Distributor Monday #2: Sony Pictures Classics / A New Contender for TFF #52

 DISTRIBUTOR MONDAY #2: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) along with Netflix are the only distributors over the last decade that have averaged more than three films per year at TFF.  Their relationship with TFF has been long and consistent. SPC is the only distributor that has placed a film at T-ride every year for the nine years I looked back on.  They average 2.8 films per year. Last year SPC had two films make the TFF #51 lineup: The Outrun and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

SPC has six films in their basket that seem like possible TFF #52 players.  Here's what we know about each of them.  They're arranged  from what I feel is most likely to least likely.  Individuals have been past attendees of TFF are indicated with *.

Blue Moon.  Director Richard Linklater.  Stars: Ethan Hawke*, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott (Best Supporting Performance Berlin Film Festival), Bobby Cannavale.  Played the Berlin International Film Festival.  Release date: Oct. 17th.  IMDb description:

Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!".

Ethan Hawke is a semi-fixture at Telluride.  He was last in Telluride in 2023 with both Wildcat and Strange Way of Life.  Despite the fact that director Richard Linklater has never taken a film to Telluride, this feels like the year and the film to make that happen.

The President's Cake.  Director: Hasan Hadi.  Stars: Baneen Ahmed Nayyef, Waheeda Thabet.  Played at Cannes in the Director's Fortnight section.  It won the Camera d'Or and the Directors Fortnight Audience Award.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

In 1990s Iraq, 9-year-old Lamia must bake the President's birthday cake. She scrambles to find ingredients for this compulsory task while facing potential punishment if she fails.

SPC picked this film up after a very good reception at Cannes critically as well as picking up a couple of awards.  I just have a feeling about this film.

Eleanor the Great.  Director: Scarlett Johansson (directing debut). Stars: June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor*.  Played Cannes Un Certain Regard.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

In Eleanor The Great, June Squibb brings to vivid life the witty and proudly troublesome 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who after a devastating loss, tells a tale that takes on a dangerous life of its own.

Eleanor the Great played respectably well with critics at Cannes and with the certain push for Squibb for Best Actress in combination with the film being Johansson's directing debut make this an interesting possible choice for TFF.

A Private Life.  Director: Rebecca Zlotowski. Stars: Jodie Foster*, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Auteuil, Virginia Efira. Played at Cannes Out of Competition.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

The renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered.

Jodie Foster was a TFF Tribute recipient back in 1991 when she presented the World Premiere of her directorial debut Little Man Tate.  This film is in French which Foster speaks fluently after have attended school in France when she was younger.

A Magnificent Life.  Director: Sylvain Chomet. Animated.  Played at Cannes Out of Competition.  Release date: TBD.  IMDb description:

It follows the life of (Marcel) Pagnol, a playwright, novelist, and filmmaker who grew up in a middle-class household in Marseille and became one of the world's most inventive and prolific artists from the 1930's to the 1950's.

Chomet has previously screened The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist at Telluride. 

Unidentified.  Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour*.  Stars: Mila Al Zahrani, Abdullah Al-Qahtani.  Release date: TBD.  Played the Venice Fest and won the "Interfilm" award (per IMDB). IMDb description: 

A grieving mother, fueled by her passion for true crime, seeks answers when a teenage girl is found dead in the desert and the police investigation stalls.

Al-Mansour was in Telluride in 2012 with Wadjda.  Wadjda was a 2014 BAFTA film nominee for Best Film not in the English language.

Honestly, I think you can make a reasonable case for all six films.

Blue Moon 65%

The President's Cake 50%

Eleanor the Great 45%

A Private Life 40%

A Magnificent Life 40%

Unidentified 35%

Next Monday: we take a look at Neon.

A NEW CONTENDER FOR TFF #52

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel is reporting on an "out of nowhere" film that could be in the running for a slot at TFF #52.  The film is The Drama and stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. The film is written and directed directed by Kristoffer Borgli and was produced, in part, by A24.

IMDb does not yet have a description up for the film but Ruimy writes:

“The Drama” is going to light up festival chatting, and think pieces for months. It’s being described to me as a “very uncomfortable” watch, but with a major dose of sardonic humor.

“(It) centers on a couple, played by Pattinson and Zendaya, whose relationship takes an … unexpected turn right before their wedding day. 

Further, and of more interest to Telluride Film Fest watchers, Ruimy contends:

"While a release date has yet to be announced, I wouldn’t be surprised if the film gets positioned for a fall festival debut, with Venice, Telluride, and TIFF among the likely contenders." 

The complete post from WOR is linked here.

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As We Head Into June / Ken Burns' Next Big Thing / Maybe we Can Join The Serkis?

AS WE HEAD INTO JUNE

As I have mentioned, we're only a few days away from beginning a couple of summer traditions here at MTFB.  Starting Next week I'll begin running down each of the distributors that have been the most common players with films at Telluride.  I'll take a look at the films from each outfit that are the most probable TFF choices and try to assess each film's chances of actually going to TFF #52.

