MTFB Oscar Update: The Penultimate Middle Eight Predictions / The Satellite Awards and TFF / The Bikeriders Has a New Trailer / Pass Saga / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: PENULTIMATE THE MIDDLE EIGHT PREDICTIONS

 BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Zone of Interest/United Kingdom (1)

2) Society of the Snow/Spain (2)

3) The Teachers' Lounge/Germany (3)

4) Perfect Days/Japan (4)

5) Io Capitano/Italy (5)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) 20 Days in Mariupol (1)

2) Bobi Wine: The People's President (2)

3) Four Daughters (3)

4) The Eternal Memory (4)

5) To Kill a Tiger (5)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse (1)

2) The Boy and the Heron (2)

3) Elemental (3)

4) Nimona (4)

5) Robot Dreams (5)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) What Was I Made For?/Barbie (1)

2) I'm Just Ken/Barbie (2)

3) Whazhazhe/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

4) It Never Went Away/American Symphony (3)

5) The Fire Inside/Flamin' Hot (5)

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) American Fiction (4)

5) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (5)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Poor Things (3)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

4) Maestro (4)

5) El Conde (5)

EDITING

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Anatomy of a Fall (3)

4) Poor Things (4)

5) The Holdovers (5)

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Poor Things (2)

2) Barbie (1)

3) Oppenheimer (3)

4) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Napoleon (5)

Comment:  Seven of the eight categories seem locked and have been consistent throughout the post-nomination period.  Production Design is the only one of these eight that remains competitive.  It's super-tight between Poor Things and Barbie.  I've moved Poor Things to the top of the PD chart based on its BAFTA win but this category could go either way and is definitely one of a handful that will determine Oscar pool winners/losers.

THE SATELLITE AWARDS AND TFF

The International Press Academy's Satellite Awards were revealed Sunday night.  Three TFF films earned wins:

The Holdovers (4): Best Film (Comedy or Musical), Best Actor (Comedy or Musical, Best Supporting Actress and Best Film Editing.

Poor Things (2): Best Actress (Comedy or Musical), Best Supporting Actor (Ruffalo).

The Zone of Interest (1): Best International Feature.

The complete list of winners can be found here.

THE BIKERIDERS HAS A NEW TRAILER

Focus Features released a second official trailer for Jeff Nichol's The Bikeriders.  The film received mixed reviews out of TFF but I was rather enthusiastic about it.  It stars Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer who steals the movie.  The film will be released on June 21st.

Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

PASS SAGA

503 Error Codes that popped up even before the passes for TFF #51 went up for sale and then a torturous process for actually getting the info to actually purchase passes resulted in the first ever situation where the Patterson's don't have passes for a TFF since the second year we attended (2007).  And I know anecdotally that we weren't the only folks that experienced the same issue.

I have communicated with the pass team and have another couple of angles I am exploring.  We're not giving up yet, but Friday was massively frustrating and disheartening.

I do want to pass along a big "thank you" to any number of MTFB readers who offered their services or suggestions in the effort to get the deed done on Friday as well as post-failure suggestions about resolving the situation.

We have our lodging secured and will keep pursuing passes by other means for a bit anyway.  

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Composer Jerskin Fendrix on Poor Things from A.Frame.

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MTFB Oscar Update: The Middle Eight / Daddio Has a Trailer / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: THE MIDDLE EIGHT

 BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) The Zone of Interest/United Kingdom (1)

2) Society of the Snow/Spain (2)

3) The Teachers' Lounge/Germany (3)

4) Perfect Days/Japan (4)

5) Io Capitano/Italy (5)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) 20 Days in Mariupol (1)

2) Bobi Wine: The People's President (2)

3) Four Daughters (3)

4) The Eternal Memory (4)

5) To Kill a Tiger (5)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse (1)

2) The Boy and the Heron (2)

3) Elemental (3)

4) Nimona (4)

5) Robot Dreams (5)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) What Was I Made For?/Barbie (1)

2) I'm Just Ken/Barbie (2)

3) It Never Went Away/American Symphony (3)

4) Whazhazhe/Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) The Fire Inside/Flamin' Hot (5)

ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Poor Things (3)

4) American Fiction (4)

5) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (5)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Poor Things (3)

3) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

4) Maestro (4)

5) El Conde (5)

EDITING

1) Oppenheimer (1)

2) Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Anatomy of a Fall (3)

4) Poor Things (4)

5) The Holdovers (5)

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Barbie (1)

2) Poor Things (2)

3) Oppenheimer (3)

4) Killers of the Flower Moon (4)

5) Napoleon (5)

Comment: All eight of these categories remain virtually unchanged over the past couple of weeks.  Among them only one seems to be truly competitive and that's Production Design.  I wonder if Poor Things win at the BAFTAs on Sunday will move it ahead of Barbie when I predict these categories again on March 4th.  

