More About the Venice Schedule / Looks at Downsizing and Molly's Game

Welcome to Monday, August 14th.  17 days left until TFF #44...


MORE ABOUT THE VENICE SCHEDULE

If you missed it on Friday, the Venice Film Festival released its actual screening schedule, which, as many of you know, can be parsed for clues about the potential films that may play both there and at Telluride.

Friday's schedule release came after my original post for the day and so my update which included that missed some depth and nuance that I can get to today.

To reiterate, Films that are scheduled early enough or late in enough for their initial screening have demonstrably then had enough tie to play at both festivals.  Past fests have shown that.  Adding in what we think we already know from the revelations primarily from New York and Toronto allows some informed conjecture.

So starting with those premises we can include and exclude films from our list of TFF possibles.

I divide Venice into three "windows" to do this.  "Early", "Middle" and "Late".  Films that land in the "Early" window could have the chance to play Venice and then come to Telluride.  This year Venice's "Early" window in Aug. 29-Sept. 1...this is all arbitrary on my part.  It's my best guess that Sept. 1 is the latest a film could play in Italy and still be a part of T-ride.  The "Middle" window runs Sept. 2-4-or, in other words, the end of TFF.  Films that debut here are off the TFF table.  The "Late" Segment runs from Sept. 5-9.  Films that bow at Venice during this stretch could play Telluride and then go to Venice.

As I write this I believe that we have a relatively good idea of four films that will play Telluride and also play Venice: Downsizing, The Shape of Water and Human Flow all in Venice's "Early" period and Wormwood in its "Late" period.

Other films of interest in the "Early" period: First Reformed, The Devil and Father Amorth, Lean on Pete and Our Souls at Night.  Other films of interest in the "Late" period: Sweet Country and Mektoub My Love.

Films from the "Middle" period that we're already thinking will NOT play Telluride (another factoid that bolsters this set of guesses): Suburbicon, Victoria and Abdul, Ex Libris: The New York Public Library and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.  Darren Aronofsky's mother! which we also think will not play at T-ride is set to bow on Sept. 5.

Films of Telluride interest that landed in the "Middle" section at Venice and thereby would seem to be no-go now for The SHOW: The Leisure Seeker, Foxtrot, The Private Life of a Mad Woman and Woodshock.

Finally add in a couple of clues that Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has been reported as saying.  First, that the two fests will share seven or eight titles and second that the only non-World Premiere at Venice is Errol Morris' Wormwood.

Since we already think we know of four films that leaves three of four to come from the "Early" or "Late" periods.

I think both Sweet Country and Mektoub My Love are eliminated as the comment about Wormwood would indicate that both of these films will be World Preeming that late in the Venice lineup. That means  the three to four additional films would come from the "Early" window.

In order, then, here are my best guesses as to the chances of those four films to make the trip:

1) First Reformed
2) Lean on Pete
3) Our Souls at Night
4) The Devil and Father Amorth

In fairness, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson's Under the Tree could also be in play for a Telluride spot as it plays in the "Early" segment as well and has, to the best of my knowledge, not been programmed at this point in another festival in a way that would disqualify it from TFF #44 consideration. However, the other films have, for various reasons, a more pronounced Telluride profile.



LOOKS AT DOWNSIZING AND MOLLY'S GAME


Entertainment Weekly's fall film preview issue landed Friday and EW put a couple of their interviews online which included first looks at both Alexander Payne's Downsizing and Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game.

I think Downsizing is a Telluride lock.  Molly's Game is more of a wish list item at the moment.

The pic from Downsizing:

And from Molly's Game:

The online interviews for the accompanying stories are from Alexander Payne here and for Molly's Game: Jessica Chastain here.

Other possible/probable TFF #44 films that are highlighted in the issue include:Battle of the Sexes, First They Killed My Father, Our Souls at Night, Wonderstruck, The Snowman, Roman Israel Esq., Wonder, Molly's Game, Lady Bird, Darkest Hour. The Shape of Water, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Happy End, and Downsizing.

The EW Fall Film Preview is on sale now.

That's your Monday.  More to come tomorrow and later this week including a new set of announced films from the Toronto International Film Festival.

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LATE BREAKING; Venice Schedule Released; Clues for Telluride

LATE BREAKING:

The schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted overnight and gives clues about what films we think may play both places.

We already have had some clues.  I was already fairly certain about things like Downsizing, The Shape of Water, Wormwood and Human Flow due to their Toronto status or other reporting.  Those films seem to be in good shape for Telluride with Venice dates that will allow them to do Venice and then come to T-ride or the reverse...do Telluride and then to Venice.

We also know that Venice director Alberto Barbera has said that there are likely 7-8 films that would play both places.

Downsizing opens Venice on Aug. 30
The Shape of Water plays Aug. 31
Human Flow plays Sept.1...which is probably as late as a film can play Venice and still make T-ride.

