MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Gold Derby Best Picture Breakdown and TFF / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture Direction, International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Dec. 16th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Conclave  (2)

2) Anora (1)

3) Emilia Perez (5)

4) The Brutalist (4)

5) Wicked Part 1 (3)

6) Dune Part Two (6)

7) A Complete Unknown (8)

8) Sing Sing (9)

9) A Real Pain (7)

10) Nickel Boys (10)

Others: The Substance, September 5 and Gladiator II.

Comment: Conclave moves to the top spot for the first time.  Sensing some momentum.  Wicked's surge driven by its release and huge success seems to have paled a bit over the last two weeks.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (1)

2) Sean Baker/Anora (2)

3) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

4) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)

5) RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys (5)

Others: Jon M. Chu/Wicked, Coralie Fargeat/The Substance and Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez (1)

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2)

3) I'm Still Here (3)

4) The Girl with the Needle (4)

5) Vermiglio (-)

Others: Flow, Kneecap and Dahomey.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot (1)

2) Inside Out 2 (2)

3) Flow (3)

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (4)

5) Memoir of a Snail (5)

Others: Moana 2, Piece by Piece and Chicken for Linda

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1) Sugarcane (3)

2) No Other Land (1)

3) Daughters (2)

4) Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (-)

5) Dahomey (-)

Others: Will & Harper, Black Box Diaries and Union.

GOLD DERBY BEST PICTURE BREAKDOWN AND TFF

Oscar prediction website Gold Derby has a fairly lengthy piece focusing on assessing the strngths and weaknesses of what they perceive as the films with the best chances of landing a Best Picture nomination on Jan. 17th.  Their analysis was posted on Dec. 26th.  TFF films that are included in the article include:

Anora

Conclave

Emilia Perez

Nickel Boys

A Real Pain

September 5

Check our the entire rundown here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from The Playlist.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / The MTFB Nomination Totals

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 28th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. In addition I have added first predictions for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave

2) Emilia Perez

3) Sing Sing

4) Nickel Boys

5) Dune Part Two

Others: A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door and Inside Out 2.

BEST  ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora

2) A Real Pain

3) The Brutalist

4) September 5

5) The Substance

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Saturday Night.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1) Wicked

2) Dune Part Two

3) Gladiator II

4) Maria

5) Nosfaratu

Others: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Dune Part Two

2) The Substance

3) Wicked

4) Nosferatu

5) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

Others: A Different Man, Emilia Perez and A Complete Unknown.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two

2) Gladiator II

3) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

4) Wicked

5) Twisters

Others: Mufasa: The Lion King, Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga and Better Man.

THE MTFB NOMINATION TOTALS

And so for the first time in this 2024-25 Oscar race, MTFB has predictions for all 20 feature film categories.  Here's what MTFB is currently predicting for TFF #51 films in as far as Oscar nominations are concerned:

EMILIA PEREZ (11) Best Picture, International Feature,  Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (Mi Camino), Song (El Mal) and Sound.  The film could also end up with nominations for Selena Gomez for Supporting Actress, Cinematography and Production Design.

CONCLAVE (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score. Conclave could also possibly be nominated for Supporting Actor (Tucci), Cinematography and Production Design.

ANORA (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A REAL PAIN (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.  A Real Pain could also score a Best Actor nomination for Jesse Eisenberg.

MARIA (3): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.

SEPTEMBER 5 (2); Best Picture and Original Screenplay.  The film could aso snag nominations for Supporting Actor (Magaro) and Editing.

Single Nominees:

NICKEL BOYS: Best Adapted Screenplay.  Three other possible nominations: Direction, Cinematography and Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor).

PIECE BY PIECE: Best Song (Piece by Piece).  Also a possible additional nomination for Animated Feature.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG: Best International Feature.  "Seed" also could get nominated for Original Screenplay.

THE OUTRUN: Best Actress (Ronan).

THE PIANO LESSON: Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL: Best Animated Feature.

NO OTHER LAND: Best Documentary Feature.