DADDIO HAS A TEASER

One of the more obscure films I saw at TFF #50 was Daddio starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn.  I quite enjoyed the well-acted two hander.  Now Sony Pictures Classics has dropped a teaser for the film.  Here that is from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sandra Huller and Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall from Awards Radar.

Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things from AFrame.

Screenwriter Tony McNamara for Poor Things from Gold Derby.

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Nolan Wins DGA / MTFB Oscar Update: Makeup/Hair, Costumes, Visual Effects and Sound / What the Experts Are Saying: Part Three/ Trailers and Clips: La Chimera and Perfect Days / Interviews and Profiles

NOTE: Christopher Nolan won the Directors Guild award for Best Direction of a feature film Saturday night

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: FIRST WINNERS PREDICTIONS FOR MAKEUP/HAIR, COSTUMES, VISUAL EFFECTS AND SOUND

 

In this post I'm continuing my first "educated" set of predictions for who/what will win on Oscar night, March 10th.  The focus for this post is initial projections for which films will win for Makeup/Hair, Costumes, Visual Effects and Sound.  As always TFF films are in Bold.

MAKEUP/HAIR

1) Maestro

2) Poor Things

3) Oppenheimer

4) Golda

5) Society of the Snow

COSTUMES

1) Barbie

2) Poor Things

3) Killers of the Flower Moon

4) Oppenheimer

5) Napoleon

VISUAL EFFECTS

1) The Creator

2) Godzilla Minus One

3) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

4) Napoleon

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

SOUND

1) Oppenheimer

2) The Zone of Interest

3) Maestro

4) The Creator

5) Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning

Comment: Oppenheimer is massively favored for the Sound Oscar.  each of the other three categories are competitive at some level.  For Makeup/Hair Maestro is in solid shape but Poor Things shouldn't be counted out just yet.  Costume Design is a very competitive race between Barbie and Poor Things and though I have The Creator at the top of the Visual Effects category, at the moment any of the top four seem to have a shot at the trophy on March 10th.

TFF films are currently not predicted to win in any of these four categories.

Thursday, a look at the Shorts categories.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING: PART THREE

I've decided for each post between now and the Oscars to share where some of the top Oscarologists are in terms of predicting the 23 category winners. Today I'm sharing the publicly posted current predictions from Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Anne Thompson of Indiewire (via her posted predictions at Gold Derby).  As with my own predictions above, TFF films are in Bold.

Here's how Sasha has the winners predicted: 

Oppenheimer (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (4): Best Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costumes and Song (I'm Just Ken).

The Holdovers (3): Best Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay.

Films with single Oscar wins:

Killers of the Flower Moon: Best Actress.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

20 Days in Mariupol: Best Documentary.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair.

The Creator: Best Visual Effects.

The Last Repair Shop: Best Documentary Short.

War Is Over: Best Animated Short.

The After: Best Live Action Short.

Stone has three TFF films winning a total of five Oscars.  Stone also has 11 time nominee Poor Things going home empty-handed on Oscar night.

Meanwhile, Indiewire's Anne Thompson has it this way:

Oppenheimer (8): Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Editing, Score and Sound.

Barbie (3): Adapted Screenplay, Production Design and Song (What Was I Made For?)

Poor Things (2): Best Actress and Costumes.

Films with single Oscar wins:

The Holdovers: Best Supporting Actress.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best Original Screenplay.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse: Best Animated Feature.

The Eternal Memory: Best Documentary.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature.

Godzilla Minus One: Best Visual Effects.

Maestro: Best Makeup/Hair

Letter to a Pig: Best Animated Short.

The ABCs of Book Burning: Best Documentary Short.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar: Best Live Action Short.

Thompson has four TFF films picking up a total of five trophies.

TRAILERS AND CLIPS

U.S. Trailer for La Chimaera from NEON and YouTube:

Clip from Wim Wenders' Oscar nominated Perfect Days:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sound Designer Johnny Burn for The Zone of Interest from the Pop Culture Confidential Podcast.

