The Euro Producers: The French-France 2 Cinema / The Unknown Girl Gets a New Trailer / Hidden Figures Revealed / And...Snowden Looks Like It's Out

Hello friends, it's Tuesday.

A quick reminder: Toronto announces their first wave of films one week from today and Venice will be right behind them two days later.  We'll get our first real hard data about what could be playing over Labor Day weekend...



THE EURO PRODUCERS: THE FRENCH-FRANCE 2 CINEMA

Here are the films from France 2 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,
2015: No film  

After no TFF #42 appearance, France 2's only real shot at a Telluride play in 2016 seems to be Paul Verhoeven's Elle which I have slowly warmed to as a real Telluride possibility.

THE UNKNOWN GIRL GETS A NEW TRAILER

Many sources reported the appearance of a new trailer yesterday for Telluride stalwarts The Dardenne Brothers' latest film The Unknown Girl.  Here it is from YouTube:

I have been including this film in my TFF #43 thinking for a long time simply because The Dardennes are such regulars of the Cannes to Telluride connection.   But...the critical response at Cannes made me step back a bit.  Ad today, the new trailer's drop was also tweeted out by the Toronto Fest.  I have to wonder if that is significant.

Odds are still in the favor of The Unknown Girl playing Telluride but it is not the slam dunk easy prediction that Two Days One Night was.

Here's further coverage of the trailer release:

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/the-unknown-girl-trailer-the-dardenne-brothers-cannes-1201706961/

http://theplaylist.net/first-international-trailer-jean-pierre-luc-dardennes-unknown-girl-unravels-mystery-20160718/

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2016/07/shorter-nothingburger

HIDDEN FIGURES REVEALED

And finally, after being teased by Variety/InContention's Kristopher Tapley early last week, we found out that Fox 2000 has dated the release of their new film, Hidden Figures, for late December.  Does that mean it's an awards player?  Does it's move into pre-2017 mean we should consider it for Telluride?  Probably not...but you never know.  Here's the news about Hidden Figures, a true story of African American women who made a huge contribution to the early U.S. space program.

Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Kevin Costner star. Here's the IMDb entry for the film:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1



AND...SNOWDEN LOOKS LIKE IT'S OUT

I had been thinking the last week or so that Open Road might be planning to drop Oliver Stone's Snowden at TFF #43 especially after the announcement of its European Premiere at the San Sebastien Film Fest opening Sept.16.  The film also opens in the U.S. on that date.  BUT...we found out yesterday from The Hollywood Reporter that the film will be "secretly" screened at Comic Con which would seem to move it out of T-ride consideration due to Telluride's North American premiere policy.

Here's the story from THR:


http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/comic-con-oliver-stones-snowden-912030


That's it for this Tuesday.  Come back tomorrow for more on French producers and other tidbits...

Contact MTFB at:

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Snowden Tease / European Producers: The British: Part One / Could We Spend Eternity in Telluride?

Good Monday Everyone.  I hope you had a great weekend,


SNOWDEN TEASE

I have mentioned Oliver Stone's Snowden in passing as an outside possibility for Telluride,  Among the factors that suggested that it could play were the fact that Stone has played Telluride before-1997 U-Turn- and that Snowden is under the Open Road banner...which had a better than average Telluride outing last year with a little film called Spotlight.

But, on the other hand, Stone has not been back to Telluride in the intervening years.  He seems to have been satisfied with playing his films since '97 in other places:Any Given Sunday-'99-didn't premiere at a festival, Alexander-'04-No fest premiere, World Trade Center-'06-Venice, W.-'08-Austin Film Fest, Wall Street-Money Never Sleeps-'10-Cannes, Savages-'12-no fest premiere.