Films that aren't currently predicted nominees but who could still get in:

WILL & HARPER: Best Documentary  Feature and Best Original Song (Harper and Will Go West).

SATURDAY NIGHT: Original Screenplay and Score.

THE APPRENTICE: Best Actor (Stan) and Best Supporting Actor (Strong).

BETTER MAN: Best Visual Effects.

In total, MTFB predicts 13 TFF #51 films earn 40 nominations including five for Best Picture.  In addition, 16 other possible nominations that could include an additional seven TFF #51 films. WOW!

I'll be updating Best Picture predictions on Monday.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting and More / Golden Globe Nominations and TFF / Critics and Awards Groups from This Past Weekend / The Playlist 100 Most Anticipated for 2025 / Interviews and Profiles

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Supporting Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward.  The categories I am adding today are: Original Score, Original Song And Sound. The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 25th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (2)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (3)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (4)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez, Saoirse Ronan/Blitz and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Yura Borisov/Anora (-)

Others: Edward Norton/A Complete Unknown, Stanley Tucci/Conclave. Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1) Conclave

2) The Brutalist

3) Emilia Perez

4) The Wild Robot

5) The Room Next Door

Others: Blitz, Challengers and Saturday Night.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1) Mi Camino/Emilia Perez

2) El Mal/Emilia Perez

3) Kiss the Sky/The Wild Robot

4) Piece by Piece/Piece by Piece

5) The Journey/The Six Triple Eight

Others: Winter Coat/Blitz, Beyond/Moana 2 and Harper and Will Go West/Will & Harper.

BEST SOUND

1) Dune Part Two

2) Wicked

3) Gladiator II

4) A Complete Unknown

5) Emilia Perez

Others: Blitz, Maria and The Brutalist.

GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS AND TFF

Here are the TFF films That were nominated for Golden Globes this morning:

Twelve TFF Films earned 35 Golden Globe nominations early theis morning.  Emilia Perez led all films with 10 nominations.  Here are the results from the announcement:

Emilia Perez (10): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Film Not in the English Language, Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana and Gomez), Screenplay, Song (El Mal and Mi Camino) and Score.

Conclave (6): Best Picture (Drama), Direction, Actor (Drama-Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Screenplay and Score.

Anora (5): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Direction, Actress (Musical or Comedy-Moore), Supporting Actor (Burisov), and Screenplay.

A Real Pain (4): Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), Actor (Musical or Comedy-Eisenberg), Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Screenplay.

All We Imagine as Light (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Direction.

The Apprentice (2): Best Actor (Drama-Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

September 5 (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Nickel Boys (1): Best Picture (Drama).

Memoir of a Snail (1): Best Animated Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Film Not in the English Language.

Saturday Night (1): Best Actor (Musical or Comedy-LaBelle).

Maria (1): Best actress (Drama-Jolie).

The Golden Globes winners will be announced on January 5th, 2025.

The complete list of all Golden Globes nominees is linked here from Variety.

CRITICS AND AWARDS GROUPS FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND

***THE LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS AND TFF

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named their "Best Of" yesterday.  Here's how films that played at TFF fared:

Best Picture: Anora

Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof/The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Lead Performance: Mikey Madison/Anora

Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov/Anora and Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain.

Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.  Runner-up: Sean Baker/Anora

Cinematography: Nickel Boys.

Editing: Nickel Boys and September 5 (tied).

Best Film Not in the English Language: All We Imagine as Light.  Runner-up: The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Best Documentary: No Other land.

A full list of the LAFCA results is linked here from their website.

***EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS AND TFF

Jacques Audiard's Emilia Perez dominated the European Film Awards which announced their recipients on Dec. 7th.

Emilai Perez won Best European Film, Direction for Audiard and Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascon.  Audiard was also awarded Best Screenwriter.  Additionally the film won Best Editing.  The other TFF winner was No Other Land as Best European Documentary.

***BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS AND TFF

The British Independent Film Association announced its winners on Sunday evening.  TFF films winning are as follows:

Best Screenplay: Santosh.

Best Supporting Performance: Frank Rogowski/Bird.

