Trailers for Foreign Film Contenders from TFF #45 / Chazelle Talks First Man and More / Indiewire's List of 32

Welcome back form the first weekend of October.  Fall arrived here in Oklahoma over the weekend with temps in the 90's Friday and in the 60's Saturday.  Hello Autumn!

TRAILERS FOR FOREIGN FILM CONTENDERS FROM TFF #45

Both Hirokazu Kore-eda's Palme d'Or Cannes prize winning Shoplifters and Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War which won Best Director at Cannes figure to be serious contenders for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominations and could give Alfonso Cuaron's Roma a run for the money to win the award.  Both films had releases at the end of this past week of trailers to best their hype before their U.S. release.  Cold War is dated for a Dec. 21st release whereas Shoplifters is Nov. 23rd.  (By the way, it appears that Roma is likely to be released in some theaters on Dec. 14th prior to its streaming availability from Netflix , which produced the film per Indiewire).

Here is the trailer for Cold War from YouTube:

And also from YouTube, the trailer for Shoplifters:

I have linked stories of the trailers' releases.  For Cold War from Indiewire and for Shoplifters from The Playlist and Indiewire.

CHAZELLE TALKS FIRST MAN AND MORE

With the release of Damien Chazelle's First Man just days away (opening Oct. 12th, this Friday), it was not surprising to see Chazelle turn up at the end of last week as Kris Tapley's guest on Variety's Playback Podcast.

Chazelle talks, of course, about his upcoming film that tells the story of Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) and the first moon landing.  He also talks about other topics including that famous Oscar moment from a year and a half ago.

Here's the link to the podcast.  Enjoy!

INDIEWIRE'S LIST OF 32

Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich and Kate Erbland at Indiewire have compiled a list of 32 independent films that they claim are the best 32 Indies of the year thus far.  

The list includes several films from TFF #44.  Why only one TFF #45 Indie's you ask?  Many have yet to be officially released.  I suspect the list will get larger and the crew at Indiewire says as much in the article.

Included on the list from TFF #44 are:

First Reformed

The Rider

Lean on Pete

Foxtrot 

A Fantastic Woman

The lone TFF #45 film so far is Free Solo which opened Sept. 28th.

Their top choice of all 32 films is Tamara Jenkins Private Life (First Reformed sits at #2).

The complete list from Indiewire is here.

That's your MTFB for this Monday.  I'll have more in my next regularly schedule post on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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The First Ten Bets for TFF #45 / Awards Daily Critics' List / Burning Has a Home

Good Friday all!  Big post today!



THE FIRST TEN BETS FOR TFF #45

Here you have it.  My first official stab at guessing/predicting/projecting/hoping for films that will play at The SHOW in Telluride over Labor Day weekend.

The first set of predictions every June is fraught with uncertainty.  I look at a lot of factors:  Studios. distributors, TFF histories, especially with directors.  The buzz around films we know are coming in the fall and will almost assuredly play some if not all of the Telluride/Venice/Toronto triumvirate.  Oscar hopefuls, Cannes titles and a lot of the time, especially in early July...it's about intuition.

It all factors into my assessments.

Here's the history of success, or lack thereof, for each of the last seven years that I have been using the "Ten Bets" format:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10
2017: 7/10

As you can tell, last year was a bounce back after low years of 2015 and 2016.

Overall, I manage an average of  5.7 correct guesses with the initial Ten Bets of each season.

So...crossing fingers... here's the first Ten Bets for 2018 (in order of likelihood):

10) Beautiful Boy- I think Amazon Studios will land at Telluride with this, at least and maybe more.

9) The Front Runner- Jason Reitman was once a T-ride favorite.  My guess is that this film gets him back.

8) Burning- this was Cannes' unrewarded critical darling from a director who has played TFF before.   This was actually higher on my list until word broke yesterday that it had been grabbed for U.S. distribution by Well Go USA Entertainment.   See below.

7) Sunset- If its half as good as his first film (Son of Saul), Laszlo Nemes will return.

6) The Old Man and the Gun- This feels like Fox Searchlight's best play for Oscar season and thus its best chance at a Telluride berth...though they do have other possibles.

5) Cold War- Pawel Pawlikowski with a good shot to return to TFF.

4) Capernaum- Cannes Jury Prize winner and SPC's most likely shot for the schedule.

3) Peterloo- Mike Leigh's film about labour strife in Britain.

2) The Other Side of the Wind-Orson Welles "last film".  If this doesn't play Telluride I will be greatly surprised and, for that matter, upset.

1) If Beale Street Could Talk- It would a shock if Barry Jenkins' follow-up to his Oscar winning Moonlight does not make The SHOW's lineup.

Others on my "just under the Ten Bets" list: Boy Erased, The Sisters Brothers, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Eyes of Orson Welles, Dogman, On the Basis of Sex, Girl, Happy as Lazzaro, Shoplifters, He Dreams of Giants, First Man, Widows,  A Star Is Born, Cheney (Backseat), Roma, At Eternity's Gate, Everybody Knows.

What do YOU think?  What films do YOU think might play?  What films do YOU WANT to play?

Drop me a note at any one of the contact methods listed below.

Looking at this list before I punch the button to publish, I'm saying to myself...naw...these can't all happen...but what if they did???

So, there you have it.  Let's see now how many of these films actually make the lineup.



