Toronto Part Two / Categorical Weirdness / Tapley Lands at Variety / The Continuing "Jane Got a Gun" Saga

Welcome to Tuesday Everyone.

TORONTO PART TWO

I am expecting the second wave of announcements of films that will play the Toronto International Film Festival to come later today.  I believe that they are announcing Canadian films as a part of a specific program of films for that fest.

Whatever is announced, check back here for analysis about the TIFF choices and revelations and what they tell us about Telluride's possible lineup choices.

Which leads to this next thing...

CATEGORICAL WEIRDNESS

If you read this space with frequency and certainly in the last week since TIFF's announced first wave of films, then you know that there has been some oddity regarding how the film "Spotlight" has been categorized.  Reportedly tabbed as a Canadian premiere in some places and International in others plus some confusion in as far as what TIFF views as an International premiere.  That has led to a number of outlets concluding that "Spotlight" could well be playing Telluride.

Now, this added weirdness at least a couple of  sources reported yesterday that Julie Delpy's "Lolo" will premiere in Venice even though the TIFF website claims their screening is its World premiere.

Here's "Lolo's" page at the TIFF website:

http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/galapresentations/lolo


Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter and tell us that the film will premiere as a part of the Venice Days program during the Venice Fest.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/julie-delpy-lolo-premiere-venice-812666

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-julie-delpy-writes-directs-and-stars-in-venice-premiere-lolo-20150803

Obviously, the film can't World Premiere twice and in two different places.  So, what gives?

My takeaway from this is that these film fests still haven't gotten all the kinks and communication worked out regarding any particular film's premiere status and that all of us who are trying to read these particular tea leaves would do well to remember that.

PS...in my fevered dementia surrounding the Toronto and Venice announcements last week, I even developed a theory that would allow "Spotlight" to play all three fests, including Telluride, and still be properly labeled an "International" premiere in what seems to be the most commonly accepted definition of the term.  Don't ask.  It's really almost impossible.

TAPLEY LANDS AT VARIETY

I'm really happy to pass on this note that Kristopher Tapley and his InContention awards coverage has landed at Variety.com.  Tapley, who has been kind enough to provide film ratings each year as a part of MTFB's "Telluride Professionals" and has also been a source that I have accessed for The Film Awards Clearinghouse portion of this blog, will be joining the venerable entertainment publication on Aug. 24th and will be back in Telluride providing Variety's coverage.

Tapley's InContention and HitFix.com had been together since 2011 but came to a parting of ways at the end of June.

It will be good to have Kris' voice back online (and in Variety's print edition as well) very, very soon.
Congratulations, Mr. Tapley!

Coverage is here:

http://variety.com/2015/biz/awards/kris-kristopher-tapley-joins-variety-in-contention-1201555437/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/variety-adds-kris-tapley-to-awards-coverage-20150803

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/08/kris-tapley-lands-at-variety/


THE CONTINUING "JANE GOT A GUN" SAGA

"Jane Got a Gun" First Look from Movieclips and YouTube

If you've read this blog for some time, you know that I have often included stories about Gavin O'Conner's "Jane Got a Gun" which has been beleaguered to say the least.  It's struggle continued this week as half of its distributor plan- Relativity Media-declared bankruptcy.

The film had changes in director and cast and now this.  Vanity Fair posted a story of where this film is here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/07/natalie-portman-jane-got-a-gun-delay


Will the film make it to its Sept. 4 release date or get pushed to 2016?


That's all for now.  Check back later today and tomorrow for news about the most recent announcements from Toronto.


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"Ten Bets" #4/European Producers: Le French Part Deux/First Trailer for "The Revenant"/Trailer and Interview for "The Assassin"

It's finally Friday...where has the summer gone?

LATEST "TEN BETS" (#4 for 2015)

Here's this week's installment of my weekly guess as to what are the ten most likely films to play as a part of this year's Telluride Film Festival.