Breakthrough Producer: Santosh.

Best Independent Foreign Film: Anora.

The complete list of all winners is linked here from the BIFA website.

THE PLAYLIST 100 MOST ANTICIPATED FOR 2025

Each year about this time The Playlist publishes a list of 100 films that they're most interested in for the following year.  The 2025 list was posted last week.  Also each year I spend some time culling the list for what feel like possible titles for TFF.  Normally I come up with a list of around 20 titles and on average 5-6 of those actually make it into The SHOW.  Last year was actually a low point for me as only four of the films I highlighted actually made it to Telluride: The End, Anora, Bird and Maria.  Nevertheless, here's my best shot at what might be in TFF #52 from this list of 100 films:

#85) Echo Valley

#73 The Actor (again)

#65) The Roses

#56) The Way of gthe Wind (again)

#52) The History of Sound

#50) Pressure

#47) Splitsville

#43) Deliver Me from Nowhere

#42) The Ballad of a Small Player

#37) Hamnet

#28) Anemone

#14) The Phoenician Scheme

#13) Untitled Noah Baunbach (Jay Kelly?)

#8) Frankenstein

#5) Untitled Alejandro Inarritu (Judy?)

#4) Bugonia

#2) Die My Love

Personally, I'm most excited for Anemone (Daniel Day Lewis unretires), Hamnet (Chole Zhao and Shakespeare) and Del Toro's Frankenstein.

The complete list of 100 films, plus some honorable mentions, is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Errol Morris for Separated from Gold Derby.

Michael Shannon for The End from Vanity Fair.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from AP News.

Behind the Scenes: the Makking of The Seed of the Sacred Fig from NEON.

Dylan O'Brien (Dan Akroyd) for Saturday Night from Gold Derby.

Matt Wood (John Belushi) for Saturday Night from Awards Radar.

Mark Eydelshteyn for Anora from The Contending.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from Gold Derby.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Playlist.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Best Picture and More / Trailer for September 5 / Interviews and Profiles: Gomez, Gascon and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: BEST PICTURE AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Best Picture and Direction for the 97th Academy Awards as well as first time predictions for International, Animated and Documentary Features.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 18th.  A film's or director's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold. 

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora (1)

2) Conclave (2)

3) The Brutalist (4)

4) Emilia Perez (3)

5) Dune Part Two (5)

6) Wicked (6)

7) A Real Pain (9)

8) September 5 (-)

9) Gladiator II (7)

10) Sing Sing (8)

Others: A Complete Unknown, Blitz and The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Sean Baker/Anora (1)

2) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist (2)

3) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez (4)

4) Edward Berger/Conclave (3)

5) Ridley Scott/Gladiator II (-)

Others: Denis Villenueve/Dune Part Two, RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys and James Mangold/A Complete Unknown.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1) The Wild Robot

2) Inside Out 2

3) Memoir of a Snail

4) Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

5) Flow

Others: Piece by Piece, Moana 2 and Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim.

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1) Emilia Perez

2) The Seed of the Sacred Fig

3) I'm Still Here

4) The Girl with a Needle

5) Armand

Others: Vermiglio, Dahomaey and Kneecap.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) No Other Land

2) Daughters

3) Sugarcane

4) Black Box Diaries

5) Dahomey

Others: Will and Harper, Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat and Union.

TRAILER FOR SEPTEMBER 5

September 5 was one of my favorite films at TFF #51.  It opens in limited release on Dec. 13th followed by expanded release on Jan. 17th.  We now have a trailer for the film and here it is via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Edward Berger for Conclave from Collider.

Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez from Pop Culture Confidential.

Selena Gomez for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from IndieWire.

Sean Baker for Anora from Pop Culture Confidential.e

ce

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MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays / Looking Forward / Interviews and Profiles: Angelina Jolie, Pharrell Williams, John Lithgow and More

Happy Thanksgiving one and all! 