AWARDS DAILY'S CRITICS' LIST

Jordan Ruimy, writing and compiling for Awards Daily has posted a "Best Of" critics assessment for the first half of 2018.

TFF #45 films pop up on the list with some frequency.  Included on the list are:

#31-Loveless
#24-Foxtrot
#13-Lean on Pete
#6-The Rider
#1-First Reformed

Pretty impressive for the films that played last year but weren't released until this year.  The complete list from Awards Daily is here.


BURNING HAS A HOME

As I mentioned above,  Lee Chang-dong's Cannes critical fave Burning has a distributor.  Variety reports that Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired the film and plans a limited release on Oct. 26th in NYC with expansion after that.

The film was right at the top of the critics' polls after its screening at Cannes but had languished without a distributor until yesterday.

As you see above, I still have it listed among my first Ten Bets list, albeit lower than I was thinking earlier this week, despite the fact that Well Go USA has essentially no Telluride history to speak of.

The complete story is linked here from Variety


That's your Friday MTFB.  Come back for more on Monday.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Telluride Time Travel-The 11th Telluride Film Festival / Looking Back at Last Year's Oscar Predictions

Good Thursday...

TELLURIDE TIME TRAVEL- THE 11TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL

I'm continuing my TFF history project in today's post includes a quick look back at the 11th Telluride Film Festival.  TFF #11 occurred on Aug. 31-Sept. 2, 1984.  Highlights:

Tribute Recipients were: Henry Hathaway, Janet Leigh and Andrzej Wajda.

SHOWS:

Act of Violence
Almonds and Raisins
America and Lewis Hine
Camila
Cheaters
Coup De Torchon
Everything for Sale
Full Moon in Paris
Go Masters
Go Tell It on the Mountain
The Holy Innocents
L'Hirondelle et la Mesange
The Last Campaign
Lonely Hearts
Love in Germany
Maidstone
Man of Flowers
Milky Way
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
My First Wife
Paris, Texas
Peter Ibbetson
A Poet in the Cinema: Andrey Tarkovsky
Providence
Raw Deal
Reign of Terror
Repo Man
Slightly Scarlett
Steaming
Stranger than Paradise
Sunday in the Country
The Times of Harvey Milk
To the Last Man
Where the Green Ants Dream
Wooden Crosses


Participants (partial list):

Ry Cooder
Athol Fugard
Werner Herzog
Jim Jarmusch
Klaus Kinski
Jessica Lange
Norman Mailer
Sam Sheperd
Dean Stockwell
Bertrand Travernier
Harry Dean Stanton
Wim Wenders

TFF #11 became an important fest to remember this year with the death of Harry Dean Stanton.




LOOKING BACK AT LAST YEAR'S OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Every year after the Oscar ceremony ends, there are some pundits who turn the page very quickly and predict possible players for the Oscar race a year out.  I scour those for clues about films that could become Telluride invitees.

I thought today, with Oscar 2018 less than a month away, it might be interesting to see what that looked like.  For example, in my Mar. 2, 2017 post I included a link to an Awards Circuit story that named 50 anticipated films.

From that list I named Downsizing, Battle of the Sexes and Wonderstruck as TFF possibilities (and they have zero nominations between them).  I also incorrectly guessed The Current War, Suburbicon and Molly's Game.

That MTFB post is here.

A more Oscar specific Awards Circuit article was referenced on Mar. 9th.

I culled that list of films and named possible TFF films which included: Battle of the Sexes, Downsizing, Wonderstruck, Lean on Pete and The Shape of Water.

That post is here.

And Glenn Whipp took a stab for the L.A. Times which I evaluated and named Downsizing, Wonderstruck and hinted at Darkest Hour.

So as we move to the end of Oscar season, know this...there will be a new set of these type of articles soon and I will examine those for TFF #45 possibilities.

You can't stop what's coming.


My analysis of The L.A. Times article is here.

That's your MTFB for Thursday.  More Monday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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SAG-Aftra Nominations and Ruminations / Lean on Pete Poster / A Closer Look at Loving Vincent / Focus on Loveless

Good Thursday everyone.


SAG-AFTRA NOMINATIONS AND RUMINATIONS

SAG-Aftra, the actors guild, named its 25 nominees for outstanding acting for 2017 on Tuesday.  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri led the way with four nominations including one for Best Ensemble.

Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird was the TFF #44 front runner with three nominations: Best Ensemble, Lead Actress-Saoirse Ronan and Supporting Actress-Laurie Metcalf.

Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water gained two nominations: Lead Actress-Sally Hawkins and Supporting Actor-Richard Jenkins

Other TFF #44 films that earned a single nomination were Gary Oldman for Lead Actor in Darkest Hour, Steve Carell for Lead Actor in Battle of the Sexes and Hong Chau for Supporting Actress for Downsizing.

Other Ensemble nominees were: The Big Sick, Get Out and Mudbound.

Complete nominations and analysis are linked here:

Indiewire/Anne Thompson

Indiewire/Jenna Marotta

The Hollywood Reporter/Scott Feinberg

Vulture/Kyle Buchanan

The winners will be announced on January 21st.


LEAN ON PETE POSTER

World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy reports that Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete has anew poster:

Lean on Pete features an awards worthy performance from young actor Charlie Plummer and is set for release in the U.S. on Mar. 30th.

Here's the story from World of Reel.