News dropped on late Friday that raised my eyebrows just a little, however, as Snowden was announced for the San Sebastian Film Fest.  That fest opens Sept. 16th.  According to the reports the film will be having its European premiere at San Sebastian.  That designation tells us that the film could play Telluride, Toronto or both.  Screen Daily reached the same conclusion in their story about the announcement:

http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/san-sebastian/oliver-stones-snowden-to-get-european-premiere-at-san-sebastian/5106571.article?blocktitle=LATEST-FILM-NEWS&contentID=40562


The Hollywood Reporter also reported on he announcement last Friday:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/oliver-stones-snowden-san-sebastian-909266


Bottom line is that I am thinking that Snowden is now 50/50 for Telluride.  Maybe an Oliver Stone tribute.


EUROPEAN PRODUCERS: THE BRITISH:  PART ONE

We begin our look at European production companies that have had strong relationships with Telluride over the past decade or so and what that could mean in as far as TFF #43 is concerned.  We start today with Film 4.

Film 4's presence at Telluride in recent times looks like this:

2006: Deep Water
2007: When Did You Last See Your Father, Brick Lane
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky, Hunger, Slumdog Millionaire
2009: No film
2010: Another Year, Never Let Me Go
2011: Shame
2012: No film
2013- Under the Skin, 12 Years a Slave, Starred Up
2014- Mr. Turner
2015- Carol, Suffragette, 45 Years, Room

And their participation in films that are in some form or another on my Telluride watch list: American Honey, Una and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.  Based on their past, it seems like at least one of these three films is probably going to make the lineup.


Tomorrow we'll review BBC Films.


COULD WE SPEND ETERNITY IN TELLRUIDE

Director Tran Ahn Nu Hung hasn't played Telluride but that could change this year with his starry french multi-generational film Eternity.  Though the film has no current U.S. distribution, The Playlist reports that it seems a probable choice for Venice.  Could it also make the Telluride lineup?  Possibly.  Over the weekend, we saw the release of a french language trailer with subtitles.  It's here:

Eternity trailer via YouTube

Here's the story from The Playlist:

http://theplaylist.net/watch-audrey-tautou-melanie-laurent-berenice-bejo-first-trailer-tran-anh-hungs-eternity-20160621/

That'll do to start the week.  More tomorrow.

Contact MTFB at:

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Distribution: Open Road and Zeitgeist / Ken Burns, Tom Hanks and Defying Nazis / First 2016 Oscar Poker Talks Some Telluride

Good Thursday Everybody...


DISTRIBUTION: OPEN ROAD AND ZEITGEIST FILMS

Using a baseball metaphor here on this Thursday as we round third base on distribution companies at Telluride and head toward home.  Today we'll examine Open Road Films and Zeitgeist Films. Tomorrow we'll bring the two week review of distributors home with a laundry list of players who are occasionally represented at T-ride.

OPEN ROAD FILMS

Open Road didn't make an appearance at Telluride until the past two years but they have made a substantial impression in that time.  In 2014 they brought Jon Stewart's directing debut, Rosewater, to the fest and though the film wasn't universally embraced, it certainly made some noise.  Then last year, Open Road was back with Spotlight which was universally praised and went on to Oscar glory for Best Picture and Original Screenplay as well as another four nominations.

With that as your preamble, you'd think that they'd be primed for another big run at Telluride and perhaps they are.

Open Road has two films that could figure into the Telluride lineup for 2016.  The most attention grabbing is Oliver Stone's Snowden.  The film features Jopseh Gordon-Levitt as the NSA-secret exposing Edward Snowden.  It also stars Shailene Woodley and Nicolas Cage.  The film is dated to open Sept. 16th.

I've mentioned before that Stone has been to Telluride in the past with U-Turn in 1997.  That's a long time ago.  I'm also a little out off by the 9/16 date, although that's the same weekend that Black Mass had after screening last year.

I have thought that the film could play Venice and Telluride. The Sept. 16 date tells you it's not going to be playing Toronto.

