MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting and More / New York Film Critics and TFF / Independent Spirit Awards and TFF / National Board of Review and TFF / Gotham Awards and TFF /

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING AND MORE

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and adding three other categories going forward: Cinematography, Editing and Production Design.  The acting categories were last updated on Nov. 21st.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

5) Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths (-)

Others: Nicole Kidman/Babygirl, Demi Moore/The Substance and Cynthia Erivo/Wicked.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (2)

3) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

4) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/ A Real Pain.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) Dune Part Two

2) The Brutalist

3) Maria

4) Nosferatu

5) Gladiator II

Others: Conclave, Emilia Perez and Nickel Boys.

BEST EDITING

1) The Brutalist

2) Anora

3) Emilia Perez

4) Dune Part Two

5) Conclave

Others: Gladiator II, September 5 and Wicked.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1) Dune Part Two

2) Wicked

3) Gladiator II

4) The Brutalist

5) Blitz

Others: Conclave, Nosferatu and A Complete Unknown.

NEW YORK CRITICS AND TFF

TFF films had a good day Tuesday with a number awards from The New York Film Critics Circle.

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain

Best Screenplay: Sean Baker/Anora

Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys

Best Non-Fiction Film: No Other Land

Best First Film: Janet Planet (TFF #50)

The Brutalist was named Best Film of 2024.

The complete list of winners is here from the NYFCC website.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS NOMINATIONS AND TFF

Fully nine TFF films received at least Independent Spirit Award nomination yesterday.  The nine films totaled 20 nominations collectively led by Anora's five.  Here's the breakdown by film:

Anora (5): Best Feature, Direction, Performance (Madison), Supporting Performance (Burisov) and another Supporting Performance (Karagulian).

The Apprentice (3): Best Direction, Editing.

Janet Planet (from TFF #50) (3): Best First Feature, First Screenplay and Cinematography.

Nickel Boys (2): Best Feature and Cinematography.

A Real Pain (2): Best Screenplay and Supporting Performance (Culkin).

The Piano Lesson (2): Best First Feature and Supporting Performance (Deadwyler).

September 5 (1): Best Editing.

No Other Land (1): Best Documentary.

All We Imagine as Light (1); Best International Feature.

Here's the complete list of all nominees from FilmIndependent.org

NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW AND TFF

The National Board of Review released its annual list of best films from the year yesterday. TFF films fared well. from their various categories:

Top Ten Films included Anora, Conclave and A Real Pain.

Top Five international Films included: All We Imagine as Light and Santosh.

Top Five Documentaries included: Will and Harper.

Top Ten Independent Films included: Bird.

Among acting awards Conclave was named Best Ensemble.  Kieran Culkin was named Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain and Mikey Madison was named Breakthrough Performance for Anora.

Other Special Awards for TFF films included anming The Seed of the Sacred Fig as Best International Film and NBR' Freedom of Expression Award went to No Other Land.

Wicked was named Best Film and its director, Jon M. Chu was named Best Director.

The full list of NBR awards for 2024 can be accessed here from their website.

GOTHAM AWARDS AND TFF

The Gotham Awards were presented Monday and here's a look at what TFF films were winners:

Best Director: RaMell Ross/Nickel Boys

Best International Feature: All We Imagine as Light

Best Documentary Feature: No Other Land

Breakthrough Performer: Brandon Wilson/Nickel Boys

Among Gotham Tributes were:

Performer Tribute to Angelina Jolie for Maria.

Complete Results are here from Variety.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / TFF #51 Films Awarded / Behind the Scenes: Maria / TFF Films Qualify / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Lithgow, Rossellini and More

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 11th.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (4)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (-)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (5)

Others: Yura Borisov/Anora, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

TFF #51 FILMS AWARDED

The Palm Springs International Film Fest names Kieran Culkin winner of its Breakthrough Performance Award.

BEHIND THE SCENES: MARIA

From Netflix via YouTube here's a behind the scenes video for the film Maria starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas.