A CLOSER LOOK AT LOVING VINCENT

Indiewire's Tom Bruggemann posted a story this week at Indiewire that details the process that brought animated feature Loving Vincent to Telluride and the big screen this week.

The film is considered to be a serious contender for an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. 

The film details the life of artist Vincent Van Gogh and does so in a film in which all of the frames that make up the film have been hand painted in Van Gogh's style.

That story is here..


FOCUS ON LOVELESS

Screen International's Tom Grater penned a profile this week on Russian film maker Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless. The film is Zvyagintsev's follow up to his 2014 Oscar nominated Leviathan.  Loveless is expected to be on the Foreign Language Oscar short list that will be announced soon.

Here's the link to that profile.




That's the Thursday edition of MTFB...more to come on Monday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT to the blog.

Golden Globe Nominations / New Trailers: Loveless and Lean on Pete / Documentary Short List

Good Monday to everyone...


GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS

I'll publish this morning before the nomination announcement...so...come back a little later today and I'll have the nominees and a note or two about what happened and TFF #44's impact on whatever is announced.

TFF #44 Golden Globe nominations: 19

The Shape of Water led all nominees with 7.

The Shape of Water (7): Best Picture-Drama, Best Actress/Drama-Sally Hawkins, Supporting Actress-Octavia Spencer, Supporting Actor-Richard Jenkins, Direction, Screenplay, Score.

Lady Bird (4): Best Picture-Musical/Comedy, Best Actress-Saoirse Ronan, Supporting actress-Laurie Metcalf, Screenplay.

Battle of the Sexes (2): Best Actress-Musical/Comedy-Emma Stone, Best actor-Musical/Comedy-Steve Carell

Darkest Hour (1): Gary Oldman

Downsizing (1): Supporting Actress-Hong Chau

Loving Vincent (1)-Animated Film

First They Killed My Father (1)-Foreign Language Film

A Fantastic Woman (1)-Foreign Language Film

Loveless (1)-Foreign Language Film

You can find a complete list of all the Golden Globe nominations here.

NEW TRAILERS FOR LOVELESS AND LEAN ON PETE

Trailer for Loveless from YouTube:

Trailer for Lean on Pete from YouTube:

DOCUMENTARY SHORT LIST

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named the 15 documentary features on this year's short list for Oscar consideration.  TFF #44 docs are CAPITALIZED*


Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Chasing Coral
City of Ghosts
Ex Libris
FACES PLACES*
HUMAN FLOW*
Icarus
AN INCONVIENENT SEQUEL:TRUTH TO POWER*
Jane
LA92
Last Men in Aleppo
Long Strange Trip
One of Us
Strong Island
Unrest

More coming later today following the Golden Globe announcement.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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The Professionals Telluride / It's Time for the Switch / Guillermo Wins Venice / Rate the FIlms of TFF #44

Good Monday to all...


THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE

Here's is your 2017 installment of The Professionals view of the films that played the 44th Telluride Film Festival.  Ten industry journalists participated this year by rating each film they saw on a 0-5 scale.  They were:

Peter DeBruge/Variety
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Galloway/The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit
Eric Kohn/Indiewire
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Anonymous


15 films earned enough votes to make this year's poll of The Professionals.  The top rated film:  Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water with a 4.5 average.  Here's the complete list with their averaged rating:

1) The Shape of Water (4.5)
2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)
2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)
2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)
5) Lady Bird (4.20)
6) First Reformed (4.0)
7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)
8) Darkest Hour (3.85)
9) Hostiles (3.79)
10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)
11) Loving Vincent (3.63)
12) Lean on Pete (3.50)
13) Wonderstruck (3.25)
14) Downsizing (3.10)
15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)

Last year The Pros had Moonlight on top with a 4.87 average followed by La La Land at 4.58.
In 2015, the top film was Son of Saul at 4.44 with Anomalisa second with a 4.42.
In 2014, number one was Birdman at 4.72 and second was Foxcatcher at 4.63.
2013: 12 Years a Slave 4.70 and Blue is the Warmest Color 4.40
2012: Central Park Five 4.7 and Argo 4.5


I'll have The People's Telluride up on Thursday and the Composite Ratings of both Pros and Peeps next Monday.  Speaking of which...



IT'S TIME FOR THE SHIFT

Today marks the annual transition back to MTFBs "normal" publication schedule.  The blog will post twice a week, with rare exceptions, on Mondays and Thursdays.  Today also marks the turn toward this space becoming what I used to refer as The Film Awards Clearinghouse,  From now until Oscar night, I'll be focused most of the time on the awards prospects for the films that played as a part of the TFF #44 program.  You can always check here for the latest news about Oscar, Golden Globes, Critics awards as well as other precursors as we move through the awards season.


GUILLERMO WINS IN VENICE

The Venice Film Fest drew to a close this weekend and TFF #44 film The Shape of Water was named the best film in the competition section winning The Golden Lion.  Other TFF films got into the awards act as well in Italy with Foxtrot winning The Silver Lion.  Kamel El Basha won Best Actor for The Insult and Lean on Pete's Charlie Plummer was named best young actor.

Complete results of the awards at Venice are here from Alex Billington/FirstShowing.net.


That's a wrap for this Monday.  More to come on Thursday including The People's Telluride film ratings.  What did YOU think of the films that played?  YOU CAN STILL BE COUNTED BY RATING BEFORE 5:00PM TOMORROW.