As a way of setting the table for that, here's a quick look at which distributors we're talking about.  First, a little methodology.  I looked at each year going back to 2015 to gather the info.  I did leave out the covid year cancelled TFF despite the fest having released a lineup because it was surely not complete at the time the decision was made to cancel that year.

That said, here are the eight distributors I'll be looking at over the next few weeks based on the number of films they have screened at Telluride since 2015:

Netflix: 34 (3.8/yr.)

Sony Pictures Classics (SPC): 31 (3.4/yr.)

Neon: 19 (2.1/yr.)

A24: 16 (1.8/yr.)

(Fox) Searchlight: 14 (1.6/yr.)

Amazon/MGM: 12 (1.3/yr.)

Focus Features: 10 (1.1/yr.)

Mubi: 5***

***I include Mubi on the list with its small number of five films because it's a late-comer to The SHOW having screened all 5 within the last four fests for an average of 1.25/yr.

Some interesting tidbits...

Obviously, Netflix has screened the most films since 2015 (its first appearance at TFF came that year) but SPC is only three behind and both distribs are the only outfits that have had films screen every year of this survey. 

Searchlight only missed one year in this time frame in 2016.

Three of these distributors only missed two years:

Neon in 2017and 2015.

A24 in 2024 and 2018.

Focus Features in 2019 and 2016.

Monday we'll start with Netflix and look at what films they have and what might play TFF #52.  Subsequently, we'll look at the other distributors each week in the order of which house has played the most at T-ride since 2015.

KEN BURNS' NEXT BIG THING

TFF Board of Governors member Ken Burns has begun promoting his next big project which is a documentary look at American Revolution as the nation begins to hit the 250 year milestones that will lead up to the nation's Semiquincentennial or Bisesquicentennial coming on July 4th, 2026.

The six part 12 hour series will air on PBS beginning on Nov. 16th.  Normally it would be a no-brainer to think that at least some portion of the series, if not all six parts, would play at TFF...but... as a part of the roll out for it they've already begun a nationwide tour which has/will include screenings of at least some of the doc.  Those began last march in Richmond, VA. and will continue through Oct. 9th in Washington D.C.  The press release says that additional dates are forthcoming.

One wonders if those presentations will dissuade TFF from screening any of it.  It is of note that there is a gap between a July 17th presentation in L.A. and sept. 20th presentation in Saratoga, NY.

Here's a link to its PBS landing page including a small clip from the doc.

And here's a link to the official press release.

All things considered, I still think it's likely that at least some segments will be screened at TFF #52.

MAYBE WE CAN JOIN THE SERKIS?

Animal Farm still via World of Reel

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel reports that Andy Serkis' animated adaptation of George Orwell's classic Animal Farm will premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.  That fest is set to run June 8-14.

I have thought for awhile that this could be a TFF choice and its inclusion for Annecy is in no way a TFF disqualifier.  As a matter of fact I could see it playing along with Raoul Peck's Documentary about Orwell: Orwell: 2+2=5 which just screened at the Cannes fest last month as a kind of TFF double bill.

Just a thought.

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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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Checking the Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics / Emilia Perez Trailer / Megalopolis Still Costing Coppola

CHACKING GTHE DISTRIBUTORS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

I think it's fair to say that no distributor has had a longer term relationship with the Telluride Film Festival than Sony Pictures Classics.  SPC's presence at TFF has been a staple for many years.  His a reminder of the films from SPC that have played the fest over the last ten years:

2013: The Invisible Woman, Jodorowsky's Dune, The Lunchbox, The Past, Tim's Vermeer.

2014: Foxcatcher, Leviathan, Merchants of Doubt, Mr. Turner, Red Army, Salt of the Earth and Wild Tales.

2015: Son of Saul

2016: The Eagle Huntress, Toni Erdmann, Maudie, Norman: The Moderate Rise...

2017: Fantastic Woman, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Foxtrot, Loveless, The Rider.

2018: The White Crow

2019: Pain and Glory, The Climb, Lyrebird

2020 (if it had happened): The Duke, The Father, The Truffle Hunters

2021: Julia, The Duke

2022: One Fine Morning, Living, The Return of Tanya Tucker, Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song.

2023: The Teachers' Lounge, They Shot the Piano Player, Daddio, Strange Way of Life

This year SPC could bring Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door, Walter Salles I'm Still Here and an outside possibility is Sylvain Chomet's animated The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol (though IMDb Pro has it listed as still filming).

The Room Next Door is Almodovar's first English language feature film.  Last year his Strange Way of Life was at TFF #50 and the director has had a long history with Telluride.

Walter Salles' I'm Still Here also has a TFF history (Central Station 1998, The Motorcycle Diaries 2004) but it has been a long time since he last had a film in the San Juans.

