Now That Oscar 2021 Is Over... / Cannes Countdown-Possible Titles / There Is No Evil Trailer and Date / Never Gonna Snow Again Trailer Released

NOW THAT OSCAR 2021 IS OVER...

GoldDerby.com wasted zero time getting  a prospective list of films that could be in the Oscar hunt 10 months from now assuming The Academy doesn't move the probable dates again for Oscar #94.

Looking at their list, a few jump out as possible TFF #48 choices (or are, at least on my wish list and/or radar):

Andrew Dominik's Blonde

Mike Mills' C'mon C'mon

Denis Villenueve's Dune

Will Sharpe's The Electrical Life of Louis Wain

Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch

Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins

Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley

Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog

The complete Gold Derby list is linked here.

CANNES COUNTDOWN-POSSIBLE TITLES

Variety ran down a number of films that it suggests have a reasonable shot at making the lineup for the Cannes Film Festival now scheduled to take place from July 6-17.  If the fest happens on those dates then the Cannes/Telluride connection that we have seen over the last several years could well be in place to recur.

So here are some of the speculated (and not so speculated) titles that Variety mentions that might make the Cannes/Telluride double play (some of which are mentioned in the Oscar  segment above):

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch

Sean Penn's Flag Day

Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog

Paul Schrader's The Card Counter

Jacques Audiard's Paris 13th District

Asghar Farhadi's A Hero

Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island

Ari Folman's Where Is Anne Frank

Cannes will announce its lineup on May 27th.

THERE IS NO EVIL TRAILER AND DATE

Mohammad Rasoulof would have had another film play at Telluride in 2020 had the festival taken place.  His Berlin Golden Bear winning There Is No Evil was an official selection of TFF #47.  Rasoulof previously screened Manuscripts Don't Burn and A Man of Integrity at TFF.

Now word comes from distributor Kino Lorber that the film will be released on May 14th.  To underscore that announcement, Kino Lorber released a trailer for the film this week.  Here it is thanks to YouTube:

Here's the story from Indiewire.

 

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN  TRAILER RELEASED

Ahead of its New York premiere this weekend, Kino Lorber has released a trailer for Poland's official nominee for the just past Oscar for Best International Feature, Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert's Never Gonna Snow Again.  The film was an official selection of TFF #47.

The description of the film from IMDb says:

"Zhenia, a Russian-speaking immigrant from the East works as a masseur in Poland and becomes a guru-like figure in a wealthy gated community of his clients."

Indiewire reports that the film will be released in July.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

And the story from Indiewire is linked here.

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actor / Variety's Biggest Movies / Deadline's Most Influential Films of the 21st Century / NBP's Best Bets for International Feature

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Dec. 3rd.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Sacha Baron Cohen/Trial of the Chicago 7 (2)

2) Leslie Odom Jr./One Night in Miami (1)

3) Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah (7)

4) Chadwick Boseman/Da 5 Bloods (5)

5) Bill Murray/On the Rocks (3)

6) Paul Raci/Sound of Metal (-)

7) Stanley Tucci/Supernova (8)

8) Mark Rylance/Trial of the Chicago 7 (4)

9) David Stratharin/Nomadland (6)

10) Charles Dance/Mank (-)

Other possibles: Glynn Turman/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Eddie Redmayne/Trial of the Chicago 7, Aldis Hodge/One Night in Miami, Frank Langella/Trial of the Chicago 7.

Hot: Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah, Paul Raci/Sound of Metal, Charles Dance/Mank

Not: Bill Murray/On the Rocks, Mark Rylance/Trial of the Chicago 7, David Stratharin/Nomadland

On Thursday I'll update predictions for Best Adapted Screenplay.

VARIETY'S BIGGEST MOVIES

In a story entitled "The Most Anticipated Movies Coming in 2021, Variety chronologically names 33 films to their list.  Of that 33, seven are films that I feel like could be TFF #48 films:

The French Dispatch (which Variety says is a "summer" release)

Dune (10/1)

The Last Duel (10/15)

Nightmare Alley (December)

And films for which a release date has yet to be announced:

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Soggy Bottom (or whatever Paul Thomas Anderson ultimately calls it)

Annette

The complete listing of all 33 films from Variety is linked here.