TFF FILMS QUALIFY

Official lists of films that have qualified for Academy Award consideration for Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature were released by The Academy this week.  Here are the qualifiers that screened at TFF by category:

Animated Feature:

Memoir of a Snail

Piece by Piece

International Feature:

Emilia Perez/France

Santosh/United Kingdom

The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Germany

Documentary Feature:

Blink

Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid

Casa Bonita, Mi Amor

Food Inc. 2*

Hollywoodgate*

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

Martha

No Other Land

Piece by Piece

Separated

Will and Harper

Zurawski v. Texas

The complete lists can be accessed here via Awards Watch.

*Screened in TFF #50.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Watch.

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Radar.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from IndieWire.

John Lithgow for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Leonie Benesch for September 5 from Gold Derby.

Director Tim Fehlbaum for September 5 from The Hollywood Reporter.

Mark Eydershteayn for Anora from Gold Derby.

Yura Borisov for Anora from Next Best Picture.

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from IndieWire.

Gabriel LaBelle for Saturday Night from Awards Watch.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / New Trailer for The Piano Lesson / Zurawski v. Texas Has International Sales Rep / TFF #51 Films Winning Awards / Interviews and Profiles for Saturday Night, Conclave and Piece by Piece

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Nov. 6th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance and Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (2)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.

NEW TRAILER FOR THE PIANO LESSON

Netflix released a new trailer for Malcom Washington's The Piano Lesson on Tuesday.  Here it is via YouTube: 

The Piano Lesson is already in limited release.

ZURAWSKI V. TEXAS HAS INETRNATIONAL SALES REP (BUT WHY NO DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION???)

Scree Daily reported this week that Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault's powerful documentary Zurawski v. Texas has had its international sales rights acquired by Together Films.  That comes as the multi-award winning film still lacks domestic distribution.  And I want to know why.

The film has won awards from the following film fests: Hamptons, Heartland (Indianapolis), Mill Valley, Montclair, Philadelphia, Sant Fe and others and has had a number of special screening both live and virtually.

Here is an interview from Together Films for the Academy Conversations series via YouTube:

Here's the story on the acquisition from Screen Daily.

TFF #51 FILMS WINNING AWARDS

Angelina Jolie will be presented the Desert Palm achievement  Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.  Here's the story of that award from Next Best Picture.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Gabrielle LaBelle for Saturday Night from Next Best Picture.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Contending.

Morgan Neveille for Piece by Piece from Next Best Picture.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / European Film Awards Nominations / British Independent Film Awards Nominations / Trailer for The End /Interviews and Profiles : Saldana, Eisenberg and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 24th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez

4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun

5) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl

Others: Demi Moore/The Substance, Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths and Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown

5) Daniel Craig/Queer

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.

TFF NOMINATIONS FOR EFA AND BIFA

TFF films were well represented in films nominated for the European Film Awards announced earlier this week.

Emilia Perez (4): Best European Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Screenwriter.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (3): Best European Film, Direction, Screenwriter.

No Other Land (2): Best European Film, Documentary.

They Shot the Piano Player (TFF #50) (2): Best European Feature, Animated Feature.

Bird (2) Best Direction, Actor (Rogowski).

Santosh (1) Best Discovery

Conclave (1): Best Actor (Fiennes).

TFF films also were recognized with nominations for the British Independent Film Awards:

The Outrun (9): Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance (Ronan), Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Original Music and Sound. 

Bird (7): Best Direction, Supporting Performance (Rogowski and Keoghan), Breakthrough Performance (Adams), Casting, Editing and Original Music.

Santosh (4): Best British Independent Film, Screenplay, Breakthrough Producer and Debut Screenwriter.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Independent International Film.

Anora (1): Best Independent International Film.

La Chimera (from TFF #50) (1): Best Independent International Film.

No Other Land (1): Best Independent International Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Independent International Film.

TRAILER FOR THE END

From NEON via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Chelsea Clinton for Zurawski v. Texas from Marie Claire

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from Vanity Fair.

Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

Co-director Abbie Perrault for Zurawski v. Texas from Next Best Picture.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Middleburg Film Festival Awards Are All TFF films / Interviews and Profiles: Tucci, Baker and Berger

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 10th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Mariann Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson

I'll be updating the Supporting Acting categories on Monday.

MIDDLEBURG FEST AWARDS ARE ALL TFF #51 FILMS

The Middleburg Film festival is one of America's standout regional festivals.  They traditionally schedule an incredible lineup of films each year.  This year, as usual, a number of films that screened at TFF made their way to Middleburg.  Four of those films earned Audience Awards as the fest concluded last Sunday.  

Conclave and September 5 tied for the Audience Award for Narrative Features.  The Seed of the Sacred Fig was named Best International Feature and Martha won the award for Documentary.

Other TFF films in the MFF included: All We Imagine as Light, Anora, Better Man, Carville: Winning Is Everything...Stupid,  Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Nickel Boys, No Other Land, The Piano Lesson,  A Peal Pain, Santosh, Saturday Night and Separated.  

Other high profile  and non-TFF films included: Blitz, The Brutalist, Flow, Hard Truths, I'm Still Here, The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch. The Room Next Door, Sing Sing and The Wild Robot.

Complete coverage of the awards is linked here from Variety.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sean Baker for Anora from The New Yorker

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Playlist.

Stanley Tucci for Conclave from Vanity Fair.

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MTFB Oscar Update-Lead Acting / New Trailers: Anora, Scared Fig, Better Man and More / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Madison, Williams and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and they look a whole lot like the initial predictions from Sept. 30th.   An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Amy Adams/Nightbitch, Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

3) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson.

NEW TRAILERS!!!

ANORA

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

BETTER MAN

SEPARATED

CARVILLE: WINNING IS EVERYTHING, STUPID

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from IndieWire.

Mikey Madison for Anora from Awards Watch.

Director Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from IndieWire.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Vanity Fair.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from The Los Angeles Times.

Director Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Focus Features.

Actor Dylan O'Brien for Saturday Night from Men's Health.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from IndieWire.

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Maria Revealed / Elk's Park Films and Clues / Nickel Boys Screened / International Buzz / And Then There's This... / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 MARIA REVEALED

Are you prepared for a return of Angelina Jolie to Telluride?  Looks like that's going to happen after Pablo Larrain's film Maria (starring Jolie) will screen in Venice on Aug. 29th and then head to the San Juans.

Vanity Fair had a couple of "first look" stills up at the end of last week.

The Vanity Fair article is linked here.

ELK'S PARK FILMS AND CLUES

Long time TFFers know that in the past that the films that the fest chooses to screen in Elk's Park the two nights prior to the fest taking off on Friday often (but not always) provide clues as to who (or in the case of Apocalypse Now-what) will be getting Tributes.  The last really good year for predicting tributes based on Elk's Park films was 2019 when the free flicks were Bridget Jones's Diary, The Right Stuff and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which pointed to Renee Zellweger, Philip Kaufman and Adam Driver as tributees.  

Soooo...here's the flyer for the free films in Elk's Park:

After Hours: My bet is that if it signals anything that it's a tribute for Thelma Schoonmaker.  I'd be surprised but very excited if it were for Martin Scorsese...that's not impossible.  Or maybe it's the two of them together.  At any rate, should either or both be tributed I'd also count on a screening of David Hinton's Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.  Scorsese is a producer of the doc (which did screen at Tribeca but TFF has presented docs from Tribeca in the past).  Schoonmaker is in the film as herself, the wife of Michael Powell, and she also is a producer.

Lady Bird: Does this validate my Saoirse Ronan theory that I first wrote about back on June 3rd?  It was my original thought that Ronan would get a tribute and that Steve McQueen's Blitz might screen at TFF as well as The Outrun.  The announcement that Blitz would world premiere in London made me alter that theory but...

I still think a Ronan tribute likely occurs and occurs with some clips from Blitz.

Hottest possibilities for a tribute beyond these two: Ralph Fiennes, Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, Jacques Audiard and Samuel L. Jackson.