 Send ratings in any of the following methids:


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Saturday's TBAs / Quick Thoughts About Friday's Films

Here are the TBAs for Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Saturday TBAs

Masons Hall Cinema

3:00p, Land of the Free, 28 (program number), Cinephile

Le Pierre
3:30p, Arthur Miller: Writer, 19, Cinephile

Galaxy
4:15p, Lady Bird, 2

Masons Hall Cinema
7:30p, Great Expectations, 43, Cinephile

Galaxy
7:45p, Hostiles, 7a

Werner Herzog
10:00p, Loving Vincent, 15, Cinephile

Le Pierre
10:30pm, A Man of Integrity, 14, Cinephile

Masons Hall Cinema
10:30p, Faces Places, 17, Cinephile

Noon Seminar, Elks Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
Is acting still the art, as Elia Kazan said, “of turning psychology into behavior”?
With Greta Gerwig, Tracy Letts and Gary Oldman






QUICK NOTES ON FRIDAY'S FILMS

DOWNSIZING:  Liked not loved.  Seems a little longish.  Hong Chau is fab

DARKEST HOUR: Gary Oldman is amazing as Winston Churchill.   Rest of the cast is solid but Oldman gives a performance for the ages.

FACES/PLACES: Um, a film that was lauded at Cannes...maybe too much Varda worship.

Today's likely films: Lean on Pete, Lady Bird and Wonderstruck...then see how we feel.

Saturday TBAs / Quick Notes on Friday's Films

Here are the TBAs for Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Saturday TBAs

Masons Hall Cinema

3:00p, Land of the Free, 28 (program number), Cinephile

Le Pierre
3:30p, Arthur Miller: Writer, 19, Cinephile

Galaxy
4:15p, Lady Bird, 2

Masons Hall Cinema
7:30p, Great Expectations, 43, Cinephile

Galaxy
7:45p, Hostiles, 7a

Werner Herzog
10:00p, Loving Vincent, 15, Cinephile

Le Pierre
10:30pm, A Man of Integrity, 14, Cinephile

Masons Hall Cinema
10:30p, Faces Places, 17, Cinephile

Noon Seminar, Elks Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
Is acting still the art, as Elia Kazan said, “of turning psychology into behavior”?
With Greta Gerwig, Tracy Letts and Gary Oldman






QUICK NOTES ON FRIDAY'S FILMS

DOWNSIZING:  Liked not loved.  Seems a little longish.  Hong Chau is fab

DARKEST HOUR: Gary Oldman is amazing as Winston Churchill.   Rest of the cast is solid but Oldman gives a performance for the ages.

FACES/PLACES: Um, a film that was lauded at Cannes...maybe too much Varda worship.

Tomorrow's likely films: Lean on Pete, Lady Bird and Wonderstruck...then see how we feel.

Friday's Schedule for TFF #44 / MTFB Does Well...But Not Perfect / Random Thoughts

Welcome to TFF #44 Space Cadets...

I am piecing together a schedule for tomorrow based on what I am seeing on the TFF #44 App...which I am suggesting you get certainly until you can snag a hard copy of the program.


OPENING NIGHT FEED/COLORADO AVE.
5:30pm

By Venue for Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

PALM

6:30pm-Darkest Hour- Joe Wright, Gary Oldman and Ben Mendelsohn
9:30pm Lean on Pete-Andrew Haigh, Travis Fimmel

GALAXY

7:00pm-Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool-Paul McGuigan, Jamie Bell
9:45pm-Darkest Hour

CHUCK JONES

5:15pm-Great Expectations
8:00pm-Lady Bird-Greta Gerwig, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts
10:30pm-Downsizing-Alexander Payne, Hong Chau

WERNER HERZOG "THE ZOG"

11:00am-Wormwood-Errol Morris
4:45pm-The Cotton Club Encore-Francis Ford Coppola
8:45pm-Downsizing

SHERIDAN OPERA HOUSE

5:00pm-A Fantastic Woman-Sebastian Lelio, Daniela Vega
7:30pm-Arthur Miller:Writer-Rebecca Miller
10:00p,-Loveless-Andrey Zvyaginstev

THE NUGGET THEATRE

5:15pm-A Man of Integrity-Mohammed Rasoulof
8:00pm-The Rider-Chloe Zhao
10:15pm-Loving Vincent-Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman

MASONS HALL

5:30pm-Land of the Free-Camilla Magid
8:00pm-Titicut Follies
10:15pm-Tesnota-Kantemir Balagov

LE PIERRE

5:00pm-Hostages-Rezo Gigneishvili
7:45pm-The Other Side of Hope
10:15-Faces/Places-Rosalie Varda. JR

ABEL GANCE/ELKS PARK

8:30pm-The Rider


Personal note:  My schedule is likely to depend on what the patron screening is Friday afternoon.  It looks to me like the big gets tomorrow might be Darkest Hour and Downsizing or maybe Lean on Pete.   I'd also be really interested late in Loving Vincent or Faces/Places.  Depends.

More tomorrow and I will be tweeting some throughout the day.  My Twitter handle is @Gort2.


MTFB DOES WELL...BUT NOT PERFECT

If you were keeping Score (and I always do) the final Ten (25) Bets was 24 of 25.  my mistake was inadvertantly bumping AiWeiWei's Human Flow off the list and keeping Before We Vanish.  My mistake.

Seriously, I had Human Flow in the Bets for awhile and then just seemed to loose track of it.