DEADLINE'S MOST INFLUENTIAL FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Deadline staff folks have come up with a listing of what they say are the most influential films of the 21st century (so far).  There are 21 films named.  Of that 21 six where TFF films:

Parasite

Roma

The Shape of Water

Moonlight

Slumdog Millionaire

There Will Be Blood (which I always count as a TFF film due the screening of a chunk of the film as part of the 2007 tribute to Paul Thomas Anderson)

I can't really argue with the choices from TFF but a surprising omission, to me at least, is Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.

The complete list and commentary can be found via this link.

NBP SAYS THESE ARE YOUR BEST BETS FOR INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Next Best Picture's Tom O'Brien writes in a piece dated  Dec. 30, 2020 that there are 10 films out in front of the pack in the International Feature Oscar race.  Of his list of 10, a couple would have played at a TFF #47: Charlatan (Czech Republic) and Never Gonna Snow Again (Poland).

I would toss in the notion that there are a couple of other TFF #47 choices that could also land in the convo:  Apples (Greece) and Notturno (Italy).

The complete list from NBP is linked here.

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actor / Indiewire's Top 20 and TFF / Submissions Are In for Oscar's International Films

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actor updated since I last posted this category on  Nov. 5th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Leslie Odom, Jr./One Night in Miami (3)

2) Sacha Baron Cohen/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (1)

3) Bill Murray/On the Rocks (4)

4) Mark Rylance/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (5)

5) Chadwick Boseman/Da 5 Bloods (2)

6) David Startharin/Nomadland (6)

7) Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah (8)

8) Stanley Tucci/Supernova (-)

9) Frank Langella/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (9)

10) Yahya Abdul-Mateen II/The Trial of the Chicago 7 (-)

Others: Eddie Redmayne/The Trial of the Chicago 7, Charles Dance/Mank, Arliss Howard/Mank, Thomas Pelphrey/Mank

Hot: Odom/One Night in Miami, Tucci/Supernova, Abdul-Mateen II/Trial of the Chicago 7

Not: Boseman/Da 5 Bloods

INDIEWIRE"S TOP 20 and TFF

Indiewire's Eric Kohn has posted his selection of the 20 best films for 2020 and the list contains films that played at TFF #46 as well as films that were on the TFF #47 announced list.  TFF films that were on Kohn's list are:

#12 The Assistant (TFF #46)

#7 The Climb (TFF #46)

#4 Nomadland (TFF #47)

#1 First Cow (TFF #46)

Kohn's complete list is linked here.

SUBMISSIONS ARE IN FOR OSCAR'S INTERNATIONAL FILMS

The deadline has come and gone for submission for International Film Oscar submissions.  As you might expect, some TFF #47 choices were submitted.  Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist has handicapped the field and among the more likely players for an Oscar nomination in his assessment are these TFF #47 selections:

Apples/Greece

Charlatan/Czech Republic

Notturno/Italy

Never Gonna Snow Again/Poland

Here's Ellwood's complete list of predictions from The Playlist.

Additionally, from Matt neglia at Next Best Picture, here's the complete list of all submissions.

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Oscar Update: Best Actress / Full Trailer for Your (Bee Gees) Broken Heart / Nomadland Odds and Ends / Never Gonna Snow Again Picked Up by Kino Lorber / Berlin Looming

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Oct. 26th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS

1) Frances McDormand/Nomdaland (2)

2) Vanessa Kirby/Pieces of a Woman (3)

3) Viola Davis/Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1)

4) Carey Mulligan/Promising Young Woman (5)

5) Sophia Loren/The Life Ahead (9)

6) Kate Winslet/Ammonite (7)

7) Michelle Pfeiffer/French Exit (8)

8) Andra Day/The People (10)

9) Amy Adams/Hillbilly Elegy (6)

10) Meryl Streep/The Prom (-)

Others: Elizabeth Moss/Invisible Woman, Sienna Miller/ Wander Darkly

Hot: Vanessa Kirby, Sophia Loren, Andra Day, Meryl Streep

Not: Michelle Pfeiffer, Amy Adams

Notes:  Currently the top three candidates are bunched very tightly and are all looking like locks.  The rest of the filed for the final two nominations is also tightly bunched but way, way back of McDormand, Kirby and Davis.

