More on Agnes Varda / Report from CinemaCon: The Goldfinch / New Title for Radegund / Thanks to World of Reel for the Invitation

Good Thursday to all...


MORE ON AGNES VARDA

Photo via Indiewire

The death of film making pioneer Agnes Varda has continued to send reverberations through the film community and the honorifics and reminiscences continue to appear online and in major publications.  As I did on Monday, I have linked a few more of those here:

From the Cannes Film Festival official site

Manohla Dargis for The New York Times

Jude Dry for Indiewire with comments from female film makers including: Greta Gerwig, Ava Duvernay, Lena Dunham and a dozen others.


REPORT FROM CINEMACON: THE GOLDFINCH

Part of the cast of The Goldfinch at CinemaCon (via Indiewire)

CinemaCon attendees got the first look at a trailer for John Crowley's adaptation of Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Goldfinch earlier this week.

The film is certainly on my watch list as a potential choice by TFF programmers for this year's fest.  The film is scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th and is from the combination of Warner Bros. and Amazon Studios.  The combination of factors means that it could play any or all of the combination of Telluride, Venice and Toronto.

Kate Erbland writing for Indiewire filed this report from CinemaCon detailing the roll out of the first filmed images of the film.


NEW TITLE FOR RADEGUND

Amid fevered speculation that Terrence Malick's new film will be announced as a competition film for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival on April 18th came news this week that its title has officially been changed. 

The film has been discussed for months with the working title Radegund.  However, Indiewire's Zack Sharf reported on Tuesday that the film will now be titled A Hidden Life.

The film follows the true story of World War II Austrian Conscientious Objector Franz Jagerstatter who was executed by the Nazis in 1943.

Sharf's story from Indiewire is linked here.

A Hidden Life is on my TFF #45 watch list.


THANKS TO WORLD OF REEL FOR THE INVITATION

I got a nice invite from Jordan Ruimy of the World of Reel website to participate in a project he is currently working on.  I don't want to give away what it is until Jordan is ready to unveil it but I did want to publicly give him a thank you and a shout out and tell you that something is in the works.

You can take a look at World of Reel by clicking here.

And thanks again for including me Mr. Ruimy.



That's today's MTFB.  Thanks for taking the time to give it a look.  More on Monday.

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

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Indiewire's Cannes Wish List / Herzog on Gorbachev / More Country Music News

Welcome to Thursday...


INDIEWIRE'S CANNES WISH LIST

As we edge closer to the official announcement of the Cannes Film Festival lineup Indiewire has published its list of 50 films on their wish list for the 72nd edition of the French film affair.

Again, Scorsese's The Irishman and other Netflix titles are off the list and also likely off the Cannes list is James Gray's As Astra.

Among the 50 films that are on the Indiewire's hopefuls are these that I think seem Telluride-possible.  Most of the following titles have now become repeat mentions from previous Cannes' speculation pieces.  Alphabetically, those films are:

Ahmed (The Dardennes Brothers)
Ema (Pablo Larrain)
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)
One Second (Zhang Yimou)
Radegund (Terrence Malick)
The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda)


The complete Indiewire list is here.


HERZOG ON GORBACHEV

Herzog at the Kremlin (via The Orchard and Indiewire)

Indiewire's Christian Blauvelt sat down with legendary filmmaker and Telluride "Esteemed Council of Advisors" member (and who has a TFF theater named for him) Werner Herzog last week to talk about his latest documentary film Meeting Gorbachev which premiered at TFF #45 last September.

Herzog's exploration of the former Russian/Soviet leader is scheduled for a May 3rd U.S. release from The Orchard.

The Indiewire interview with Herzog also includes an exclusive look at a trailer for the film.

You can find that interview here.


MORE COUNTRY MUSIC NEWS

The Tennessean reports that Ken Burns will donate a trove of the interviews that he and his crew have done for the upcoming PBS documentary Country Music to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Burns is currently in the midst of promoting the 8 part 16 hour doc before it screens on PBS on  September 15th.

Burns past extensive connection to Telluride and his frequent presence at the festival with various projects leads me to think that there is a better than fair chance that at least some of the doc will bow at TFF #46 over the Labor Day weekend.

