Does San Sebastian List Tell Us Anything? / I'm Thinking of Ending Things Goes Early / Sasha Weighs In on Oscar

DOES SAN SEBASTIAN LIST TELL US ANYTHING?

San Sebastian is planning for its film fest which runs Sept. 18-26...roughly two weeks after TFF and a week after Toronto.  They've announced their first set of selected films which include a number of Cannes "branded" films.  Of not to Telluride watchers probably are Summer of '85, Another round and True Mothers...which, barring being World Premieres for TIFF might indicate them as possibilities for TFF #47.

I'll point out again that when TIFF announced their Cannes titles a few weeks back, I pointed out that the TIFF press language called their selections as "premieres" without any qualifying status (i.e. "World" or "North American".  My point was the notion that if TIFF could have announced them as a "World" or "North American" premiere they would have.  Of course, I could be totally wrong.

Still, perhaps these selections are pointing to the most likely Cannes "crossovers" this year.


Here's the San Sebastian initial announcement from Variety.


I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS GOES EARLY

Netflix has announced that Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things will drop on Sept. 4th which is now the second day of the Telluride Film Festival.  The announcement would certainly suggest that the film would not be at TFF #47 in a "normal" world.  In a Covid-19 world, who knows?

But it also probably underscores Netflix's earlier revelation that they won't be including ANY of their titles at ANY film fest this fall.

As many of you know, I have been harboring a theory that there Netflix might pop some of their titles at Telluride under cover of Telluride's policy of not revealing titles until the day before the fest starts.

My takeaway from this information that my theory seems even less likely to come to pass and it was a highly unlikely scenario to begin with.  Still, I'm not likely to abandon it it completely.


SASHA WEIGHS IN ON OSCAR

My friend Sasha Stone, founder of Awards Daily posted some serious and early Oscar prognostication since my last post.  Included in the article re her picks for Best PIc as well as a list forwarded to her from another friend.  I can tell you that Sasha's friend is also pretty good at predicting Oscar fortunes.

The friend's list includes:

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
The French Dispatch (Searchlight)
Hamilton (Disney)
Mank (Netflix)
Minari (A24)
Nomadland (Searchlight)
Stillwater (Focus)
Tenet (Warner Bros.)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
West Side Story (Fox/Disney)

Sasha's list includes:

Mank
West Side Story
Nightmare Alley
News of the World
Tenet
Nomadland
Stillwater
Trial of the Chicago 7
The Father
Da 5 Bloods

Films on both lists: Mank, Da Five Bloods, Chicago 7, Nomadland, Stillwater, Tenet and West Side Story.  Of those only Nomadland seems to me to be a solid TFF prospect.  Da Five Bloods, Mank and Chicago 7 are all Netflix joints now and I don't see Tenet or West Side Story being at a fest at all.  Stillwater from Focus is intriguing.  Whether it's a serious TFF possibility depends on if it's finished and what path Focus Features decides to follow.

The friend's other three films are: The French Dispatch, Hamilton and Minari.  Of that list only The French Dispatch might be in the cards for TFF.  Hamilton is playing now on Disney+,  Minari was a Sundance film.

Sasha's other four are: The Father (also a Sundance title), Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley which recent reports suggest wasn't quite half-filmed when production shut down due to the pandemic-I don't think it'll be close to ready for TFF.  Actually, I'll be surprised of it's ready in time for Oscar consideration this year even with the extended release window currently in place.  Sasha's third film is Paul Greengrass' News of the World which hasn't been high on my list for TFF all along as Greengrass has never played anything at Telluride and also due to the lack of much a Telluride profile from its distributor/studio (Columbia/Universal).

Sasha's complete article is here and includes some mention of Best Director and Best Actor possibilities.

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Views of Cannes' Titles (That We Might See?) / The Distribs: Searchlight

VIEWS OF CANNES' TITLES (THAT WE MIGHT SEE?)

With the announcement on Wednesday of 50+ films that will carry the seal of official selection for the 73rd Cannes Film Festival going forward through the rest of 2020 and into 2021 we began to see the release of tearers, trialers and stills from a njumber of projects.  I'm passing along some of those that I came across over the past few days with an emphasis being on thise titles that feel like they could make their way to Telluride.