FULL TRAILER FOR YOUR (BEE GEES) BROKEN HEART

HBO Max dropped a new full length trailer for the Frank Marshall documentary The Bee Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart this past weekend.  This follows up a teaser that I had here back on Nov. 2nd.

Here's the look at the new 2 1/2 minute trailer from YouTube:

NOMADLAND ODDS AND ENDS

Chloe Zhao's Nomadland won a big honor this week within the craft of cinematography at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival Golden Frog Award as well as FIPRESCI Jury Prize honors.  The fest honors the best in international cinematography each year.  Joker won the Golden Frog last year.

I have linked coverage of the full scope of the awards from Variety here.

Meanwhile, Tom Bruggemann, writing for Indiewire, had an interesting article up this week about how Searchlight has taken something of a traditionalist approach (if such a thing is even imaginable in the age of Covid-19) to the Awards campaign for Nomadland.

The film is thought to be strong contender for nominations for Picture, Director (Zhao), Actress (McDormand), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Film Editing with outside shots for Supporting Actress (Swankie) and Supporting Actor (Stratharin).

Here's Bruggemann's article.

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN PICKED UP BY KINO LORBER

Polish feature, Never Gonna Snow Again, a selection for what would have been TFF #47 as well as Poland's submission for consideration for Best International Feature, has been acquired for North American distribution by Kino Lorber.

The film was a Venice premiere where it won the Premio Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Award.  It was also screened as a pert of the BFI London Film Festival among others.

Never Gonna Snow Again was directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and co-directed by Michał Englert.  It is described by IMDb:

"Zhenia, a Russian-speaking immigrant from the East works as a masseur in Poland and becomes a guru-like figure in a wealthy gated community where his clients live."

I have linked the announcement of acquisition news here from Screen Daily.

BERLIN LOOMING

Organizers of the Berlin Film Festival have announced plans for a stripped down but still physical version of the fest.  Deadline reports that the festival is currently dated for Feb. 11-21, 2021.

From the Andreas Wideman/Deadline article:

"A festival spokesperson told us: “The Berlinale still plans to take place as a physical event in February. Press screenings and public screenings will take place, as always, in the cinemas, but access will be possible only with pre-booked tickets for allocated seats."

Berlin often is the premiere festival for a couple of films that ultimately become choices for Telluride.

The complete Deadline article is linked here.

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BFI-London Announces / Teaser Trailers for Nomadland and Mandibles / New Photos of Mainstream and Mandibles/ Interviews: Zhao, Coppola and More / Ronstadt Short Doc Acquired

BFI-LONDON ANNOUNCES

The BFI-London Film Festival announced its 2020 slate on Tuesday morning.  Five of the feature films selected for its main slate were also among the 29 films officially selected by the Telluride Film Festival for its 47th edition that had to be canceled.

Three of the titles have become common place additions to a number of film fests:

Francis Lee's Ammonite
Chloe Zhao's Nomadland
Gianfranco Rosi's Notturno

In addition to those three LFF also selected After Love and Never Gonna Snow Again.

The BFI-London Film Festival will take place Oct. 7-18 and will largely be presented virtually but will have a live cinema presentation of some films as a part of its programming.


TEASER TRAILERS FOR NOMADLAND AND MANDIBLES

Teaser for Nomadland:

Mandibles Trailer from YouTube:

NEW PHOTOS OF MAINSTREAM AND MANDIBLES

From Mandibles:

From Mainstream:

INTERVIEWS WITH THE CREATORS OF NOMADLAND, MAINSTREAM, THE DUKE AND NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN



***Chloe Zhao/Nomadland from The Hollywood Reporter

***Gia Coppola/Mainstream from The Hollywood Reporter

***Roger Michell/The Duke from Variety

***Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert/Never Gonna Snow Again from Variety



RONSTADT SHORT DOC ACQUIRED

photo via Variety and The Shout! Factory

Last year at TFF #46 programmers selected to screen the fantastic documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.  Now comes news that a second Ronstadt doc that was chosen for inclusion on the TFF #47 list has been acquired for release by Shout! Studios.