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Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Academy Convo for Nyad / TFF Films and Critics Choice Doc Awards / Magnolia Acquires Food Inc. 2 / Trailers: Perfect Days and They Shot the Piano Player / New Clip from Saltburn / Interviews and Profiles

OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

Here's your Oscar Update for today's post.  This is a check on predicted nominees for the Lead Acting categories.  They were last posted here on Oct. 23rd.  Previous positions on the MTFB Oscar Update is listed to the right in parentheses.  As always TFF films are Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Emma Stone/Poor Things (1)

2) Lily Gladstone/Killers of the Flower Moon (2)

3) Carey Mulligan/Maestro (3)

4) Margot Robbie/Barbie (4)

5) Annette Bening/Nyad (5)

Alternates: Sandra Huller/Anatomy of a Fall, Natalie Portman/May December and Fantasia Barrino/The Color Purple

BEST ACTOR

1) Bradley Cooper/Maestro (2)

2) Cillian Murphy/Oppenheimer (1)

3) Paul Giamatti/The Holdovers (4)

4) Colman Domingo/Rustin (3)

5) Leonardo DiCaprio/Killers of the Flower Moon (5)

Alternates: Jeffrey Wright/American Fiction, Andrew Scott/All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan/Saltburn.

ACADEMY CONVERSATION FOR NYAD

From AMPAS and YouTube here is an Academy Conversation with Nyad directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin:

TFF FILMS AND CRITICS CHOICE DOC AWARDS

Two TFF #50 films scored wins last night at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.  Matt Heineman's American Symphony, which focuses on the lives of Jon Batiste and Suleika Jaouad, was winner for Best Musical Doc and Best Score.  The Short Doc winner also came from Telluride and that was Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot's The Last Repair Shop.

The big winner of the night was Davis Guggenheim's Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.  That film nabbed five awards including Best Documentary Feature.

A complete rundown of all winners is here from Awards Radar.

MAGNOLIA PICTURES ACQUIRES FOOD INC. 2

News this past week that TFF #50 entrant Food Inc. 2 has been acquired for distribution  by Magnolia Pictures.  The documentary is a sequel to 2008's Oscar nominated doc Food Inc. The director of the original film, Robert Kenner is joined for the sequel by co-director Melissa Robledo.

Deadline reports that Magnolia is eyeing a spring 2024 release.

TRAILERS: PERFECT DAYS AND THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER

From YouTube:

PERFECT DAYS

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER

NEW CLIP FROM SALTBURN

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from Awards Watch.

Screenwriter David Hemingson on The Holdovers from Time.com.

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An Experiment / BIFA Awards Nominations / Writers Guild Moves Awards / Interviews and Profiles: Herzog, Nikou and Hemingson

AN EXPERIMENT

For a long while I have been fascinated by what happens to TFF films after they screen at Telluride.  I've watched, over the last several years, announcements from other fests concerning their lineups and where TFF films landed.  So I decided this year to actually survey what the pedigrees became for films that played The SHOW.

To keep the project from becoming ridiculously large I limited the assessment to two fests that precede Telluride that always screen films that then play at Telluride-Cannes and Venice. I included four major post-Telluride fests-Toronto, New York, London and AFI and then I included what are often referred as Regional fests.  I asked a number of journalist friends which fests fit that description and landed on: Mill Valley, Middleburg, Savannah and The Hamptons.  There is a fifth fest that fits the profile and that's Palm Springs which doesn't happen until Jan. 4-15, 2024.

39 TFF #50 films played at least one other festival in addition to its Telluride screening.

So which films play the most of these 10 festivals (it'll be 11 after Palm Springs)?  Any film that plays as many as possible would have a total of nine as Cannes and Venice screenings are mutually exclusive.  The only film to have made that happen is Wim Winders Perfect Days.

Three films made appearances at eight of these fests:

Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves which only missed Savannah.

Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera which didn't play London.

Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest. It isn't scheduled to play at the AFI Fest which just got under way this past Sunday.

A single film will have made seven stops in addition to TFF and that is Tran Ahn Hung's The Taste of Things.

Six films will score six fest screenings beyond Telluride: Anatomy of a Fall, The Promised Land, All of Us Strangers, Fingernails, The Holdovers and The Teachers' Lounge.

Films with five screenings: The Pigeon Tunnel, Rustin and Totem.