Chances:

The Room Next Door 50%

I'm Still Here 35%

Marcel Pagnol 10%

EMILIA PEREZ TRAILER

We have a foreign language trailer for Jacques Audiard's Cannes prize winner Emilia Perez.  Here it is from YouTube:

MEGALOPOLIS STILL COSTING COPPOLA

We noted last week that Lionsgate had picked up Francis Ford Coppola's passion project.  Since then The Hollywood Reporter reported last week that the $120 million deal did not include any money for marketing.  THR's Aaron Couch and Kim Masters wrote:

"Lionsgate, it appears, will not be paying for marketing. Instead, Coppola is expected to provide the spend himself. Lionsgate intends to put the feature on more than 1,500 screens, which sources in the distribution world say would require around $15 million to $20 million in marketing. It’s unclear how much Megalopolis’ campaign will entail."

I'm just going to say it, I hope Megalopolis plays TFF #51 and I think it could happen.

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Checking the Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics / Journalistic Clarity / New Trailer for Poor Things

 My apologoes as MTFB is 24 hours late for its regular Thursday posting.  Here it is!

CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Last Monday I started the annual MTFB tradition of running down the distribution companies that are usually significantly present at Telluride each year.   We began with Netflix which, since its first appearance at T-ride in 2015, has screened more features than any other distributor.

The next biggest over that same time period has been Sony Pictures Classics with 20 films over the seven years I'm counting (leaving out the Covid-displaced fest of 2020).  That works our to just shy of three films per year from SPC.  But SPC has a much longer history with The SHOW dating back many, many years.  It's entirely likely that in the entire 50 year history of The SHOW, SPC has likely placed more features and/or documentaries in the lineup than anyone else. 

With that in mind, here's my assessment of what SPC has that could play and the chances that they will play.

Currently, as far as I can tell, SPC has ten films that haven't set U.S. release dates but seem finished.  None of them seem to be slam dunks.  The best SPC bets appear to be:

Ilker Catak's The Teachers' Lounge which played Berlin and won a couple of awards and scored really well among critics.  Chances: 50%.

Freund's Last Session from director Matt Brown starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role.  It has a Dec. 7th released date listed at IMDb for Russia.  40%.

After those two films, everything I can find for SPC doesn't seem very likely.

A few weeks back I floated the notion that SPC might be able to get A Little Prayer starring David Stratharin into the TFF lineup despite having played Sundance much like they would have done with Anthony Hopkins and The Father in 2020 (if it had happened) and what they did do with Bill Nighy and Living last year.  However, since then the film has also screened at Santa Barbara and Nantucket thus killing my scenario.

There's the animated They Shot the Piano Player which comes from the creative team that had Carlos and Rita at Telluride in 2010.  However, the film played the 2022 Annecy Animation Fest which begs the question "why didn't TFF schedule it last year?"  25%.

Also floating around is Pedro Almodovar's short film (31 min.) Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.  Almodovar means we have to pay attention.  Luke warm critical reaction to the film from Cannes takes some of the shine from it. 25%.

Then there's the John Prine: Hello In There documentary that's listed as being in post since Feb. of 2019... Does it even exist?

In addition to A Little Prayer having played Sundance, other SPC films that did that include: The Persian Version, Shadya and Shortcomings.  Tribeca has The Miracle Club (another SPC film I thought might see the light of day at TFF #50), Carlos and Downtown Owl.

SPC does have a couple of animated films that IMDb lists as "filming" in 2022.  maybe they will be in play.  Sylvain Chomet's The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol.  Chomet has had a presence at TFF in the past with The Illusionist and The Triplets of Belleville.   The other is A Winter's Journey from Alex Helfrecht.

JOURNALISTIC CLARITY

Well, I rolled the dice this year on my application for press credentials at TFF #50.  I did all the required steps.  Included the required documentation.  I also included a fairly passionate "letter" arguing the merits of MTFB being accredited.  As a part of that I concluded with:

"I would argue that the blog benefits the fest much more than any

issues that may annoy festival organizers.  MTFB is nothing if not a

love letter to TFF.

Ultimately, if MTFB is never to be accredited again, I’d prefer that

you just tell me that now so that I can quit wasting your time with my

application each year."

Well, I got my response on Monday...and mind you, the deadline to apply doesn't land until June 30th.  Here is the reply:

"Hi Michael,

Thank you for applying for media accreditation. Festival organizers have concluded that accreditation is unnecessary for the type of festival coverage produced on your blog. This applies to this year and future festivals. Your Festival-level pass will provide you with all the access you need to cover the event. We have many journalists and bloggers who attend and successfully cover Telluride without accreditation. We look forward to seeing you at the 50th Telluride Film Festival."

So, there you have it.  Never going to happen again.  Worthy of accreditation from 2012-2019.  Forever not from 2020 on.

