A U.S. Trailer for Non-Fiction / A Bit More Thinking About Cannes / Out of Pocket

Welcome to Thursday...


A U.S. TRAILER FOR NON-FICTION

Last week Sundance Selects dropped a new U.S. trailer for Olivier Assayas' latest film which ran the festival gamut last fall debuting at Venice then playing Telluride, Toronto and New York.  The film is scheduled to open here in the states on May 3rd.

Non-Fiction stars Juliette Binoche and Guillaume Canet.


Here's the new trailer via YouTube:

I have linked a story about the U.S. trailer release from Jordan Raup writing at The Film Stage.  That link is here.

Non-Fiction's IMDb page is linked here.

Assayas is currently filming his next film Wasp Network.


 A BIT MORE THINKING ABOUT CANNES

Jordan Ruimy writing at his blog World of Reel recently shared a couple of thoughts about films that could make the 72nd Cannes Film Festival lineup.  Chief among them is his claim that multiple sources are suggesting that Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie will likely make the lineup and may well play in competition for the Palme d'Or and could also be the opening night film.

Ruimy also tosses in a couple of other titles that I have my eye on as potential Cannes/Telluride crossovers The Dardennes brothers' Ahmed chief among them.

I have linked Ruimy's reporting here.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's IMDb page is here.

Ahmed's IMDb page is here.


OUT OF POCKET

That's your MTFB for this Thursday.  I'm going to be out of pocket for the next few days as I go on spring break.  MTFB will return in full force on Monday, Mar. 25th.


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The First Telluride Film Festival-1974 / Tribute Odds / Indiewire's Fall Movie Preview / The People's Telluride

Good Tuesday everyone... Ten Days until the 45th Telluride Film Festival...



THE FIRST TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL-1974

The long developing TFF history project comes to a way station today with a review of the first Telluride Film Festival which occurred in Telluride on Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 1974.

I started this with a post on April 13, 2017 with a look at the 32nd TFF.  That was the starting point as you can still access programs for the festival beginning with the one from 2006 on the official Telluride Film Festival website.

I plan to add this style of history for each of those years soon.  Ultimately, I plan to add pages to the History section of this space by permanently placing all of my synopses there in full.  My goal is to have a one stop spot where anyone can access a somewhat expanded history of the fest.  That's going to drop next week just prior to the beginning of this year's fest.

So, though today is a milestone, it's still not the completion of the project.

That said, here's the review of TFF #1:

Tributes: Francis Ford Coppola, Gloria Swanson, Leni Riefenstahl

SHOWS:

BBC Interview with Leni Riefenstahl
The Blue Light
The Chinese in Paris
The Conversation
Das Stahltier
Don't Touch the White Woman
Finian's Rainbow
Olympia
Peau Danne
Queen Kelly
The Rain People
Rivers of Sand
Sadie Thompson
Solaris
Stage Struck
Sunset Boulevard
Sweet Movie
The Thief of Baghdad
Triumph of the Will
White Hell of Pitz Palu
Why Change Your Wife
You're a Big Boy Now

In addition to the tribute recipients, British actress Julie Christie was reported to have attended the festival.


TRIBUTE ODDS

As the picture continues to get clearer about probable films that will part of the TFF #45 program, I thought it might be time to return to the contemplation of who might be tribute recipients this year.

I touched on this topic in a post on July 31st and since then, we've added some more film titles that are probable for Telluride...most notably Destroyer with Nicole Kidman starring.

So...here are ten people would could be tributed and what I guessing their odds are:

1) Nicole Kidman/Destroyer and Boy Erased Odds-2 to 1.
2) Sissy Spacek/The Old Man and the Gun Odds 3 to 1.
3) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma Odds- 3 to 1
4) Juliette Binoche/Non-Fiction Odds - 4 to 1
5) Hugh Jackman/The Front Runner Odds-5 to 1
6) Matthew McConaughey/White Boy Rick Odds-5 to 1
7) Ryan Gosling/First Man Odds- 10 to 1
8) Hirokazu Kore-eda/Sholifters Odds- 15 to 1
9) Rachel Wiesz/The Favourite Odds-20 to 1
10) Guillaume Canet/Non-Fiction Odds 25 to 1

Runner-up-Olivier Assayas/Non-Fiction Odds 30 to 1


INDIEWIRE'S FALL MOVIE PREVIEW

The staff at Indiewire have put together their "awards contenders" list of 25 films for the fall film season and listed them chronologically by release date.