The Tennessean reports that Burns will be donating all of the recorded interviews and transcripts from over 40 artists.

The complete Tennessean article is linked here.


That will do for today.  I'll have more on Monday.

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

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I'm Back / Netflix and Cannes: The Breakup Continues / Malick at Cannes and Then... / Schiller Talks Telluride and More / Lucy in the Sky Teaser / Burn's Country Music / New Pic of Hanks as Rogers

Spring Break has concluded...

I'M BACK

After a ten day hiatus MTFB is back today after having spent Spring Break doing this and that.  Spent some of the break in NYC.  Saw Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird with Jeff Daniels.  It's nearly perfect.  Saw Bryan Cranston in Network...Cranston is phenomenal.  Did some other stuff.

It was good to step away for a few days, but I'm back now as we head our way to the announcement of the films that will play at Cannes which really does begin the Telluride speculation season on some earnest.   Here we go...


NETFLIX AND CANNES: THE BREAKUP CONTINUES

While I was away we found out that Netflix will again have zero films playing at the Cannes Film Fest in May.  The impasse that created that situation last year has not been resolved and as such, Netflix apparently will not be bringing any films to France in any of the programs.

That was reported in a  number pf places this past week including this from Variety.

In addition, as it turns out, the big fish in Netflix's barrel this season, Martin Scorsese's The Irishman reportedly wouldn't be ready anyway.  It seems that there is still far too much effects work to be done.  That according to Zack Sharf writing at Indiewire.

Sharf writes that a Venice premiere at this point seems the safest bet.  That would still seem to leave the door open for a screening at Telluride much in the way Netflix played Cuaron's Roma last year (and Searchlight did Shape of Water the year before).

My take is still some serious wariness.  Scorsese hasn't been at Telluride in decades.  I wouldn't be surprised if it played Venice and Venice alone or skipped fests all together. 

Still, Collider's Adam Chitwood suggests a run for the film through the Venice, Telluride, Toronto (maybe New York) gauntlet.


MALICK AT CANNES AND THEN...

And speaking of Cannes...there's a growing consensus that  Terrence Malick will return to Cannes in May with his latest film Radegund.  It's a film I have been stalking for quite some time mostly because it's Malick doing a film with a reportedly more traditionally narrative structure that tells the true story of an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II.

I'm hoping, that after a spate of films that haven't exactly been embraced (since Tree of Life) that this will be the path back to critical success for the auteur. 

Charles Barfield writing for The Playlist suggests that Cannes will screen the new film. That story is linked here.

Should that come to pass, the questions would be: does it play any other fests and which distributor picks it up?

I'll keep an eye on it.

SCHILLER TALKS TELLURIDE, FILM AND MORE?

Friend of the blog and multi-hyphenate Christopher Schiller was featured this week on The Weekend Take podcast with Shawn Schaffer.  Schiller runs down a number of topics including a love letter to the Telluride Film Festival.

You can find Schiller's guest stint and The Weekend Take podcast at iTunes at this link.



LUCY IN THE SKY TEASER


Here's the teaser from YouTube:

The Hollywood Reporter

First Showing

The Playlist

Indiewire




BURNS' COUNTRY MUSIC

The Asheville, NC  Citizen Times reports that Ken Burns is going to screen some moments of his new documentary on country music in Asheville next week (on April 2 on the UNC-Asheville campus).  It's yet another sign that, although the entire 16 hour doc may not be ready in its entirety, there's plenty of it to show to an audience.

This roll out in various parts in various places continues to make me think that a presentation of some of it over Labor Day weekend in T-ride  is a realistic possibility.

The Citizen Times article is linked here.



NEW PIC OF HANKS AS ROGERS

And to celebrate what would have been Fred Rogers 91st birthday, TriStar released a new photo from the set of A Beautiful Day in the neighborhood starring Tom Hanks as Rogers.

Here's the new photo:

The film is directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) and is set for U.S. release on Nov. 22nd.

That's your "Spring Break Is Over Return Issue" of MTFB.  I'll have more on Thursday.


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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

The Cannes Speculation Begins / But Not This One? / And on a Related Note...Venice-Netflix? / Early Oscar Analysis

Welcome back for the weekend...Did you Spring Forward?  I sort of shambled forward...


