It Was Just an Accident: Poster and Trailer / Guest Director Anyone? / New York and Toronto Re-visit / The 13th People's Telluride

 IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT: POPSTER AND TRAILER

11 days and counting to TFF #52.  As the fest approaches Neon released both a poster and a trailer for Jafar Panahi's Plame d'Or winner , It Was Just an Accident.  I've had  it on my Ten Bets list throughout the summer.  Last week's "Bets" had the film listed as the #2 Best Bet.  The film is described at IMDb  as this:

A small mishap triggers a chain reaction of ever-growing problems.

Fairly cryptic, eh?

The film opens in the U.S. on Oct 15th.

Here's the poster:

And the trailer from YouTube:

GUEST DIRECTOR ANYONE?

So it seems that TFF has established something of a new protocol about Guest Directors going forward.  for the third consecutive year the fest is down to the wire without having named a Guest Director.  as I wrote last year about this topic, for the past few years the fest announced the Guest Director usually in the third week of June.  But for TFF #50 and #51, they did not announce them until the big reveal of official film titles on the Thursday before the festival began.

Last year, that was the timing for the reveal of Kenneth Lonergan as Guest Director and for TFF #50 the announcement of multiple Guest Directors was also revealed the day before the fest.

So...I'm beginning to think that becomes the new normal.

Maybe we find out earlier, but I have my doubts.

NEW YORK AND TORONTO RE-VISIT

Poster for Sirat (which might still be in play for Telluride-see below)

I wrote last week about the premiere designations confusion that exists for three films announced for both the New York Fest and Toronto.  So, I thought I'd wander back to both festival's official online lineups to see if either fest had altered the premiere designations for any of the three films;

Landmarks: No change.

Blue Moon: No change.

A Private Life: No change.

 

Again all three films are listed as North American premieres by TIFF and as New York premieres for NYFF.  NYFF designating them as New York premieres is the real oddity.  It seems to me that if they're doing the North American premiere at Toronto then New York should have deemed them as U.S. premieres.

But there's more.  I went through all 18 non-revival films that New York labels as U.S. premieres and the 22 that they label as New York premieres and found that Sirat and Barrio Triste also are listed in the same weird and contradictory way as Blue Moon, Landmarks and A Private Life.  So, perhaps those two films are also actually still possible for Telluride.

Finally, a couple of other films are listed by NYFF as New York premieres and I can't detect why.  They are With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-13TH EDITION

For the 13th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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It Always Happens... / Who to Tribute? / Guest Director? / 1.1 Miilion

 IT ALWAYS HAPPENS...

Last week, seemingly minutes after I pushed the button, news started spilling out all over the place.  New York announced its Spotlight film section and we also got news from Fantastic Fest, the Hampton's Film Fest and an interview with Venice Film fest director Alberto Barbera.  All of which confirmed, denied or added film titles to the "probably playing Telluride" pile of films.  Here's what each circumstance told us:

New York Spotlight:

Lack of a premiere status in the announcement likely confirms The Friend, Emilia Perez and Maria (more on that below) for TFF #51.

That non-premiere status for Apocalypse in the Tropics also suggests that the documentary about politics in Brazil will make it to Telluride.  That is underscored by the fact that it is playing at Venice and is scheduled for its premiere screening on Aug. 29th giving it enough time to make the jump to T-ride.

Fantastic Fest:

For Fantastic Fest you look for a "Texas" or "Austin" premiere status and then work back to see if any of those films screened at Sundance or Tribeca.  Eliminate those titles and then examine what's left and you can find out possible titles headed to The SHOW.

So, their announced set of films looks to confirm Anora and add Memoir of a Snail and Chain Reactions.  Like Apocalypse in the Tropics, Chain Reactions is set to play Venice on Aug. 29th so the same "they've got enough time to make it to T-ride" logic applies.

The Hampton Fest:

They revealed their selection of Michael Premo's Homegrown.  It's a documentary about the right wing in the USA. HIFF lists it as a "New York" premiere which suggests that it will play somewhere in the U.S./North America after Venice.  Toronto hasn't announced it which leaves only Telluride.  Homegrown is scheduled for an early afternoon screening in Venice on Aug. 30th (1:30 pm Venice time) which cuts it close but means it could make a flight to TFF.