NEW TRAILER FOR POOR THINGS

Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things is a very likely Venice Fest selection.  The film has also been on my radar for some time as a possible TFF #50 selection.  Lanthimos last film, The Favourite, played very well at The SHOW back in 2018.  The Favourite was distributed by Searchlight and so is Poor Things which also bodes well for a possible TFF screening.  Finally, the film is set for release in the U.S. on Sept. 8th.  That allows for the possibility of screenings at both Venice and Telluride.  It's also just inside the window for Toronto which opens on Sept. 7th though that seems very unlikely.  

I posted the first teaser for the film back on May 15th.  Now, we have a new full trailer that was released by Searchlight yesterday.  Here it is:

The more I see of this the more intrigued I am.  Hope it makes it to TFF #50.

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Variety's Look at Venice Hopefuls...Clues for Telluride? / Searching SPC

 VARIETY'S LOOK AT VENICE HOPEFULS...CLUES FOR TFF ?

Yesterday Variety's Nick Vivarelli posted an examination of possible/probable Venice Fest choices.  It's interesting in light of the Venice/Telluride trail that has grown up in the last few years.  There are lots of possibilities to chew on in the article and I'll get to those...but...

One of the more intriguing sections of the post is a list of  seven films which have won the Best Director Oscar (and were Best Picture nominated with three winning that honor as well) that premiered in Venice:

2013: Gravity

2014: Birdman*

2016: La La Land

2017: The Shape of Water*

2018: Roma

2020: Nomadland*

2022: The Power of the Dog

(* indicates Best Picture winner)

Of note to TFF fans is that they all made the run from Venice to the San Juans. 

A big part of the post is focused on Netflix films that he reports are "in the Venice mix".  They include Alejandro Inarritu's Bardo, Noah Baumbach's White Noise, Andrew Dominik's Blonde and Romain Gavras' Athena.

From that list Bardo seems most likely to do the Venice/Telluride Shuffle with White Nose close behind.  Blonde has stirred controversy but I could still see it as a TFF #49 possibility.  The Gavras film is new to the conversation.

Other films that Vivarelli mentions that I feel like could be on flights from Italy to Colorado include:

Florian Zeller's The Son, Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All and Todd Fields: TAR.

The complete piece from Variety is linked here.

SEARCHING SPC

The second distributor to look at as we get closer to TFF #49 is Sony Pictures Classics.  SPC has a long tradition at Telluride and has averaged four titles per fest since I started attending in 2006.  Last year SPC had The Duke and Julia at TFF #48.

SPC's most likely title for TFF is Florian Zeller's The Son.  There are several reasons.  Zeller's The Father was a selection for the "Fest That Wasn't" in 2020.  Anthony Hopkins won his second Best Actor Oscar for it and Zeller won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.  An additional reason could be that Telluride regular Laura Dern is a cast member (along with Hugh Jackman who was a T-ride guest in 2018 with The Front Runner).

Also very likely for Telluride from SPC is Mia Hansen Love's One Fine Morning which SPC picked up at Cannes.  Hansen-Love also has a good track record with TFF.  One Fine Morning stars the currently red hot Lea Seydoux who could return to T-ride for the first time since 2013's Blue Is the Warmest Color.

One other possibility from SPC is the modern day re-telling of the opera Carmen.

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Cannes Winners / Trailer for Hallelujah

CANNES WINNERS

Ruben Ostlund won his second Palme d'Or on Saturday for his Triangle of Sadness.  My expectation, at least for the moment is that likely means this will be a TFF that does not host the Palme winner. Ostlund's previous two Cannes films (Force Majeure and The Square) did not make the Cannes-TFF connection.  That doesn't mean it can't happen just that it is historically unlikely.

Films that could have a boost with Cannes accolades leading to a Telluride selection:

Lukas Dhont's Close (tied for the Grand Prix)

Claire Denis' Stars at Noon (tied for Grand Prix)

Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave (Best Direction)

Jerzy Skolimowski's EO (tied for Jury Prize)

The Dardennes Brothers' Tori and Lokita (Special 75th Anniversary Award)

Ali Abassi's Holy Spider (Best Actress-Zar Amir-Ebrahimi)

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker (Best Actor-Song Kang-ho)

The Hollywood Reporter has details here.

TRAILER FOR HALLELUJAH

The documentary about Leonard Cohen's most famous song that played as a part of the TFF #48 lineup has a trailer now.  The release happened this week from distrib Sony Pictures Classics.  The film is scheduled for release on July 1st.

Additionally, here's a link to FirstShowing.net and further details about the film.

More later...

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SPC Acquires One Fine Morning / A24 Nabs Aftersun / Critics from Cannes / What's Netflix Got?

SPSC ACQUIRES ONE FINE MORNING

Mia Hansen Love has been a significant presence at Telluride for some time.  That's also been true for her films as far as being invited to Cannes.  This year she has another film playing in France as a part of the Director's Fortnight section.  One Fine Morning has been getting more than decent critical notices.  As such, it has already been mentioned here as a potential TFF #49 selection.

