Long Live Buck Henry 1930-2020 / SPECIAL NOTE: FINAL OSCAR PREDIX ON SUNDAY!!! / Guilds: Writers, Directors, Producers and BAFTA / Oscar Predictions Updated: Costumes. Makeup and Hair, and Production Design / MTFB in Other Places / First Cow Trailer

LONG LIVE BUCK HENRY 1930-2020

Got the news late last night that the legendary Buck Henry had died of a heart attack at the age of 89.  Henry had an extensive relationship with the Telluride Film Festival going all the way back to appearing as a guest of the fest at TFF #2 in 1975 according to the best info I can come up with.  Henry also Guest Directed in 2004 and was part of the multiple Guest Director group for TFF 's 40th Anniversary in 2013.  My records also indicate that Henry was at the fest in 2007 as well.

Henry was probably best known as the co-writer of Mike Nichols classic The Graduate, a film that would be on Top Ten list of all-timers.  Henry was a two time Oscar nominee.  The first came for the screenplay of The Graduate the other came as co-director of Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty.

He also wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Catch-22, The Owl and the Pussycat, What's Up Doc?, The Day of the Dolphin and To Die For.  He was also the co-creator, along with Mel Brooks, of the 1960's comedy Get Smart.

Henry was also an early and often host for Saturday Night Live having reportedly hosted 10 times.

I got to meet Henry in 2013 in Telluride and express my thanks for his incredible career of providing thought provoking entertainment and a bunch of laughter.  That's the photo you see above.

Maybe the best thing that's happened at TFF over the years that I've been going has been opportunities like that- a chance to thank people for what they've meant in your life that you're never going to see at any other moment.  I don't do it often because I don't want to annoy- but my admiration for Buck was such that I knew that I'd kick myself if I didn't just tell the man "Thank you".

And thanks again Buck!



SPECIAL NOTE: FINAL OSCAR PREDIX ON SUNDAY!!!

I'll have the MTFB Final Oscar nomination predictions for this year posted at 6pm EST on Sunday, Jan. 12th

As of this morning, using the latest projections I have for each of the 21 feature categories- which will be updated for Sunday and will mean that there will be changes between now and then- here are the predicted nominee leaders:

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood-12 (and the only film in double digits)
The Irishman-9
1917-8
Marriage Story-8
Joker-7
Parasite-6
Ford v Ferrari-5
The Two Popes-4
Bombshell-4
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker-4
Rocketman-4
Jojo Rabbit-3

All others 2 or fewer.

Other TFF #46 films:
Pain and Glory-2
Judy-2
Beanpole-1

Total TFF #46 nominations predicted- 28-but that will also likely change with Sunday's final predictions.






GUILDS: WRITERS, DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS AND BAFTA

Since my last post we've seen a ton of precursors name names for 2019 giving us new information to parse about Oscar nomination possibilities.  Let's run that down from the perspective of TFF #46 films.

WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA (WGA) NOMINEES

The Writers Guild announced their nominations for screen writing on Monday>  TFF #46 films which were nominated were: Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story and Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won's Parasite in the Original Screenplay category.  No TFF #46 films were named as nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Other Original Script nominees were for: 1917, Booksmart and Knives Out.  Adapted script nominees included: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker and Little Women.


DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA (DGA) NOMINEES

Parasite's Bong Joon-ho was the only TFF #46 director named by the DGA for their Director of the Year prize.  Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story, James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari, and Fernando Meirelles/The Two Popes all failed to be nominated.

The other four DGA nominees are Sam Mendes/1917, Martin Scorsese/The Irishman, Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit.


PRODUCERS GUILD OF AMERICA (PGA) NOMINEES

The ten films named as potential winners of the PGA Award for Best Picture included three TFF #46 films: Ford v. Ferrari, Marriage Story and Parasite.

The other seven PGA nominees are: 1917, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Knives Out, Little Women and Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.

Sasha Stone, founder of Awards Daily says that this tells that these results mean that the 2019 Best Picture Oscar winner is on this list of five films: 1917, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and Parasite.

That means that Bong Joon-ho's Parasite now stands as the best bet for re-starting Telluride's trend for having screened the Best Picture winner is Parasite.


BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS (BAFTA)

The British version of The Oscars named their nominees on Tuesday and TFF #46 films snagged 23 nominations.  Here are the Telluride films that were nominated:

Marriage Story had five: Scarlett Johansson/Best Actress, Adam Driver/Best Actor, Laura Dern/Best Supporting Actress, Noah Baumbach/Best Original Screenplay and Best Casting.

The Two Popes had five: Best British Film, Jonathan Pryce/Best Actor, Anthony Hopkins/Best Supporting Actor, Anthony McCarten/Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Casting.

Parasite had four: Best Film, Bong Joon-ho/Best Director, Bong and Jin Han Won/Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Not in the English Language.

Le Mans 66 (that's Ford v Ferrari to you and me) had three: Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

Judy had three: Renee Zellweger/Best Actress, Best Costumes and Best Makeup/Hair.

Single nominations came for:

Pain and Glory: Best Film Not in the English Language.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Best Film Not in the English Language.
Diego Maradona: Best Documentary.

Joker lead all films with 11 nominations followed closely by Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood and The Irishman with 10 nominations apiece.




OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATED

Here's my latest calls on the probable Oscar nominees in the categories of Costumes, Makeup and Hair and Production Design.  TFF #46 films are indicated in Bold.

COSTUMES (Last predicted on Dec. 19th)

1) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
2) Little Women (3)
3) Dolemite Is My Name (2)
4) Downton Abbey (5)
5) Rocketman (4)
6) 1917 (-)

Other possibles:Harriet, The Irishman, Judy, Jojo Rabbit


MAKEUP/HAIR (last updated Dec. 19th)

1) Bombshell (1)
2) Judy (4)
3) Rocketman (3)
4) Joker (2)
5) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (5)
6) 1917 (-)

Other possibles: Dolemite Is My Name, Downton Abbey, Little Women, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil


PRODUCTION DESIGN (last updated Dec. 12th)

1) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (1)
2) 1917 (2)
3) The Irishman (3)
4) Parasite (6)
5) Joker (5)
6) Jojo Rabbit (-)

Other possibles: Little Women, The Two Popes,  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Ad Astra


MTFB IN OTHER PLACES



The latest Gurus of Gold is up at Movie City News.  It's got the latest Oscar predix for Best Picture as well as a specialty poll.  We were asked to give 3-5 "Unlikely Underdogs" a shout out.  Among mine were an endorsement for Tracy Letts as as Best Supporting Actor for Ford v Ferrari and, in the same category, Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems.