And finally, Alberto Barbera:

For the third or fourth year in a row Barbera announces a film that will play Venice and then go to Telluride.  It's like he does it on purpose.  

In an interview with Rebecca Ford for Vanity Fair Barbera is quoted:

"Angelina (Jolie) will be on the first day, on Thursday the 29, and she will leave right after with [Maria director] Pablo Larraín to go to Telluride."

And not to put too fine a point on it but seems like Angelina Jolie will be in town again.  She was in t-ride in 2017 with First They Killed My Father.

That all came down on Thursday!

And by the way, as I was doing all the cross-checking between various fests for this I started to kind of  warm to the idea that Tim Fehlbaum's September 5 might sneak into Telluride as well.  Mostly because it's situated in the Venice schedule at the right time (Aug. 29th) and it sounds intriguing.  From IMDb:

"During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes."

The film stars Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin and Benjamin Walker.  

Here are the links:

New York Fest Spotlight announcement.

Fantastic Fest lineup. 

Hampton Fest lineup.

Venice Fest schedule.

Alberto Barbera interview in Vanity Fair.

WHO TO TRIBUTE?

We get to this point every year where, down to just a few days before the fest kicks off and assuming that we're pretty close to getting a lot of the titles right, it's fun to speculate who will be receiving a tribute.

Going through the latest offering of "Ten (Plus) Bets" from last Thursday, here are who seem like the most probable candidates listed by film:

Conclave: Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini

Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard

The End: Michael Shannon

The Piano Lesson: Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington

Nickel Boys: Aunjunue Ellis-Taylor

Saturday Night: Jason Reitman

The Friend: Naomi Watts

Maria: Angelina Jolie

Bird: Andrea Arnold

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

If I had to pin down who I feel like is the most likely from this list my top 5 would be:

1) Samuel L. Jackson

2) Ralph Fiennes

3) Angelina Jolie

4) Jacques Audiard

5) Isabella Rosselini

Any thoughts?  Let me know.

We'll know on Thursday, August 29th.

 

GUEST DIRECTOR?

While we're asking questions...where's the announcement about who is guest directing TFF this year?  

I did a little digging about when the fest has announced Guest Directors the past decade or so.  The answer for most of the last ten years has been the third week of June.  The only exceptions I could find in that time span was for 2015 when Rachel Kushner was announced on March 31st and the anniversary years of 2013 and 2023 when the fest used multiple guest directors and, as best as I can tell, only announced them when the full lineup was announced.

So, we're way past the third week of June and it seems very likely now that we aren't going to find out this year's Guest Director(s) until the lineup announcement on Thursday, Aug. 29th.  

Same as above, any thoughts?  Let me know.

1.1 MILLION

Michael's Telluride Film Blog went past 1.1 million lifetime views over the weekend.

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MTFB SPECIAL: News from Toronto, New York and Venice

MTFB SPECIAL: NEWS FROM TORONTO, NEW YORK AND VENICE

TORONTO

Based on premiere designations with the big announcement yesterday of Galas and Special Presentations, I believe we conclude that these films will be screening at TFF #51:

Anora

Conclave

Emilia Perez

The End 

The Piano Lesson

All We Imagine as Light

Miserecordia

Better Man

Don't Let's Go to the Dog's Tonight

Piece by Piece

The Friend

It also looks like these films, which I have had as a "Bet" or a possibility will not be at T-ride:

Bird*

Oh, Canada

Hard Truths

I'm Still Here

* A note here on Bird.  TIFF.net posted on X that it's a Canadian Premiere but its info page at the TIFF website says North American.  I tend to believe the website.  Thanks to an eagled-eyed reader for pointing out the inconsistency.

From X:

From TIFF.net:

            

 

and...

TIFF will still be naming other titles for specific sections this week.

NEW YORK

The New York Fest announced RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys will open their fest on Sept. 27th.  The actual announcement did not include any reference to the premiere status for the film which could indicate that the film could make an appearance at Telluride.  After all, if it were a World Premiere I think that NYFF would be shouting that from the rooftops.

On the other hand, the post on X from NYFF does use the word "premiering":

I don't know that it absolutely guarantees it for TFF #51, but the door is certainly open.

VENICE

As always with Venice, the inclusion of a film among their announced titles doesn't guarantee a Telluride play but also doesn't preclude one. So Venice titles listed here are films that I think have a shot at playing both fests.  