If the latest Ten Bets list from last Friday is accurate (and I think it's pretty accurate) then nine TFF #45 films made their list:

White Boy Rick- Sept. 21
The Old Man and the Gun- Sept. 28
First Man- Oct. 12
Boy Erased- Nov. 2
The Other Side of the Wind- Nov.2
Peterloo- Nov. 9
The Favourite- Nov. 23
Cold War- Dec. 21
Roma- undated but likely a December release

On the list of the Indiewire films that could still land at Telluride: Mary Queen of Scots (Dec. 7), Welcome to Marwen (Dec. 21), Adam McKay's untitled Dick Cheney film (Dec. 21), Ad Astra (Dec. 21) and On the Basis of Sex (Dec. 25)

Check out the entire list at Indiewire.


THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

For the seventh consecutive 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".

When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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Is SPC Back in the Game? / New Trailer for Possible Documentary / Stills from Non-Fiction

Welcome to Tuesday...

IS SPC BACK IN THE GAME?

Among the weirder things that I've noticed this summer as we edged ever closer to the opening of the 45th TFF is that habitual Telluride presence, Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has had no film pop up as a potential choice for TFF #45 inclusion.

That's stunning as SPC has been the singularly most consistent distributor present in all the years that I've been attending.  Most years SPC has averaged 4.5 films per year.  There has never been a year when there wasn't at least one SPC film playing since my first Telluride in 2006.  2015 was that rare year when there was just one SPC film in play at T-ride and that was the incredibly powerful Son of Saul.

So, the lack of any prospect for SPC at TFF has just seemed almost impossible to believe.

Now, though, there is a new possibility.

Multiple sources reported yesterday that SPC had secure North American distribution for Ralph Fiennes' The White Dove.

The White Dove deals with the events surrounding the defection of ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev.

Suddenly, SPC seems like they could be back in the game regarding a Telluride berth.  The late acquisition is certainly no guarantee, but I would point out that Fiennes was in Telluride in 2013 with his last directorial effort, The Invisible Woman and that film was also distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

Again, no guarantee, but you have to think that the film is a real candidate for TFF #45.

Details of the acquisition news is linked here from:

Variety

Deadline

The Wrap

NEW TRAILER FOR POSSIBLE DOCUMENTARY

After last week's Toronto reveal of the documentaries playing there I'm modestly convinced that mountain climbing saga Free Solo will probably play in The SHOW.

National Geographic is the film's distributor and released a full trailer for the late last weekend.

Here's the stunner from YouTube:

A release date for the film has not been announced.

I have linked this story about the film and the trailer release from Alex Billington at FirstShowing.

STILLS FROM NON-FICTION

The Playlist tweeted a series of new images from Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction yesterday.  The film seems a dead certainty to play TFF and was listed at #10  on last week's Ten Bets list.

Here are a couple of the new pics from the film:

Still stumping here for Juliette Binoche to make an appearance on Colorado Ave.

That's your Tuesday.  More to come on Thursday.

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

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In Case You Missed It: Toronto and Venice News / Old Friends / Non-Fiction Has Distribution / The Elephant in the Room / And the Poster

Welcome to Thursday...


IN CASE YOU MISSED THEM

I am re-posting a couple of special items that came down the pike since my last regularly scheduled post on Tuesday morning:

TORONTO NEWS

From today's announcement of new titles from the Toronto International Film Festival:

Twelve films were added to the TIFF lineup Wednesday for their Platform Section.  All but one are listed as World or North American premieres taking them out of the Telluride conversation.  However Karyn Kusama's Destroyer starring Nicole Kidman with Sebastian Stan is listed as an International Premiere which indicates that it is now a likely title for The SHOW.

Destroyer has not yet been dated for U.S. release but you have to expect an awards qualifying date must be in the offing.  Destroyer is being distributed by Annapurna.

Let me just mention...a Nicole Kidman tribute?

Here's coverage of the announcement of Toronto's Platform section from:

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

The Wrap

Deadline


 VENICE NEWS

It appears that the Venice Film Fest will announce their schedule earlier than expected.  The schedule was originally to have been announced on Friday but we should see the it on Thursday now according to the Twitterverse:

The schedule for films screening at the Venice Film Festival, which although not definitive in and of themselves, can offer clues about which films that are screening there could conceivably also make the lineup for TFF #45.  For example, if Errol Morris' American Dharma is scheduled Aug.29-31 or Sept. 6-8...that would indicate at least a temporal possibility for the documentary to play both in Venice and Telluride.