Take a look at the rest of the Gurus at this link.

Meanwhile, I also have a post up over at The Script Lab.  I wrote about the screenplays both adapted and original that are the most likely to be nominated next Monday morning.  I name a dozen for each category and include a small rundown about the film/screenplay/writers as well as providing my latest ranking of which scripts will be nominated.

Take a look at that post linked here.


FIRST COW TRAILER

According to the fine folks at Indiewire, Kelly Reichardt's TFF #46 player, First Cow has a trailer.  Here it is linked from YouTube:

First Cow is set for release on Mar. 6th.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar Predictions: Best International Feature / Oscar Predictions Update: Actress and Actor / EFA Nominations Announced / Interviews From Marriage Story

OSCAR PREDICTIONS: BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Here's my first crack at parsing the likely nominees for the newly renamed Best International Feature category for the Academy Awards.  As always films from TFF are in Bold.

1) Parasite

2) Pain and Glory

3) Les Miserables

4) Atlantics

5) Monos

Other Possibles: And Then We Danced, Beanpole, The Painted Bird.

Notes: Honestly, the perception right now is that Parasite is so solid as the front runner for this Oscar that it seems a foregone conclusion that it will not only be nominated but will also win and that the rest of the field is playing for the proverbial "just honored to be nominated" status.  But then, remember Toni Erdmann...

OSCAR PREDICTIONS UPDATE: BEST ACTRESS AND ACTOR

Here's my latest updated predictions for Best Actress and Actor nominations.  I last updated the Best Actress prediction on Oct. 14th and Best Actor on Oct. 17th.

The latest predictions are listed in order of likelihood with their past position indicated in parentheses.  as is my custom, TFF #46 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Renee Zellweger/Judy (1)
2) Charlize Theron/Bombshell (-)
3) Scarlett Johansson/Marriage Story (2)
4) Saorise Ronan/Little Women (-)
5) Cynthia Ervio/Harriet (3)

Other possibles: Awkwafina/The Farewell, Lupita Nyong'o/Us, Alfre Woodard/Clemency.

Notes: Theron coming on like a freight train as some folks have actually seen Bombshell.  Zellweger still has a solid grasp on the top spot.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adam Driver/Marriage Story (1)
2) Joaquin Phoenix/Joker (2)
3) Jonathan Pryce/The Two Popes (3)
4) Leonardo DiCaprio/Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (4)
5) Eddie Murphy/Dolemite Is My Name (-)

Other possibles: Antonio Banderas/Pain and Glory, Robert DeNiro/The Irishman, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems.

Notes: The category is relatively stable over the last three weeks.  Murphy sneaks in over Banderas and DeNiro...at least for now.

EFA NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

The European Film Academy announced the nominees for their awards for superlatives in European films for the past year and they included films from both TFF #46 and TFF #45.

TFF nominees included:

Pain and Glory nominated for Best European Film, Antonio Banderas/Best Actor, Pedro Almodovar/Best Director, Pedro Almodovar/Best Screenwriter.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Celine Sciamma/Best Director, Noemie Merlant and Adele Haenel/Best Actress, Celine Sciamma/Best Screenwriter

Beanpole: Viktoria Miroshnichenko/Best Actress

The Favourite (from TFF #45) Best European Film, Olivia Colman/Best Actress, Yorgos Lanthimos/Best Director

The complete list of nominees except for animated films is linked here from Deadline.

INTERVIEWS FROM MARRIAGE STORY

As Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story got its limited theatrical release this week and with its streaming release less than a month away (Dec. 6th) we are seeing more and more about the film including interviews with its principals.

Anne Thompson of Indiewire talks to Noah Baumbach

Baz Bamigboye of The Daily Mail talks to Adam Driver

Erik Anderson of Awards Watch talks to Alan Alda


That's Monday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar History and TFF Part Eight / More from Renee Zellweger / Portrait Is Not France's Choice / Motherless Opens Rome

OSCAR HISTORY AND TFF PART EIGHT

Here's the concluding installment of my review of the history of Oscar nominations for films that played as a part of the Telluride Film Festival from its 1974 inception to last year's Oscar ceremony.  Today's installment covers the years from 2015 to the present.  Numbers in parentheses following each year are total number of nominations from TFF films for that year followed by the number of Oscars won by TFF films.


2015 (23/4)

Spotlight- Picture-WON, Original Screenplay-WON, Director- Tom McCarthy, Supporting Actress- Rachel McAdams, Supporting Actor-Mark Ruffalo, Film Editing

Son of Saul-Foreign Language-WON

Room- Actress-Brie Larson-WON, Picture, Director-Lenny Abrahamson, Adapted Screenplay

Carol- Actress-Cate Blanchett, Supporting Actress-Rooney Mara, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, Costume

Steve Jobs- Actor-Michael Fassbender, Supporting Actress-Kate Winslet

45 Years- Actress-Charlotte Rampling

Anomalisa- Animated

Winter on Fire- Documentary

The Look of Silence- Documentary


2016 (35/12)

Moonlight-Picture-WON, Supporting Actor-Mahershala Ali-WON, Adapted Screenplay-WON, Supporting Actress-Naomie Harris, Director-Barry Jenkins, Score, Cinematography, Film Editing

La La Land- Actress-Emma Stone-WON, Director-Damien Chazelle-WON, Score-WON, Original Song-WON, Production Design-WON, Cinematography-WON, Picture, Actor-Ryan Gosling, Original Song, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Costume, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

