Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
"But it's our job." - Anne Thompson, Indiewire
Over the weekend I checked in on Jordan Ruimy /World of Reel's evolving list of possible films that will be invited to the Cannes Film Festival in less than two weeks (April 11th). As always, I look to Cannes for the emergence of films that could World Premiere there in May and then emerge at Telluride as North American premieres.
Looking at Ruimy's list, it seems like there is a lot of agreement with films that I included from Screen Daily's Cannes list last week. Here are the films from Ruimy's post that I feel like have the most likely chance of playing TFF:
Megalopolis-Dir: Frances Ford Coppola (although there's a good deal of buzz that it may NOT appear at Cannes after all. It seems that Coppola wants a distribution deal in place before the film screens anywhere and if that doesn't happen, the focus for its first public screening might switch to a fall festival scenario-stay tuned).
Janus Films has announced a release date for physical media sales of Paul B. Preciado's Orlando: My Political Biography. Blu-Ray and DVD sales of the documentary will begin on June 25th.
Here's the IMDb description of the film:
"Academic virtuoso turned filmmaker Paul B. Preciado's Berlin Film Festival award-winning doc tells his and others' stories of transition through unique reenactments and visual interpretations of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography."
We have a couple of trailers that appeared in the last week for documentaries that screened at Telluride a few weeks back. First, here's a look at Paul D. Preciado's Orlando, My Political Biography from YouTube:
The film's IMDb description:
"Academic virtuoso turned filmmaker Paul B. Preciado's Berlin Film Festival award-winning doc tells his and others' stories of transition through unique reenactments and visual interpretations of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography."
The film doesn't have a release date set yet for here in the U.S. but has screened since TFF at NYFF and The Hamptons International Film fest. It is also slated to screen at The AFI Fest.
Also appearing last week was a trailer for Nick Hooker's AKA Mr. Chow. The HBO film explores the life and career of restaurateur Michael Chow. The film is set for releases on MAX on Oct,]. 22nd. Here's a look at the trailer from YouTube:
INTERVIEWS FROM NEW YORK AND LONDON
As film festival season has moved on from Telluride we still get interviews from TFF players as their films continue to screen at other festivals.
The Toronto International Film Festival dropped two huge lists of films at the end of last week with Centerpiece Films announced Thursday, Wavelengths, Shorts and Classics and "In Conversation With" participants and films added Friday. As always, I'm parsing premiere statuses to see what they reveal about films that may be playing Telluride before TIFF. Here's what I think we found out:
1) A couple of new films look T-ride bound. Christy Hall's Daddio and from the animated film directing team of Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba They Shot the Piano Player. I have mentioned They Shot the Piano Player in my June 9th analysis of which films Sony Pictures Classics might have to TFF #50 and rated it with a 25% chance to do so. Mariscal and Trueba previously had screened Chico and Rita at TFF in 2010.
As for Hall's Daddio...caught me totally by surprise. The film stars Sean Penn (at TFF in 2007 with Into the Wild) and Dakota Johnson (at TFF in 2021 with The Lost Daughter.
The IMDb summary of the film:
"A woman taking a cab ride from JFK engages in a conversation with the taxi driver about the important relationships in their lives."
As best I can tell Daddio does not yet have U.S. distribution.
2) The Centerpiece announcement also seemed to have confirmed that Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days and The Promised Land will be at Telluride.
3) The Centerpiece announcement sows some confusion about two films that we had thought were certain for Telluride after their inclusion in the New York announcement with no premiere status designation. About Dry Grasses and The Settlers are both listed as North American premieres by TIFF and if that's accurate it would mean no Telluride for them.
Announced earlier, Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera is in that same boat.
This happens every year. Sometimes it's miscommunication. Sometimes it's mislabeling the status. Where that leaves us is that all three of these films could still be a Telluride play (I particularly think that The Settlers probably IS going to Telluride. No intell, just a gut feeling).
4) Finally from the Centerpiece announcement, Ilker Catak's The Teacher's Lounge which won a couple of awards at the Berlin Fest and a slew at the German Film Awards is listed as a North American Premiere which, if correct, means no screening at Telluride. I have been listing it as a TFF "possibility" through all 8 of this year's "Ten Bets" lists.
5) The Wavelengths announcement appears to confirm a TFF slot for Orlando, My Political Biography. It also suggests three shorts to Telluride: NYC RGB, Quiet As It's Kept and Bouquets 31-40.
6) The "In Conversation With" section announced that Pedro Almodovar will be participating and screening his short Strange Way of Life as a North American Premiere. That knocks it off of the Telluride track. I had thought there was a real possibility that it could screen in T-ride but that appears destined not to be.
EL CONDE LOOKS CRAZY
Pablo Larrain's El Conde (The Count) will likely be playing at some theater in the San Juans over Labor Day weekend. The film will World premiere at Venice and it has a screening slot early enough in that fest to make the hop to Telluride.
Well, the film looks bonkers. Here is the newly released trailer from Netflix via YouTube:
And here's the IMDb summary:
"Centers on Augusto Pinochet (infamous Chilean dictator) who is not dead but an aged vampire. After living 250 years in this world, he has decided to die once and for all."
We're kind of expecting that Fantastic Fest, the Austin, Texas based festival that runs at the end of September/Early October will probably announce a big chunk of its lineup sometime this week. Last year they announced on August 16th. The year before the initial announcement came August 6th.
FF's lineup can prove instructive each year as a confirmation or elimination for a film's possible inclusion for Telluride.
Last year Fantastic Fest included:
The Banshees of Inisherin
Bones and All
Decision to Leave
Holy Spider
The Menu
Triangle of Sadness
Bones and All and Holy Spider played at TFF #49 and that was confirmed with the FF announcement listing both of those films as Texas Premieres. Meanwhile with a U.S. Premiere designation Banshees, Decision to Leave, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness were all confirmed as not playing at TFF #49.