The Room Next Door/Almodovar

Queer/Guadagnino

Maria/Larrain

Babygirl/Reijn

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/Rohrwacher and JR

Separated/Morris

One on One: John and Yoko/Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The real hint about what, if any, films play both fests will be when Venice posts their schedule and then we'll see what they have scheduled early enough for a film and some its entourage to get across the Atlantic in time to screen at Telluride.

The complete lists announced this morning are here.

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Conclave Has a Trailer / Ioncinema on Venice / Hard Truths Delayed / Nickel Boys to Open New York Fest

CONCLAVE HAS A TRAILER

Edward Berger's Conclave currently sits at #2 on the MTFB Ten Bets for TFF #51.  There's a lot of buzz that the film will premiere early in the Venice lineup and then hop the Atlantic to screen in Telluride.  The film stars Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.  It's set to release in the U.S. on Oct. 6th.

Here's the description from IMDb:

"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."

And here's the trailer from YouTube:

 Lots of fun here thinking about which talent might make the trip.  Fiennes seems fairly likely but it would be cool if Lithgow, Tucci and/or Rossellini also made it to town.  Also, it feels like any of the four could be potential tribute recipients, though, again, Fiennes seems the most likely to me.

Erik Anderson of Awards Watch currently has the film predicted as a Best Picture nominee.  He also has Berger as a Directing nominee, Fiennes for Best Actor, Lithgow for Supporting Actor and Rossellini for Supporting Actress.  

IONCINEMA ON VENICE

Ioncinema put up its extensive set of speculated titles for Venice (which is reportedly announcing its lineup tomorrow).  From their list, here are what seem the most likely titles to play Venice then Telluride.

I'm Still Here/Salles

Chocobar/Martel

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Maria/Larrain

Nickel Boys/Ross

Queer/Guadagnino

The Brutalist/Corbet

The Last Shopgirl/G. Coppola

The Return/Pasolini

The Room Next Door/Almodovar

Interesting that there is no mention here of Conclave.  This makes me think that the film may World Premiere at TFF #51.  On the other hand, the release of the trailer a week before the Venetian announcement could portend a World Premiere in Italy.

We'll find out more tomorrow.

HARD TRUTHS DELAYED

World of Reel reports that Bleecker Street has moved Mike Leigh's Hard Truths off of its original release date in October to Jan. 10th 2025.  The move comes after news that the Venice Film Festival  has not chosen to screen the film.

These factors don't definitively tell us anything about TFF #51 but I have to say it doesn't sound like the film is likely to make an appearance at The SHOW.

Leigh's films have been frequently been included in past Telluride lineups beginning with High Hopes in 1988 and subsequently: Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2008), Mr. Turner (2014) and Peterloo (2018).

NICKEL BOYS TO OPEN NEW YORK FEST

Just minutes ago the New York Film Festival announced that RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys will be their opening night film.  I have had Nickel Boys as a Ten Bets often in the last month and I'm not sure that this announcement changes that.  The media release does not mention the film's release status.  If I were running the P.R. I would have its World Premiere status in the announcement if that were the case.  The absence of a designation of status suggests to me that it will have screened elsewhere before Sept. 27th.

Additionally, The favourite opened NYFF after playing at Telluride, so there is precedent.

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Ten (Plus) Bets #8 / New York Announces / Venice Schedule

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #8

We're closing in on what is shaping up to be a great fest for TFF's 50th go-round.  As is the custom on Thursday's this time of year here at MTFB, here is my latest update of films that I think will be announced for the lineup on (I beleive) Wednesday August 29th for The SHOW.

First, a re-visit of last week's Ten Bets and possibilities:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Saltburn

7) Rustin

8) Wildcat

9) Fingernails

10) El Conde

Other possibilities: The Pigeon Tunnel, Poor Things, Without Blood, The End, The Bikeriders, The American Buffalo,  Fallen Leaves,  The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session.

 And for this week's edition here are Ten+ Bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) Saltburn

6) Poor Things

7) The Royal Hotel

8) Rustin

9) Wildcat

10) Fingernails

11) All of Us Strangers (previously titled Strangers)

12) The Bikeriders

13) Fallen Leaves

14) Perfect Days

15) The Settlers

Other possibilities: El Conde, The Pigeon Tunnel, Without Blood, The Promised Land, The End, The American Buffalo, The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, Janet Planet, Orlando, My Political Biography, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.