Manchester by the Sea- Actor-Casey Affleck-WON, Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Kenneth Lonergan, Supporting Actor-Lucas Hedges, Supporting Actress-Michelle Williams

Arrival- Sound Editing-WON, Picture, Director-Denis Villenueve, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Sound Mixing

Toni Erdmann-Foreign Language

Fire at Sea-Documentary

Sully-Sound Editing


2017 (29/6)

The Shape of Water- Picture-WON, Director-Guillermo Del Toro-WON, Score-WON, Production Design-WON, Actress-Sally Hawkins, Supporting Actor-Richard Jenkins, Supporting Actress-Octavia Spencer, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costume, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing

Darkest Hour- Actor-Gary Oldman-WON, Makeup-WON, Picture, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume

Lady Bird- Picture, Director-Greta Gerwig, Actress-Saoirse Ronan, Supporting Actress-Laurie Metcalf, Original Screenplay

A Fantastic Woman-Foreign Language

The Insult-Foreign Language

Loveless-Foreign Language

Loving Vincent-Animated

Faces Places-Documentary


2018 (33/6)

Roma- Director-Alfonso Cuaron-WON, Foreign Language-WON, Cinematography-WON, Picture, Actress-Yalitza Aparicio, Supporting Actress-Marina de Tavira, Original Screenplay, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

The Favourite- Actress-Olivia Colman-WON, Picture, Director-Yorgos Lanthimos, Supporting Actress-Emma Stone, Supporting Actress-Rachel Weisz, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costume

First Man-Visual Effects-WON, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing

Free Solo- Documentary-WON

Can You Ever Forgive Me?- Actress-Melissa McCarthy, Supporting Actor-Richard E. Grant, Adapted Screenplay

Cold War- Director- Pawel Pawlikowski, Foreign Language, Cinematography

Shoplifters- Foreign Language

Border- Makeup



What will  we add for 2019?



MORE FROM RENEE ZELLWEGER

Rupert Goold's Judy opened this past weekend to middling reviews except in the case of Renee Zellweger's performance in the role of the icon Judy Garland.  Since its bow in Telluride, Zellweger has become the established front runner (along with Marriage Story's Scarlett Johannson) to earn a Best Actress Oscar nomination and win the gold man in early February.

Zellweger continued to be highlighted through the end of the past week with profiles and interviews in a number of outlets.  I linked several of those last Wednesday/Thursday and am adding a couple of more of them today:

From Variety

Indiewire



PORTRAIT IS NOT FRANCE'S CHOICE

France announced its choice of film for consideration for the Best International Feature (formerly the Foreign Language Film category) for this year's Oscars and it was not Celine Sciamma's TFF featured Portrait of a Lady on Fire.  In what was thought to be a very tough decision, the French instead chose Ladj Ly's Les Miserable.  Alice Wincour's Proxima was also said to have received serious consideration.

Portrait was the recipient of the Best Screenplay award at Cannes whereas Les Miserables was a Jury Prize winner for that fest.

Complete details of the decision are covered in this story by Zack Sharf linked from Indiewire.


MOTHERLESS OPENS ROME

We also found out over the weekend that Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn has been chosen to open the Rome Film Festival.  That fest takes off on Oct. 17th.

The complete Rome Film Fest lineup is set to be revealed on Friday.

I have included this link to the announcement for Motherless Brooklyn from The Hollywood Reporter.



That's today's MTFB.  More on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Oscar History and TFF Part Six / New Trailer for The Aeronauts / The Best of the Fests

OSCAR AND TFF HISTORY PART SIX 2005-2009

This is the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974.

So today we move to 2005-2009.  The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.

2005 (19/5)


Brokeback Mountain- Director-Ang Lee-WON, Adapted Screenplay-WON, Score-WON, Picture, Actor-Heath Ledger, Supporting Actor-Jake Gyllenhaal, Supporting Actress-Michelle Williams, Cinematography

Capote- Actor-Philip Seymour Hoffman-WON, Picture, Director-Bennett Miller, Supporting Actress-Catherine Keener, Adapted Screenplay

Walk the Line- Actress-Reese Witherspoon-WON, Actor-Joaquin Phoenix, Film Editing, Costume, Sound

Paradise Now- Foreign Language


2006 (14/2)


Babel- Score-WON, Picture, Director-Alejandro Inarritu, Supporting Actress- Rinko Kikuchi, Supporting Actress-Adriana Barraza, Original Screenplay, Film Editing

The Last King of Scotland-Actor-Forest Whitaker-WON

The Lives of Others-Foreign Language-WON

Little Children- Actress-Kate Winslet, Supporting Actor-Jackie Earle Haley, Adapted Screenplay

Volver- Actress-Penelope Cruz

Venus- Actor-Peter O'Toole


2007 (14/2 or ***22/4)


Juno- Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jason Reitman, Actress-Ellen Page

The Counterfeiters- Foreign Language-WON

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Director-Julian Schnabel, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography

Into the Wild- Supporting Actor-Hal Holbrook, Film Editing

I'm Not There- Supporting Actress-Cate Blanchett

Persepolis- Animated

Encounters at the End of the World- Documentary

***and if you count it***
There Will Be Blood- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON, Cinematography-WON, Picture, Director-Paul Thomas Anderson, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Art Direction, Sound Editing


2008 (13/8 or ***26/11)


Slumdog Millionaire- Picture-WON,  Director-Danny Boyle-WON, Adapted Screenplay-WON, Film Editing-WON, Cinematography-WON, Score-WON, Song-WON, Sound Mixing-WON, Sound Editing, Song

Waltz with Bashir-Foreign Language

Revanche- Foreign Language

Happy-Go-Lucky-Original Screenplay

***and if you count it***
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Art Direction-WON, Visual Effects-WON, Makeup-WON, Picture, Actor-Brad Pitt, Supporting Actress-Taraji P. Henson, Director-David Fincher, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costume, Score, Sound Mixing


2009 (16)


Up in the Air- Picture, Actor-George Clooney, Supporting Actress-Vera Farmiga, Supporting Actress-Anna Kendrick, Director-Jason Reitman, Adapted Screenplay

An Education- Picture, Actress-Carey Mulligan, Adapted Screenplay

The Last Station- Actress- Helen Mirren, Supporting Actor-Christopher Plummer

The White Ribbon- Foreign Language, Cinematography

A Prophet-Foreign Language

Bright Star-Costume

Coco Before Chanel-Costume

NEW TRAILER FOR THE AERONAUTS

Tom Harper's The Aeronauts has a new trailer for its U.K. audiences.  The film is set to open there on Nov. 6th, a full month before its opening in the United States.