Films that would seem to be likely Oscar possibilities that each have four are Poor Things, The Bikeriders and Nyad.

So, does this little exercise mean anything?  

At a minimum it may give us a bit of insight into the International Feature Oscar race.  Eight films that were submitted for the International Oscar played TFF #50: Fallen Leaves, The Taste of Things, Perfect Days, The Zone of Interest, The Promised Land, The Monk and the Gun, The Teacher's Lounge and Totem.  The only one of those eight that will have screened at less than five of these fests is Bhutan's selection The monk and the Gun.

The other thing I think this may show us is the perhaps hidden strength of Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest and their chances of making the final field of ten films nominated for best Picture.  

I'll check back as we move through awards season to assess if this exercise had anything to reveal.

BIFA AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Overnight the British Independent Film Awards announced its nominees.  Six TFF films earned a total of  21 nominations lead by 14 for Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers.  Here's the breakdown:

All of Us Strangers: Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance-Andrew Scott, Supporting Performance-Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy, Screenplay, Casting, Cinematography, Editing, Music Supervision, Makeup and Hair, Production Design and Sound.

Bobi Wine: The People's President (from TFF #49): Best Documentary Feature, Best Debut Direction of a Documentary Feature and Documentary Editing.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Independent Film.

Fallen Leaves: Beat International Independent Film.

Occupied City: Best Feature Documentary.

High and Low: John Galliano: Best Editing.

Complete coverage of the nominations is here from The Hollywood Reporter.

WRITERS' GUILD MOVES AWARDS

The writers' strike continues to alter the film landscape with the announcement yesterday from the WGA that they will hand out their awards on April 14th.  The WGA will announce their nominees on Feb. 21st, one day before final Oscar voting begins.  Variety reported that the WGA issued a statement which said, in part:

“This year’s Writers Guild Awards are being held in April to allow for a full awards submissions process to occur after the strike."

So at least one major Guild precursor is set to occur after the Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.

One wonders if other Guilds might re-visit their plans with the Actors' strike still on-going.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: HERZOG, NIKOU AND HEMINGSON

Werner Herzog on the Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend Podcast. (Shout out to MTFB friend Patrick Pringle who alerted me to this)

Director Christos Nikou on Fingernails from Awards Radar.

Screenwriter David Hemingson on The Holdovers from The Playlist.

Gotham Awards Nominations / Occupied City Poster and Trailer / Interviews and Profiles: Payne, Hawke and More

GOTHAM AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Gotham Awards nominees for 2023 were revealed on Tuesday.  It's the first of many, many awards groups and critics' group's recognitions for film of the year.

Seven TFF #50 films combined to earn 13 nominations lead by Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers with four.  Here's the nomination breakdown as reported by Next Best Picture. 

All of Us Strangers: Best International Feature, Lead Performance (Andrew Scott), Supporting Performance (Claire Foy) and Screenplay.

The Zone of Interest: Best International Feature, Supporting Performance (Sandra Huller), Screenplay.

Anatomy of a Fall: Best International Feature, Screenplay.

Poor Things: Best International Feature.

Totem: Best International Feature.

The Taste of Things: Best Supporting Performance (Juliette Binoche)

The Holdovers: Best Supporting Performance (Da'Vine Joy Randolph)

The Gotham Awards will be presented on Nov. 27th.

OCCUPIED CITY POSTER AND TRAILER

A24 has released a poster and a trailer for Steve McQueen's four hour long documentary focusing on the city of  Amsterdam; its occupation during World War II and the after effects of that.

Here's the poster:

And the trailer from YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES: PAYNE, HAWKE AND MORE

Alexander Payne on The Holdovers from The Upcoming on YouTube.

Ethan Hawke on Wildcat from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Koji Yakusho on Perfect Days from The Hollywood Reporter.

Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi on Nyad from Vanity Fair.

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Fingernails Trailer / Denmark Chooses The Promised Land / Speaking of International Films

FINGERNAILS TRAILER

Apple has dropped an official trailer for Christos Nikou's Fingernails which had its World Premiere at the 50th edition of the Telluride Film Festival. Here that is from YouTube:

Fi

DENMARK CHOOSES THE PROMISED LAND

Deadline, among other outlets reported earlier this week that Denmark has chosen to submit The Promised Land for the International film Academy Award.  

The Promised Land is being distributed domestically by Magnolia Pictures and is set for U.S. release on Feb. 2, 2024.