NEW YORK ANNOUNCES

The New York Film Festival announced its Main Slate selections on Tuesday and it contains hints for possible/probable films that will have screened previously at Telluride.

The way NYFF has formatted their announcement means that we want to look at films with no premiere designation.  Films that NYFF has designated as either a North American Premiere or a U.S. Premiere will not have played Telluride.  With that explanation the non-designated films from their list are:

About Dry Grasses/Ceylan

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt/Jackson*

All of Us Strangers/Haigh

Anatomy of a Fall/Triet***

La Chimera/Rohrwacher+++

Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki

Janet Planet/Baker

Orlando, My Political Biography/Preciado

Perfect Days/Wenders

Poor Things/Lanthimos**

The Settlers/Galvez

The Zone of Interest/Glazer***

*All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt premiered at Sundance and so is historically unlikely to also screen at Telluride.  That said, I think there's a reasonable chance that it still makes an appearance over Labor Day weekend.

**Poor Things conceivably could play at Fantastic Fest rather than T-ride and earn the "no designation" from NYFF but I'm feeling fairly confident that its at TFF.

***I've been pretty sure about both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest since they were both announced as Canadian Premieres for Toronto.  Their "no designation" here seems to confirm their presence at Telluride.

+++ Despite a lack of premiere designation, Toronto has listed La Chimera as a North American Premiere so there's a disconnect somewhere.

Here's the link to the official Main Slate for NYFF.

VENICE SCHEDULE???

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel reported on Tuesday that at least some of the schedule for the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion competition films had leaked largely from Venice director Alberto Barbera via Twitter or X or Elon's LunchboX...or whatever...

If its accurate it gives us insight about which films might be in play for a Venice/Telluride Two Step.  Meaning that if a film plays early enough in Italy, then there is the possibility that they fly across the Atlantic and screen the film before Telluride is over.

That "Two Step" happens quite a bit each year.  Last year, for example, 11 films made that journey: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Bardo, Bobi Wine, Bones and All, A Compassionate Spy, Desperate Souls, Fragments of Paradise, Living, March on Rome, Salvatore:Shoemaker and TAR.  Over the past seven years the average "share rate" between TFF and Venice has been 7-8 films.

So here's what Ruimy is reporting:

08/30 Comandante

08/31 Ferrari, The Promised Land, Dogman

09/01 Poor Things, El Conde, Finalmente L’Alba, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

09/02 The Palace, Maestro

09/03 The Beast, The Killer, Theory of Everything

09/04 Priscilla, Evil Doesn’t Exist, Coup de Chance

09/05 The Green Border

09/06 Origin

09/07 Holly, Lubo, Io Capitano

09/08 Memory

Now, Telluride, as we know, will open on Thursday, Aug. 31st and runs through Monday, Sept. 4th.  Anything that screens in Venice from Aug. 30th to Sept. 2nd is worth looking at.

Of particular note is The Promised Land, Poor Things, El Conde, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Maestro.

I'm feeling good about Poor Things, El Conde and The Promised Land.  I'm less bullish on Henry Sugar and Maestro.

Additionally, David Fincher's much anticipated The Killer is slated for a Sept. 3rd screening in Venice making a Telluride turn-around very unlikely.

The actual Venice schedule is set to be released tomorrow.

UPDATING: The actual Venice schedule is now live at this link.  

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LATE BREAKING: SAG-AFTRA AUTHROIZES STRIKE / May December Not in September / MTFB's Ten Bets #4 / Ioncinema Predicts Venice

LATE BREAKING: SAG/AFTRA AUTHORIZES STRIKE

The National Board of SAG-AFTRA officially announced that the organization's members would be on strike at noon Pacific Time today.  The strike goes into effect at midnight (Pacific) tonight.

In addition to a shutdown of active film making those of us who pay attention to film festivals note that this action means that no SAG-AFTRA member will be allowed to promote projects in which they are involved.  How this affects fest like Telluride and others is not totally clear.  I have seen some speculation that some studios may be reluctant to send a film to a fest or feasts without the fire power of its stars being able to accompany a film.

Will news outlets shift the amount and intensity of their coverage with no talent to pursue?