Now comes news that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film for North America and beyond.  That acquisition increases that chances that the film will make a trek to the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  As most readers of this Blog know, SPC has had a very good relationship with TFF for many years.

Hansen-Love films that have screened at Telluride: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come and Bergman Island

Recent SPC films at TFF: Julia, The Duke, The Father, Pain and Glory, A Fantastic Woman, The Rider and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.

Details of the SPC move are here from Variety.

A24 NABS AFTERSUN

Meanwhile, A24 has acquired Charlotte Wells' Aftersun.  The film has made a splash in France.  The solid critical response and the A24 move means that we have to give it some serious thought about a spot at The SHOW.  Adding fuel to the T-ride speculation is that the film is produced, in part, by Barry Jenkin's PASTEL.  You have to think that helps it be on the Telluride radar.

Deadline has the story.

CRITICS FROM CANNES

As we head into the home stretch of the Cannes Film Fest and the choice for the winner of the Palme d'Or looms, here is your latest check of potential TFF films screening in France and their current critical standing based on Reini Urban's collected sample of critics.

Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 7.54

Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.71

Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 6.66

Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius) 7.42

One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.45

Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.88

All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 7.05

Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.81

Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 8.25

Broker (Hirozaku Kore-eda) 6.25

Tori and Lokita (The Dardennes Brothers) 6.35

Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) 7.54

WHAT'S NETFLIX GOT?

It's that time of year where I try to peer into the films that we think could be ready for a Labor Day screening from some of the producers/distributors that have been common players at previous Telluride Film Fests.

And we start with what has become the most ubiquitous player at TFF over the past few years.  Since 2015Netflix has shown:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire

2016: I Called Him Morgan, The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno

2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

2018: Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, Roma, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2019: Inside Bill's Brain, Marriage Story, Tell Me Who I Am, The Two Popes

2020: No announced films

2021: The Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Procession

That's an impressive run.  But...

You have to wonder with all the turmoil at Netflix of late...decreasing membership, lower stock prices and layoffs as well as the inability of the big streaming giant to land a Best Picture win (3 big shots at that prize over the past four years-Roma, Marriage Story and The Power of the Dog) if they will consider changing strategies this year.

Then there's the question of what they have that could be players in awards season.

Noah Baumbach's White Noise

Andrew Dominik's NC-17 rated Blonde

George C. Wolfe's Rustin

David Fincher's The Killer  (Will it be ready by September?)

Tobias Lindholm's The Good Nurse

Kenya Barris' You People

Guillermo Del Toro's Piniocchio (Will it be ready?)

John Ridley's Shirley

Sebastian DeLilio's The Wonder

From this group and at the moment it feels like the best bets are White Noise, Shirley and The Wonder with honorable mentions for Blonde and Pinocchio.

***Added on June 9th- Look out for The Good Nurse

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Cannes Spec heats Up /A Look at SPC

 CANNES SPEC HEATS UP

With the official announcement of the Cannes Film Festival lineup now just two weeks away (June 3), the guessing game about what films make the list is warming up.  As always here, a reminder that, historically, Cannes and Telluride have had a substantial overlap of films in their official selections.

Now, does that continue in this year where we still have Covid concerns, that traditional sharing of titles may be lessened, increased, skewed...

But I'm going to run for awhile on the assumption that there will be that connection between the two fests that has been true for quite some time and that's an average of about 8 or so films that play both.

Just this past week I ran across big "Cannes lists" from Indiewire, Screen Daily and World of Reel and put together a list of TFF possibilities that popped up.

All three publications included: Jacques Audiard's Paris 13th District and Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch.  However, Screen Daily reports that Searchlight has not yet committed to premiering on the Croisette and is still gaming out what it feels would be the best release strategy for the highly anticipated film.

Many films that I feel have a shot at TFF #48's lineup are listed in two of the publications including:

Asghar Farhadi's A Hero (IND, WOR)

Andrea Arnold's Cow (IND, SD)

Michelangelo Frammartino's The Hole (IND, SD)

Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday (IND, SD)

Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth (IND, WOR)

Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground (IND, SD)

Ari Folman's Where Is Anne Frank (IND, WOR)

Mia Hansen Love's Bergman Island (WOR, SD)

Francois Ozon's Everything Went Fine (WOR, SD)

Sean Penn's Flag Day (WOR, SD)

{IND= Indiewire  WOR = World of Reel  SD= Screen Daily}

The complete articles from each publication are linked below:

Indiewire

Screen Daily

World of Reel

Check them out and see what other titles you think might screen at Cannes before coming to Colorado on Labor Day weekend.

A LOOK AT SPC 

Today we continue our stroll through film distributors that have had strong presences over the last five years at Telluride,.  Last Monday I got that started with a look at Netflix which has had 16 (maybe 17) films play at TFF in that time span.  Matching it (or nearly matching it ) has been Sony Pictures Classics with 16 films in five years.  