SPEAKING OF INTERNATIONAL FILMS

Indiewire's Anne Thompson's current handicapping of the Oscar race for Best International Film has a huge TFF #50 flavor.  

Thompson lists six films as "Frontrunners" all of which were playing at Telluride four weeks ago.  They are:

“The Monk and the Gun” (Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan)

“Perfect Days” (Wim Wenders, Japan)

“The Promised Land” (Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark)

“The Taste of Things” (Tràn Anh Hùng, France)

“The Teachers’ Lounge” (İlker Çatak, Germany)

“The Zone of Interest” (Jonathan Glazer, United Kingdom)

Additionally Thompson includes a couple of contenders including TFF films:

"Fallen Leaves" (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland)

"Godland” (Hlynur Pálmason, Iceland-TFF #49

Could this be the year where all nominees in a category screened over Labor Day at The SHOW?

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The People's Telluride 2023 / Audience Award at Toronto / Trailer for The Taste of Things / Alexander Payne Talks The Holdovers / Changes Coming to Your Favorite Gondola

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE 2023

Here it is!  The People's Telluride poll for TFF #50.  We start with a trip down memory lane.

The first People's Telluride was posted on Sept. 10, 2012.  The top ten films from that year's fest from the populist perspective were:

1) Stories We Tell- 4.80

2) Argo- 4.75

3) The Attack- 4.70

4) The Act of Killing-4.41

5) Wadjda-4.2

6) Amour 4.17

7) Barbara- 4.17

8) The Sapphires-4.11

9) Frances Ha-4.07

10) (Tie)The Hunt and Baraka - 4.00

In subsequent years the top ten were:

2013:

1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)

2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)

3) Gravity (4.40)

4) The Lunchbox (4.25)

5) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.15)

6) Nebraska (4.08)

7) All is Lost (4.06)

8) The Wind Rises (4.0)

9) Ida (4.0)

10) The Past (3.81)

2014:

1) The Imitation Game (4.73)

2) Birdman (4.46)

3) Wild Tales (4.23)

4) Foxcatcher (4.20)

5) Merchants of Doubt (4.04)

6) '71 (3.90)

7) Red Army (3.63)

8) Wild (Tie 3.50)

8) Escobar: Paradise Lost (Tie 3.50)

8) Mommy (Tie 3.50)

2015:

1) Room (4.47)

2) Spotlight (4.45)

3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)

4) Ixcanul (4.31)

5) Son of Saul (4.30)

6) Marguerite (4.23)

7) Black Mass (4.13)

8) Carol (4.02)

9) Rams (3.98)

10) Steve Jobs (3.86)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.37)

2) La La Land (4.33)

3) Maudie (4.29)

4) The Eagle Huntress (4.21)

5) Manchester by the Sea (4.18)

6) Arrival (4.13)

7) Bright Lights (3.90)

8) Frantz (3.89)

9) Toni Erdmann (3.80)

10) Sully (3.79)

2017:

1) Lady Bird (4.38)

2) The Shape of Water (4.22)

3) Darkest Hour (4.04)

4) Hostiles (3.99)

5) Faces Places (3.71)

6) Battle of the Sexes (3.68)

7) Lean on  Pete (3.66)

8) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (3.57)

9) The Other Side of Hope (3.45)

10) Wonderstruck (3.43)

2018

1) Roma (4.47)

2) First Man (4.34)

3) Shoplifters (4.29)

4) Boy Erased (4.23)

5) Free Solo (4.19)

6) Cold War (4.02)

7) White Boy Rick (3.88)

8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)

9) The Favourite (3.76)

10) The Front Runner (3.69)

2019:

1) The Two Popes (4.51)

2) Parasite (4.36)

3) Ford v. Ferrari (4.35)

4) Marriage Story (4.14)

5) Pain and Glory (3.81-Tie)

5) A Hidden Life (3.81-Tie)

7) Judy (3.80)

8) The Aeronauts (3.67)

9) The Report (3.66)

10) Motherless Brooklyn (3.64)

11) Lyrebird (3.62)

12) Waves (3.61)

13) Inside Bill's Brain (3.39)

14) Uncut Gems (3.22)

15) The Climb (3.07)

16) First Cow (3.02)

No People's poll in 2020.

