The Professional's Telluride / Minotaur Trailer / Rehearsals for a Revolution Trailer

 THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE

They're back.  It's time to reveal the results of MTFB's annual poll of film industry professionals who agreed to rate the films on a 1-5 scale and allow me then to collate and average those scores.  The Pros are a mix of critics, awards experts and other industry insiders.  To make the list this year a film had to be rated by at least half of the Pros.  That threshold allowed ten films to make the list.

The Pros:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch

Josh Bis/Seattle Film Critics Society and TheSunBreak.com

Christina Jeurling Birro/Pop Culture Confidential

Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter

Mark Johnson/The Awards Alchemist

Dave Karger/Turner Classic Movies

Scott Kernan/Awards Daily

Joey Magidson/Awards Radar

Ryan McQuade/Awards Watch

Will Mavity/Next Best Picture

Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture

Christopher Schiller/Freelance, former columnist ScriptMag.com

Anne Thompson/Indiewire

Chris Willman/Variety

Anonymous

And the results are:

1) You Can See Everything 4.83

2) Wild Horse 9 4.62

3) Fjord 4.30

4) Club Kid 4.23

5) The Debut 4.12

6) La Bola Negra 4.08

7) Tender Loving Care 3.82

8) Elsinore 3.74

9) Ink 3.67

10) A Long Winter 3.00

I had intuitively thought that 2026 might be a banner year for the number of films with an average rating of 4.0 or above.  2026 had six of them as you can see above, but as  I looked back to all of the polls since I started doing them in 2012, I discovered that five TFFs had produced more: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2019 with 2013 and 2015 being the top years each having eight films that reached the 4.0+ threshold.

Another note, You Can See Everything-the "super-secret" screening-was a huge hit with the professionals.  The 4.83 rating is going to put it in the Top Ten All Time Pro's Ratings.  The Huntsinger gambit here was a tremendous success.

Now, for The People's Telluride...on Monday!

MINOTAUR TRAILER

From YouTube:

REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION TRAILER

From YouTube:

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Who's Got What? Distributors-Sony Pictures Classics / Whispers: Elsinore??? / The Debut of The Debut?

 WHO'S GOT WHAT? DISTRIBUTORS-SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Here's the third installment for 2026 for taking a look at distribution companies which have had a strong relationship with the Telluride Film Festival.  Today we gaze at Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) which likely has the longest connection to the fest overall.  Though SPC comes in as the third most represented distributor over the last five years with 13 films appearing, the SPC/TFF connection goes back many more fests.  SPC is always a strong bet to have a film or films at TFF.

Here's the five year track record:

2021: The Duke, Julia

2022: Living, One Fine Morning, The Return of Tanya Tucker, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams.

2023: Daddio, The Teachers' Lounge, They Shot the Piano Player.

2024: Don't Let's Go to the Dog's Tonight, The Outrun.

2025: Blue Moon, A Private Life

It's solid five year run averaging between two and three films per year,

Now, here's what's in the SPC treasure chest for a possible TFF #53 spot and my current guess about each film's probability of playing:

(If it's ready) The Statement/McCarthy  50%

Bunker 50%

Bitter Christmas/Almodovar 50%

Rehearsals for a Revolution/Ahangarani 30%

Iron Boy/Clichy 25%

[Revised 7-13-26]

WHISPERS: ELSINORE???

Andrew Scott at TFF #52 (Getty Images)

Maybe keep an eye out for Elsinore starring Andrew Scott.  The film is being shopped for U.S. distribution with a deal expected "soon".

The logline: A powerful, deeply moving and inspiring story of the actor Ian Charleson who faced incredible odds while preparing to give the performance of his life in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London.

Scott is starring as Charleson who is probably best known to Americans for playing Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire.

Anyway, World of Reel and The Playlist reported in the last few days that it could be a surprise entry at the end of this year into the Oscar race.  

An intriguing note from The Playlist story:  Ellwood claims the film has been accepted by multiple film fests writing:

"This (Elsinore) is also a movie that, like “Artificial,” has gotten into every festival it has screened for."

Of course we have no way of knowing which and how many fests are being referenced but it certainly doesn't disqualify the possibility of T-ride.

Scott, who attended TFF last year with Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, could return.  

Keep an ear to the ground regarding who picks up distribution for the film.

THE DEBUT OF THE DEBUT?

I think everyone who reads this space with any frequency has figured out that I'm really excited about Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut.  

Now comes news that the film has been confirmed by Eisenberg to be premiering at a "fall film festival".  That news comes via an interview with Screen Daily as Eisenberg is at the Karlovy Film Fest to receive its President's Award.

From Screen Daily/Screen International's X account:

Sooo...not a lock for Telluride, but not ruling it out either.

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