Beyond the five year limitation I placed on looking at recent TFFs and distributors, SPC and Telluride's relationship has been much longer than that.  So, unless the world stops spinning, you can expect to see some SPC titles this year as in many others.

SPC is coming off a very successful one-two punch with last year's The Father picking up two Oscars among six nominations (Anthony Hopkins for Best Actor and Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton for Best Adapted Screenplay) and The Truffle Hunters, which didn't make the Oscar final list of five nominated documentary feature films but won a number of critics' awards and was universally beloved.

Currently in SPC's hands and with what seems to be Telluride potential:

Clint Bentley's Jockey

Ty Roberts 12 Mighty Orphans

Andreas Koefoed's The Lost Leonardo

Julie Cohen and Betsy West's Julia

Eva Husson's Mothering Sunday 

Benjamin Millepied's Carmen

And then there's a couple of real wild cards:

Zachary Fuhrer's John Prine: Hello in There which I really thought was going to play TFF #47 last year and then it was not on the announced list.  I swear I saw someplace that it was going to be released or pop-up at some other fest virtually...but I can't find any evidence that happened. SPC acquired the doc in February of 2019.  So???

And then there's Pedro Almodovar's latest Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers).  Its IMDb Pro entry says it's a 2022 release and that it's "filming" as of March 10th.  But after Almodovar's triumphant return to Telluride screenings with Pain and Glory at TFF #46...who knows?  OK, it's much more likely that it screens at next year's Cannes and then maybe TFF #49.

At this point I have no strong intell or intuitions about any of these SPC films.   If you made me I might point at Julia, Mothering Sunday and Jockey and I'd likely throw in the Prine doc because I'm stubborn.

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Joint Statement Revealed / Another Fest Goes Down / Venice Outlines Plans / SPC Teases French Exit

JOINT STATEMENT REVEALED

Film journalists yesterday received notices of a joint statement of cooperation between the Telluride, Toronto, Venice and New York Film Fests.  Here it is:

It's an interesting and perhaps a not entirely unexpected statement from all four fests.  It is, also light on any kind of detail in terms of what that cooperation means in a practical sense.

Kris Tapley tweeted about the announcement this way:

"Not entirely sure what this is actually saying beyond vaguely recognizing that there won’t be a crop of films big enough to sustain the usual jockeying for exclusivity."

 Writing for Deadline, Tom Grater:

"Traditionally the first port of call for films intending to launch into awards season, the fests are facing major changes to their 2020 editions due to ongoing virus disruption. In a joint statement today the event’s top brass say they are looking beyond the typical competitiveness that exists. It’s not clear exactly how that will manifest, but it may mean less of the typical scrapping to secure the top premieres in the best slots – the events are already planning to scale back their programs this year, and the Oscars being postponed to April 21 for 2021 also puts less pressure on landing those big contenders."

Yesterday afternoon Indiewire's Eric Kohn posted an informative piece about the cooperation announcement that included some clear statements about TFF #47

Kohn says:

1) Francis Lee's Ammonite will play TFF:

"Kate Winslet-starring lesbian drama “Ammonite,” a Cannes 2020 selection set to open this year from Neon, is slated at both Telluride and TIFF"

2) Documentary Notturno from Fire at Sea director Gianfranco Rosi will also play Telluride:

“Notturno,” a documentary from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi set in the Middle East, will also hit the quartet of fall festivals with eye towards making its way into the documentary Oscar race."

3) Kohn says Telluride will be smaller and have considerable overlap (see below regarding average overlap):

"Both TIFF and Venice have already announced significant curtailing to their usual vast lineups, with 50 movies playing in each. (TIFF usually programs over 300.) Telluride and New York also will have smaller lineups and don’t utilize specific premiere policies, but they have been looking at many of the same titles in the programming process. Even without a specific mandate to combine forces, considerable overlap would be inevitable."

4) Telluride's Town Council is set to vote on the Film Fest proceeding on July 15th:

"And Telluride faces a vote from the Colorado mountain town’s city council on July 15 to determine whether it can hold the event at all"

5) Venice and Telluride may co-premiere some films:

"The festival heads jointly declined to comment for this story. However, sources said that Venice was ambivalent about whether official “collaboration” between the festivals would impact a change to its premiere policy, since it comes first in the calendar. However, the festival was exploring the possibility of hosting joint premieres timed to take place simultaneously in Telluride."

6) Kohn suggests that virtual Telluride screenings are a possibility:

"The programming heads debated the merits of holding virtual editions if physical gatherings become impossible; for the moment, all four festivals are exploring ways of combining physical and virtual aspects of their programs. That led to conversations about the ideal online screening platforms, safety standards, and protocols for handling filmmaker and industry guests, should choose to travel."

Kohn's complete analysis is linked here.

So... perhaps more overlap between fests?  For Telluride and Toronto that overlap has averaged 17.8 films per year over the past five years.  For New York it's 7.6 films per year and for Venice it's been 7.0 films per year.