Meanwhile, the other Open Road possibility is Bleed for This with Miles Teller starring as real life boxer Vinnie Pazienza.  The film is directed by relative newcomer Ben Younger.

It seems to me that neither film is a slam dunk for The SHOW but that either or both could make it owing to Open Road's success the past two years.

Chances:

Snowden 40%
Bleed for This 40%


ZEITGEIST FILMS

Zeitgeist has played five films at Telluride over the past nine years.

2007- Chris and Don: A Love Story, Jellyfish
2008- Tulpan
2013- The Galapagos Affair
2014- Diplomacy

This year sees the specialty house with three films that could land on the Telluride list:

Old Stone directed by Johnny Ma (played well at Berlin)
InnSaei directed by Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir and Kristin Olafsdottir
Theo Who Lived directed by David Schisgall.

Old Stone is a feature and both Innsaei and Theo Who Lived are documentaries about which little is known.

Old Stone would seem to have the best shot at Telluride, but because director Johnny Ma has Canadian ties, it could well be a Toronto only play.

Give all three films a 25% chance of making the Telluride lineup.

Tomorrow, a laundry list of distribution houses:


KEN BURNS, TOM HANKS AND DEFYING NAZIS



Telluride regular (and MTFB "Usual Suspect") Ken Burns is a staple at the festival and often, though not every year, he has a project that screens as a part of the fest's lineup including 2012's Central Park Five.  This year, Burns has a documentary ready that is set for its PBS debut on Sept. 9.  Defying the Nazis: The Sharp's War.  The film is narrated by Tom Hanks.

It wouldn't surprise me greatly if the film actually debuts in Telluride.

Check the trailer here:

Defying the Nazis: The Sharp's War trailer via YouTube

Also take a look at this story from Mothers and Critics:

http://smallscreen.monstersandcritics.com/preview-tom-hanks-narrates-ken-burns-inspiring-tale-of-defying-the-nazis/

FIRST 2016 OSCAR POKER TALKS SOME TELLURIDE

Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Jeff Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere have huddled up for their first Oscar Poker podcast for 2016 and in the course of their discussion they drop a few tidbits about Telluride.

The first is a glancing refernce to Telluride in the context of talking about the recently re-dated Ben Affleck film Live by Night.  The film was recently moved up by Warners to early January 2017 and there has been a good deal of speculation that Warners will release it in a limited fashion in December to qualify it for Oscar consideration.  The Telluride mention comes at about the 9:30 mark.

The duo also mentions Telluride 24 minutes in in regards to Damien Chazelle's La La Land.  It seems that both Wells and Stone feel that it's likely to make its bow at Venice on August 31.

They also spend a good chunk of time discussing Weinstein Company films Lion and HHhH both of which I have mentioned in terms of Telluride but Stone and Wells don't make that connection.  Their discussion of the two films happens about the 41 min. mark.

And finally, Wells re-iterates fairly strongly the notion that he espoused and we reported here June 27 that Olivier Assasyas' Personal Shopper is not going to play T-ride.  That comes near the end at the 57 min. mark.

Finally Stone and Wells more or less agree that they feel that there are six films that are out in front for the best picture Oscar at least perceptually at this point:

Silence
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
La La Land
Birth of a Nation
Manchester-by-the-Sea
Loving

Here's the link to the Oscar Poker podcast:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/podcasts/oscarpoker/episode126.mp3

Snowden Revealed (the Trailer and a Poster Anyway) / More view of The Salesman

It's Thursday!  Hope you've had a good week.

SNOWDEN REVEALED (THE TRAILER AND A POSTER ANYWAY)

Producers of Oliver Stone's delayed Snowden dropped a trailer this week.  Here it is via YouTube:

The case for Snowden to make the Telluride playlist for this Labor Day is not bad.  Stone has been in Telluride previously, albeit a good long time ago- 19 years with U-Turn.  The films distributor is Open Road which hit it big time last year in Telluride with Best Picture Oscar winner Spotlight.  That also bodes well.