Still, 96% isn't awful.


RANDOM THOUGHTS

Weird that we only have two tributes lined up this year.  One for Christian Bale/Hostiles and the other for Ed Lachman/Wonderstruck.  I suspect that the third tribute existed in some way but was derailed at the past minute.

Might have to be at The Abel Gance Sunday Night for Al Gore and An Inconvenient Sequel.

Thrilled Billie Jean King and Emma Stone will be in town for Battle of the Sexes.

Also pretty stoked that Richard Jenkins will be here with Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape of Water.


Come back for more here tomorrow...



EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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SPECIAL WEDNESDAY POST: The Final Ten (25) Bets for TFF #44 / Downsizing Teaser / What I'm Thinkin' Is... / Rate The Films

Welcome everyone to this special Wednesday post for Michael's Telluride Film Blog...


THE FINAL TEN (25) BETS FOR TFF #44

Here are 25 films that I expect will be announced tomorrow morning at some point by the Telluride Film Festival in order of probability:

1) Downsizing
2) Wonderstruck
3) The Shape of Water
4) Battle of the Sexes
5) Darkest Hour
6) Lady Bird
7) Hostiles
8) Visages/Villages (Faces/Places)
9) Loving Vincent
10) First They Killed My Father
11) A Fantastic Woman
12) The Rider
13) Wormwood
14) First Reformed
15) The Other Side of Hope
16) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
17) Lean on Pete
18) Loveless
19) The Insult
20) Foxtrot
21) Filmworker
22) The Venerable W
23) Arthur Miller: Writer
24) Before We Vanish
25) The Cotton Club Encore

Also hearing some buzz that some of Ken Burns Vietnam doc may screen as well as Mohammad Rasoulof' A Man of Integrity could play.  I still think You Were Never Really Here, L'Amant Double and Cold War are possibilities.


DOWNSIZING TEASER

Ahead of its World Premiere in Venice, Paramount has released a 30 sec. teaser for Alexander Payne's Downsizing.  Set to to the Talking Heads Once in a Lifetime, the teaser introduces us to the main characters in the film lead by Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Laura Dern and Jason Sudekis.

Here's the teaser from YouTube:

And coverage from Indiewire is here.


WHAT I'M THINKIN' IS...

Normally I will get in 10-13 films in the course of the weekend.  That could be different this year because my pass level is a little different and so I'm uncertain how much that will shake up what I can see, when and where.

That said...here are the films I'd personally like to see in order of preference...and keep in mind, that could change depending on the buzz around town as the weekend unfolds.

1) The Shape of Water
2) Downsizing
3) Battle of the Sexes
4) Hostiles
5) Wonderstruck
6) Darkest Hour
7) Lady Bird
8) Loving Vincent
9) Wormwood
10) Visages/Villages
11) Lean on Pete
12) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
13) First They Killed My Father
14) Filmworker
15) Arthur Miller: Writer
16) The Rider
17) A Fantastic Woman

Honestly, I like to see The Cotton Club Encore as well and I know that Wormwood may be problematic if they program all six episodes.

But this all is likely to go out the window when we get the actual schedule.  Tributes will be key. Speaking of which, I'm already on record that I think two of them will be Christian Bale and Ed Lachman.  The third...call me crazy...Saoirse Ronan (who is in Lady Bird and is a voice in Loving Vincent).

If I were hedging my bet...Sally Hawkins.

We might still see another film announcement from Toronto.  It was rumored yesterday and is rumored again today.


 JOIN MTFB AND RATE THOSE FILMS

Don't forget, my friends, I want your ratings of the films you see next weekend.  Use a 0-5 scale with 0 being "putrid" and 5 being "best film since..."


Have a great weekend and get rested up for next week.  More on Monday!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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More Musings on Toronto's Latest / Telluride's 20th Festival / Battle Goes to Britain

It's Thursday, August 17th...14 days until The SHOW!


MORE MUSINGS ON TORONTO'S LATEST

Tuesday, the Toronto International Film Festival announced what Indiewire said was their final set of films for their 2017 edition and as a result we got more indications about films that are likely to play at Telluride over Labor Day weekend.

Based on their categorization as Canadian Premieres it seems that we can probably add five films to the TFF #44 list:

First Reformed from Paul Schrader
Foxtrot from Samuel Maoz
The Insult from Ziad Doueiri
Lean on Pete from Andrew Haigh
Loveless from Andrey Zvyagintsev

The new info also seems to confirm that The Other Side of Hope and Visages/Villages will play Telluride.

Some films that I have been tracking fell by the wayside if their premiere status is accurate including:

Chappaquiddick
Happy End
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House
Molly's Game
Redoubtable

I was particularly dismayed that Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game  won't be at T-ride and still, despite its modest response at Cannes, I was surprised that Michael Haneke's Happy End will not be at TFF #44.

Our "possible" film list has gotten much smaller now:

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
Final Portrait
L'amant Double
Marshall
Mary Magdalene
Our Souls at Night
The Snowman
Wonder
You Were never Really Here


Form this list perhaps one or two films might still show up on Telluride's program and for my money the two that are most likely are You Were Never Really Here and L'amant Double.

Finally, I'm feeling a little better as we get down to this last two weeks before the fest.  after a couple of years where my initial guesse haven't been terribly prescient, it looks like I was better this year. My success level with that first Ten Bets in the past few years has been:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10

Yes.  3 of 10 last year.  My average over that time span was naming 5.5 films correctly that would eventually make the TFF lineup.

