
Our fifth look at frequent film distribution companies that have been represented at Telluride over the last five years lands today on A24.
Over the last five TFFs, these are the films from A24 that have screened:
2021: Red Rocket, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.
2022: Aftersun, Close.
2023: Janet Planet, Occupied City, Tuesday, The Zone of Interest.
2024: No films.
2025: If I had Legs I'd Kick You, Pillion.
As you can see, A24 has had 10 films at TFF over these last fests with 2024 being the anomaly with no A24 films.
I'm tracking three films from A24 that show the most promise for a TFF berth:
The Debut, Club Kid, Primetime and Ancient History.
I honestly could see all four making the TFF #53 lineup.
Their chances:
The Debut 75%
Club Kid 65%
Primetime 50%
Ancient History 40% (added as a possible title on 8/3)
THE ARTIFICIAL SWITCHEROO
Artificial Director Luca Guadagnino
It wasn't more than about an hour after I pinched the button and published last Monday's MTFB, which included the latest "Ten Bets" that Neon messed with me.
I had re-instated Luca Guadagnino's Artificial to the Ten Bets. An hour later news broke that:
"Luca Guadagnino‘s much-talked about Artificial is expected to forgo a traditional fall festival rollout, we understand."
That reporting came from Deadline.com
Now, the story backed off the wholistic claim of "traditional festival rollout" later in the article stating:
"We understand there has been interest from multiple A-list festivals, and while things can change, we hear the film isn’t likely to go down the standard festival route. That doesn’t mean it won’t pop up at a festival in some form (we bet it will), but it won’t have the traditional launch with the bells and whistles of a red carpet, press conference, junkets, etc."
Soooo, does that mean a TFF berth is still in play? Maybe.
https://deadline.com/2026/07/artificial-not-getting-traditional-fall-festival-rollout-1236978281/
SPC ADDS BUNKER
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Florian Zellers' Bunker for North American distribution according to multiple sources. The film stars Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
Deadline reports that, "An Oscar campaign is being lined up with a qualifying run end of year before release in early 2027."
The IMDb description:
"Follows a married couple of 17 years. The husband is an architect who accepts a controversial project to build a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire. This decision leads his wife to question their marriage."
Zeller's The Father reportedly would have played Telluride had Covid not nuked the fest in 2020.
https://deadline.com/2026/07/javier-bardem-penelope-cruz-bunker-sells-sony-classics-1236978273/
So, in retrospect, I profiled SPC's possible TFF chances on July 6th. Bunker now gets added to he list of SPC possibilities for Telluride with an equal chance as Almodovar's Bitter Christmas to make the list.
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