THE CANNES SPECULATION BEGINS

With the Cannes Film Festival just a couple of months away, it's time to start thinking in a serious fashion what could play as part of their programs with an eye, then. to those films that could bow in France and then have their North American unveiling over Labor Day weekend in the Colorado Rockies.

To that end, you may have notice The Hollywood Reporter's analysis this week of 50 films that their authors say have a shot at making the 2019 Cannes lineup.

Casting an eye over that moderately extensive list of films, these are the titles that jump out at me as worth a glance as we look for films that could make the TFF #45 program (click on the title to go to its IMDb page):

Against All Enemies dir: Benedict Andrews

Ahmed dir: The Dardennes Brothers

The Truth dir: Hirokazu Koreeda

Ema dir. Pablo Larrain

Radegund dir. Terrence Malick (admittedly more a wish than a prophecy)

First Cow dir: Kelly Reichardt

The Laundromat dir. Stephen Soderbergh

 Of course, there are a number of others listed in the THR article that intrigue and could certainly pop up both in France and Telluride.  The complete THR article is linked here.


BUT NOT THIS ONE?

One film listed in the preceding THR linked story is Martin Scorsese's much anticipated Netflix backed gangster drama The Irishman.  Interestingly, within a day of its publication, ShowBiz411 reported that The Irishman will NOT be ready to make an appearance at Cannes.

Roger Friedman headlines his story from Thursday with "Confirmed: No Irishman at Cannes".  In the body of the story Friedman writes "The film is shot...but the special effects will take months."  Friedman also implies that The Irishman might eschew fall fests altogether which would certainly fit Scorsese's recent M.O.

The complete ShowBiz411 post is linked here.


AND ON A RELATED AND GAME CHANGING NOTE...VENICE/NETFLIX?

Eric Kohn wrote a piece this last week at Indiewire which explores where the Cannes/Netflix relationship is and may be headed.  In it he reports that the Venice International Film Festival may be following Cannes path in regards to screening of Netflix films as the battle over how various entities, Festivals and the Oscars particularly, deal with the films that are produced by the streaming giant.

Kohn reports that a recently signed law in Italy that would establish guidelines for theatrical distribution of films there that are similar to the laws in France which have been the central issue in the ongoing Netflix-Cannes confrontation.

Kohn writes, "The Lido may off limits to Netflix in the coming year".  Additionally, he speculates  that that turn of events could conceivably benefit Telluride (and Toronto) writing that it "could be very good" for both fests.

The full paragraph from Kohn is a s follows:

"Netflix doesn’t necessarily need a bump from the festival for its most anticipated films. “Roma” found plenty of acclaim at Venice, Telluride, and Toronto. The Lido may be off-limits to Netflix in the coming year, as Italy’s Minister of Culture Albert Bonisoli signed a law in November requiring theatrical windows in the country similar to the rule in France. But Telluride and Toronto, both of which declined comment for this story, continue to maintain close relationships with Netflix and remain tangible fall launchpads for awards-season hopefuls."

The complete Kohn story is linked here.



EARLY OSCAR ANALYSIS

Also from Indiewire this week is a peak at early Oscar speculation from their resident Oscar guru Anne Thompson.  The article focuses specifically on directors that she perceives might be on the Oscar short list in the months after Telluride comes to a close but still gives us some good fodder for thinking about films that might make their way to the San Juans.

On her list that might be worth our contemplation (and, as above, linked to their IMDb page):

Noah Baumbach' Untitled Project (starring Adam Driver)

Greta Gerwig's Little Women

Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky

Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Hirokazu Koreeda's The Truth (mentioned and linked above)

Dee Ree's The Last Thing He Wanted

Jay Roach's Fair and Balanced

Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (if it's ready and fall fests are even a part of its release strategy...see above)

Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window

Thompson's complete Indiewire story is linked here.


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

Reminders as we head into 2019 / 150 Foreign Films / Golden Globes on Sunday / 52 Directors on 2018 Films

REMINDERS AS WE HEAD INTO 2019

I took a quick step back at the last couple of months and have re-posted 2019 speculative pieces (with an update here and there) about what films might be in consideration to make the lineup at TFF #46:


THE PLAYLIST 100 (from my Dec. 6th post)

The annual review of their 100 most anticipated films for the new year came down for The Playlist earlier this week and, as you might expect, I have culled the list for films that seem like they should be on our radar for TFF #46.