Production Company Vendian Entertainment had Black Mass at Telluride last year as well.

The film's release has been delayed until Sept. 16th...putting it in the Telluride window.  I actually think a Venice, Telluride, Toronto play is a possibility.

In addition to the trailer, we also got the first look at a poster for the film from The Film Stage too:

Here's a ton of coverage of the film that accompanied it"s trailer release this week:


http://variety.com/2016/film/news/snowden-trailer-joseph-gordon-levitt-oliver-stone-1201761843/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/snowden-trailer-oliver-stone-movie-888114

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/27/snowden-trailer-oliver-stone-movie

http://www.indiewire.com/article/snowden-trailer-joseph-gordon-levitt-oliver-stone-20160427

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/joseph-gordon-levitt-fights-for-freedom-in-first-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden/

http://www.businessinsider.com/snowden-trailer-2016-4

http://www.slashfilm.com/snowden-trailer/



MORE VIEWS OF THE SALESMAN


We got some additional stills from Asghar Farhadi's recently Cannes competition film The Salesman this week from The Film Stage.

The Salesman seems like a likely addition for Telluride's list too as Farhadi's previous Cannes chosen efforts, A Separation and The Past also made appearances at Telluride.

Here are the views we've seen thus far:

The article from The Film Stage that accompanies the new images does suggest that the long held theory that the film might be based, in some way, on Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman seems not to be the case.  Here's the link to the story:

https://thefilmstage.com/news/asghar-farhadis-cannes-drama-the-salesman-gets-new-images-and-synopsis/

The Salesman currently has no U.S. distribution.

More to come on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

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A Weekend of Telluride Speculation / Continuing to Look at Cannes

Good Monday to All...

A WEEKEND OF TELLURIDE SPECULATION

Over the weekend I was in the midst of a good deal of Telluride speculation.  Fueled by mentions on Twitter and a couple of posts from various sources some very interesting and unlikely film titles made up the basis for the weekend's T-ride musings.

A Scott Feinberg/Hollywood Reporter piece about Cannes films and their Oscar potential included a Telluride reference late in the article that Sundance critical darlings Birth of a Nation and Manchester are "rumored" to be playing at Telluride.

If true, that would violate Telluride's "North American premiere" rule, although the fest has occasionally allowed that to happen in rare cases before.

I'm dubious but Feinberg has better ears on the ground than I ever will.  Check his post here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-are-any-contenders-cannes-883959

Birth of a Nation teaser via YouTube

The other news of note focused on an interview with Cannes Artistic Director Theirry Fremaux with Screen Daily.  Fremaux talked about films that didn't make the Cannes lineup including a reference to Oliver Stone's Snowden.  Fremaux suggests that Snowden distributor Open Road is opting for a "different strategy" despite the fact that Fremaux says that Cannes would have liked to have the film.

Snowden's current release date is Sept. 16.

All of which suggests, at least to me, that we need to take the possibility of a Snowden screening at Telluride seriously.


The Fremaux interview is here:

http://www.screendaily.com/news/cannes-thierry-fremaux-interview/5102645.article


CONTINUING TO LOOK AT CANNES

Jeff Nichol's Loving

I have included here a couple of "Cannes breakdown" articles that seek to provide analysis about the films selected for the 69th edition of that festival:

http://www.screendaily.com/festivals/cannes/cannes-2016-the-critics-take/5102617.article

http://variety.com/2016/film/festivals/cannes-official-selection-numbers-1201753696/



That's it for this Monday...more on Thursday...

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

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"Secret in Their Eyes" Trailer and a Question/Almodovar Set to Produce Farhadi/Spying on "Snowden" with a Trailer

Hello everyone, it's Wednesday...