The Aeronauts stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

THE BEST OF THE FESTS...

The Film Stage, much like a number of other outlets, has put together a list of films they regard as the best that emerged over the runs of the Telluride, Venice and Toronto festivals.

In their estimation that list included the following films from TFF #46:

Marriage Story

Uncut Gems 

Waves.

The article also includes letter grades for a number of other films that played across the three fests including:

Portrait of a Lady on Fire- A

A Hidden Life A-

Pain and Glory A-

Parasite A-

Varda by Agnes A-

The Climb B+

Diego Maradona B+

Family Romance LLC B+

Ford v. Ferrari B+

The Report B

Motherless Brooklyn C-

The complete listing from The Film Stage is linked here.

In addition to that article, Indiewire posted its own unique look at other aspects of the films that have been part of the film fest triumvirate with this article that focuses on their take of the best craft work in those films.  Among the films and tech work cited are these from TFF #46:

Parasite: Production Design

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: Cinematography

Marriage Story: Film Editing

Uncut Gems: Sound Mixing

Ford v. Ferrari: General

Take a look at the complete article here.

That's today's MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday including a look at my first Oscar predictions for directing and the supporting acting categories.

 EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Peoples Telluride / The TFF Oscar History Project Part Three / First Official Trailer: Portrait of a Lady on Fire / Thanks

Welcome to Thursday, Sept. 12, 2019...


THE PEOPLES TELLURIDE

After ten days and some 70 responses, The People's Telluride for TFF #46 is complete.  Those responding were asked to rate the films they saw on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being "not so good" and 5 being"OMG! This film is fantastic!"

Before the big reveal, here's some Peoples Telluride history...

The first Peoples 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)

And from last year:

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)


The Peoples collective yen best films since I began the poll in 2012 have been:

1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14)
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13)
7) Room (4.47) (15) and Roma (4.47) (18) TIE
9) Birdman (4.46) (14)
10) Spotlight (4.45) (15)


AND NOW...THE 2019 PEOPLES TELLURIDE

16 films had sufficient responses from The People to make the 2019 list:

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)

The 4.51 rating for Fernando Meirelles' The Two Popes means it lands in The Peoples Telluride all time top ten (well since I started the thing in 2012) at the #7 spot.  It will displace Spotlight which will drop to #11.

The new All Time Peoples Top Ten now is:

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) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture
7) The Two Popes (4.51) (19)
8) Roma (4.47) (15) TIE Nominated Best Picture
8) Room (4.47) (18) TIE Nominated Best Picture
10) Birdman (4.46) (14) Won Best Picture


Also...here's were Best Picture Oscar nominees from Telluride have landed on the Peoples list for each year since it was started in 2012:

2012: Argo-4.75 (Winner) #2, Amour-4.17 #6
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.55 #2 (Winner), Gravity-4.40 #3, Nebraska-4.08 #6
2014: Birdman-4.46 (Winner) #2, The Imitation Game-4.73 #1
2015: Spotlight-4.45 (Winner) #2, Room-4.47 #1
2016: Moonlight-4.37 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.33 #2, Manchester by the Sea-4.18 #5, Arrival-4.13 #6
2017: The Shape of Water-4.22 #2 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.38 #1, Darkest Hour-4.04 #3
2018: Roma-4.47 #1, The Favourite-3.76 #9


The COMPOSITE TELLURIDE (slamming The Pros and The Peeps together) will be coming your way on Monday!


TFF OSCAR HISTORY PROJECT PART THREE

Here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974.  As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.

So today we move to the first half of the 90's.  The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.


1990 (10/2)
-Cyrano de Bergerac- Costumes- WON, Foreign Language,  Actor- Gerard Depardieu, Art Direction, Makeup
-Reversal of Fortune- Actor- Jeremy Irons- WON, Director- Barbet Schroeder, Adapted Screenplay
-The Nasty Girl- Foreign Language
-Ju Dou- Foreign Language

1991 (4)
-Rambling Rose- Actress-Laura Dern, Supporting Actress-Diane Ladd
-Oxen- Foreign Language
-Raise the Red Lantern- Foreign Language
-Wild by Law- Documentary

1992 (6/1)
-The Crying Game- Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Neil Jordan, Actor-Stephen Rea, Supporting Actor-Jaye Davidson

1993 (12/3)
-The Piano- Actress-Holly Hunter-WON, Supporting Actress-Anna Paquin-WON, Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jane Campion, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costumes
-Three Colors: Blue- Director-Krzysztof Kielowski, Original Screenplay
-Farewell My Concubine- Foreign Language, Cinematography

1994 (11/3)
-Bullets Over Broadway- Supporting Actress-Dianne Wiest-WON, Supporting Actress- Jennifer Tilly, Supporting Actor- Chazz Palminteri, Director-Woody Allen, Original Screenplay, Costumes, Art/Set Direction
-Ed Wood- Supporting Actor-Martin Landau-WON, Makeup-WON
-Dust of Life- Foreign Language Film
-Strawberry and Chocolate-Foreign Language


FIRST OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Here from Neon is the official trailer for Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire from YouTube:

Portrait is set for U.S. release on Dec. 6th.


THANKS


And finally, for today, big gratitude to some of my industry type friends who not only participated in this year's Professional Telluride but who also pumped its posting this past Monday.  Specifically Sasha Stone and her sight Awards Daily who included much of it on there on Monday.  That's linked here.

Also, Jordan Ruimy had the results up at World Reel on Tuesday.