NICKEL BOYS SCREENED

According to World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy  RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys has screened privately in London and the response appears to have been very good.  Ruimy writes:

"“Nickel Boys” just had a preview screening at London’s Curzon Soho. A few folks who attended the screening have chimed in on Letterboxd, and you can read their reactions near the tail end of this article. They’re all very positive."

Ruimy continues:

"This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel has been loaded with buzz for months. The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. "

Nickel Boys is currently #2 on my "to see" list for later this week.

INTERNATIONAL BUZZ

Pablo Larrain, director of Maria talks to Indiewire.

Screen Daily reports that Germany will submit Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its selection for the International Film Oscar.

Variety reveals that Cannes sensation All We Imagine as Light has set a U.S. release date of Nov. 15th.  It's very likely India's entry for the International Film Oscar.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

From the "Local News Network/Telluride, Colorado for Aug. 21st, a report that the fest has asked the Telluride Parks and Recreation Dept. for permission to offer tethered hot air balloon rides during the fest (in Town Park) and that the request is somehow related to a "program related event".  You can see the report yourself at about the 1:48 mark:

https://www.telluridelocal.news/newsstories/tln-august-21-2024

What "program" would hot air balloons be connected to?  I'm stumped.  One follower suggested over the weekend a connection to Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls with this balloon sequence (from YouTube):

The speculation then focused on the possibility of a Schnabel tribute and, I would assume, a screening of Hand of Dante.

A REMINDER: I WILL POST "FINAL BETS" FOR TFF #51 ON WEDNESDAY MORNING and then, of course, the actual lineup when it pops on Thursday morning.  MTFB will post daily from TFF #51.  Mostly during the fest I like to make sure to get the TBAs posted each night for the following day.  I sometimes will include what I think my itinerary will look like for each day and also an occasional comment or two about some of the film I've seen.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

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

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

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

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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Shelley Duvall 1949-2024 / Trailers for TFF Possibles / Bikeriders Behind the Scenes Video from Indiewire / Still Wondering...

SHELLEY DUVALL 1949-2024

It's been a pretty rough last few days with the passing of Robert Towne, Donald Sutherland and Shelley Duvall.  I didn't note the passing of Towne or Sutherland in this space because to the best of my abilities, I could not find an instance where either of those two legends attended any edition of the Telluride Film Festival.

Shelley Duvall, however, was a frequent guest of the early days of TFF.  Again, as best that I can tell, Duvall was in attendance at TFF #2 (1975), TFF #7 (1980) as the fest paid tribute to Robert Altman and screened McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Brewster McCloud and Thieves Like Us and , finally, TFF #8 (1981).

Here's the remembrance from The Hollywood Reporter.

TRAILERS FOR TFF POSSIBLES:

EMILIA PEREZ (not in English)

THE SUBSTANCE

BIKEREADERS BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO

From Indiwire: https://twitter.com/IndieWire/status/1811430282131554513

STILL WONDERING...

News this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun starring Saorise Ronan.  I had speculated back on June 3rd that perhaps TFF might program it and couple it with Steve McQueen's Blitz.  However, with the news that Blitz would World Premiere at the London Film Fest blew that theory up.

But...with SPC picking up the film and dating it for an Oct. 4th release, maybe it still ends up at The SHOW.  Here's what I'm thinking at the moment.  The fest tributes Ronan, screens The Outrun and maybe shows clips or a scene from Blitz.

Here's the SPC acquisition story from Variety.

Oh, and just to be a tease...I got a tip from a good source that one of the Ten Bets is confirmed for Telluride.  I'm not at liberty to cite the source nor name the film but I can tell you that it has appeared on all four lists of Bets thus far.

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More Venice Musings / Sundance Theory

MORE MUSINGS ON VENICE

We're still several weeks away from any announcement concerning the films which will be chosen for this year's Venice Film Festival but already there's some serious speculation about what those may be.