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 14th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave (1)

2) Emilia Perez (2)

3) Sing Sing (3)

4) Dune Part Two 9-)

5) Nickel Boys (4)

Others: The Room Next Door, A Complete Unknown and The Piano Lesson.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora (1)

2) The Brutalist (2)

3) A Real Pain (3)

4) September 5 (4)

5) Saturday Night (5)

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and The Substance.

Beginning with next Monday's post I'll begin expanding the prediction coverage to the include the other 12 Oscar feature film categories.

LOOKING FORWARD

World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy has compiled a list of 90+ "Most Anticipated films of 2025.  That's fum because I can look at it and cherry pick films that might be Telluride selections (or at least wishful thinking on my part).  It gives a starting place for TFF #52 speculation.  Of course I have no notion at this point when or even if these films will be released in a manner that compliments a T-ride play.  Nevertheless, no guts, no glory.  Here are some films from Ruimy's list that maybe make Telluride (with the director listed as well).

Die My Love/Ramsay

Judy/Inarritu

The Phoenician Scheme/W. Anderson

Bugonia/Lanthimos

The Mastermind/Reichhardt

Frankenstein/Del Toro

The Way of the Wind/Malick

Jay Kelly/Baumbach

Jupiter/Zvyaginstev

Marty Supreme/J. Safdie

The Smashing Machine/B. Safdie

After the Hunt/Guadagnino

Hamnet/Zhao

The Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

Deliver Me from Nowhere/Cooper

In the Hands of Dante/Schnabel

Orphan/Nemes

Butterfly Jam/Balagov

Non Compos Mentis/Schrader

On Land and Sea/Palmason

The Magnificent Life of Sylvain Pagnol/Chomet

The Wave/Lelio

The complete list of Ruimy's Most Anticipated is linked here.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Edward Berger and Others for Conclave from Academy Conversations via YouTube.

John Lithgow for Conclave from Awards Radar.

Angelina Jolie and Pablo Larrain for Maria from IndieWire.

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig from Slant Magazine.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Variety.

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The Composite Telluride / September 5 Goes to Paramount / Official Trailer for Will and Harper

 THE COMPOSITE TELLURIDE

Here's my annual final step of computation that has become an MTFB tradition.  It's The Composite Telluride ratings in which I add the average from The People and The Professionals to provide one more glimpse of how The SHOW's films were perceived.   

To begin, here's the history of The Composite Telluride with the film's combined rating at the right followed by its position on each of the two lists in brackets.

1) Anora 8.97 [3-1]

2) Emilia Perez 8.38 [5-3]

3) September 5 8.28 [7-2]

4) Conclave 8.17 [4-5]

5) Saturday Night 7.88 [9-4]

6) Maria 7.11 [11-9]

7) Nickel Boys 7.03 [16-6]

8) Piece by Piece 7.00 [14-7]

9) The Friend 6.76 [12-10]

10) The Piano Lesson 6.75 [15-8]

11) The End 5.17 [18-11]

Anora replaces The Power of the Dog on the All Time Top Ten Composite Ratings list.  That looks like this now:

1) (TIE) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 (Won Best Picture)

1) (TIE) Argo (9.25) 2012 (Won Best Picture)

3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)

4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)

5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)

6) Parasite (9.11) 2019 (Won Best Picture)

7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012

8) Poor Things (9.04) 2023

9) (TIE) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013

9) (TIE) Anora (8.97) 2024

SEPTEMBER 5 GOES TO PARAMOUNT

Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter reports that September 5 will be distributed by Paramount.  The film will have a [platformed release beginning Nov. 27th and then expanding into other theaters in December.

Feinberg writes in his article:

"Interest among distributors reached a crescendo after the film premiered at — and blew the roof off of — the recent Venice and Telluride film festivals, generating comparisons to past best picture Oscar winners Argo and Spotlight." 

September 5 landed with a solid 4.20 rating in MTFB's People's Poll and a 4.08 from the Professionals ending up as a surprise #2 from them.  As you can see above the film had a composite rating of 8.28 that put it at #3 on the composite chart ahead of such possible Oscar contenders such as Conclave, Saturday Night, Nickel Boys and The Piano Lesson.

Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter.

OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR WILL AND HARPER

From YouTube:

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Ten (Plus) Bets #9 for TFF #51 / NYFF Spotlight Announcement / Some Other Possible Guests / New Poster for Saturday Night / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #9 FOR TFF #51

Well, with what purports to be the last set of announced films for Toronto on Tuesday and the release of the Venice screening schedule on Monday, we have some shifting occurring in this week's Ten (Plus) Bets for TFF #51.

Here was last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Dahomey/Diop

12) Grand Tour/Gomes

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) The Apprentice/Abassi

18) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

19) Maria/Larrain

20) Saturday Night/Reitman

Other possibilities:

Separated/Morris

Oh, Canada/Schrader

Flow/Zibalodis

Santosh/Suri

Megalopolis/Coppola

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The Outrun/Fingscheidt and/or Blitz/McQueen

This week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Separated/Morris

12) Better Man/Gracey

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) Maria/Larrain

18) Bird/Arnold

19) Disclaimer/Cuaron

20) Santosh/Suri

Other possibilities:

The Outrun/Fingsheidt

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

The Apprentice/Abassi

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

NYFF SPOTLIGHT ANNOUNCMENT

The New York Film Festival announced the rest of the films playing in its Spotlight section yesterday and that offered up minimal clues regarding the TFF #51 lineup.  It does appear the one more Venice selection will also play Telluride as NYFF labeled the documentary Apocalypse in the Tropics (dir: Petra Costa) without a premiere status.  The film is slated to screen in Venice on Sept. 29th which would give it time to make it to T-ride.  The IMDb description says the film...

"Focuses on how the evangelical movement paved the way for the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro and poses the threat of a national theocracy."

Sound familiar?

Otherwise three other films we thought were playing TFF #51 seem to be confirmed by their lack of premiere status: Maria, Emilia Perez and The Friend.

Here's the announcement from NYFF.

SOME OTHER POSSIBLE GUESTS

Back on Aug. 5th I wrote a bit about what folks might turn up at TFF#51 as guests based on some of the films that looked like they could or would play as a part of the fest.

Today I'm adding a few more possibilities:

Better Man: Robbie Williams

Disclaimer: Alfonso Cuaron, Cate Blanchett, Sasha Baron Cohen, Kevin Kline

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; Embeth Davitz

NEW POSTER FOR SATURDAY NIGHT

We have the release on Tuesday of a second poster for Jason Reitman's Saturday Night.  Here it is:

I'm pretty sure this is playing at TFF but I did see some references to a "world" premiere occurring in Toronto from some film media outlets on Tuesday.  TIFF continues to list it as a Canadian Premiere which is reassuring regarding its Telluride status.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th year MTFB is soliciting your input for The People's Telluride.  All you have to do is watch films during the fest and then, when it's all over, report to me your assessment of each film on a 1-5 scale with 1 being "UGH!" and 5 being "GREAT".

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

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Clarity from New York and Toronto / Ten (Plus) Bets #8 for TFF #51 / Vanity Fair Looks at Saturday Night

CLARITY FROM NEW YORK AND TORONTO

Announcements on Tuesday from both the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival helped to sharpen the focus on what films are likely to be screening as a part of the 51st edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

New York Fest reveals seemed to confirm earlier extrapolations that the following will play TFF #51:

All We Imagine as Light

Anora

Misrecordia

Nickel Boys 

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

In addition NYFF premiere designations signal that the following are also likely for TFF #51:

Dahomey

Grand Tour

No Other Land

Meanwhile, Toronto Centerpiece announcements tend to confirm The Seed of the Sacred Fig in addition to the inclusion of  Flow and Santosh as TFF #51 films.

Additionally, the fate of Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada is once again, up in the air, as NYFF lists it with no premiere designation as opposed to a U.S. Premiere designation which would normally signal a Telluride play. Meanwhile Toronto's lineup lists it as a North American Premiere.  Both things can't be true.  I'm thinking Oh, Canada might be in TFF #51 after all.

With three weeks left we expect to hear more from both of these fests as well as nod or two from London.