And Tweets and Re-Tweets Monday came from:  Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit, Marshall Flores/Awards Daily, Chris Willman/Variety, Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture and Erik Anderson/Awards Watch.


That's the blog for today.  More to come on Monday...including the 2019 COMPOSITE TELLURIDE.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Professionals Telluride / Oscar and TFF: A History Part Two / Trailers and Such from TFF #46 Films / Re-thinking This Project

Welcome to Monday and the return here at MTFB to the traditional twice a week publishing schedule.

THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE

Here it is.  One week after the last day of the 46th Telluride Film Festival I have for you The Professionals Telluride.  This year's ratings averages for many of the films that played last week.

This year's professionals include a total of 18 pros who attended the festival and represent  broad spectrum of views regarding the film industry.  It includes critics, bloggers and others who are part of the biz.

Here's the list of this year's pros:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Marshall Flores/Awards Daily
Mark Johnson/Awards Circuit
Gary Kramer/Salon
Scott Menzel/We Live Entertainment
Kenny Miles/We Live Entertainment
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Eugene Novikov/Rotten Tomatoes
John Rhodes/Screencraft
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Anne Thompson/Indiewire
Chris Willman/Variety
Anonymous

Huge thanks to these very busy pros who graciously took the time to supply me with their ratings of the films that they saw last week at TFF #46.

Here's the rundown of the Professionals ratings for each year since I started polling the Pros in 2012.

2018:

1) Roma (4.73)
2) First Man (4.17)
3) Cold War (4.14-tie)
3) Free Solo (4.14-tie)
5) Can You Ever Forgive Me ? (4.11)
6) The Favourite (3.90)
7) Watergate (3.60)
8) Border (3.50)
9) Destroyer (3.25)
10) Boy Erased (3.20)
11) The Old Man and the Gun (3.17)
12) White Boy Rick (3.06)
13) The Front Runner (3.05)

2017:

1) The Shape of Water (4.5)
2) (Tie) Faces Places (4.25)
2) (Tie) Loveless (4.25)
2) (Tie) The Rider (4.25)
5) Lady Bird (4.20)
6) First Reformed (4.0)
7) Battle of the Sexes (3.95)
8) Darkest Hour (3.85)
9) Hostiles (3.79)
10) First They Killed My Father (3.78)
11) Loving Vincent (3.63)
12) Lean on Pete (3.50)
13) Wonderstruck (3.25)
14) Downsizing (3.10)
15) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2.60)

2016:

1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)

2015:

1) Son of Saul (4.44)
2) Anomalisa (4.42)
3) Spotlight (4.41)
4) Steve Jobs (4.31)
5) Beasts of No Nation (4.27)
6) Carol (4.11)
7) 45 Years (4.06)
8) Taxi (4.00)
9) Black Mass (3.85)
10) Time to Choose (3.57)
11) Room (3.50)
12) Suffragette (3.49)
13) He Named Me Malala (2.83)

2014:

1) Birdman (4.72)

2) Foxcatcher (4.63)

       3) ’71 (4.25)

       4)  Wild Tales (4.20)

       5)  Leviathan (4.17)

       6)  Mr. Turner (4.10) 

       7)  The Imitation Game (4.06)

       8)  Mommy (3.92)

       9)  Two Days, One Night (3.90)

       10) The Homesman (3.80)

       11)  Red Army (3.67)

       12)  Madame Bovary (3.30)

       13)  Wild (3.21)

       14)  Rosewater (3.06)

2013:

1) 12 Years a Slave (4.7)
2) Blue is the Warmest Color (4.4)
3) Gravity (4.35)
4) Tim's Vermeer (4.3)
5) Nebraska (4.3)
6) All is Lost (4.2)
7) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.1)
8) Starred Up (4.0)
9) The Past (3.9)
10) Labor Day (3.6)
11) Bethlehem (3.6)
12) Prisoners (3.5)
13) The Lunchbox (3.5)
14) Salinger (3.3)
15) The Unknown Known (3.3)
16) Palo Alto (3.2)
17) Tracks (3.2)
18) Under the Skin (3.1)
18) (tie) The Wind Rises (3.1)
20) The Invisible Woman (3.0)


2012:

1) Central Park Five-4.7
2) Argo-4.5
3) Stories We Tell- 4.3
4) The Sapphires 4.25
5) (Tie) Frances Ha and The Attack- 4.2
7) Rust and Bone- 4.0
8) The Iceman- 3.8
9) At Any Price- 3.7
10) (Tie) Amour and Baraka- 3.5
12) No- 3.4
14) (Tie) Hyde Park on Hudson and The Gatekeepers 3.0
15) Everyday- 2.8

And the all time TFF Top Ten prior to the films of TFF #46 according to the industry pros since starting this in 2012:

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Roma (4.73) (18)
3) Birdman (4.72) (14)
4) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
4) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
6) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
7) La La Land (4.58) (16)
8) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
8) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)


15 films earned enough responses from the Pros to make it onto the list  for this year.

And now...drumroll please...This year's Professionals Telluride (with averaged rating in parenthesis):

1) Parasite (4.75)
2) The Two Popes (4.42)
3) Marriage Story (4.40)
4) Waves (4.29)
5) A Hidden Life (4.20)
6) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (4.17)
7) Ford v. Ferrari (4.11)
8) The Report (3.87)
9) Pain and Glory (3.83)
10) Uncut Gems (3.78)
11) Motherless Brooklyn (3.58)
12) The Climb (3.50)
13) Judy (3.13)
14) The Aeronauts (3.08)
15) The Assistant (2.75)


Parasite's 4.75 moves it to the #2 spot on the Top Ten films to play Telluride among the Pros since I started collecting these responses in 2o12.  The new All Time Top Ten:

1) Moonlight (4.87) (16)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19)
3) Roma (4.73) (18)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
8) La La Land (4.58) (16)
9) Argo (4.50-tie) (12)
9) The Shape of Water (4.50-tie) (17)
10) Son of Saul (4.44) (15)


And finally...because MTFB is about to change its focus to the Oscar prospects for this year's crop of films from TFF...  Here's where Oscar nominees for Best Picture from TFF have landed each year according  to The Professionals:

2012: Argo-4.50 (Winner) #2, Amour-3.50 #10
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.70 #1 (Winner), Gravity-4.35 #3, Nebraska-4.30 #5
2014: Birdman-4.72 (Winner) #1, The Imitation Game-4.06 #7
2015: Spotlight-4.41 (Winner) #3, Room-3.50 #11
2016: Moonlight-4.82 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.48 #2, Manchester by the Sea-3.95 #4, Arrival-3.88 #7
2017: The Shape of Water-4.50 #1 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.20 #5, Darkest Hour-3.85 #8
2018: Roma-4.74 #1, The Favourite-3.90 #6

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE IS COMING ON THURSDAY...YOUR RATING DEADLINE IS TOMORROW EVENING.