 2021:

1) The Power of the Dog (4.63)

2) The Rescue (4.20)

3) Julia (4.18)

4) Belfast (4.12)

5) King Richard (4.06)

6) C'mon C'mon (3.93)

7) The Hand of God (3.83)

8) Cyrano (3,62)

9) A Hero (3.60)

10) Marcel the Shell (3.57)

11) The Duke (3.53)

12) Spencer-tie- (3.50)

12) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain-tie- (3.50)

14) The Lost Daughter (3.44)

15) Red Rocket (3.41)

16) Petite Maman (3.25)

17) The French Dispatch (2.50)

18) Encounter (2.43)

2022:

1) Women Talking 4.22

2) TAR 4.20

3) Sr. 3.98

4) The Wonder 3.86-(TIE)

4) One Fine Morning 3.86 (TIE)
6) Bones and All 3.77

7) Living 3.70

8) Aftersun 3.63

9) Armageddon Time 3.62

10) Broker 3.57

11) Godland 3.50

12) Empire of Light 3.43

13) Lady Chatterley's Lover 3.31

The Process:  I collated all results that were sent in.  Films that earned ratings from at least 40% of all respondents qualified to make the final listings. 16 films met that threshold.  I added all ratings of a film together and then divided that by the number of ratings it received to arrive at the average rating on a 1-5 scale.

AND SO, HERE ARE YOUR RESULTS FOR THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE FOR 2023

1) Poor Things (4.51)

2) Anatomy of a Fall (4.24)

3) The Zone of Interest (4.19)

4) The Holdovers (4.17)

5) Perfect Days (4.16)

6) All of Us Strangers (4.14)

7) Rustin (4.00)

8) Daddio (3.99)

9) Nyad (3.95)

10) The Bikeriders (3.86)

11) Saltburn (3.68)

12) Fingernails (3.46)

13) Janet Planet (3.45)

14) The Royal Hotel (3.36)

15) Tuesday (2.98)

16) Wildcat (2.62)

Seven films earned a 4.00 average or better making 2023 the best year for that statistic since 2013 which had nine (2015 also had seven films rated 4.00 or better).

Poor Things was the most viewed film among respondents to the poll this year with 93% of them having viewed it.  Saltburn was next at 88%.  The Holdovers was third at 75%. The Bikeriders was fourth with 73% and for fifth there was a three way tie between All of Us Strangers, Rustin and The Zone of Interest at 70%.

After the completion of this year's People's Telluride Poor Things moves onto the all time top ten films with it 4.51 rating at #8 tied with The Two Popes.

The all time People's Top Ten:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)

2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture

3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture

4) The Attack (4.70) (12)

5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)

6) The Power of the Dog (4.63) (21) Nominated Best Picture 

7) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture

8) (TIE) Poor Things (4.51) (23)

8) (TIE)The Two Popes (4.51) (19)

10) (TIE) Roma (4.47) (15) Nominated Best Picture

10) (TIE) Room (4.47) (18) Nominated Best Picture

The Composite Telluride will go up on Thursday!

AUDIENCE AWARD AT TORONTO

Cord Jefferson's under -the-radar film American Fiction (stars Jeffrey Wright) won the TIFF Audience Award Sunday.  Alexander Payne's The Holdovers was first runner-up followed by Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron.  

Full details are here from Variety.

TRAILER FOR THE TASTE OF THINGS

Here's an official trailer for director Ahn Hung Tran's The Taste of Things (The Pot au Feu) that dropped last week:

ALEXANDER PAYNE TALKS THE HOLDOVERS

As a part of Deadline's series of interviews during the Toronto International Film festival, director Alexander Payne sat down and talked about his latest film (and one of the most highly rated and viewed films at Telluride a couple of weeks back) The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti, Da'vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa.

You can access that here.

CHANGES COMING TO YOUR FAVORITE GONDOLA

News from The Telluride Daily Planet:  It appears a new gondola may be on the way to T-ride.  From the story that appeared in the digital version of The Daily Planet on Thursday, Sept. 14th:

"San Miguel County is poised to move forward with a draft intergovernmental agreement for planning the replacement of the current gondola with a new gondola system."

The bare bones of a timeline were also mentioned on the post:

"Wednesday’s work session was a discussion “about a proposed intergovernmental agreement for the planning operations that will be occurring for the next two years to get us to a potential ballot measure and/or other grant opportunities” for the “the ultimate replacement of the gondola as well as continued operations of the gondola post-2027.”

The complete article is linked here.

Stay tuned...

