One More Early Look at Oscar 2022 / Soggy Bottom's Future / Amazing Grace Legal Saga Continues

 ONE MORE EARLY LOOK AT OSCAR 2022

This time around it's Erik Anderson of Awards Watch taking his stab at early Oscar predicting.  Among his Best Picture possibilities, the films that seem to me to be to be worth keeping an eye over the summer for clues about the possibility that they could play TFF #48 are:

Dune

The French Dispatch

The Harder They Fall

A Hero

The Humans

Nightmare Alley

Mothering Sunday

The Power of the Dog

The Tragedy of Macbeth

The complete Awards Watch story and set of predictions is linked here.

SOGGY BOTTOM'S FUTURE

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel was up yesterday with a piece about where Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated untitled project (working title Soggy Bottom) might land if it is a aprt of a film festival debut.

There is a good deal of speculation about it screening at Cannes and Ruimy reports that the French fest wants the film badly.  But Ruimy also reports that there is some hesitance to follow that path.  Ruimy cites the possibility of the film needing more time for editing and a general feeling that Cannes may not draw a lot of American film due to ongoing Covid concerns.

Ruimy suggests that there is some feeling within among "distributors behind his latest film" should wait for "wait it out for the fall festivals instead (Toronto, Venice, Telluride, New York)".

That's the first solid inclusion of Telluride in the conversation as a possible landing spot for the film that I have run across.

Ruimy's entire article is here.

AMAZING GRACE LEGAL SAGA CONTINUES

Telluride fans are more than aware that the Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace had a difficult legal path to its ultimate release including three different attempts to schedule it for a Telluride berth. The third time was the proverbial charm as it played as a part of the program for TFF #46.

Now new legal hubbub surrounds the film as director Allan Elliot pursues a law suit against Sydney Pollack's attorney for causing damage to the film's value upon its eventual release.  A judge in California ruled earlier this week that the suit could continue.

Full details of where the legal dram is currently situated are here from The Hollywood Reporter.

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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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