In my last post I started to look at that with an overview of World of Reel's first stab at figuring out the Venice lineup.  Today I look at a Variety article by Nick Vivarelli that was posted last Thursday.  among the films Vivarelli predicts there are five that feel like possibilities for TFF #51:

Maria/Pablo Larrain

Queer/Luca Guadagnino

In the Hands of Dante/Julian Schnabel

Hard Truths/Mike Leigh

I'm Still Here/Walter Salles

All five of these directors have had at least one film make a Telluride lineup in the past.  These five films also were included on the WOR list I posted last Thursday.

See the complete article from Variety here.

SUNDANCE THEORY

Seems like I do one of these every year now.  This is the post where I suggest that there might be a Sundance feature film that cracks the TFF lineup.  

Telluride history and commentary suggest that TFF has a standard that films that play Labor Day weekend must be either a World or North American premiere.  But there have been exceptions:

An Education in 2009

Manchester by the Sea in 2016

The Report in 2019

The Father (would have screened had TFF happened) in 2020

Living in 2022

There are others.

In some of these cases a TFF Tribute was involved:  Casey Affleck in 2016, Adam Driver in 2019 and Anthony Hopkins would have been a Tribute recipient in 2020.

Last year I was all over A Little Prayer doing the Sundance/Telluride thing.  As you know that didn't happen.  BUT...I have a candidate for this happening again in 2024!

Readers...I give you Nora Fingscheidt's The Outrun starring Saorise Ronan.

Here's the case.  Ronan was rumored to have been set to get a Tribute in 2017 with Lady Bird's screening put that purportedly fell through.  I have often thought that Telluride would look for a way to make a Ronan tribute happen.  This could be that opportunity especially if the fest invites Blitz, which also features Ronan.  Perhaps Ronan would pull double duty as Driver did in 2019 with both The Report and Marriage Story making the TFF #46 lineup.

How confident am I about this...not that much but, like I said, it's happened before.

For hoots, here's the trailer for The Outrun:

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actress / Deadline's Most Anticipated Films of 2021 / I'm Back In for 2020-21

 OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Nov. 30th.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Amanda Seyfried/Mank (2)

2) Olivia Colman/The Father (1)

3) Yuh-jung Youn/Minari (5)

4) Ellen Burstyn/Pieces of a Woman (3)

5) Glenn Close/Hillbilly Elegy (4)

6) Maria Bakalova/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (6)

7) Helena Zengel/News of the World (7)

8) Saoirse Ronan/Ammonite (8)

9) Jodie Foster/The Mauritanian (-)

10) Candace Bergen/Let Them Talk (-)

Other possibles: Dominique Fishback/Judas and the Black Messiah, Swankie/Nomadland

Hot: Yuh-jung Youn/Minari. Jodie Foster/The Mauritanian, Candace Berger/Let Them Talk

Not: Lily Collins/Mank, Swankie/Nomadland

Coming on Monday in the first MTFB post for 2021: Best Supporting Actor

DEADLINE'S MOST ANTICIPATED FILMS OF 2021 (with an emphasis on film festivals)

Andreas Wiseman and Tom Grater have curated a list of films thought to be likely to be released during the 2021 calendar year with particular emphasis on what might be probable/possible fare for film festivals.  With Sundance already having released their lineup, these films are those that are most likely to be named for whatever form of fest that will exist for Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and, of course Telluride.

I have glanced through the list and come up with a Telluride possible list (some of which is also wishful thinking/hopes and dreams).  They are:

Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog (Netflix)

Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth (A24)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Big Bug (Netflix)

Ari Folman's Where Is Anne Frank?

Asghar Farhadi's A Hero

Zhang Yimou's Impasse

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch (Searchlight)

Mike Mills' C'mon C'mon (A24)

Paul Thomas Anderson's Untitled Project (MGM)

Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight)

Tom McCarthy's Stillwater (Focus)

Leos Carax's Annette (Amazon)

Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island 

Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins (Searchlight)

Todd Haynes' Untitled Velvet Underground Documentary (Apple TV+)

The complete article and list of films from Deadline is linked here.

I'M BACK IN FOR 2020-21

I've been keeping it under wraps for a couple of weeks, but as the calendar is set to turn the page and mercifully bring 2020 to a close ( and because I've had a second email), I can reveal that I will be back for the third consecutive year as one of Movie City News' Gurus of Gold. 