This year is better.  Here's this year's first Ten Bets from back on June 30th with what appear to be correct guesses are marked with ***:

1) Loveless***
2) A Fantastic Woman***
3) Wonderstruck***
4) Visages/Villages***
5) The Florida Project
6) Downsizing***
7) You Were Never Really Here
8) 120 BPM
9) The Rider***
10) Battle of the Sexes***

7 of 10 with two misses: The Florida Project and 120 BPM

You Were Never Really There is still up in the air.  I'm of a mind that it will play TFF #44.

Additionally, I had Lean on Pete and Loving Vincent in the list of other possibles.  So maybe I'm getting back to a bit more wisdom.

TELLURIDE'S 20TH FESTIVAL

Here's another installment in my ongoing section of revisiting the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  Today, as we continue to go back in time, we have a look at TFF #20 which ran Sept. 3-6, 1993.

Guest Director: John Boorman

Tributes: Ken Loach, Jennifer Jason Leigh and John Alton

SHOWS:

Abraham's Valley
The Ark
Blue (Jarman)
Blue (Kieslowski)
Bonne Chance
Border Incident
The Boys of St. Vincent
Chasing Butterflies
Clean, Shaven
Double Bind
Faraway, So Close
Farewell My Concubine
Fear and Desire
Flight of the Innocent
Gardiens de Phare
The Great Adventure
The Joy Luck Club
Kind of Blue
L627
The Last Stop
Love and Human Remains
Make Way For Tomorrow
Naked
The Piano
Point Blank
Raining Stones
Raw Deal
The Social Contract
Starting Place
Stella Polaris
Suture
Sylvester
T-Men
Time Has No Name
Upstage
The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl

Guests:

Joan Chen
Henry Czerny
Darryl Hannah
Leo McGarey
Michael Stipe
Amy Tan
Bertrand Tavernier
David Thewlis
Wayne Wang
Wim Wenders

Among the Filmmakers of Tomorrow participants was Darryl Hannah with her short The Last Supper.



BATTLE GOES TO BRITAIN

The BFI/London Film Fest has announced that the American Express Gala this year will be the European Premiere of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris' Battle of the Sexes starring Emma Stone and Steve Carrel.  I am fully expecting that Battle of the Sexes will be screening at TFF #44 in a couple of weeks.

The film follows the true story of the famed 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carrel).  The film also stars Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Alan Cumming and Sarah Silverman.

Here's the latest trailer for the film from YouTube:

Battle of the Sexes is distributed by Fox Searchlight and will be released domestically on Sept. 22nd.

Linked here is coverage from:

Deadline

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

That's your MTFB for Thursday.  More tomorrow including TWENTY BETS for TFF #44.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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LATE BREAKING: Toronto Titles Today Offer New Telluride Clues

LATE BREAKING: TORONTO TITLES TODAY OFFER NEW TELLURIDE CLUES


Toronto's purported final announcement of titles today sheds light on films that we think are now newly added to our list of T-ride screenings or confirms others that we thought were going or reveals titles that we thought might play that will not.

TIFF announced further Galas, Special Presentations, Masters and Contemporary World Cinema titles earlier today.

Here's what we think we've learned based on the premiere status of the films named:

New films that appear headed to Telluride:

Foxtrot
Lean on Pete
The Insult
First Reformed
Loveless

Films that appear to be further confirmed for Telluride:

The Other Side of Hope
Visages/Villages

Films that WILL NOT BE PLAYING TELLURIDE:

Chappaquiddick
Molly's Game (disppointed about this)
Mark Felt-The Man Who Brought Down the White House
Redoubtable
Happy End

And films confirmed out that we already thought were out:

The Leisure Seeker
The Florida Project


More to come on Thursday...

Indiewire's Hot 25 Fall Films / Molly's Game Teaser and Trailer? / A Look at Lady Bird / The New Guy and Telluride / Late Breaking: Lean on Pete

Hello on this Tuesday, Aug. 15th...16 days until TFF #44...

INDIEWIRE'S HOT 25 FALL FILMS

Indiewire put up a new post yesterday outlining 25 Indie films it is interested in that are scheduled for release between now and the end of the year.  As you might expect, a number of titles that we're already thinking will play Telluride are on the list and there are also additional titles that could still make the TFF #44 lineup.

The films included that I think are already set for The SHOW are:

Battle of the Sexes
Wonderstruck
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water

and other films that could still make the lineup:

Marshall
Molly's Game
Mary Magdalene
Happy End

The complete Indiewire list can be found here.


MOLLY'S GAME TEASER AND TRAILER?


We got a glimpse of Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut yesterday with the release of a teaser for Molly's Game starring Jessica Chastain.  The film is also expected to drop a full trailer today (per Chastain on Twitter).

Here's the teaser from YouTube:

I'm still crossing my fingers that this somehow makes the TFF program.

Molly's Game is being distributed by STX Entertainment and is set for release on Nov. 22.

I kind of think it may well be announced as a part of Toronto's program this week.  Often the release of teasers. trailers and images is a pre-cursor for that.

Here's coverage of the teaser release from The Playlist .

A LOOK AT LADY BIRD

A couple of images were released from Greta Gerwig's directing debut yesterday.  Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan and is set for release from A24 on Nov. 10th.