Whatever happens it seems that the Fall Film Fests have a new wrinkle to deal with.

Roger Friedman of ShowBiz411.com provides some analysis about the potential effect of the strike on fall film fests including Telluride.

MAY DECEMBER NOT IN SEPTEMBER

The headline above is my faux-clever way of passing on that it appears that Todd Haynes' May December will NOT be playing at Telluride 2023. 

The New York Film Fest announced on Tuesday from the frequent TFF attendee, will North American Premiere as the Opening Night Film for NYFF.  The "North American Premiere" status tells us that the film will not have played anywhere in North America prior to its NYFF gig and that means no Telluride play.

Honestly, the last couple of weeks has really got me thinking that I don't have much of a grasp of what's going on this year.  

Haynes has been a frequent TFF presence but his films don't always play in the San Juans...just very, very often.

For example, his 2019 thriller, Dark Waters, also premiered at NYFF and did not play TFF but then you have to go all the way back to 1998's Velvet Underground to find a non-Telluride screening.  Haynes has bowed The Velvet Underground, Wonderstruck, Carol, I'm Not There and Far From Heaven all did play TFF.

Which leads to...

MTFB'S TEN BETS #4

As you might expect, with the above news about may December, the new "Ten Bets" has some changes.

Additionally, as a warning, next week (7/19) we get a big slew of announcements from Toronto that historically wrecks the "Bets".  Maybe I should re-think my hobbies...

Last week's Ten Bets were:

1) May December/Haynes

2) Poor Things/Lanthimos

3) Strangers/Haigh

4) The Holdovers/Payne

5) Monster/Kore-eda

6) Saltburn/Fennell

7) Nyad/ Chin and Vasarhelyi

8) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet

9) El Conde/Larrain

10) The Teachers' Lounge/Catak

Now...with some chagrin, here's this week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Alexander Payne

2) Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

3) Saltburn/Emerald Fennell

4) Strangers/Andrew Haigh

5) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

6) Monster/Kore-eda

7) Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet

8) Fallen Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki

9) The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak

10) The Pot-au-Feu/Trinh Hung

Other possibilities: The Zone of Interest/Glazer, The End/Oppenheimer, El Conde/Pablo Larrain, Freud's Last Session/Brown, The Royal Hotel/Green, Rustin/Wolfe, The American Buffalo/Burns, Priscilla/Coppola and Shirley/Ridley.

IONCINEMA PREDICTS VENICE

Ioncinema put together a three part list of 75 possibilities for the Venice Fest.  Some Venice films are very likely to subsequently play at Telluride.  From the Ioncinema lists, here's a guess about some of the films that might make the trans-Atlantic jump:

From Part One:

The Burial/Maggie Betts

Daaaaaali!/Quentin Dupieux

Drive-Away Dolls/Ethan Coen***

El Conde/Pablo Larrain

Fingernails/Christos Nikou

From Part Two:

The Captain/Matteo Garrone

Lee/Ellen Kuras

Love Lies Bleeding/Rose Glass

Maestro/Bradley Cooper

From Part Three:

Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

Priscilla/Sofia Coppola***

Strangers/Andrew Haigh

**I'm actually fairly convinced that this film is going to play Toronto and play T-ride BUT, it's only one of two films that Ioncinema lists and specifically suggests that Telluride is a possibility.

***The other film that specifies that Telluride is a possibility

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Ten Bets #6 for TFF #48 / Titles Disappearing from Consideration / New Toronto and New York Addition and Subtraction / Trailers for Possibles

 TEN BETS #6 FOR TFF #48

Not a lot to change in the Ten Bets for this week.  There are a couple of changes in the Other Possibilities list (see next section below)

Last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

2) Petite Maman/Sciamma

3) The Card Counter/Schrader

4) Something from Mark Cousins***

5) The Power of the Dog/Campion

6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

7) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

8) Julia/Cohen and West

9) A Hero/Farhadi

10) Spencer/Larrain

Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Nightmare Alley, Where Is Anne Frank?, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday, Encounter, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Don't Look Up, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

This week's new Ten Bets:

1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

2) The Power of the Dog/Campion

3) Petite Maman/Sciamma

4) The Card Counter/Schrader

5) Something from Mark Cousins***

6) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar

7)  Julia/Cohen and West

8) Spencer/Larrain

9) A Hero/Farhadi

10) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God Where Is Anne Frank?, Cow, The Last Duel, Encounter, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, Hallelujah/Leonard Cohen, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, 7 Prisoners, The Lost Daughter.