Based on last year's fests, I am expecting a half a dozen or so films to play both places.  We already are expecting: First Man, Roma, The Favourite and Peterloo.

These films are all potentially possible for a Venice play in addition to Telluride: Vox Lux, 22 July, Suspiria, Never Look Away, The Nightingale, American Dharma, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, The Other Side of the Wind, The Mountain, Blood Kin and the new extended version of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.

My best guess here would be the two documentaries: Errol Morris' Steve Bannon doc; American Dharma and the Morgan Neville doc about making The Other Side of the Wind; They'll Love Me When I'm Dead.

OLD FRIENDS

Each year, at some point during the summer, I assess what I call "The Usual Suspects".  That's the list of directors, producers, actors, etc. that have seemed to established a relationship with Telluride through the years.

Almost without exception when the actual lineup is finalized, it feels a little like that might be an exercise in futility.  So, over the last couple of days, I took a look at the films that we are predicting/relatively confident about for 2018 to see if "The Usual Suspects" is a worthwhile metric.

At this point, I'm thinking we have  films that feature directors that have established a TFF connection after having screened films their previously:

First Man (Damian Chazelle-La La Land)
Roma (Alfonso Cuaron-Gravity)
Peterloo (Mike Leigh-Another Year and others)
The Front Runner (Jason Reitman-Up in the Air and others)
Dogman (Matteo Garrone-Gomorrah)
Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski-Ida)
Meeting Gorbachev (Werner Herzog-he's had a few)
Non-Fiction (Olivier Assasyas-Carlos)

Then there's The Other Side of the Wind which is Orson Welles but also includes Frank Marshall and Peter Bogdanovich in significant roles getting the film done.

Ina addition, among other films we think will play that don't have a directing connection there are The Favourite which stars Emma Stone who has been to T-ride for two straight years.  The Old Man and the Gun which stars 2013 TFF Tributee Robert Redford and 2016 Tributee Casey Affleck.  White Boy Rick features 1993 TFF Tributee Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bruce Dern who attended TFF in 2013.  It also credits Darren Aronofsky as a producer who was at TFF in 2010 as the director of Black Swan.


So, I suppose, "The Usual Suspects" is still a useful metric.


NON-FICTION HAS DISTRIBUTION

Photo via Variety.com

We learned yesterday that Sundance Selects has acquired the rights to distribute Olivier Assasyas' Non-Fiction in the United States.

That story is covered here by The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.

We believe that Non-Fiction will play as a part of the lineup at the Telluride Film Festival. 

Sundance Selects has had a significant history with Telluride along with their distributing partner IFC Films.  That tradition looks as if it will continue with Non-Fiction.


AND THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

I'm sure many of you saw the news from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences yesterday about changes coming to Oscar over the next season or two.

There were three significant changes announced:

Some categories will be shuffled off the live telecast...the categories were unnamed.
A new category will be added for Best "Popular" Film
And, the 2020 telecast will be moved up by a couple of weeks to Feb. 9th.

Largely the reaction in the Film Twitter world was negative, although there were a couple of notable defenders of the Best Popular Film move.

Of more interest to me was the decision to push the ceremony to earlier in February which, as a number of people noted yesterday, probably increases the importance of Telluride in regards to Oscar. 

That notion kind of makes my head spin a bit.  Telluride's influence vis-a-vis Oscar has grown dramatically over the years I have been attending (since 2006).  Whether that's by happenstance or design isn't particular important.  What is key is that as we move through the next couple of years, it's doubtful that T-ride's role in the Oscar season is going to wain.

It's likely to mean that a ticket that was tough to get last March (selling out in a couple of days) gets even more dicey for 2019 and 2020.

Honestly, I suspect that some changes will be forthcoming regarding ticketing for The SHOW. 

Stay tuned...


AND THE POSTER

It's true.  A poster exists.  I have been told that a copy of said poster has been hung in the window in The Nugget Theater in Telluride.

I have seen photographic evidence.

I am refraining from posting at this point as I await the official announcement from the festival.

Believe me, though, a poster exists.


That's all for now...more coming tomorrow including an updated Ten (Plus) Bets list and an analysis of the Venice schedule as it sets up potential Telluride players.


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

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