Then...

Wormwood plays Sept. 6 which would allow a Telluride bow before Errol Morris headed to Italy.

Other films we have been pointing out that fall into either the early or late windows:

Early:

Aug. 31-Paul Schrader's First Reformed and (though I haven't had this on my radar) William Freidkin's The Devil and Father Amorth (yes please)
Sept. 1- Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete and Ritesh Batra's Our Souls at Night

Late:
Sept. 6-Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country
Sept. 7-Mektoub My Love Canto Uno

That's six films in addition to the four that we thought were already probable to make the journey.  My guess is that the additional three or four are among these.

The full Venice Schedule is here.

More analysis on Monday...

Many Announcements-Still Questions / Wonder Has a New Trailer / Film Stars Uncertainty Continues / Our Souls at Venice and Then...

Good Thursday Friends.

MANY ANNOUNCEMENTS-STILL QUESTIONS

In the last 48 hours we have had information forthcoming from The New York Film Festival, Fantastic Fest and Toronto's Canadian Film lineup.  They all have things to tell us.

New York's main slate announcement on Tuesday added or confirmed (probably) six films for TFF #44.  Those added:  Agnes Varda's Visages/Villages, Aki Kaurismaki's The Other Side of Hope and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Before We Vanish.  Confirmed: Wonderstruck, Lady Bird and The Rider.

Films that I have thought might be Telluride choices that WILL NOT: The Florida Project (and that really saddens me-both because I am very interested in seeing the film and also because I was strongly thinking that it would play The SHOW), Spoor, Ismael's Ghosts and The Meyerowitz Stories.

The New York lineup info is here.

From Fantastic Fest's first wave announcement we discovered that Yorgos Thanimos' The Killing of a Scared Deer would have its U.S. Premiere there.  That took it off the list of possible Telluride Films.  Also, though their inclusion doesn't affect anything we already knew for TFF, both Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and The Square will also be making their U.S. Premiere in Austin.  It doesn't appear that any of the announced films for Fantastic Fest will double up with T-ride though further added titles are expected.

The Fantastic Fest announcement is here.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced their Canadian films for 2017 that are slotted in across their various programs.  Only a couple of things to be gleaned from that.

First, some thought, including me, that we might see Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan named by TIFF yesterday and it is was not.  That doesn't mean that it won't show up somewhere in TIFF's remaining two announcements but it seems odd that they wouldn't tout it as a big Canadian entry.

Otherwise, the second thing is that none of the announced Canadian titles are Telluride bound.  All are World Premieres.  I should also mention that that didn't remove any film off my list of films still floating out there that could make the Telluride list.

Here's Indiewire's coverage of yesterday's TIFF Canadian film announcement.


As of this morning here are the films that I am still tracking as possible TFF #44 titles that haven't been eliminated (in no particular order):

Happy End
Marshall
Wonder
Mary Magdalene
Loveless
Final Portrait
The Silent Man
Molly's Game
The Snowman
Lean on Pete
Redoubtable
L'amant Double
You Were Never Really Here
Our Souls at Night
Chappaquiddick
The Death and Life of John F. Donovan


WONDER HAS A NEW TRAILER

So many "wonder" films this year: Wonderstruck, Wonder Wheel, Wonder Woman, Professor Marston and The Wonder Women.  One big name "wonder" film still hasn't landed in a film fest lineup and that's Steven Chbosky's Wonder starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay.  The film is coming from Lionsgate which had a great run last year (which included a stop at TFF #43) with La La Land.

The film could end up at Telluride.  It's listed at IMDb as being complete.

Lionsgate released a second trailer for the film yesterday.  Here that is from YouTube:

The film opens Nov. 17th.


FILM STARS UNCERTAINTY CONTINUES

It's been two weeks since Toronto's first wave of announced films that included Paul McGuigan's Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool starring Annette Bening.  TIFF labeled it as a Canadian Premiere from the get go.  That has meant that I have been including it as a Telluride film this past few days despite the fact that some reporting has claimed it would be "premiering" at Toronto.

Additionally, I have been careful to remind readers that the film's star, Annette Bening, is presiding over the Venice Film Fest's Golden Lion competition jury which surely means that she cannot attend T-ride in person.

Then late Tuesday, I ran across this story in the Hollywood Reporter's International edition that flat says the film is World Premiering at TIFF:

So, again, I checked the TIFF website and it still shows the film as a Canadian Premiere:

So, though I have been maintaining that FSDDIL would be in Telluride, I have to report that the THR Int'l blurb makes me nervous and less certain.  Film Stars will likely be somewhere on tomorrow's extended Ten Bets list but it will certainly move further down.

OUR SOULS AT VENICE AND THEN...

Ritesh Baktra's Our Souls at Night starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford was announced a few days back as a Venice selection in a non-competition slot.  Both of those actors will be honored by the fest.