***Mark Cousins projects that could play:

The Story of Looking

The Storms of Jeremy Thomas

The Story of Film: The Next Generation

TITLES DISAPPEARING FROM CONSIDERATION

(Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Nightmare Alley via IMDb)

Notes on interviews with Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera who reveled that both Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Ridley Scott's House of Gucci both were to have been in the Venice lineup but will not be ready in time.

You have to conclude, by extension, that if neither film is ready for Venice that they will not be playing Telluride either since the two fests occupy the same dates on the calendar.

Here's the Barbera interview from Variety in which, among other items, he reveals that Nightmare Alley isn't ready.  Also...see the Toronto story below.

Additionally, Variety reported last night that Andrew Dominik's Blonde will move to 2022 thereby almost certainly off the Telluride list.  The Variety story is here.

NEW TORONTO AND NEW YORK ADDITION 

The Toronto International Film Festival added Galas, Special Presentations and Contemporay Wprd Cinema selections yesterday.  Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog was added as a "Canadian Premiere".  Earlier this week the New York Film Festival named it as its choice for its centerpiece.  The NYFF announcement reveals that presentation will be the film's "New York premiere":

"Film at Lincoln Center announces Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog as the Centerpiece selection for the 59th New York Film Festival, making its New York premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 1."

The dual announcements mean that The Power of the Dog is all but locked for a Telluride bow after its screening in Venice.

Here's coverage from Deadlione.com of the TIFF announcement.

Here's the actual NYFF announcement.

Meanwhile, the announcement from TIFF also took Mothering Sunday and The Humans out of consideration for T-ride.  Mothering Sunday was announced as a North American Premiere while The Humans will be a World Premiere.  Those designations indicate that neither will be playing at Telluride.

TRAILERS FOR POSSIBLES

THE CARD COUNTER

PARLELAS MADRES (PARALLEL MOTHERS)

KING RICHARD

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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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Lists and Lists / Seeing The Way I See It

LISTS AND LISTS

I've done all the comparisons and have what I believe to be an accurate list of where the announced TFF #47 films would have or will be playing as far as other film fests are concerned.  This, of course, does not include films (save for Nomadland) that have yet to be announced for the New York Film Fest.  I'm expecting we'll have that information this week.  It will also be interesting to see what's announced for and if films are announced for the BFI/London Film Fest as well as the American Film Institute Film Fest.

Here's the rundown of all of the TFF #47 films that have other film fest connections at this point:

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

Never Gonna Snow Again: Venice

Nomadland: TIFF, Venice, NYFF (centerpiece)

Notturno: TIFF, Venice

There Is No Evil: Berlin

The Truffle Hunters: Cannes, Sundance

So 15 of the 29 TFF #47 feature titles have been chosen by other major film fests.

SEEING THE WAY I SEE IT

After the reveal that Dawn Porter's The Way I See it, a documentary about former White House photographer Pete Souza, Focus Features has released a trailer as well as a poster (as you can see above).  The IMDb description for the film is as follows:

"Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza's journey as a person with top secret clearance and total access to the President."

Frequent Telluride Film Fest guest/visitor Laura Dern is among the producers of the film.

Here's the newly released trailer via YouTube:

Focus is saying that the film will be released in theaters in September.

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Joint Statement Revealed / Another Fest Goes Down / Venice Outlines Plans / SPC Teases French Exit

JOINT STATEMENT REVEALED

Film journalists yesterday received notices of a joint statement of cooperation between the Telluride, Toronto, Venice and New York Film Fests.  Here it is:

It's an interesting and perhaps a not entirely unexpected statement from all four fests.  It is, also light on any kind of detail in terms of what that cooperation means in a practical sense.

Kris Tapley tweeted about the announcement this way:

"Not entirely sure what this is actually saying beyond vaguely recognizing that there won’t be a crop of films big enough to sustain the usual jockeying for exclusivity."

 Writing for Deadline, Tom Grater:

"Traditionally the first port of call for films intending to launch into awards season, the fests are facing major changes to their 2020 editions due to ongoing virus disruption. In a joint statement today the event’s top brass say they are looking beyond the typical competitiveness that exists. It’s not clear exactly how that will manifest, but it may mean less of the typical scrapping to secure the top premieres in the best slots – the events are already planning to scale back their programs this year, and the Oscars being postponed to April 21 for 2021 also puts less pressure on landing those big contenders."