The staff specifically mentions Telluride as a possible destination for only three films:

#39: Pale Blue Dot (now titled: Lucy in the Sky)
#26: The untitled Noah Baumbach project
#11: The Last Thing He Wanted

Among the other 97 films listed, the following are the ones that seem to me to be most likely:

#100: The Glorias: A Life on the Road
#91: Resistance
#79: My Zoe
#66: Mainstream
#64: Against All Enemies
#63: The Woman in the Window
#59: The Trial of the Chicago 7 (not likely as production has been delayed)
#52: Motherless Brooklyn
#40: The Goldfinch
#34: You Are My Friend (Now titled: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
#33: Antlers
#30: Ema
#29: Waiting for the Barbarians
#24: The King
#20: Radegund
#19: Bergman Island
#17: The Truth
#15: The Laundromat
#13: Triple Frontier (off the list, release dated for Mar. 13th)
#7: Little Women
#2: The Irishman

The complete list of 100 films (plus some honorable mentions) from The Playlist is linked here.

WELLS AND RUIMY (from my Nov. 26th post)


I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend (now titled A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood):  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plot sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman.

NOPE...SET TO DROP AT SUNDANCE: Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot (now titled Lucy in the Sky)  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

AGAIN...NOPE...RELEASE IS IN MARCH NOW....Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well.

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes.

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


150 FOREIGN FILMS

Ioncinema has undertaken the mammoth task of laying out 150 foreign films to anticipate in 2019.  The list is ongoing and not yet complete at their site. 

Among the early films listed are Xavier Dolan's Matthias and Maxime, Michel Hazanavicius' The Lost Prince and Zhang Yimou's One Second which all could make a splash over Labor Day weekend in Telluride.

Here's the first of the links from Ioncinema.



GOLDEN GLOBES ON SUNDAY

I honestly have no real idea how these 90+ HFPA members are going to play this on Sunday.  If I had to guess, I'm thinking A Star Is Born is likely to have a big night.

Here's a reminder of the TFF films/performers who are nominated for Golden Globes:

The Favourite (5):  Best Film-Musical or Comedy, Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Stone and Weisz), Screenplay

Roma (3): Foreign Language, Direction, Screenplay

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2):  Best Actress-Musical or Comedy (McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Grant)

Boy Erased (2): Best Actor-Drama (Hedges), Best Song

First Man (2): Best Supporting Actress (Foy), Best Score

Destroyer (1): Best Actress-Drama (Kidman)

The Old Man and the Gun (1): Best Actor-Musical or Comedy (Redford)

Girl (1): Best Foreign Language Film

Shoplifters (1): Best Foreign Language Film

TFF #45 films earn 18 Globe nominations.  I'll have some sort of breakdown and commentary in Monday's post.

THE PLAYLIST POLLS 52 DIRECTORS ON THE FILMS OF 2018

The Playlist recent posted an article titled "52 Directors Pick Their Favorite Movies of 2018".  The results are not particularly surprising...Roma is named as the favorite from eight directors including Guillermo Del Toro, Pedro Almodovar, Lynne Ramsay, Rebecca Miller and Edgar Wright.

Several of the respondents listed films in alphabetically order.  Some listed favorite performances or moments.  One even included mention of a couple of plays.

Also mentioned by at least one director as their favorite 2019 film from among Telluride offerings: The Favourite, First Man, Cold War, The Other Side of the Wind and TFF #44's First Reformed.

The complete article from The Playlist is here.


That's MTFB for this first Thursday in 2019.  Happy New Year to all!


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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Updated Oscar Predictions: Picture, Director and Cinematography / Gurus of Gold-Thanksgiving Weekend / This IS Way Too Early

Welcome to the Monday after Thanksgiving.  For those who over-indulged in "thanks"...I hope your food coma has subsided...