First, a look at last week's "Ten Bets":

10) "The Club"
9) "Suffragette"
8) "13 Minutes"
7) "Queen of the Desert"
6) "45 Years"
5) "I Saw the Light"
4) "Carol"
3) "Youth"
2) "Son of Saul"
1) "Dheepan"

  

And now, "Ten Bets" #4

10) "The Club"

9) "Truth"

8) "Queen of the Desert"

7) "Suffragette"

6) "Youth"

5) "45 Years"

4) "I Saw the Light"

3) "Carol"

2) "Dheepan"

1) "Son of Saul"

SPC's "Truth" rejoins the "Ten Bets" replacing their "13 Minutes".  Also, "Mountains Amy Depart" drops a bit farther as its director is on the new "Program" jury for Toronto.  "The Measure of a Man" moves to "near Ten Bets" status.

EUROPEAN PRODUCERS: LE FRENCH PART DEUX

I'm continuing my look at European/French film production firms today with looks at Telluride legacies for France2 Cinema and France 3 as a way of looking for possible shows for The SHOW.

FRANCE2 CINEMA

Here are the films from France2 Cinema that have played Telluride in recent years:

2006: Indigenes
2009: A Prophet, Coco Before Chanel
2010: The Princess of Montpensier
2011: The Kid with a Bike
2012: Rust and Bone

2013: Blue is the Warmest Color
2014: Two Days One Night

TFF #42 possibilities:

"Youth"
"Mon Roi"
"Lolo"
 are the best bets from France2.

FRANCE 3

Here's the track record from France 3 at Telluride for the past several years:

2003: Dogville, The Tripletts of Belleville
2004:
2005: Lemming, Live and Become, Cache
2006: The Page Turner, Indigenes
2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
2008: I've Loved You So Long
2009: The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: The Artist
2012: Superstar, Amour
2013: The Past

2014: Mr. Turner, The Price of Fame, The Gate

Their 2015 slate that might be Telluride possible includes:

"Diary of a Chambermaid"
"Disorder"
"Valley of Love"
 These films seem like the best bets from France 3.

FIRST TRAILER FOR "THE REVENANT"

"The Revenant" trailer via YouTube

Let me be clear, Alejandro Inarritu's "The Revenant" starring Leonardo DiCaprio is almost certainly NOT going to make it to Telluride.  The film is, the buzz says, NOT ready and WILL NOT be ready in time.

With a Dec. 25th release date, Inarritu has plenty of time before its theatrical release to get finished up...maybe.  Honestly, I wouldn't be all that surprised if this didn't get held until 2016 with a play at Cannes and then a 2016 Telluride play.

Nevertheless, we have a trailer that dropped this morning as you can see above and here are some of the related stories from other outlets that accompanied the trailer this morning:

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-revenant-trailer-leonardo-dicaprio/

http://www.thewrap.com/leonardo-di-caprio-does-not-fear-death-in-first-trailer-for-the-revenant-video/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-leonardo-dicaprio-tom-hardy-star-in-the-first-trailer-for-alejandro-inarritus-revenge-thriller-the-revenant-20150717

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/17/revenant-trailer-leonardo-dicaprio?hootPostID=f03a2f8aeed55cacf06a1c7f883a2b2b

http://thefilmstage.com/trailer/first-trailer-for-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritus-the-revenant-with-leonardo-dicaprio-and-tom-hardy/

TRAILER AND INTERVIEW FOR "THE ASSASSIN

Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "The Assassin" won the Best Directing prize at Cannes last May and that might be enough to see it make the Telluride 2015 program.  Last year's Cannes Best Director made the trip to T-ride-Bennett Miller and "Foxcatcher'.  Other Cannes Best Direction winners of recent years that have then played Telluride include: Gus Van Sant ("Elephant" '03), Michael Haneke ("Cache" '05) Alejandro Inarritu ("Babel '06) and Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" '07). Additionally, the critical response was very, very good.

The film is being distributed by Well Go Entertainment which has no real Telluride history but that might not matter.  The film also still has no U.S. release date but will have played half a dozen international festivals by the end of August.


I have linked an interview with Hsiao-Hsien from Mubi and the story from The Playlist that includes the trailer for the film:

https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/a-love-story-without-love-hou-hsiao-hsien-discusses-the-assassin/

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/watch-first-trailer-for-hou-hsiao-hsiens-cannes-award-winning-the-assassin-20150704


That's all for Friday.  Have a great weekend and look for a new post Monday.

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