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900,000 / Continuing to Look at Oscar Experts / Saltburn Trailer / International Affairs/ The People's Telluride-Votes Are Due

900,000

If you're reading this you are someone who has recorded somewhere north of the 900,000th view of MTFB.  We blew through that number yesterday.  I'm stunned.

MTFB has been posted 2,160 times meaning that each post has averaged 417 views.

Hope you'll keep reading.  Om to a million!

CONTINUING TO LOOK AT OSCAR EXPERTS

In the afterglow of TFF #50, I'm continuing to examine the early post-fest Oscar predictions from a number of Oscarologists in terms of how they have TFF #50 titles fairing when Oscar nominations are announced on Jan. 23rd.  I'm currently assessing the eight "above-the-line-categories: Best Picture, Direction, all four acting categories and the two screenplay categories.  

In my last post I shared predictions from Variety's top Oscar analyst Clayton Davis.  Today my focus moves to The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg.

Feinberg, as did Davis, has Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things leading the T-ride pack with 5 predicted nominations and one other possibility:

Poor Things: Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor (Ruffalo) and Adapted Screenplay.  The other possibility is a Supporting Actor nomination for Willem Dafoe.

Here's the rest of Feinberg's predictions for Telluride films:

***The Zone of Interest (four nominations and one possibility): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actress (Huller), Adapted Screenplay.  The additional possibility is a Best Actor nomination for Christian Freidel.

***Nyad (Three nominations and three other possibilities): Best Picture, Actress (Bening), Supporting Actress (Foster).  Also possible are noms for Direction, Supporting Actor (Ifans) and Adapted Screenplay.

***The Holdovers (Three nominations and two possibilities): Best Picture, Actor (Giamatti) and Original Screenplay.  Possibilities are Direction and Supporting Actress (Randolph).

***Anatomy of a Fall (Three nominations and one added possibility): Best Picture, Actress (Huller) and Original Screenplay.  Also possible: Direction.

***Saltburn (One nomination and two possibles): Best Supporting Actress (Pike) and the possibles are Best Actor (Keoghan) and Original Screenplay.

***Rustin (One nomination and one possibility): Best Actor (Domingo) and a possible for Original Screenplay.

***The Teachers' Lounge (One nomination and one possibility): Original Screenplay with a possible nod for Best Actress (Benesch).

Films with possible shots at nominations but that Feinberg does not have predicted to receive any actual nominations:

***All of Us Strangers with potential nominations for Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Scott) and Adapted Screenplay.

***The Taste of Things with a possible nomination for Best Actress (Binoche).

***The Bikeriders with a possible nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

SALTBURN TRAILER

In all the frenzy as this year's fest was going on, I neglected to post an official trailer for Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.  Here it is from YouTube and MGM:

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

It's that time of year when countries are beginning to submit their choices for consideration for the Best International Film Oscar.  

France announced yesterday that their official shortlist includes Justine Triet's Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and The Taste of Things both of which screened at TFF #50. Variety, among others reported that.

Also yesterday, Screen Daily revealed that Finland has selected Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves as its candidate for International Oscar contention.  Fallen Leaves also was a choice of TFF #50.

Earlier this week Iceland chose TFF #49 entry Godland as its selection.  Several nations have already made their submissions which, to no one's surprise, has included some TFF titles including:

The Monk and the Gun (Bhutan)

Perfect Days (Japan)

The Teachers' Lounge (Germany)

Here's a link to an updating list of submissions from Screen Daily.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-VOTES ARE DUE

LAST CALL...the clock runs out on your chance to be a part of this year's People's poll of TFF #50 films TOMORROW!

All you have to do is rate the films you saw  and then report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "TERRIBLE" and 5 being "FANTASTIC".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings is tomorrow, Sept. 15th at 5:00pm PDT.

The results of The People's Telluride polling will be revealed in Monday's (9/18) post.

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Cannes Final Critical Analysis / Neglia's Cannes-Telluride Analysis / Miyazaki-Not This Time?

CANNES FINAL CRITICAL ANALYSIS

After a serious on-again/off-again connectivity issue I finally have the last look at the critical compilation for the films of Cannes #76 from Reini Urabn.  Urban's collection of critical responses is massive.  You can find that here.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that Telluride normally programs an average of four films from the top 25 of Urban's compilation.  Additionally, the crossover between the fests overall is 7-8 films each year.