UPDATED OSCAR PREDICTIONS: PICTURE, DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY

As a part of my ongoing position as a Guru o' Gold for Movie City News (see below), I was asked to update predictions for Best Picture, Direction and offer up a first take on Cinematography.  As such, here's what I reported.  For Picture and Director, their previous spot here at MTFB follows in parentheses.  Best Picture and Director was last included here on Nov. 1st.

As always, TFF #45 films are Bold

BEST PICTURE

1) A Star Is Born (1)
2) Roma (2)
3) Green Book (3)
4) The Favourite (4)
5) Vice (10)
6) If Beale Street Could Talk (7)
7) BlacKkKlansman (5)
8) Black Panther (8)
9) First Man (6)
10) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (9)
11) Widows (-)
12) Mary Poppins Returns (-)


BEST DIRECTION

1) Alfonso Cuaron/Roma (1)
2) Bradley Cooper/A Star Is Born (2)
3) Spike Lee/BlacKkKlansman (3)
4) Barry Jenkins/If Beale Street Could Talk (-)
5) Yorgos Lanthimos/The Favourite (5)
6) Peter Farrelly/Green Book (-)
7) Damien Chazelle/First Man (4)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Roma
2) A Star Is Born
3) First Man
4) If Beale Street Could Talk
5) The Favourite
6) Cold War
7) Black Panther


GURUS OF GOLD-THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

Here's the link to the latest Gurus of Gold predictions.  Among the three categories updated (Picture, Director, Cinematography) TFF #45 films are named as follows:

Roma: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Favourite: Picture, Director, Cinematography
First Man: Picture (if it goes to nine), Cinematography
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Picture (if it goes to ten)

Others getting mentioned without earning enough votes for predicted nominations:

First Man: Director
Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Director
Cold War: Picture, Director, Cinematography
The Front Runner: Picture
Boy Erased: Picture
First Reformed (TFF #44): Picture


THIS IS WAY TOO EARLY

Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers on the set of Marielle Heller's You Are My Friend via IMDb

I saw that Jeff Wells/Hollywood Elsewhere and Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel had both created and published lists of anticipated 2019 titles...which seems like bait I can't ignore.  Sooo...

I took a look at both lists (which share a huge number of titles) and here are twelve films that seem/sound like they might be candidates for inclusion for TFF #46:

All You Need Is Love.  The project (with Beatles music as a central part of the film) could make TFF #46 because it's from Danny Boyle who has had a significant history with the fest: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs.  The film is currently scheduled for U.S. release on Sept. 13th.

The True American from Pablo Larrain...if it's ready.  Larrain, like Boyle, has had a strong history with TFF: No, Neruda.  Both this and the above mentioned Boyle project are produced by Annapurna Pictures which has also had a presence at Telluride: Foxcatcher, Destroyer.

You Are My Friend:  From Marielle Heller who just has had her Telluride introduction with Can You Ever Forgive Me?  The film stars Tom Hanks (who was at TFF with Sully in 2016) as Fred Rogers.  The film has an awards and TFF friendly release date of Oct. 18th.

Little Women: Greta Gerwig's anticipated take on the Louisa May Alcott classic.  With the reception that her directorial debut Lady Bird received at TFF in 2017 you have to think this is a real possibility.  Scheduled for release on Dec. 25th.

The Woman in the Window: director Joe Wright's follow-up to his 2017 Darkest Hour which played TFF and earned six Oscar nominations and won two including Gary Oldman's Best Actor win.  The film is set for release on Oct. 4th.  The film's plotline sounds much a take on Hitchcock's Rear Window and the cast is ridiculously stunning: Julianne Moore, Amy Adams and Gary Oldman. 

Velvet Buzzsaw: From writer-director Dan Gilroy.  I'm mostly thinking this could play because Gilroy re-teams with his Nightcrawler co-conspirators Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.  The film is set in the contemporary art scene and is described as a horror/thriller.  Netflix is producing which doesn't hurt its TFF chances if the recent past is any indication.

Pale Blue Dot:  Fargo (the TV version) guru Noah Hawley jumps into feature film making with Natalie Portman starring as an astronaut having issues once she returns from space.  The film is from Fox Searchlight which means we have to consider it a TFF possibility.