As a parenthetical note I'll remind everyone that Indiewire suggested a few weeks back that Telluride would make some details known about its approach to their festival in "mid-July".  The above assessment from Kohn suggests that we'll find out some details after the town council votes on the 15th.

ANOTHER FEST GOES DOWN

Austin, TX. based Fantastic Fest has announced that it will not have a 2020 event due to Covid-19 .  The fest was originally scheduled for Sept. 24-Oct. 1.

The Cancellation of the fest is notable for Telluride observers as its announcement of titles each year would often provide information that allowed confirmation of a film for Telluride inclusion or exclusion.

Though the fest's press release says that the organizers have decided that a virtual event will not occur with new films, there will be a "Celebration of Fantastic Fest" online that will provide events online to highlight the festival's past.

Fest organizers have pledged that Fantastic Fest will return in 2021.

Here's the link to the release.

VENICE OUTLINES PLANS

The Venice Film Fest will be scaled down this year.  Variety reporting on Tuesday that the venerable film fest will screen 50-55 feature films with their announcement of what films will be playing revealed on July 28th.

Other items...they'll have two outdoor venues and will scrap some normal sections of their fest.

It will be interesting over the next few weeks as we hear from both Venice and Toronto what they will be screening and how the status for each film is characterized.

Variety's complete story is linked here.

As a side note, in a separately published interview with Variety Venice head Alberto Barbera reveals that David Fincher's Mank isn't ready which Barbera implies is a reason that it won't be at Venice, may blow a big hole in my "Netflix surprisingly plays films at Telluride" theory.

That interview is here.

SPC TEASES FRENCH EXIT 

Sony Pictures Classics tweeted a first look at the Michelle Pfeiffer starring French Exit this week.  Here's the photo:

Their tweet's text was simply: 

French Exit. 

Coming Soon.

Made me wonder if I should move it up into the next iteration of the Ten Bets (which I'll post next Thursday).

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Oscars to Move Today??? / The Distribs: Sony Pictures Classics

OSCARS TO MOVE TODAY???

The Board of Governors for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be meeting virtually later today.  They are widely believed to decide that they will move the dates for the Oscar ceremony from its current date of Feb. 28th.

Some speculation has it that the ceremony could be pushed to March or even as late as April.  We should know something more after the Board meeting today.

AMPAS has already made the decision to alter the eligibility rules to allow films that did not screen ina theater but had a release date scheduled to be eligible for the Oscar. 

Should the organization make the decision to change dates, that also raises questions about whether there might be other tweaking regarding eligibilty and release dates.  Additionally, one wonders if an Oscar date change will create a domino effect among other awards programs and the guild awards.

And, of course, you have to wonder what effect, if any, an Oscar date change might have on Telluride and the other fall film fests.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson took on a number of these issues in an article published on Tuesday which I have linked here.



THE DISTRIBS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Over the past couple of decades of the Telluride Film Festival no distributor has had more features scheduled than Sony Pictures Classics.  Here's the run for the last several years:

2019: The Climb, Lyrebird, Pain and Glory (3)
2018: The White Crow (1)
2017: A Fantastic Woman, Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, Foxtrot, Loveless, The Rider (5)
2016: The Eagle Huntress, Maudie, Norman, Toni Erdmann (4)
2015: Son of Saul (1)
2014: Foxcatcher, Leviathan, Red Army, Mr. Turner, Wild Tales, Salt of the Earth and Merchants of Doubt (7)
2013: The Invisible Woman, The Lunchbox, The Past, Tim's Vermeer and Jodorowsky's Dune (5)
2012: The Gatekeepers, At Any Price, Rust and Bone, No, Wadjda, Amour (6)
2011: A Dangerous Method, In Darkness, Footnote, A Separation (4)
2010: Incendies, Of Gods and Men, Tamara Drewe, Another Year, The Illusionist, Inside Job (6)
2009: The Last Station, The White Ribbon, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, An Education (5)
2008: Waltz with Bashir, I've Loved You So Long, O'Horten (3)
2007: Brick Lane, When Did You Last See Your Father, Persepolis, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, Steep! (6)
2006: Jindabyne, The Lives of Others, Volver, The Italian (4)
2005: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Cache, The Child (4)
2004: Being Julia, House of Flying Daggers, Bad Education, Merchant of Venice, Up and Down, Yes (6)
2003: The Fog of War, My Life Without Me, The Triplets of Belleville, Young Adam (4)

That's 74 films over a 17 year span for an average of 4.4 films per year.

At this point SPC looks to have only a couple of films that could be in consideration for TFF #47. 

The most likely seems to be Zachary Furher's documentary John Prine: Hello in There.  I suggest that it's the most likely only because it's post-production date is listed by IMDb as Feb. 2019.  You have to figure that it's done.

SPC's other title is Azazel Jacob's French Exit starring Michelle Pfeiffer.  It's much mire iffy as it went into post-production very late in the game (Dec. 10, 2019) with respect to the Covid-19 lockdown. 