OSCAR AND TFF: A HISTORY PROJECT PART TWO

Picking up where I left off last week...here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974.  As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.

So today we move to the latter half of the 80's.  The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.

1985 (2)
Colonel Redl- Foreign Language
The Journey of Natty Gann- Costumes

1986 (3)
Blue Velvet- Director-David Lynch
The Decline of the American Empire- Foreign Language
My Secret Little Village- Foreign Language

1987 (4/1)
Babette's Feast-Foreign Language- WON (first win for Best Foreign Film from TFF)
Au Revoir Les Enfants- Foreign Language, Original Screenplay
The Whales of August- Supporting Actress-Ann Sothern

1988 (2)
Salaam Bombay- Foreign Language
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown- Foreign Language

1989 (6/2)
My Left Foot- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON (first Best Actor win from TFF) , Supporting Actress- Brenda Fricker-WON (first win for Best Supporting Actress from TFF) , Picture, Director-Jim Sheridan, Adapted Screenplay
Cinema Paradiso-Foreign Language-WON
Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren- Documentary
(First TFF with multiple Oscar wins)

On Thursday, I'll have the TFF Oscar history from 1990-1994.



TRAILERS AND SUCH FROM TFF #46 FILMS

Since last Thursday's post we have seen the emergence of a trailer as well as a behind-the-scene featurette and a clip from TFF #46 films.  Here they are:

TRAILER FOR WAVES

FEATURETTE FOR JUDY

CLIP FROM BILLIE

The word is that we can also expect a new trailer for Ford v. Ferrari very soon.




RE-THINKING THIS PROJECT

Now that TFF #46 is in the rear view...

This year's experience at TFF was different for a variety of reasons not the least of which was the decision by the Festival to deny my annual request to be accredited as a journalist.  I had been granted that status for eight years running and it became particularly useful in 2017 and 2018 as my pass status changed from the Patron Pass that had been a gift from former students who also hosted us in Telluride.

As you all know, that Patron Pass was a Golden Ticket.  When that situation changed in 2017 (and, in fairness, I had known that would be the case for a number of years) the journalist credential became very important.  It doesn't afford quite the same ease of access as a Patron Pass but it gets close.

I don't know why the request was denied but I have a couple of pretty good guesses.  At the top of the list are posts that may not have been well received by the fest folks.  And, of course, I have no doubt that the fest does not care for the central organizing principle of the blog...sussing out the possible films that will make the lineup before they're announced each year.

The festival explained in the email that denied the press credential that I was welcome to apply for the journalist accreditation again next year, but there is no guarantee that I get approved.  And I fully understand and acknowledge that the fest has every right to accredit who gets the credential and who doesn't.  I get that.

Further, I get how whiny this sounds.  Privileged and whiny.  For the vast majority of folks who attend with the Festival, Acme or Cinephile passes or who stand by in the individual ticket sales lines...this must seem, and understandably so, like just so much unearned grumpiness.

Yea...I get that too.

And yet, the whining continues...

I did eight films this year.  My average has been 11.

Other considerations...

As all of you know...Festival level passes are pricey (and required for anyone requesting journalist status) and lodging in Telluride is, let's say... a challenge both in terms of cost and availability.  Many of you know that my real gig is teaching at a public high school in Oklahoma...so you probably have a reasonable notion of my annual income.

Then there's the time and miles.  It's a lot.

I will say that it is heartening to speak to readers on line and around town.  I honestly don't know how many people read the thing but it seems like a bunch.  I also am pleased at the number of times one of the journalists (you know, the accredited ones) that come into town to cover the fest pass along the value that they place on the blog via email, Twitter or in person at the fest.  I have often wondered at what level, if any, the blog gets read by Guests of the fest.  I know that it happens at least a little bit because of a couple of past experiences.

As I've said on a number of occasions, when I first started this thing, I really didn't know if anyone would ever read it and, even if they did, whether anyone would take it seriously.

I just know that I felt untethered and lost last week and I'm not sure what I do to change that between now and next Labor Day or, more accurately, between now and when passes go on sale.

I have heard and seen in print this effort described as a "passion project" and it has been but the passion took a hit this year and I'm not sure where that lands me over the next few months.

Bottom line...maybe nothing changes...maybe it all changes.  At this point it's all up in the air (Jason Reitman/George Clooney TFF #36 reference).

Thanks for letting me ramble.


That's today's MTFB.  More to come on Thursday including THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE. Your deadline to rate TFF #46 films is tomorrow evening!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Latest Toronto Announcements / New Trailers and Teaser: A Hidden Life, Little Women, Ad Astra, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Parasite

Thursday...Two weeks and one day...


LATEST TORONTO ANNOUNCEMENTS

First of all, take all of this with a grain of salt as the announcements from Toronto on Tuesday seemed to be off a bit in terms of premiere designations.  Most of the confusion fell on Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life that was reported at least by one outlet as a North American premiere but which TIFF's own website now labels as a Canadian premiere thereby affirming its likelihood for Telluride. 

However, both The Truth and Beanpole, which I had concluded were probably playing Telluride because of the New York film fest labeling both films New York premieres rather than U.S. premieres, were announced by TIFF as North American preems which would indicate no Telluride play.

After some back and forth behind the scenes, I think that there is still a chance that one or both of those films might still make a Telluride appearance.