Bergman Island: Mia Hansen-Love's latest project and a with her TFF pedigree (Goodbye First Love, Things to Come), a film we should consider.  Mia Wasikowska and Vicky Krieps star.

Triple Frontier:  a long gestating project from J.C. Chandor.  It's been developed by Netflix and stars Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac among others about an attempt to overturn the drug trade in South America.  Chandor was in T-ride in 2014 with All Is Lost and both Affleck (Argo) and Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) have been as well. 

And then here are these three huge projects...

The Goldfinch:  The film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Donna Tartt.  John Crowley, who broke through with Brooklyn in 2015, directs.  The cast includes Nicole Kidman (this year at TFF with Destroyer and Boy Erased) and Sarah Paulson.  The film is from Amazon and is set for release on Oct. 11th which makes a T-ride play possible.

Radegund:  Terrence Malick's latest and a film I have been waiting for from him for some time now...surprise, surprise.  The true story of a German conscientious objector in World War II could appear in 2019...or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was a selection for Cannes. 

The Irishman:  Martin Scorsese's Netflix joint.  Probably an unrealistic dream for a Telluride play but a guy has to hope.  DeNiro, Pacino, Pesci and Keitel and more.  The best chance that it plays is that it is from Netflix which, again, doesn't hurt its chances for Telluride.  Netflix has to be happy, at least so far, with how Roma played TFF which probably helps too.


The complete Hollywood Elsewhere post is here.

The complete World of Reel post is here.


That's this Monday's MTFB.  More will be on its way to you on Thursday.


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

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COMMENT TO THE BLOG

Roma Announced for NY...Venice Names First Man as Opener...Reading the Signs / Malick's Radegund at Fests / New Trailers for Boy Erased and Marwen / Announcements Coming Soon

Good Thursday friends...Yesterday was a busy day for film news...and that's an understatement!



ROMA ANNOUNCED FOR NY...VENICE NAMES FIRST MAN AS OPENER...READING THE SIGNS

The New York Film Fest announced yesterday that its centerpiece film will be Alfonso Cuaron's much anticipated Roma.

The film was listed in announcements, however , as its "New York premiere" which tells you a few things...

It won't be the film's world premiere...that could be at Venice.  It also means, because it isn't the film's North American premiere, that the film will have played prior to its NY October date somewhere in North America and likely, because its named a New York preem, that it will have played somewhere in the U.S.  That probably means Telluride or Los Angeles.  Telluride is the more likely due to Cuaron's presentation of Gravity there in 2013 and also, probably because his buddies Alejandro Inarritu and Guillermo Del Toro have had great success there.

Does it guarantee a T-ride play...No.  But it does make it much more likely.

I had Roma listed last week on the Ten Bets listed in the #9 spot.  Don't be surprised if it's higher on the new Ten Bets coming tomorrow.

Linked coverage of the NYFF announcement is here from:

NYFF

Variety

Indiewire

The Playlist

Entertainment Weekly

Both The Playlist and Entertainment Weekly specifically mention Telluride as a destination for the film.

Roma is being handled by Netflix...Who just hired Awards Consultant Lisa Taback yesterday.  Those who follow Oscar season will recognize Taback's name.  The hire means that Netflix is planning to play hard this awards season.


Meanwhile...in Venice news...

Venice has announced that its opening night film will be Damien Chazelle's First Man starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong.

The designation that First Man will open Venice absolutely does not preclude a shot at TFF #45.  As matter of fact, Chazelle's La La Land opened Venice in 2016 and followed that with a Telluride presentation.  Alexander Payne's Downsizing did the same thing last year and Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water also played both places.  Past Telluride films that also opened Venice include Birdman, Gravity and Black Swan.

The Playlist suggests that a Telluride play is likely.

Meanwhile, tweets from Toronto Star critic Peter Howell and Awards Daily's Sasha Stone also suggest Telluride is a good possibility for First Man:

Howell:

Stone:

Here's additional linked coverage of the Venice announcement from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

Venice will announce the bulk of its lineup on July 25th.