TRALER FOR THE FRENCH DISPATCH/WES ANDERSON (YouTube)

TRAILER FOR ANOTHER ROUND/THOMAS VINTERBERG (YouYube)

TEASER FOR ETE '85 (SUMMER '85)/FRANCOIS OZON (YouTube)

TEASER FOR TRUE MOTHERS/NAOMI KAWASE (YouTube)

STILLS FROM MANGROVE AND LOVER'S ROCK/STEVE MC QUEEN (The Film Stage)

THE DISTRIBS: SEARCHLIGHT

The annual summer look at film distribution outfits that have had a significant relationship with the Telluride Film Festival over the years begins today.

We'll begin our analysis with TFF stalwart Searchlight (used to be Fox Searchlight but underwent the name alteration after Disney bought them).

Searchlight's recent history with TFF:

2019: A Hidden Life (1)
2018: The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Ne?, The Old Man and the Gun (3)
2017: The Shape of Water (Best Picture Oscar), Battle of the Sexes (2)
2016: No Show
2015: He Named Me Malala (1)
2014: Birdman (Best Picture Oscar), Wild (2)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Best Picture Oscar) (1)
2012: No Show
2011: Shame, The Descendants (2)
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan (3)
2009: No Show
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Best Picture) (1)
2007: Juno, The Savages (2)
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake (2)
2005: Bee Season (1)
2004: Kinsey (1)

That means Searchlight averages just under 1 1/2 films at TFF each year over the last 16 years.  This year their cupboard is full of films that could make an appearance at TFF.  As we'll be saying all summer...so much is going to depend on the perception of film makers, talent, distributors and pass holders as to what films actually end up in The SHOW.

That said, Searchlight has four contenders.

The first to mention is Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch.  It's a film that would not have been on the Telluride radar at all if things were "normal" but the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in it being moved off its original release date to a current announced date of Oct. 16th.  That signals that the film could conceiveably play any or all of the fall fests TFF, TIFF, Venice and/or New York.  It was believed that it would be the opening night film for Cannes original May dates, you know that it must be ready to screen for audiences.

Next up is Chloe Zhao's Nomadland starring Frances McDormand.  This film was on my lookout list last year! However, I was surprised that we didn't see it show up on the Cannes list last week.  That could be a warning sign.  It could also mean that Searchlight decided not to go after a Cannes slot ofr the film...maybe Venice?

The other two Searchlight properties may have trouble being ready for a TFF date.  Michael Showalter's The Eyes of Tammy Faye went into post-production in December and Taika Waititi's Next Goal Wins went into post in January.  With the shutdown of the industry in March due to the pandemic, both films are question marks at this time.

Also, a quick word about a fifth film, Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley.  Prior to the pandemic I might have thought that this film had an outside shot at making Telluride but it looked like Del Toro would have to really work quickly to get it done in time.  Now, however, with IMDb describing the film as "filming" (as of Jan. 20th) I have to think that it's going to be a 2021 release.

Chances for TFF #47:

The French Dispatch 40%
Nomadland 40%
Tammy Faye and Next Goal Wins 25%

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Cannes Titles Revealed / Fremaux Interview Sheds Light / Analysis of the Cannes Selections

CANNES TITLES REVEALED

The 73rd Cannes Film Fest list ofn 50ish films that would have been chosen was announced yesterday.  FIlms gthat seemed to me to have some overt Telluride possibilities included:

Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch
Francois Ozon's Summer '85
Francis Lee's Ammonite
Steve McQueen's duo of Mangrove and Lover's Rock from what was supposed to have been a T.V. series but is now billed as six small films-Small Axe was the title of the anthology.
Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round


Here's the complete list of films announced:

“The French Dispatch,” Wes Anderson
“Summer of 85,” François Ozon
“True Mothers,” Naomi Kawase
“Lover’s Rock,” Steve McQueen
“Mangrove,” Steve McQueen
“Druk (Another Round),” Thomas Vinterberg
“Peninsula,” Sang-ho Yeon
“ADN,” Maïwenn
“Soul,” Pete Docter
“Ammonite,” Francis Lee
“Falling,” Viggo Mortensen
“Broken Keys,” Jimmy Keyrouz
“Truffle Hunters,” Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck
“Aya and the Witch,” Goro Miyazaki
“Limbo,” Ben Sharrock
“Heaven,” Im Sang-soo
“Last Words,” Jonathan Nossiter
“Des Hommes,” Lucas Belvaux
“Passion Simple,” Danielle Arbid
“Good Man,” Marie-Castille Mention Schaar
“The Things We Say, the Things We Do,” Emmanuel Mouret
“John and the Hole,” Pascual Sisto
“Limbo,” Ben Sharrock
“Here We Are,” Nir Bergman
“Rouge,” Farid Bentoumi
“Sweat,” Magnus von Horn
“Teddy,” Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma
“Un médecin de nuit,” Elie Wajeman
“Enfant Terrible,” Oskar Roehler
“Nadia, Butterfly,” Pascal Plante
“Pleasure,” Ninja Thyberg
“Slalom,” Charlène Favier
“Casa de Antiguidades,” João Paulo Miranda Maria
“Ibrahim,” Samuel Gueismi
“Gagarine,” Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh
“16 Printemps,” Suzanne Lindon
“Vaurien,” Peter Dourountzis
“Garçon chiffon,” Nicolas Maury
“Si Le Vent Tombe,” Nora Martirosyan
“On the Way to the Billion,” Dieudo Hamadi
“9 Days at Raqqa,” Xavier de Lauzanne
“Cévennes,” Caroline Vignal
“French Tench,” Bruno Podalydès
“Un Triomphe,” Emmanuel Courcol
“Le Discours,” Laurent Tirard
“L’Origine du Monde,” Laurent Lafitte
“Flee,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen
“Eight and a Half,” Ann Hui, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Ringo Lam, Patrick Tam, Johnnie To, Hark Tsui, John Woo, Woo-Ping Yuen

I have linked coverage of the announcement from:

Indiewire

Variety

Deadline



FREMAUX INTERVIEW SHEDS LIGHT

Cannes Artistic Director Thierry Fremuax (via Indiewire)

Tuesday, the day before the Cannes lineup announcement, Variety's Elsa Keslassy reported that Cannes artistic Director Thierry Fremaux had written a letter highlighting some of the facts of the selections and the process for this most unusual year.

Among the items of interest in the article that Keslassy penned from that letter is this paragraph:

"Fremaux also said Cannes’ official selection has been invited, as per tradition, to festivals that succeed it, such as Locarno, Telluride, Toronto, Deauville, San Sebastian, Pusan, Angoulême (for French cinema), Morelia, New York, Lyon, Rome, Rio, Tokyo, Mumbai or Mar del Plata and even Sundance."

As best as I can tell, it's the first acknowledgement from one of the players that Telluride will be in the mix for some of these Cannes #73 films,  Up until this point I have been assuming that the traditionally strong connection between Cannes and Telluride would continue to exist but the news stories that I have seen have never explicitly mentioned T-ride.  They had explicitly mentioned a whole slew of other fests but I hadn't seen Telluride by name until Tuesday.

Keslassy followed the Tuesday article with another yesterday after the Cannes lineup was announced and it also included a nod to Telluride programming Cannes' titles:

"The other fests that are expected to play Cannes-labeled films include Telluride, Deauville, Busan, Morelia, New York, Sundance and Fremaux’s own Lumiere festival in Lyon."

Now our next best move is to start paying attention to how Venice, Toronto and New York structure themselves and announce the films that will play at each of those stops.  We may still be able to figure out some of what will be a part of TFF #47.

Here's the link to the Fremaux letter article.

Today's follow-up is linked above.


ANALYSIS OF THE CANNES SELECTIONS

Indiwire's Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson in separate posts yesterday took some time to parse the list of 50+ films that Cannes has now said would have played as a part of Cannes #73.

Kohn's article looks at a number of topics including films that were not named.  That list included some films that are presumed to be eyeing Cannes for 2021 like Paul Verhoeven's Bendetta.  Among the other films not named, which I have thought might be part of a normal year's Telluride conversation, were Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks and Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island.

Kohn's article is linked here.

Thompson's story focuses on the Oscar chances of the films that were named.  Her conclusion-Oscar fare is not in abundance in this lineup. 