The full TIFF Centerpiece announcement.

The New York Film Fest Main Slate

TEN (PLUS) BETS #8 FOR TFF #51

Woooo...we ARE getting down to it for 2024!

Here's your now weekly prediction about what will be screening at the 51st Telluride Film Festival.  First a look at last week's predicted field:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Five Bets:

11) The Apprentice/Abassi

12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

13) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

Other possibilities:

Maria/Larrain

Megalopolis/Coppola

Separated/Morris

Saturday Night/Reitman

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

The Actor/Johnson

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

And with three weeks remaining, here is this week's Ten+ Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Dahomey/Diop

12) Grand Tour/Gomes

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) The Apprentice/Abassi

18) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

19) Maria/Larrain

20) Saturday Night/Reitman

Other possibilities:

Separated/Morris

Oh, Canada/Schrader

Flow/Zibalodis

Santosh/Suri

Megalopolis/Coppola

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The Outrun/Fingscheidt and/or Blitz/McQueen

VANITY FAIR LOOKS AT SATURDAY NIGHT

Vanity Fair's Anthony Breznican has written a big piece about Jason Reitman's Saturday Night.  That went up yesterday and includes a bunch of photos from the set.  The film is set to open on Oct. 11th.  

There have been rumors for awhile that it would screen at Telluride but there hasn't been any real evidence that that's true.  I could see it bypassing TFF and playing Toronto and/or New York.  On the other had, Reitman has so frequently been to Telluride that I have to believe that there's a better than fair chance that it DOES play TFF #51.  

The other film that falls into that category of uncertainty is Ali Abassi's The Apprentice.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they both make it to the San Juans.

Here's the link to the Vanity Fair article as well as a couple of stills from the article.

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Hints and Allegations / Who Could Be at TFF #51? / Looks at Possible Double Plays

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

I had a couple of readers send me information about possible confirmations/inclusions about films and/or attendees this past week.  

Back on July 23rd I posted an MTFB special about announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York.  One of the films I especially noted was Andrea Arnold's Bird as it was labeled as a North American Premiere on the TIFF official website but had been posted here on X as a Canadian Premiere.  However, MTFB reader Bobby Harris contacted me to reveal that TIFF's entry for Bird on the website has been changed to Canadian:

So, for me, that's going to mean that I'm putting Bird back on the Ten Bets/Possible list when it gets updated on Thursday.

Additionally, I had another reader reach out to convey intell about three possible attendees for TFF.  I'm going to be a little cagey here as to who/where the info came from as well as explicitly naming names-at least for now.  I will say that a couple of the names would confirm that Anora and Emilia Perez will play Telluride.  The third person's presence would indicate one or possibly two films neither of which are currently among the "Bets" or "Possibles".

WHO COULD BE AT TFF#51?

For fun, let's assume I'm right about almost everything playing at TFF #51; what star wattage could we see in town, on panels, doing Q&A's?

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

Conclave: Edward Berger, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini

Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Adriana Paz

The End: Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay

The Piano Lesson: Malcolm Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Dedwyler, John David Washington, Denzel Washington

Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjunue Ellis-Taylor

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

The Friend: Scott McGeehee, David Siegel, Carla Gugino, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

Saturday Night: Jason Reitman, Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Nicolas Braun, Jon Batiste

Megalopolis: Francis Ford Coppola, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza. Dustin Hoffman

Parthenope: Paolo Sorrentino, Gary Oldman

Hand of Dante: Julian Schnabel, Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese

The Actor: Duke Johnson, Andre Holland

Harvest: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Caleb Landry Jones, Henry Melling

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

LOOKS AT POSSIBLE DOUBLE PLAYS

Inspired by a "first look" post from World of Reel, here are some promo shots of films that will possibly screen at Telluride as well as Toronto or Venice: No guarantees that all of these make it to T-ride.

All We Imagine as Light:

Allegorie Citadine:

Bird:

Conclave:

Emilia Perez:

The End:

Maria:

Misrecordia:

The Piano Lesson:

Piece by Piece:

Separated:

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