Well, this is depressing. I can't say that I was surprised at the announcement but I can say that I thought that if this was the decision that I thought it might come a bit later. Nevertheless, I was in Oklahoma City with my wife, who was had a doctor's appointment (not Covid-19 related) when I got the news. Of course, it knocked the breath out of me.
Then my phone blew up.
Lots of reaching out between me and friends and colleagues social media, email amd direct messages.
Full disclosure here: I have been a bit "at sea" about the Blog's purpose and utility for the last year.
When TFF declined to accredit me as a journalist last year I wrote that I wasn't really sure about what I was going to do with it. Ultimately I decided to push on and essentially continue to do what I have been doing since 2008 with the notion that I'd re-evaluate this year and after re-applying for this year's fest.
Now, we're here and the fest has again denied my press accreditation request (I still haven't had an answer from them regarding the rationale for the denial for either last year or this). And now there is no TFF #47 to write about.
Normally, as you know, I'd be spending this next two months expanding the Ten Bets list and looking forward to the clues provided by announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York (all still on the schedule to happen). Then I'd be reporting on the fest itself followed by the six month runup to the Oscars and how Telluride films fared and affected that race. Now?
If you saw yesterday's "Special Post" you may have seen the section devoted to Variety's Peter DeBruge's interview with TFF Executive Director Julie Huntsinger then you know that she revealed that there's a possibility that a TFF #47 list of films that would have played is probably going to be released at some point "later this month". Huntsinger also revealed that the Tribute recipients had been chosen and were planning to physically attend.
Other questions...
*Is there a TFF #47 poster and artist?
*Who was the Guest Director going to be for 2020?
*Will next year's fest be labeled TFF #47 or #48?
*Did Peter DeBruge hint that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch would have been on the Telluride lineup?
Meanwhile, Todd McCarthy writing for deadline yesterday notes that co-director Todd Luddy has said that TFF had about 20 films lined up and that the list of those will be forthcoming soon. From the McCarthy post:
"Festival co-director Tom Luddy, the only one of Telluride’s founding team still on board, said that the titles of about 20 would-have-been festival entries will be revealed in a few days. This will at least provide some insight into what key tastemakers regard as among the best films of the year, even if critics and the public will, at this point, have nothing to say in the matter."
My probable path for the next few weeks...
Continue the regular Monday/Thursday publishing schedule (there's certainly no reason for an increased publication schedule now) with the concept continuing to be sussing out what the T-ride lineup might have been. I'll probably also take a stab at guessing who the tributes might have included though there's no indication in the DeBruge article that we'll ever know who they were.
After the TFF #47 lineup that-might-have-been is announced...re-assessment...again.
Here's the link again to the DeBruge/Huntsinger interview.
The Todd McCarthy/Deadline piece is linked here.
600,000
As a weird counterpoint to the above...MTFB blew through its 600,000th view as a result of Monday's post. Over the 12 years that I've been doing this I have published 1803 (counting today's post) posts in addition to the various History and Oscar pages. That means that each post has averaged 333.14 views. Of course, some posts have-been hit more than others. The current front runner is from Jan. 4, 2018 in the run-up to the Oscar nominations announcement. It had 2616 views.
It seems odd and counter-intuitive to have a celebratory note in light of Tuesday's announcement but I'd be less than honest if I said that it didn't matter. As always, I'm stupefied that anyone has found and read the blog over these past few years. Again I want to thank everyone that takes the time to read my ramblings. Thanks to those of you that comment and email and message. Thanks to so many of you that have taken a moment to say hello during the actual fest itself. Thanks to the real journalists that have been so kind and welcoming at Telluride. And the biggest thanks goes to my wife who has out up with this time consuming passion project for more than a decade. She's got more patience than I do.
TFF #46 FILMS IN 2020
Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has put together a compilation of over 100 critics and industry experts to name the best films of 2020 so far (Jordan was kind enough to invite my input but I wasn't able to get a list out together in time).
Some TFF #46 made the list:
#5 The Assistant
#6 First Cow
#12 Beanpole
Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods was the top vote getter.
Jordan's entire list of 38 films can be found here.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