Films that were otherwise confirmed for Telluride by their designations as Canadian premieres by TIFF included:

The Aeronauts
The Climb
Verdict
and after some hubbub...A Hidden Life

International premiere status points to the possibility of:

Dan Freidkin's Lyrebird...a post WWII story of an investigation into art theft and more.
Trey Edward Shults' Waves...about the vagaries of young love starring Lucas Hedges.

Appearing to drop out of the Telluride possibles list: Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky (slated as a World Premiere for TIFF), and Benedict Andrews' Seberg (billed as a North American premiere).  Also, Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You, Haifaa Al-Mansour's The Perfect Candidate and Ladj Ly's Les Miserables.

Toronto has one more set of films to announce and will do so next Tuesday.



NEW TRAILERS AND TEASERS

A HIDDEN LIFE


A trailer for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (which I think IS going to Telluride) was revealed Tuesday from the Fox Searchlight folks.  Here it is from YouTube:

The trailer's great and I have hopes that Malick is back in Tree of Life/Thin Red Line territory.


LITTLE WOMEN

Here's the first trailer for Greta Gerwig's Little Women...which with the absence of its inclusion by Toronto in their Tuesday announcement, means it's still a minuscule Telluride possibility...and remember, I still have it in my fevered brain as a potential surprise sneak peek...

Here is that trailer, also from YouTube:

Yes please...

AD ASTRA

Unlikely but not eliminated...

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Back to a film I'm almost dead certain will play in a couple of weeks...Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire.   Thanks be to YouTube:

PARASITE

Also a lock for Labor Day...

CURRENT TEN BETS AND BONUS BETS

With a new Ten Bets coming tomorrow!

10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite

Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) A Hidden Life
Bonus 5) The Report
Bonus 6) Beanpole
Bonus 7) The Kingmaker


DON'T FORGET TO PLAN TO RATE!

For the eighth consecutive 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 with any of the following contact methods:


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

First Ten Bets for 2019 / The Distributors 2019: Many a Firm Part One / Variety's 31 Flavors of Oscar

Your final Friday of June has arrived...

FIRST TEN BETS FOR 2019

Well, it's here.

My very first "Ten Bets" for TFF #46.

I've been posting my guesses predictions for Telluride in this format since 2011.  Some years I have a better track record than others with the initial stab.  My track record throughout the years on the first Ten Bets looks like this:

2011: 8/10
2012: 5/10
2013: 6/10
2014: 7/10
2015: 4/10
2016: 3/10
2017: 7/10
2018: 5/10

Last year I landed just below my average accuracy getting five titles correct: The Other Side of the Wind, Peterloo, Cold War, The Old Man and the Gun and The Front Runner.  But I also missed on Beautiful Boy, Sunset, Burning, Capernaum and the stunning miss on Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk.

Other films that I listed on 2018's "just under the Ten Bets" that actually made it to The SHOW included: Boy Erased, The Eyes of Orson Welles, Girl, Shoplifters, and First Man.

Last year's half right/half wrong moved my average over the eight years of Ten Bets to 5.6 correct picks per year.'

And so with that as a backdrop...drumroll please...here's your first Ten Bets for TFF #46


10) The Good Liar
9) Little Women
8) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
7) Jojo Rabbit
6) Family Romance LLC
5) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
4) Lucy in the Sky
3) Varda by Agnes
2) Nomadland
1) Parasite

Other films in serious play: The Goldfinch, Untitled Noah Baumbach Project, Untitled Todd Haynes Project, Atlantics, The Climb, The Laundromat, Radioactive, Country Music, The Lighthouse, Harriet, The Truth, Synonyms, Motherless Brooklyn, Ad Astra.


I'll be updating the Ten Bets each Friday for the rest of the summer and, as has become my custom, it will expand as we move through time.  Ultimately the final Ten Bets will come on Wednesday, August 28th with up to 25 films that I will predict or deduce that will make the TFF #46 lineup.


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: MANY A FIRM PART ONE

Casting a glance today at smaller distribution houses and the films that they have that could make the Telluride program:

-COHEN MEDIA GROUP

This company is a consistent T-ride player.  Its history:

2017: The Insult, Face Places
2016: Journey Through French Cinema
2015: Hitchcock/Truffaut, Marguerite, Rams
2014: Magician
2013: No Show
2012: The Attack


So what's in the CMG larder:

Safy Nebbou's Berlin hit Who You Think I Am.  The film focuses on a 50 year old woman (Juliette Binoche) who creates a fake social media profile.

At the moment, it seems to be the only film CMG has but don't discount the possibility that they'll acquire a film this summer that might also make the lineup.


-KINO LORBER

Another group that has been a frequent entrant in Telluride's fest.  Kino Lorber's track record:

2017: Film Worker
2016: Fire at Sea
2015: Ixcanul, Sembene!, Taxi
2014: The Decent One
2013: Burning Bush, La Maison de la Radio, Manuscripts Don't Burn
2010: La Quattro Volte, Poetry
2007: Blind Mountain


After five straight years with at least one film in play at TFF, Kino Lorber was absent last year.  They could return- and have a good chance to do so, this year with a film that scored well at the Berlin International Film Festival. 

Nadav Lapid's Synonyms won the top prize, the Golden Bear, last February.  It has played a bunch of international fests since then.

IMDb describes the film as " A young Israeli man absconds to Paris to escape his nationality, aided by his trusty Franco-Israeli dictionary.


-IFC FILMS

IFC also has, at least for the moment, a single film that seems possible for T-ride and that is Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth.   Described as a film that focuses on the stormy reunion between a daughter and her mother who is an actress involved in a sci-fi film in which she plays a woman who never ages.

After Kore-eda's stellar run in 2018 with Shoplifters which played TFF #45, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes  and was Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language film, you have to think that The Truth would be under real consideration for a return to Telluride for the director.


Chances for today's batch of films:

Synonyms 50%
The Truth 50%
Who You Think I Am 40%

I'll have a look at some of the other smaller distribution outfits on Monday.