This year seven films that I have had my eye on as potential plays at TFF #50 finished in Reini's top 25:

2) The Zone of Interest (8.03) (2nd only to Killers of the Flower Moon)

5) Perfect Days (7.76)

8) Monster (7.57)

12) Fallen Leaves (7.41)

14) La Chimera (7.35)

17) May/December (7.28)

23) The Book of Solutions (7.14)

Other films that I've had on the TFF #50 watch list that finished below the top 25:

41) Occupied City (6.68)

55) Anselm (6.40)

66) The Old Oak (6.11)

93) Strange Way of Life (5.58)

97) The New boy (5.46)

And films that I haven't had my eye on but that Cannes put on my radar:

4) Anatomy of a Fall (7.79) (Palme d'Or winner)

11) Robot Dreams (7.43)

26) The Goldman Case (7.05)

27) How to Have Sex (7.03) (Un Certain Regard winner)

40) The Settlers 6.72

75) The Delinquents (5.96)

NEGLIA'S CANNES/TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia posted a list of a number of films that played at the 76th Cannes Film Festival over the past two weeks that he feels could be in play to be selected for the TFF #50 lineup.  from Matt's Twitter feed:

From Matt's list I would certainly concur re: La Chimera, May/December, Monster and The Zone of Interest.

I'd tend to agree based on the critical reception that Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and The Goldman case might be in play as well.  The others?  Maybe.

Other Cannes films that I think may be in play either from my pre-Cannes "feel" or because of their reception/buzz at Cannes include: Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days, Anselm, Strange Way of Life, The Book of Solutions, The Delinquents, The Settlers and maybe even the animated Robot Dreams.

As always, here is my plea to Paramount/Apple, Scorsese...who or whatever, to bring Killers of the Flower Moon to Telluride.

MIYAZAKI-NOT THIS TIME?

I had some thought that Hayao Miyazaki's How Do You Live? might make an appearance at Telluride.  He has had a significant presence at TFF over the years with Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and The Wind Rises all having screened at TFF.  However, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reported yesterday that any festival screening of the new film is unlikely writing, in part:

"A few months ago, I was told Cannes boss Thierry Frémaux tried as hard as he could to get Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live”  in competition, but it seems as though Miyazaki just doesn’t want to do film festivals at all. Not even Venice.

Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli are perfectly content in having their latest film screen to the Japanese public before the rest of the world, just as they have done with almost every other film of his." 

Though the reporting is not absolute on the issue, Rumiy later in the post writes that skipping Venice is a "high possibility".

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Cannes Winners / Cannes and the Critics / NEON and Perfect Days

CANNES WINNERS

The 76th Cannes Film Festival came to a close with its awards presentation on Saturday night.  Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall took the top prize, the Palme d'Or.  Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest took the Grand Prix, essentially the runner-up prize and Aki Kaurismaki's Fallen Leaves landed the Jury Prize, regarded as the third place prize.

Other awards went to:

Director: The Pot  au Feu/Tran Anh Hung

Screenplay: Monster/Sakamoto Fuji

Actress: About Dry Grasses/Merve Dizdar

Actor: Perfect Days/Koji Yakusho

Molly Manning Walker's How to Have Sex won the top award in the Un Certain Regards section.

You could make a relatively good case for most of the prize winners making the jump from Cannes to Telluride.  

All awards can be found here from Variety.

CANNES AND THE CRITICS

Here's where a number of the critics polls from Cannes landed for the Palme d'Or competition films at the end of the two weeks:

Screen Daily:

1) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.2

2) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.0

2) May December/Haynes 3.0

4) Perfect Days/Wneders 2.9

4) La Chimera/Rohrwacher 2.9

Glazer's The Zone of Interest was just outside of the top five.

The International Cinephile Society:

1) The Zone of Interest/Glazer 4.24

2) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.85

3) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.76

4) Last Summer/Breiliat 3.70

5) May December/Haynes 3.50

Ioncinema:

1) The Zone of Interest/Glazer 3.9

2) Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki 3.7

3) Anatomy of a Fall/Triet 3.5

3) La Chimera/Rohrwacher 3.5

5) The Old Oak/Loach 3.4

Once again, connection issues have prevented access to Reini Urban's massive Cannes crtics compilation.

NEON AND PERFECT DAYS

Wim Wenders Perfect Days was taken by distributor NEON toward the end of the Cannes fest.  The acquisition probably increases the chance that the film makes an appearance at Telluride in three months.

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