I'm not sure when our first post will be out...soon for sure, after the first of the year.  I'm also not sure who my fellow Gurus will be this year.  I'm interested in finding that out as well.  At any rate, you can be sure that I'll let you know all that as quickly as I can.

 I want to say thanks to head Guru Wrangler Ray Pride for asking me back.

Happy New Year to all!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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Oscar Update: Best Supporting Actress / Oscar Expert Update: Clayton Davis-Variety / Diego Maradona

OSCAR UPDATE: BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Here are my latest Oscar nomination predictions for Best Supporting Actress updated since I last posted this category on  Nov. 2nd.  A performer's past position is indicated to the right in parentheses.  TFF #47 performers are indicated in Bold.

1) Olivia Colman/The Father (1)

2) Amanda Seyfried/Mank (2)

3) Ellen Burstyn/Pieces of a Woman (6)

5) Glenn Close/Hillbilly Elegy (3)

5) Youn Yuh-jung/Minari (7)

6) Maria Bakalova/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (8)

7) Helena Zengel/News of the World (5)

8) Saoirse Ronan/Ammonite (4)

9) Lily Collins/Mank (9)

10) Charlene Swankie/Nomadland (-)

Other possibles: Pryanka Chopra/The White Tiger, Natasha Lyonne/The U.S. vs. Billie Holiday, Valerie Mahaffey/French Exit

Hot: Ellen Burstyn, Youn Yuh-jung, Maria Bakalova, Helena Zengel, Swankie

Not: Glenn Close, Saorise Ronan

OSCAR EXPERT UPDATE: CLAYTON DAVIS-VARIETY

We last checked in with Clayton's Oscar predictions about six weeks back (on Oct. 15).  Consequently, I thought it might be a good idea to get a snapshot of where he believes the Oscar race to be.  Here are the primary Oscar predictions from Mr. Davis as of the end of last week:

Leading all comers: David Fincher's Mank which Davis has at 12 total nominations: Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costumes, Sound and Score.  That's up 2 nominations from 10/15.  Davis added nomination predictions for Supporting Actor, Score and Sound and dropped a prediction for Makeup/Hair.

Nomadland (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Sound.  Nomadland holds at 7 total predicted nominations. Davis swapped out a film editing nomination for a sound nomination.

One Night in Miami (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Costumes, Film Editing and Original Song.  Davis subtracts a previous prediction for Cinematography here.

Minari (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Score.  A big jump up over the last six weeks from a predicted three nominations to this total of seven.  Previously Davis just had Minari in for Picture, Actor and Original Screenplay.

Judas and the Black Messiah (7): Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing. The other film that Davis has elevated significantly over the past 40 days and 40 nights.  On Oct. 15 Davis had it with four nomination predictions: Picture, Actor, Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (5): Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Costume and Makeup/Hair.  Down one nomination with some other changes too.  Boseman has moved from Supporting to Lead.  The previously predicted Adapted Screenplay is gone.  Production Design os also gone but Makeup/Hair has been added.

The Father (4): Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay

Promising Young Woman (4): Best Picture, Actress, Original Screenplay, Makeup/Hair

The Prom (4): Best Picture, Production Design, Makeup/Hair, Song

And the biggest dive in the last six weeks:  The Trial of the Chicago 7 which Davis had with as many as 7-8 nominations six weeks back and now has down to three: Best Picture, Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

Check out all of Clayton's work at Variety, linked here.

DIEGO MARADONA

The last time we were in Telluride for the film fest in Sept. of 2019, Asif Kapadia's documentary about the life of soccer legend Diego Maradona was making waves.  The film debuted immediately after TFF #46 on HBO and sports a solid 78 Metacritic score.

Maradona died on Wednesday of a heart attack at the age of 60.  The world of soccer/football was shocked and dismayed at the passing of the legend.

Should you want to view the Kapadia doc you should be able to find it on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.

I have linked an Anne Thompson/Indiewire story about the Kapadia doc and Maradona from its debut at Cannes here. 

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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