MALICK'S RADEGUND AT FESTS

An interview with actor Matthias Schoenaerts appears to confirm that the latest film from auteur Terrence Malick is likely to appear at fall festivals and have a fall release date.  In an interview with The Independent, Schoenaerts says that Radegund, a film based on actual incidents from World War II in which a German conscientious objector is persecuted for his beliefs, is going to premiere at a fall festival or festivals.  Most speculation about which focuses on Venice and Toronto but a Telluride play is not completely outside the realm of possibility.

I have to tell you that this is the first Malick film that I have been excited about since The Tree of Life.

Radegund currently has no distribution or release date set.

Coverage of the interview is here from The Independent.

Also from The Playlist and World of Reel.



NEW TRAILERS FOR BOY ERASED AND MARWEN

The last couple of days were very busy in terms of new trailers appearing.  Of note, in as far as Telluride observers might be concerned were the first for Joel Edgerton's gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Edgerton.

Here it is from YouTube:

Boy Erased is distributed by Focus Features and is scheduled for release on Nov. 2nd.

Linked coverage is here for the trailer's release from:

Variety

Indiewire

The Wrap

The Playlist

Meanwhile, Universal has released a new trailer for Robert Zemeckis' Welcome to Marwen was released yesterday by Universal.  The film's first trailer apparently did not strike the chord that Uni wanted when it was released a month ago.  To that end, another has dropped.  Again for YouTube:

Linked coverage is here for the Marwen trailer release from The Playlist and SlashFilm.


ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING SOON

New York kicked it off yesterday with its announcement about Roma as its Centerpiece.  Venice added to the fun by announcing its opening night film.  Now, prepare for an onslaught of film fest announcements to come next week from Toronto and Venice and all of the clues that will result.

By Friday of next week, we should know a lot more about what films  are playing which fests and by inference, many films that will play at TFF #45.

It will be one of the more exciting weeks of the year for Telluride watchers and you can get all of the best guess analysis about what it all means right here at Michael's Telluride Film Blog.

That's all for today...come back tomorrow for more including the 4th edition of MTFB's Ten Best for TFF 2018.



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

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The Distributors 2018: Not so Much / And Some Overlooked Distribution Notes / Trailers Looming: On the Basis of Sex and Mary Queen of Scots / First Venice Speculation

Welcome back from your weekend to MTFB.


THE DISTRIBUTORS 2018: NOT SO MUCH

Today's final look at distributors that seem to have films in play for the 45th Telluride Film Festival is actually a look at films that seem like they could be players that do not have distribution deals in place for the U.S.

That could still change in the next eight weeks and we'll be keeping a close eye on that as an acquisition of any of these titles could signal an increase or decrease in the chances that a film would potentially be TFF bound.

Here's the list of films:

The Other Side of the Wind-Netflix is listed as having the TV distribution for this but pointedly is not listed as being the theatrical distributor.  Producer Frank Marshall is on record as saying that the film will be screened in theaters...sooo???

At Eternity's Gate-Julian Schnabel's Vincent Van Gogh pic.

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan- Xavier Dolan...been floating around for a long time.

Sunset-Laszlo Nemes' follow-up to his brilliant Son of Saul (IMDb currently lists Playtime as having world wide rights for all media)

And a slew of Cannes films that garnered good critical buzz in May: Long Days Journey Into Night, The Wild Pear Tree, Ash Is the Purest White and Dogman.

Additionally add Karlovy Vary top prize winner I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians.

From this list I feel that The Other Side of the Wind and Sunset are the most likely for Telluride (The Other Side of the Wind has been at the #2 spot on my first two Ten Bets of this summer).  All of the others would be credible entrants for TFF #45 (and I do have a vibe for Matteo Garrone's Dogman).


AND SOME OVERLOOKED DISTRIBUTION NOTES

As I was going over my notes for films that lack distribution, I ran across three films that have a serious shot at Telluride that DO have U.S. distribution but which I left off of previous posts.  Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War is with Amazon and Cannes entrants Happy as Lazzaro and Girl are both under the wing of Netflix.

Also add in Karyn Kusawa's Destroyer starring Nicole Kidman.  It's being distributed by Annapurna Pictures.




TRAILERS LOOMING: ON THE BASIS OF SEX AND MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

Anton Volkov's Trailer Track site notified subscribers over the weekend that we could expect to see trailers from Focus Features for both Mimi Leder's On the Basis of Sex which features Felicity Jones as a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg and also for Josie Rourke's Mary, Queen of Scots featuring Saorise Ronan and Margot Robbie.