The short doc (runtime about 40 min.) is titled: Linda Ronstadt and the Mockingbirds focuses on a trip to Mexico as Ronstadt explores her musical roots.

The story was reported by Variety and says that the new work is a follow on to last year's film.

Variety reports that the new film is expected to have a 2020 release on various platforms.

The complete Variety story is linked here.

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New Trailers for TFF #47 Films / Telluride at Home-Part Two / Kate Winslet Talks Ammonite / Truffles for Christmas

NEW TRAILERS FOR TFF #47

A couple of international films that would have played as a part of the lineup that was announced list for TFF #47 dropped trailers this week.

Christos Nikou's Apples, which will screen as a part of the Venice Film Festival, released the following trailer on Friday (from You Tube):

And from director Malgorzata Szumowska' Never Gonna Snow Again (also a Venice title) had a teaser release on Tuesday:

And also ahead of its debut at bothe Venice and Toronto,  Gianfranco Rosi's documentary, Notturno, also has an international trailer.  Thanks to my buddy Alex Billington at FirstShowing.net who posted this news yesterday.

TELLURIDE AT HOME-PART TWO

I'm passing along a couple more lists that I've gotten for folks that have accepted my challenge to curate their own replacement TFF #47 film fest in their own homes over the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

What I've suggested is for folks to pick 10-12 films from past Telluride Film Fests that are either films they'd like to re-visit or films that screened at Telluride but were missed.

I've completed my list of 11 (actually, a cooperative effort with the wife) and I'll be revealing mine in Thursday's post.  The Mrs. and I have chosen 11 films that we first saw at Telluride and will be seeing again...many being repeated for the first time since seeing them at TFF.

So, if you'd like to play and share your choices, feel free to drop me a line about what films you've curated for your very own TFF #47 at Home.  The deadline to get me your list is Wednesday at 6:00pm EDT.

Here are a couple of more lists that have been sent to me.  First is from my brother Jim who categorized two lists, one for narrative features and another for documentaries:

Top 10 Virtual TFF 48 list – Combining Documentaries & Movies

 Films (Alphabetic)

Black Mass
Darkest Hour
Hostiles
La La Land
Marguerite
Motherless Brooklyn
Spotlight
The Aeronauts
The Last Vermeer
Toni Erdmann


Documentaries (Alphabetic)

California Typewriter
Chasing Train
Eagle Huntress
Filmworker
Free Solo
Inside Bill’s Brain
Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown
Reversing Row
Spheres VR Experience

 And from friend of the blog Jim Brooks...his list of ten films for his Telluride at Home:

1 La La Land
2 Hostiles
3 Parasite (my wife saved a seat, and when I sat down, on the other side of the seat saved was none other than Mr. Telluride predictor, Michael Patterson, in the back row of the balcony of the Palm!)
4 Free Solo (Incredible!!!!! thanks to Telluride I revisited that in Imax when it was released in the fall.)
5 The Two Popes
6 Moonlight
7 First Man
8 Cold War
9 Toni Erdmann (last film of 2016, took a chance at the Chuck, and really enjoyed it!)
10 Frantz



Jim has also done some serious work as he is tracking down where some TFF films can be streamed:


Dogman (Hulu)
Roma (Netflix)
Angels Are Made of Light (iTunes)
Peterloo (Amazon Prime)
Nonfiction (Amazon Prime)
Graves Without a Name (iTunes)
The Other Side of the Wind  (Netflix)
Border  (Hulu)
Dovlatov (Netflix)
Biggest Little Farm (Amazon)
Girl (Netflix)
Free Solo  (hulu, Amazon)
Ghost Fleet (Amazon)
Shoplifters (Hulu)
The Great Buster (Amazon, YouTube)
Birds of Passage (Amazon)
Neruda (Amazon)
Things to Come (Amazon)
Lost in Paris (Amazon)
Una (Netflix)
Frantz (Amazon)
Chasing Trane (Netflix)
Into the Inferno (Netflix)
The Ivory game (Netflix)
Finding Oscar (Amazon, YouTube, AppleTV)
California Typewriter (Hulu)
Bright Lights (Amazon, HBO)
The Assistant (Amazon)


KATE WINSLET TALKS AMMONITE

Oscar winner Kate Winslet's latest film, the much buzzed about Ammonite, is about to screen as a part of the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept. 11).  The film was one of the 29 that was announced as a film that would have played Telluride had the festival happened.  It was also a Cannes choice.