Yesterday afternoon Indiewire's Eric Kohn posted an informative piece about the cooperation announcement that included some clear statements about TFF #47

Kohn says:

1) Francis Lee's Ammonite will play TFF:

"Kate Winslet-starring lesbian drama “Ammonite,” a Cannes 2020 selection set to open this year from Neon, is slated at both Telluride and TIFF"

2) Documentary Notturno from Fire at Sea director Gianfranco Rosi will also play Telluride:

“Notturno,” a documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi set in the Middle East, will also hit the quartet of fall festivals with eye towards making its way into the documentary Oscar race."

3) Kohn says Telluride will be smaller and have considerable overlap (see below regarding average overlap):

"Both TIFF and Venice have already announced significant curtailing to their usual vast lineups, with 50 movies playing in each. (TIFF usually programs over 300.) Telluride and New York also will have smaller lineups and don’t utilize specific premiere policies, but they have been looking at many of the same titles in the programming process. Even without a specific mandate to combine forces, considerable overlap would be inevitable."

4) Telluride's Town Council is set to vote on the Film Fest proceeding on July 15th:

"And Telluride faces a vote from the Colorado mountain town’s city council on July 15 to determine whether it can hold the event at all"

5) Venice and Telluride may co-premiere some films:

"The festival heads jointly declined to comment for this story. However, sources said that Venice was ambivalent about whether official “collaboration” between the festivals would impact a change to its premiere policy, since it comes first in the calendar. However, the festival was exploring the possibility of hosting joint premieres timed to take place simultaneously in Telluride."

6) Kohn suggests that virtual Telluride screenings are a possibility:

"The programming heads debated the merits of holding virtual editions if physical gatherings become impossible; for the moment, all four festivals are exploring ways of combining physical and virtual aspects of their programs. That led to conversations about the ideal online screening platforms, safety standards, and protocols for handling filmmaker and industry guests, should choose to travel."

Kohn's complete analysis is linked here.

So... perhaps more overlap between fests?  For Telluride and Toronto that overlap has averaged 17.8 films per year over the past five years.  For New York it's 7.6 films per year and for Venice it's been 7.0 films per year.

As a parenthetical note I'll remind everyone that Indiewire suggested a few weeks back that Telluride would make some details known about its approach to their festival in "mid-July".  The above assessment from Kohn suggests that we'll find out some details after the town council votes on the 15th.

ANOTHER FEST GOES DOWN

Austin, TX. based Fantastic Fest has announced that it will not have a 2020 event due to Covid-19 .  The fest was originally scheduled for Sept. 24-Oct. 1.

The Cancellation of the fest is notable for Telluride observers as its announcement of titles each year would often provide information that allowed confirmation of a film for Telluride inclusion or exclusion.

Though the fest's press release says that the organizers have decided that a virtual event will not occur with new films, there will be a "Celebration of Fantastic Fest" online that will provide events online to highlight the festival's past.

Fest organizers have pledged that Fantastic Fest will return in 2021.

Here's the link to the release.

VENICE OUTLINES PLANS

The Venice Film Fest will be scaled down this year.  Variety reporting on Tuesday that the venerable film fest will screen 50-55 feature films with their announcement of what films will be playing revealed on July 28th.

Other items...they'll have two outdoor venues and will scrap some normal sections of their fest.

It will be interesting over the next few weeks as we hear from both Venice and Toronto what they will be screening and how the status for each film is characterized.

Variety's complete story is linked here.

As a side note, in a separately published interview with Variety Venice head Alberto Barbera reveals that David Fincher's Mank isn't ready which Barbera implies is a reason that it won't be at Venice, may blow a big hole in my "Netflix surprisingly plays films at Telluride" theory.

That interview is here.

SPC TEASES FRENCH EXIT 

Sony Pictures Classics tweeted a first look at the Michelle Pfeiffer starring French Exit this week.  Here's the photo:

Their tweet's text was simply: 

French Exit. 

Coming Soon.

Made me wonder if I should move it up into the next iteration of the Ten Bets (which I'll post next Thursday).

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