Her assessment is that the best Oscar candidates here are Anderson's The French Dispatch, Lee's Ammonite and Docter's Soul.

Incidentally, Thompson also makes the claim in print that we can expect to see some Cannes titles at TFF #47:

"The Cannes 2020 selection will eventually get that extra push from critics, media and audiences at Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York, in whatever hybrid form they take"

The Thompson article is linked here.

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TFF #47 - LONGER / France's Decision Makes Cannes Less Likely / Fremaux Interview Provides Some Insight / Cannes Sidebars Decide No-Go in 2020 / THR Asks the Question: Where Would Films Go?

TFF #47 WILL BE LONGER

The Telluride Daily Planet Reports that the Telluride Town Council agreed last night (with stipulations) to add an extra day to TFF #47.  This year's fest is now planned to take off on Thursday, Sept. 3.

From Suzanne Cheavens/ The Watch/Daily Planet:

"Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is trying to envision its world-renowned gathering of cinephiles in a world post-COVID-19, and in doing so, wants to create more space. Film fest representative Brandt Garber requested one additional day to tack on to its Labor Day weekend festival, which takes place in numerous venues around town. Telluride Town Council agreed unanimously to the extra day.

Originally scheduled from Sept. 2-7, the event, which attracts an international crowd of nearly 3,000 film-lovers, film industry heavyweights and a fleet of crew and volunteers, will now begin Sept. 1. Garber explained the reasoning behind wanting an additional day added.
The article says Sept. 1 but I believe they mean Sept. 3rd which is the actual date for the Thursday prior to Labor Day."

The last time the fest was a five day affair was in 2013 when a day was added as a part of the film festival celebrating its 40th iteration.

Perhaps most importantly...this signals that the fest is still strongly committed to occurring.

The complete article is linked here.


FRANCE'S DECISION MAKES CANNES LESS LIKELY

Multiple reports over the past few days have revealed that French President Macron has extended that country's restrictions regarding Covid-19 deeper into the year.  The order also included bans on "festival" style events until mid-July.  That's a nail in the coffin of the suspected dates that Cannes had reportedly circled for a belated attempt to mount the fest (June 23-July 4 per Deadline).  Deadline quoting a Cannes press release:

"Following the French President’ statement, on Monday, April 13th, we acknowledged that the postponement of the 73rd International Cannes Film Festival, initially considered for the end of June to the beginning of July, is no longer an option."

However, Indewire published this statement released by the film fest:

“It is clearly difficult to assume that the Festival de Cannes could be held this year in its original form.  Nevertheless, since yesterday evening we have started many discussions with professionals, in France and abroad. They agree that the Festival de Cannes, an essential pillar for the film industry, must explore all contingencies allowing to support the year of Cinema by making Cannes 2020 real, in a way or another.”

So, clearly, Thierry Fremaux and his crew haven't thrown in the towel as yet but it's also growing increasingly clear that the options for Cannes are winnowing to very few.

Complete coverage of these details is linked here from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

Deadline

The Playlist



FREMAUX INTERVIEW PROVIDES SOME INSIGHT

In an interview with Variety posted yesterday, Cannes Director Thierry Fremaux talks candidly about where the Cannes Fest with regard to whether some version of the fest goes forward in 2020.

Highlights include the lack of an absolute decision to cancel the festival outright and the possibility of teaming up with one or more European fall film fests in some capacity.

No North American film fest is mentioned by Fremaux -Telluride, Toronto or New York-suggesting that keeping a version of the fest or labeling a film or part of some other fest as a Cannes 2020 presentation would likely remain Eurocentric.

Read the interview from Variety here.



CANNES SIDEBARS DECIDE NO-GO IN 2020

After all of the above went down on Tuesday, Cannes Sidebar sections, Directors' Fortnight, Critics' Week and ACID announced Wednesday that those sections would not be held in Cannes this year.

Variety, among others, had the statement from them:

“The Directors’ Fortnight, La Semaine de la Critique and ACID regret to announce the cancellation of their 2020 editions in Cannes.  The health crisis we are all presently facing makes it impossible to anticipate the practical course of events."