Here from Indiewire and The Film Stage are those two images:

Lady Bord currently sits at the #8 spot on my latest iteration of the Ten Bets for Telluride list.

WILL THE NEW GUY MAKE THE TREK TO TELLURIDE?

John Bailey is the newly elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS and Telluride have had a very tight relationship for a good long while.  I have always found it a hoot to see the AMPAS prez in T-ride over the Labor Day weekend having lay my eyes on booth Sid Ganis and Cheyl Boone Issacs over the years.  So I am wondering if Mr. Bailey, a cinematographer by trade (A Walk in the Woods, The Way Way Back, The Kid Stays in the Picture), joins us in a couple of weeks.  

Hope so!

 LATE BREAKING: LEAN ON PETE

Late last night the buzz was that A24 is bumping Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete to a 2018 release date which makes a Telluride screening less likely.  Stay Tuned.

More later...

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More About the Venice Schedule / Looks at Downsizing and Molly's Game

Welcome to Monday, August 14th.  17 days left until TFF #44...


MORE ABOUT THE VENICE SCHEDULE

If you missed it on Friday, the Venice Film Festival released its actual screening schedule, which, as many of you know, can be parsed for clues about the potential films that may play both there and at Telluride.

Friday's schedule release came after my original post for the day and so my update which included that missed some depth and nuance that I can get to today.

To reiterate, Films that are scheduled early enough or late in enough for their initial screening have demonstrably then had enough tie to play at both festivals.  Past fests have shown that.  Adding in what we think we already know from the revelations primarily from New York and Toronto allows some informed conjecture.

So starting with those premises we can include and exclude films from our list of TFF possibles.

I divide Venice into three "windows" to do this.  "Early", "Middle" and "Late".  Films that land in the "Early" window could have the chance to play Venice and then come to Telluride.  This year Venice's "Early" window in Aug. 29-Sept. 1...this is all arbitrary on my part.  It's my best guess that Sept. 1 is the latest a film could play in Italy and still be a part of T-ride.  The "Middle" window runs Sept. 2-4-or, in other words, the end of TFF.  Films that debut here are off the TFF table.  The "Late" Segment runs from Sept. 5-9.  Films that bow at Venice during this stretch could play Telluride and then go to Venice.

As I write this I believe that we have a relatively good idea of four films that will play Telluride and also play Venice: Downsizing, The Shape of Water and Human Flow all in Venice's "Early" period and Wormwood in its "Late" period.

Other films of interest in the "Early" period: First Reformed, The Devil and Father Amorth, Lean on Pete and Our Souls at Night.  Other films of interest in the "Late" period: Sweet Country and Mektoub My Love.

Films from the "Middle" period that we're already thinking will NOT play Telluride (another factoid that bolsters this set of guesses): Suburbicon, Victoria and Abdul, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.  Darren Aronofsky's mother! which we also think will not play at T-ride is set to bow on Sept. 5.

Films of Telluride interest that landed in the "Middle" section at Venice and thereby would seem to be no-go now for The SHOW: The Leisure Seeker, Foxtrot, The Private Life of a Mad Woman and Woodshock.

Finally add in a couple of clues that Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has been reported as saying.  First, that the two fests will share seven or eight titles and second that the only non-World Premiere at Venice is Errol Morris' Wormwood.

Since we already think we know of four films that leaves three of four to come from the "Early" or "Late" periods.

I think both Sweet Country and Mektoub My Love are eliminated as the comment about Wormwood would indicate that both of these films will be World Preeming that late in the Venice lineup. That means  the three to four additional films would come from the "Early" window.

In order, then, here are my best guesses as to the chances of those four films to make the trip:

1) First Reformed
2) Lean on Pete
3) Our Souls at Night
4) The Devil and Father Amorth

In fairness, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson's Under the Tree could also be in play for a Telluride spot as it plays in the "Early" segment as well and has, to the best of my knowledge, not been programmed at this point in another festival in a way that would disqualify it from TFF #44 consideration. However, the other films have, for various reasons, a more pronounced Telluride profile.



LOOKS AT DOWNSIZING AND MOLLY'S GAME


Entertainment Weekly's fall film preview issue landed Friday and EW put a couple of their interviews online which included first looks at both Alexander Payne's Downsizing and Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game.

I think Downsizing is a Telluride lock.  Molly's Game is more of a wish list item at the moment.

The pic from Downsizing:

And from Molly's Game:

The online interviews for the accompanying stories are from Alexander Payne here and for Molly's Game: Jessica Chastain here.

Other possible/probable TFF #44 films that are highlighted in the issue include:Battle of the Sexes, First They Killed My Father, Our Souls at Night, Wonderstruck, The Snowman, Roman Israel Esq., Wonder, Molly's Game, Lady Bird, Darkest Hour. The Shape of Water, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Happy End, and Downsizing.

The EW Fall Film Preview is on sale now.

That's your Monday.  More to come tomorrow and later this week including a new set of announced films from the Toronto International Film Festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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LATE BREAKING; Venice Schedule Released; Clues for Telluride

LATE BREAKING:

The schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted overnight and gives clues about what films we think may play both places.

We already have had some clues.  I was already fairly certain about things like Downsizing, The Shape of Water, Wormwood and Human Flow due to their Toronto status or other reporting.  Those films seem to be in good shape for Telluride with Venice dates that will allow them to do Venice and then come to T-ride or the reverse...do Telluride and then to Venice.