I have thought that it might be possible that if Venice scheduled the film's screening in the right time frame that it might still be a Telluride possibility.  Now we may have a clue about that.

Film distrib Netflix dropped a teaser yesterday:

Among the coverage of the teaser's appearance was one article from Entertainment Weekly that says the film will bow in Italy on Sept. 1.

If true, does that time line work?  Probably.  Seeing as Venice is eight hours ahead of Telluride, a Sunday-Monday set of screenings seems like it could happen.

As I have mentioned before, there are factors that suggest that it could happen.  Batra has been to Telluride before.  Redford was a 2014 tribute recipient.  Netflix has had a solid relationship with the fest over the past couple of years.

Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has suggested the possibility in a post yesterday:

The complete HE post is here.


That's your Thursday post.  More to come tomorrow including Ten (but it'll be more) Bets #7.

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TIFF in a Week / The Usual Suspects 2017 / Mr. Osiason Says... / Redford and Fonda at Venice

Good Tuesday everyone...

TIFF IN A WEEK

The word is that the Toronto International Film Festival will have their first announcement of films for their fest a week from today.  For those of you that have been reading this space for a long time, you know what that means.  For those of you that are new or have been casual readers, here's why that's important:

TIFF will announce each film complete with its "premiere status".  (Venice will too).  When they do that [as we have seen with New York's announcement that Last Flag Flying is a world premiere, so it will not be seen at Telluride] that will tell us some things that allow us in many cases to determine whether a film will/won't or could play TFF #44.  New York's recent announcement that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck will be its Centerpiece as a "New York" premiere indicates an almost certainty of a Telluride play.

Fort example, if George Clooney's Suburbicon is announced as a World Premiere next Tuesday at TIFF that means it will not play Telluride.  If it's a North American premiere...no Telluride.

If a film is an International premiere...that depends on where else it has already played or will be announced to play. If it's a Canadian Premiere and didn't play Sundance or Tribeca...it's almost certainly headed to Telluride.

Toronto won't announce it's whole lineup but it's crucial to note that the overlap between Toronto and Telluride is historically impressive.  Last year the fests shared 22 titles.  That level of crossover may not quite happen this year owing to TIFF's announcement earlier that they will program 20% fewer titles this year so that should mean a bit less of an overlap.

TIFF will  have other announcements each week as we wind down the summer and we'll need to pay attention to each just as we'll need to scrutinize announcements from Venice, New York and London.

But don't sweat figuring that all out...That's what MTFB is here for.  I'll probably have a special Wednesday edition next week to analyze the TIFF announcement.


THE USUAL SUSPECTS 2017

As I do each summer...here's a look at some of the people that often have projects that land at Telluride, what this year's project is and an assessment of that project's chances of making the TFF #44 lineup:

Ken Burns: Vietnam documentary...25%
Werner Herzog-Exec. Prod. on A Gray State...10%
Alexander Payne-Downsizing...80%
Paul Schrader-First Reformed...10%
Wim Wenders-Submergence...20%
Todd Haynes-Wonderstruck...85%
Alejandro Inarritu-V.R. Installation Carne y Arena...30% (if I could believe that Telluride could find a suitable venue...)
Michael Haneke-Happy End...50%
Stephen Frears...Victoria and Abdul...30%
Lynne Ramsay-You Were Never Really Here...50%
Errol Morris-The Lure...35%
Agnes Varda-Visages/Villages...70%
Ritesh Bakta-Our Souls at Night...20% (see below)
Aki Kaurismaki-The Other Side of Hope...35%
Sebastain Lelio-A Fantastic Woman...40%


MR. OSIASON SAYS...

Jason Osiason is a friend of MTFB and a cinephile to make note of.  He digs as deep as anyone I know with regard to film world so when he makes a practice of sussing out/predicting what will happen there, you'd do well to take note.

Jason has been posting his predix for Telluride choices this summer and, in a spirit of providing my readers with as big a picture as possible, here are his latest comments re: TFF #44:

Jason also added Scott Cooper's Hostiles as a possible and You Were Never Really Here as "hard to believe these don't go".



REDFORD AND FONDA AT VENICE

The Venice Fest announced yesterday that Robert Redford and Jane Fonda will be honored there and their film Our Souls at Night from director Ritesh Bakta will World Premiere there on Sept. 1.

MTFB friend Kenny Miles points out that, despite the WP at Venice, that the film could play there and make the jump to Telluride for Sunday and Monday screenings.  He also makes the point that the film was filmed in Colorado which he believes boosts its chances for a SHOW spot.  That point is very well taken.

My original response was to think that the Venice announcement made the film's TFF #44 appearance unlikely but Mr. Miles analysis makes some sense.  So, I'm not ruling out the film's chances for a T-ride play.