VARIETY'S 31 FLAVORS OF OSCAR

Variety's Tim Gray posted a lengthy piece on Tuesday called "Oscar: 31 Upcoming Films that Could Enter the Awards Race". 

There are actually more than 31.
 when you look at all the lists and categorizations.

As you might expect, a slew of potential T-ride selections are on his various category lists.

Among the possible T-ride players that Gray includes are (in the order he lists them):

Untitled Jay Roach Fox News Project
Ford v. Ferrari
Harriet
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Little Women
Judy
The Aeronauts
The Laundromat
The Pope
Atlantics
Untitled Sally Potter Project (Molly)
Jojo Rabbit
The Woman in the Window
Joker...yea, I said it.
Motherless Brooklyn
The Good Liar
1917
Against All Enemies
The King
The Last Thing He Wanted
Les Miserables
The Lighthouse
Lucy in the Sky
Untitled Todd Haynes Project
Untitled Noah Baumbach Project


The complete article is linked here.


That's the Friday MTFB.  I'll have more on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Distributors 2019: Neon / Pico Iyer Will Lead Us / First Gaze at Little Women

Good Thursday to all...


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2019: NEON

Film distribution company NEON has come on like gangbusters in the past couple of years.  Their The B Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography played Telluride in 2016.  NEON also played with Border and The Biggest Little Farm last year.  Additionally NEON ended up as the distributor for the Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace which was expected to play TFF in both 2015 and 2016 but, due to legal issues did not.

So...it's not a lengthy Telluride resume but it is relatively intense of late.  As a matter of fact, their emergence is so recent I didn't even handicap their chances with films last year and as you can see above, they landed two.

Now, as we're assessing the 2019 landscape, NEON seems poised to make a splash again this year as they have acquired two huge titles from Cannes.  Palme d'Or winner Parasite and Best Screenplay winner at Cannes: Portrait of a Lady on Fire.  At the moment, these two films seem to be the only two NEON films with a shot at TFF #46.

I'm bullish on the chances for both films to make it to the 2019 version of The SHOW

Chances...

Parasite 60%
Portrait of a Lady on Fire 60%

More distribution analysis tomorrow.


PICO IYER WILL LEAD US

The Telluride Film Festival officially announced that author Pico Iyer will serve as Guest Director this year.

Here's the text of the official announcement:

BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival (TFF), presented by National Film Preserve LTD., is proud to announce its 2019 Guest Director, Pico Iyer. The celebrated author is set to select a series of films to present at the 46th Telluride Film Festival running over Labor Day Weekend, August 30 through September 2, 2019.

Festival organizers annually select one of the world’s great film enthusiasts to join them in the creation of the Festival’s program lineup. The Guest Director serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s programming decisions, bringing new ideas and overlooked films to Telluride. In keeping with Telluride Film Festival tradition, Iyer’s film selections, along with the rest of the Telluride lineup, will be kept secret until Opening Day.

“Pico is a tremendously gifted writer with unrivaled wit,” said TFF Executive Director Julie Huntsinger. “His enthusiasm for film, especially within his writing, has buoyed and enchanted us. It has made working with him to create this year’s Guest Director program a particularly delightful experience. Both Tom Luddy and I are thrilled to have him with us this year.”

Pico Iyer is the author of two novels and thirteen works of non-fiction. His books have been translated into 23 languages and both his 2008 meditation on the XIVth Dalai Lama, The Open Road, and his TED Book, The Art of Stillness, were best sellers across the U.S. They have also made him a Guggenheim Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

An essayist for Time since 1986, he is a constant contributor to The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s and more than 200 other newspapers and magazines worldwide, and he has published introductions to 70 other works.

Iyer has also written many liner-notes for Leonard Cohen, essays for several Criterion Collection DVDs and a screenplay for Miramax. His writing on Malick, Farhadi, Bertolucci, Scorsese and many other filmmakers has appeared all over, and his writing on movie studios from North Korea to Hyderabad has borne out The New Yorker’s assertion that “As a guide to far-flung places, he can hardly be surpassed.”

Born in Oxford, England, in 1957, Iyer was educated at Eton, Oxford and Harvard. This year he’s been serving as Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton.

“In the times I’ve been to the Festival I’ve seen as many rich and original films in three days as I get to watch in the next twelve months combined,” said Iyer. “So when Tom and Julie asked if I might be willing to serve as Guest Director this year, I felt as stunned and delighted as if I’d been given the keys to the kingdom. Movies have actually been my secret passion for as long as the Telluride Film Festival has been around. But nobody had intuited this until Tom and Julie, a dream team of sorts, sensed my excitement and offered me a chance to share my enthusiasms and passions with others. The invitation to help choose films for the Festival this year was the most exciting one I can remember receiving; I only hope I can pass on a fraction of the delight that I have found at Telluride to others in this inspiring community.”

Past Guest Directors include Jonathan Lethem, Joshua Oppenheimer, Volker Schlöndorff, Rachel Kushner, Guy Maddin, Caetano Veloso, Michael Ondaatje, Alexander Payne, Salman Rushdie, Peter Bogdanovich, B. Ruby Rich, Phillip Lopate, Errol Morris, Bertrand Tavernier, John Boorman, John Simon, Buck Henry, Laurie Anderson, Stephen Sondheim, G. Cabrera Infante, Peter Sellars, Don DeLillo, J.P. Gorin, Edith Kramer and Slavoj Žižek.

The Guest Director program is sponsored by Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Considered throughout the industry as one of the leading authorities on classic film, the network presents great films, uncut and commercial-free, highlighting the entire spectrum of film history.

FIRST GAZE AT LITTLE WOMEN


Vanity Fair revealed a first look at still photography from Greta Gerwig's highly anticipated adaptation of Louisa Mae Alcott's classic Little Women.

The film stars Meryl Streep, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Bob Odenkirk and Laura Dern. 

The film is being shepherded by Sony/Columbia nd is due for release on Dec. 25th.

Here's a taste of the visuals from Vanity Fair:

For a view of more of the stills and the article the accompanies them at Vanity Fair click here.

That's the Thursday MTFB.  More tomorrow.


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