We also know that Venice director Alberto Barbera has said that there are likely 7-8 films that would play both places.

Downsizing opens Venice on Aug. 30
The Shape of Water plays Aug. 31
Human Flow plays Sept.1...which is probably as late as a film can play Venice and still make T-ride.

Then...

Wormwood plays Sept. 6 which would allow a Telluride bow before Errol Morris headed to Italy.

Other films we have been pointing out that fall into either the early or late windows:

Early:

Aug. 31-Paul Schrader's First Reformed and (though I haven't had this on my radar) William Freidkin's The Devil and Father Amorth (yes please)
Sept. 1- Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete and Ritesh Batra's Our Souls at Night

Late:
Sept. 6-Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country
Sept. 7-Mektoub My Love Canto Uno

That's six films in addition to the four that we thought were already probable to make the journey.  My guess is that the additional three or four are among these.

The full Venice Schedule is here.

More analysis on Monday...

Ten (Actually 16) Bets #7 / Loving Vincent is Solid / More Views of Shape of Water / Lean on Pete News / Late Breaking: Venice Schedule Gives Clues / 350,000

It's Friday...


TEN (ACTUALLY 16) BETS #7

Here's your weekly assessment of what I think are the films that will play at the Telluride Film Festival based on the announcements from other fests, social media, media speculation and my own best estimate.

As always...

Last Week's Ten (really 16) Bets plus additional possibilities

1) Wonderstruck
2) Downsizing
3) Battle of the Sexes
4) The Shape of Water
5) Darkest Hour
6) A Fantastic Woman
7) Hostiles
8) Lady Bird
9) The Rider
10) Loving Vincent
11) Human Flow
12) First They Killed My Father
13) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
14) Wormwood
15) The Florida Project and Visages/Villages (tie)

Other possibilities: Loveless, You Were Never Really Here, Lean on Pete, Mary Magdalene, The Other Side of Hope, Mektoub My Love, First Reformed, Happy End, Our Souls at Night, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, Molly's Game.

This week's Ten (really 16) Bets #7

1) Downsizing
2) Wonderstruck
3) The Shape of Water
4) Battle of the Sexes
5) Darkest Hour
6) Loving Vincent
7) Hostiles
8) Lady Bird
9) A Fantastic Woman
10) The Rider
11) Visages/Villages
12) First They Killed My Father
13) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
14) The Other Side of Hope
15) Wormwood
16) Before We Vanish



Films still possible for Telluride:

Happy End
Marshall
Wonder
Mary Magdalene
Loveless
Final Portrait
The Silent Man
Molly's Game
The Snowman
Lean on Pete
Redoubtable
L'amant Double
You Were Never Really Here
Our Souls at Night
Chappaquiddick
Mektoub My Love
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan

Of these remaining possibles here are the five most likely:

1) Loveless
2) Lean on Pete

3) You Were Never Really Here

4) Happy End

5) L'amant Double

LOVING VINCENT IS SOLID

We have thought that the hand painted animated prize winning feature film Loving Vincent would be on the Telluride list this year and I can report that sources tell me that it is solidly a part of The SHOW.

The new trailer earlier this week looked gorgeous.  The film will be released in the U.S. Sept. 22nd.


MORE VIEWS OF THE SHAPE OF WATER

Slash Film reported new stills from Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water this week.  It might, at this point, be the film I am most looking forward to for TFF #44.

Here are a couple of the new pics:

And the complete SlashFilm article is here.

LEAN ON PETE NEWS

 Had a knowledgeable source last night tell me that Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete will likely bow in Venice on the first Friday of that fest which, theoretically could allow it to make a screening in Telluride (just as I suggested might be possible for Our Souls at Night in yesterday's post).

Now, that doesn't guarantee anything but does keep the door open for the film to make the trans-Atlantic trip.  See the following story...

LATE BREAKING: VENICE SCHEDULE IS UP AND  GIVES CLUES

The schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted overnight and gives clues about what films we think may play both places.

We already have had some clues.  I was already fairly certain about things like Downsizing, The Shape of Water, Wormwood and Human Flow due to their Toronto status or other reporting.  Those films seem to be in good shape for Telluride with Venice dates that will allow them to do Venice and then come to T-ride or the reverse...do Telluride and then to Venice.

We also know that Venice director Alberto Barbera has said that there are likely 7-8 films that would play both places.

Downsizing opens Venice on Aug. 30
The Shape of Water plays Aug. 31
Human Flow plays Sept.1...which is probably as late as a film can play Venice and still make T-ride.

Then...

Wormwood plays Sept. 6 which would allow a Telluride bow before Errol Morris headed to Italy.

Other films we have been pointing out that fall into either the early or late windows:

Early:

Aug. 31-Paul Schrader's First Reformed and (though I haven't had this on my radar) William Freidkin's The Devil and Father Amorth (yes please)
Sept. 1- Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete and Ritesh Batra's Our Souls at Night

Late:
Sept. 6-Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country
Sept. 7-Mektoub My Love Canto Uno

That's six films in addition to the four that we thought were already probable to make the journey.  My guess is that the additional three or four are among these.

The full Venice Schedule is here.

More analysis on Monday...

350,000

MTFB passed another milepost yesterday with the 350,000th view.  

Thank you.

That's your MTFB for Friday, Aug. 11, 2017.  More on Monday!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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