Here are links to Volkov's posts flagging the expected arrival for both trailers soon:

Mary, Queen of Scots

On the Basis of Sex



FIRST VENICE SPECULATION

I ran across a serious speculative piece about films that might make the Venice lineup from an Italian website over the weekend: Ilsussidiario.net.  There are several films listed there that could certainly make the Venice/Telluride double play.

That Venice to Telluride (or in some instances the other way...Telluride to Venice) has become a stronger connection over the past few years.

Last year saw Oscar Best Picture winner The Shape of Water make that connection as well as Downsizing, First Reformed, Foxtrot, Human Flow, The Insult, Lean on Pete and Wormwood screen in both places.

Among the films listed in the post that I have been talking about for Telluride are:

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan
First Man
The Favourite
Roma
The Sisters Brothers
If Beale Street Could Talk
Radegund
Sunset
Beautiful Boy
A Star Is Born
Non-Fiction
Boy Erased

The Google translated version of the piece is linked here.


That's your Monday version of MTFB.  More to come tomorrow including a start on this year's look at "The Usual Suspects".

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

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The Ninth Telluride Film Festival / Reminder: Telluride and Best Picture / The Continuation of Cannes Guesses

Hell o to everyone on this Thursday...


THE NINTH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL

Here's another installment in the months long sporadic project to document the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  The focus today is on the 9th fest that occurred from Sept. 3-6, 1982.

TRIBUTES:

Joel McCrea
Pierre Braunberger
Athol Fugard


SHOWS:

Arruza
Boseman and Lena
Bona
Broken Blossoms
Burden of Dreams
City of Lovers
Coaster
Country Lovers
Endangered Species
Fire on the Water
Fitzcarraldo
Foreign Correspondent
The Great Moment
The Grey Fox
The Guest
Koyaanisqatsi
La Chienne
Longshot
Marigolds in August
Mules of Smiles, Years of Struggles
Money and the Woman
Mr. Dynamite
My Life to Live
Night of the Shooting Stars
Padre Padrone
Painted Boats
The Palm Beach Story
Paris
Parsifal
Ride Lonesome
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Rope
Say Amen, Somebody
Smithereens
The Thirteenth Chair
Veronika Voss
Victor Sjostrom: A Film Portrait
We of the Never Never
The Wind
Yol

GUESTS:

Joe Dante
Richard Farnsworth
Lillian Gish
Philip Glass
Werner Herzog
Chuck Jones
JoBeth Williams
Robert Wise

YOUR REMINDER ABOUT TELLURIDE AND THE OSCAR FOR BEST PICTURE

I couldn't help but notice a tweet from Peter Howell, film critic for The Toronto Star and President of the Toronto Film Critics Association, this week.


Peter and I have exchanged messages over the past few years regarding both Telluride and Toronto's film fests.  He's been very kind to me as I have worked on this blog.  Anyway...

He tweeted a chart from Vanity Fair that graphically underscores fall film fest premiere relationships and Best Picture Oscar winners.

Here's a screen grab of that tweet:

Sorry about the size here, but it gives you a better look at the graph which really does highlight what has happened in terms of Telluride and the Best Picture Oscar.

Of course, I would add that although The Artist (2011), Birdman (2014) and Spotlight (2015) didn't "premiere" as T-ride...they did screen there.  In the case of both Birdman and Spotlight, they screened within hours of dropping at Venice.  This year The Shape of Water joined their company.

THE CONTINUATION OF CANNES GUESSES

Ioncinema opened up its Cannes speculation this week with a post that focused on films from North and South America that could make the grade when Thierry Fremaux announces the lineup on April 12th.  Ioncinema says they'll continue next week with looks at other films from around the planet that they think might get in.

Among the North and South American possibilities are these that have the pedigree to suggest a Telluride crossover:

Terrence Malick's Radegund

Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk

Tony Zierra's SK13

Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind

Alfonso Cuaron's Roma

Sebastian Lelio's English language version of Gloria

The complete Ioncinema post is here.

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

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

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