Here's the story of the Venice selection from The Wrap.


That's your Tuesday...more will be here on Thursday...

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We Have a Poster / Hollywood Elsewhere Makes Some Telluride Guesses / Spielberg at TFF #44? /

Good Thursday friendo...can you tell I was watching No Country for Old Men late last night?


WE HAVE A POSTER


After teasing you with glimpses of what we thought was the official poster hanging in the Nugget Theater in Telluride we have the confirmation now as the Telluride Film Festival officially announced this year's poster artist as well as releasing the poster to the public for viewing and for sale.  Here's the visual:

This year's poster artist is Lance Rutter who, according to the TFF press release is a graphic designer and also teaches design at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago.  He is also a Vice President of Silicon Valley based start up Design for Quantifind.  He also is on the national board of the American Institute for Graphic Arts.

TFF #44 poster artist Lance Rutter (via quantifind.com)

Rutter is quoted in the release saying, "I don't think it's possible to overstate how thrilled I was to be asked to create a poster for the 44th edition of the Telluride Film Festival."  He went on to say, "I believe there is something uniquely magical that happens there every year."

Festival Executive Director Julie Huntsinger said, "Lance's design for this year's poster is simply stunning."

Rutter joins an impressive list of artists who have designed the fests posters in past years that includes: Julian Schnabel, Chuck Jones, Gary Larson, Laurie Anderson, William Wegman and Dave Eggers among others.

The new poster is on on sale online here.

HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE MAKES SOME TELLURIDE GUESSES

You can tell that TFF #44 is getting closer as well as the entire fall film fest gauntlet as the press covering the film industry increase their focus on what films will be featured at which festivals.

Tuesday saw Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere post his first serious take on what he thinks will and won't and could play at The SHOW.

Wells has some interesting thoughts about TFF.

He says that he thinks that Todd Haynes Wonderstruck, Sean Baker's The Florida Project and Sebastain Lelio's A Fantastic Woman are all "locks" for TFF #44.  All three films have been on my first two Ten Bets lists these past two weeks.

Other films that Wells says would be a "good fit" or "make sense" are:

Denis Villenueve's Blade Runner 2049 (more about that later on in this post).
Aaron Sorkin's Molly's Game
Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
Ritesh Batra's Our Souls at Night
Geroge Clooney's Suburbicon
John Curran's Chappaquiddick

Couple of notes here:  I keep forgetting about both Batra's and Curran's films which I shouldn't as both film makers have had films at Telluride in the past.  Batra with The Lunchbox in 2013.  Our Souls at Night also has the distinction of re-paring of Jane Fonda and Robert Redford (Barefoot in the Park, The Electric Horseman). It would be a tremendous event to have those two in Telluride for a Jane Fonda tribute. As best as I can determine Fonda has never been to Telluride with a film. Redford, of course, was a tribute recipient in 2013 with All Is Lost.  Netflix is the distributor of the film.

John Curran was also at Telluride in 2013 with Tracks.

As to Blade Runner 2049...I keep hearing buzz that Warners is going to forgo any Fest play in an effort to keep the film's secrets and twists under wraps until its release on Oct. 6th.  That makes a bunch of sense to me and despite the fact that I think I've made a pretty good case for why it could be a Telluride pick...right now, it feels like it's still not likely.

Other Well's notes on some TFF possibilities on a film by film basis:

Downsizing...HE says "nope".
The Current War "probably not"
Wonder "maybe"
mother! Wells says "Bring it on" which I'm not sure if he means that he thinks it will be at T-ride or that he wants it to be or both.
Mary Magdalene "no clue"
Three Billboards "likely"
Stronger "maybe"
Suburbicon "maybe"
The Shape of Water "doesn't seem like a Telluride-type" (though I hear some buzz that Fox Searchlight might really want it to play at TFF)
Blade Runner 2049 "likely" (see above)
Molly's Game "maybe"

Again, the entire "Telluride Spitball" post is here.


SPIELBERG AT TFF #44?

No. No. No.  Not with The Papers which has almost zero chance to be ready by Labor Day.  I think that it'll be lucky to hit its limited release date of Dec. 22nd.

No, instead, I think we might have a chance to see the HBO doc about Spielberg that was all over the media the last couple of days.


HBO Docs has had a substantial presence at Telluride recently:

2012: Love, Marilyn
2014: The 50 Year Argument, Tales of the Grim Sleeper
2015: Heart of a Dog
2016: Bright Lights

So a spot for a doc about Steven Spielberg seems like a real possibility.  The film will air on HBO on Oct. 7th.

Coverage is here from SlashFilm and here from Indiewire.

A screening in Telluride would also coincide with the Sept. 1 re-release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to celebrate its 40th anniversary.


There's your MTFB post for Thursday, July 13, 2017.  More to come tomorrow including the latest update TFF #44's Ten Bets.


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