Though SPC only has these two titles in the pipe, they could very easily acquire a property or two that they then turnaround and submit to Telluride for possible inclusion so keep an eye open for news along those lines.

Chances...

Prine 40%
French Exit 20%
Some new acquisition 30%

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Buchanan's Take / No New News on Cannes but Now Venice...LATE BREAKING-VENICE STILL A GO / SPC Acquires Julia / My Invite to Opine

BUCHANAN'S TAKE

On Wednesday last week the New York Times' Kyle Buchanan published a rumination on the world of film and what it might look like over the next year taking is season by season.  It's focused, of course, on what Covid-19 could mean for the film industry.

The article entitled "The Future That Hollywood Feared Is Happening Now".

The section about Fall focuses on the film fest scene.  He backtracks to the cancellation of SXSW and then assess the unlikelihood that Cannes will happen before arriving at some analysis regarding Venice first and then Telluride and Toronto.

From the article:

"Subsequent festivals in Telluride, Colo., and Toronto are considered even more important to launching year-end films. Still, some experts have warned of a potential coronavirus resurgence in the fall, and many may balk at going even if protective measures are taken and capacity is reduced. And if it looks like the 2020 awards season may be compromised, many prestige films could opt to sit out this festival year entirely."

Further on in the article, in the Winter section, Buchanan suggests that changing Oscar plans could also impact release strategies for some of the year's most eagerly awaited titles that would, under normal circumstances, be potential fest players.

Buchanan writes:

"Another possibility that’s been floated is extending Oscar eligibility so that the next show will include films released in both 2020 and 2021, something the academy has not done since several double-decker ceremonies in the 1930s. If academy bigwigs embrace that scenario, major Oscar contenders like this December’s “West Side Story” are in danger of becoming old news by the time voters fill out their ballots, and even Netflix might be tempted to push year-end awards films like David Fincher’s “Mank” and Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy” into 2021."

The upshot here is that there remains a tremendous amount of uncertain and that how this will all play out is a giant Jenga puzzle.

The complete Buchanan article is linked here.


NO NEW NEWS ON CANNES BUT NOW VENICE?

Like every other film fest on the calendar between now and the end of 2020, the Venice Film Fest has to make a decision as to how and if they will go forward.  Screen Daily tackled that issue last Friday with an article written by Gabriele Niola.

Perhaps the most daunting consideration that Venice is contending with is the severity with which Italy has been ravaged by the ongoing pandemic.  In that context, Niola reports that Venice head Alberto Barbera has ruled out a Virtual Venice and that films that have been submitted are under evaluation for inclusion.

Niola also throw some cold water on a notion that was floated last week: the idea of a Cannes/Vencie collaboration.  Niola writes:

"...although his relationship with Cannes delegate general Thierry Fremaux is reportedly a good one – the two have long shared advice and information and are in touch these weeks more than ever – the possibility of a joint festival between the two in the autumn is understood to be very unlikely."

The article also reports that the timeline for an ultimate decision regarding Venice will come  at the end of May or beginning of June.  So it seems we have at least six more weeks or so of speculation regarding what will or won't happen on the Lido.

The complete Screen Daily article is linked here.

LATE BREAKING...VENICE SPOKES PERSON SAYS IT'S STILL ON

A number of reports from an interview in Italy with Roberto Cicutto, President of the Venice Biennale that says Venice is still set to occur from Sept. 2-12 and that a Cannes collaboration is not likely.

From Variety.


SPC ACQUIRES JULIA

In news that should make Telluride watchers sit up and take notice was the announcement this week that Sony Pictures Classics had acquired distribution rights for the upcoming Julia Child documentary from Julie Cohen and Betsy West the duo behind the Oscar nominated doc about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg-RBG.

The deal includes SPC's first joint effort with CNN.

The project is not currently completed and is slated for a 2021 release according to IMDb.  That suggests that if it is a Telluride play that it most probably would be looking at TFF #48.

Deadline has the story here.


MY INVITE TO OPINE

I was fortunate enough to be asked by Jordan Ruimy who runs the world of Reel website to join one of his latest projects.  WOR will publishing a large poll of film peeps about the best films of the 1990's and the 2000's soon.  Jordan os asking each respondent to chose their five best films of each decade.

Here's the announcement from WOR:

As you can see, the '90's list will go up at the end of this month with the survey of the 2000's scheduled in early May,

My thanks to Jordan for the invitation.  For those that may be curious, here are the choices I sent Jordan over the weekend:

The 1990's: Goodfellas, L.A. Confidential, Magnolia, Pulp Fiction, Schindler's List. (Others I considered: Fargo, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and The Usual Suspects)

The 2000's: Children of Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood. (Others: The Hours, Almost Famous, Memento, The Lives of Others, The White Ribbon).

I'll pass it along when the survey goes up at World of Reel.

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