"SECRET IN THEIR EYES" TRAILER AND A QUESTION

"Secret in Their Eyes" trailer via YouTube

We saw the release of a trailer yesterday for "Secret in Their Eyes" starring Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejifor and Nicole Kidman.  The film is directed and scripted by Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass"/Telluride 2003).  Ray was Oscar nominated in 2014 for his screenplay for "Captain Phillips".

 The film is based on the 2009 Best Foreign Language Oscar winner from Argentina.

Ray's participation and his past presence at Telluride make the film worth a thought or two concerning its possible inclusion in the T-ride 2015 lineup and also raises a question about the new wave of films being developed and planned for distribution by unusual sources.  "Eyes" is from Showtime and will be distributed by STX Entertainment.  It joins films such as Cart Fukunaga's "Beasts with No Nation" (Netflix) and Liza Johnson's "Elvis and Nixon" (Amazon w/ distribution through Bleecker Street Media-which also has Jay Roach's "Trumbo") that are difficult to evaluate in terms of possible festival status.

Just a couple of years ago the above films would have been stylistically and topically films that I would have thought were strong contenders to play at Telluride but their provenance creates uncertainty.  I'll be very interested to see what happens with these and other films in the same boat with regard to festival and release strategies as we move through the fall.

Nevertheless, I have linked a number of stories that accompanied the trailer release of "Secret in Their Eyes":



http://variety.com/2015/film/news/secret-in-their-eyes-trailer-1201531472/

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-secret-in-their-eyes-trailer-pictures-starring-chiwetel-ejiofor-julia-roberts-nicole-kidman/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/ejiofor-roberts-kidman-in-billy-rays-secret-in-their-eyes-trailer/



"Eyes" is scheduled for its theatrical release on October 23rd, whatever that might mean.



ALMODOVAR SET TO PRODUCE...FARHADI.

Pedro Almodovar used to be a frequent filmic invitee to the Telluride Film Festival but hasn't had a film selected to play there since 2006's "Volver"  He was represented last year as a producer of one of the festival's biggest hits, Damian Szifron's "Wild Tales".

Recently we learned that Almodovar was going to work on his next film "Silencio" but more newsworthy in terms of T-ride and recent Telluride history was the word yesterday that Almodovar will produce a new film from recent T-ride favorite and Foreign Language Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi ("A Separation"/Telluride 2011 and "The Past"/Telluride 2013).

The film is not expected to begin filming until late 2016.

I have included stories about the new collaboration and Almodover's latest film:



http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/pedro-almodovar-to-produce-spanish-language-film-from-a-separation-director-asghar-farhadi-20150629

http://www.indiewire.com/article/pedro-almodovars-silencio-picked-up-by-sony-pictures-classics-20150609




SPYING ON "SNOWDEN" WITH A TRAILER


Oliver Stone and a Christmas Day release mean that "Snowden" is really not an incredibly likely choice for a Telluride spot doesn't mean that it's impossible.  "Snowden" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the NSA contractor that spilled U.S. intelligence gathering secrets and is currently in hiding in Russia.

We got a trailer yesterday which you can see here:

"Snowden" trailer via YouTube

The film is being distributed by Open Road ("Rosewater"/TFF 2014) which does offer a glimmer of hope that it could make a festival play.  Linked below are a number of stories that came with the trailer release:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2015/06/trailer-snowden/

http://www.indiewire.com/article/watch-oliver-stone-warns-america-in-menacing-snowden-teaser-20150630

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/watch-dramatic-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden-is-cloaked-in-mystery-20150630

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/watch-snowden-teaser-trailer-oliver-stone-edward-snowden/

http://www.thewrap.com/joseph-gordon-levitt-is-m-i-a-in-first-trailer-for-edward-snowden-biopic-video/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/teaser-trailer-for-oliver-stones-snowden-is-missing-the-footage/

QUICK NOTICE:

I'll start the annual summer review of distributors, production companies and "usual suspects" as various prisms through which to view potential Telluride choices next Monday.

That's all for Wednesday...more tomorrow...


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