Prior to the film's debut, Winslet talked to Tatiana Siegel writing for The Hollywood Reporter about AMmonite and her career.

That interview/story is linked here.


TRUFFLES FOR CHRISTMAS

Sony Pictures Classics has announced that TFF #47 documentary selection The Truffle Hunters will open on Dec. 25th in the U.S.

Deadline reported the announcement on Friday.

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New York Announces / Truffles Appear in Zurich / TFF #47 Film First Announced for International Oscar

 NEW YORK ANNOUNCES

The 2020 New York Film Festival lineup was announced last Thursday after MTFB had already been published.  Here's the competition lineup:

Opening Night: Lover's Rock/McQueen
Centerpiece: Nomadland/Zhao
Closing Night:  French Exit/Jacobs

Atarrabi and Mikelats/Green
Beginning/Kulumbegashvili
The Calming/Fang
City Hall/Wiseman
Days/Ming-liang
The Disciple/Tamhane
Gunda/Kossakovsky
I Carry You with Me (Te Llevo Conmigo)/Ewing
Isabella/Piñeiro
Malmkrog/Puiu
Mangrove/McQueen
MLK/FBI/Pollard
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois)/Lacôte
Notturno/Rosi
Red, White and Blue/McQueen
The Salt of Tears (Le sel des larmes)/Garrel
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue/Zhangke
Time/Bradley
Tragic Jungle (Selva Trágica)/Olaizola
The Truffle Hunters/Dweck and Kershaw
Undine/Petzold
The Woman Who Ran/Sangsoo

Four were named for both NYFF and TFF #47:  Nomadland, Notturno, MLK/FBI and The Truffle Hunters.  The NYFF list also included a couple of films that I thought might be TFF choices: City Hall and Undine as well as the Steve McQueen films: Mangrove, Lover's Rock and Red White and Blue.

The New York Film Fest is scheduled to run from Sept. 25-Oct. 11.

Here's rundown of the NYFF films with some commentary from Indiewire.
With the addition of the New York choices, here is the updated list of films that would be playing TFF #47 and the other film fests which have also scheduled some of those titles:

Ammonite:TIFF, Cannes

Charlatan: Berlin

Concrete Cowboy: TIFF

The Duke: Venice

The Father: TIFF, Sundance

Fireball: TIFF

Ibrahim: Cannes

Mainstream: Venice

Mandibules: Venice

MLK/FBI: TIFF, NYFF

Never Gonna Snow Again: Venice

Nomadland: TIFF, Venice, NYFF (centerpiece)

Notturno: TIFF, Venice, NYFF

There Is No Evil: Berlin

The Truffle Hunters: Cannes, Sundance, NYFF

TRUFFLES APPEAR IN ZURICH

The day after we found out that TFF #47 selection The Truffle Hunters (dir: Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw) had been selected for the New York Film Festival came news that the film was among the first 10 Gala Selections for the the Zurich Film Festival.

You could say it was a good week for the documentary that focuses on the exploits of three septuagenarian Italians as they forage for the delicacy.  IMDb describes the film as follows:

"Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle-which to date has resisted all of modern science's efforts at cultivation."

ZFF will announce the remainder of its lineup on Sept. 14th.

Linked here are details of the selections announced Friday from Variety.



TFF #47 FILM FIRST ANNOUNCED FOR INTERNATIONAL OSCAR

Poland wasted no time declaring that Never Gonna Snow Again from director Malgorzata Szumowska will be its entry for the 2021 International FIlm Oscar race.  That news was reported by Deadline.

Never Gonna Snow Again was one of 29 films named to Telluride's list of films that would have played had the film fest been able to go forward.  The film is also set to premiere as a part of the Venice Film Festival lineup.

Here's its IMDb description:
"A Ukrainian migrant working as a masseur in Poland becomes a guru-like figure in the gated community where his clients live."

And here's the link to the Deadline story.

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