Multiple reports suggested, however, that en effort would be made to aid films that were already scheduled for those sections to find homes at other film fests still on the schedule for later this year.

The cancellation of the three sidebar programs is yet another indication that the main event at Cannes is closer to being cancelled in its traditional state and possibly altogether in any form.

Coverage of the Sidebar announcement is linked here from:

Variety

The Hollywood Reporter

Indiewire

Deadline



THR ASKS THE QUESTION: WHERE WOULD FILMS GO?

In light of the continuing developments regarding the Cannes Film Fest and the increasing chances that it just doesn't happen, The Hollywood Reporter writers Alex Ritman and Scott Roxborough posted a piece on Tuesday asking the question: "What Happens to Cannes-Bound Films Now?

That's a reasonable question.

Roxborough and Ritman lay out speculation for 13 films that were hinted at as Cannes possibilities and assess their possible fall film fest fate.  They work on the assumption that Telluride, Venice and Toronto will happen.

The only film that gets a mention with Telluride as a specific possible landing spot is Joe Wright's The Woman in the Window which has been batted around quite bit regarding its release date.

Other films on the THR story's list are:

The French Dispatch
Benedetta
Soul
Top Gun: Maverick
Memoria
Tre Piani
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Flag Day
Tenet
Last Night in Soho
Penninsula
Summer of '85

From this list, my "best bets" for Telluride inclusion would be: The Trial of the Chicago 7, The French Dispatch, Summer of '85, Tre Piani and Flag Day.

The complete THR story is linked here.


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Word on the Street / 25 Films for Cannes? / Inarritu's Return?

WORD ON THE STREET

As best as I can tell, we got our first word about the status of the 47th Telluride Film Festival from a story posted on The Denver Post's "The Know" website.  That story was posted Tuesday.  The post focused on any number of film related activities in Colorado for the rest of 2020 and their status at this point in relation to the Covid-19 health crisis.

Included as a part of the story was an assessment concerning film festivals within the state including TFF #47.  The relevant paragraph is here:

"The popular Film on the Rocks program at Red Rocks Amphitheatre is scheduled to go on as planned this summer, pending city restrictions, Erickson said. Separate from Denver Film, so is the 47th Telluride Film Festival, an internationally acclaimed event (scheduled for Sept. 4-7) where many Oscar-winning features make their debut, according to a spokeswoman."

So, the status at the moment for TFF #47 is a go. 

The complete Denver Post/The Know story is linked here.

Complicating matters, as I have been detailing here for the past few weeks, is the decision by organizers of the Cannes Film Festival to postpone that fest.  Reports have been that the Cannes soiree is likely to be re-set for late June or early July.  At least that's the plan for the moment. 

The reality is that what form Cannes will take for 2020, when it will happen or even if it will happen still seem to be relevant questions.  And, again, not to beat the drum too much, but the Cannes/Telluride overlap of  titles from year to year is substantial averaging 7.5 films shared per year which, again on average, means that Cannes titles are somewhere in the neighborhood of nearly 20% of the feature films that screen at TFF. 

The point being that whatever Cannes does will have some ripple effect in as far as TFF #47 os concerned.

More to come, as I will continue monitoring for whatever information I can find for both T-ride and Cannes in the coming days.

Now...speaking of Cannes...again....


25 FILMS FOR CANNES

In the midst of uncertainty regarding the fate and form of the 73rd Cannes Film Fest, Indiewire writers (Eric Kohn, David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Ryan Lattanzio and Zack Sharf) posted their 25 film Cannes wish list earlier this week.  Not only is is a "wish list" but it's also a list of films with very high Cannes potential.

So, as is my custom, I took a look at what the Indiewire folks were pointing at and whether some of the films they are signaling might have a shot at screening at The SHOW.

Here's what I found as TFF possibles:

Annette/dir: Leos Carax.  Why? It features one of last year's TFF tribute recipients, Adam Driver as well as TFF #39 tribute recipient Marion Cotillard.  It's from Amazon Studios.  It has no set U.S, release date but IMDb says it is set for a Nov. 27th release in Turkey.

Bergman Island/dir: Mia Hansen Love.  Why?  Hansen-Love has made Telluride appearances before: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come). 

The French Dispatch/dir: Wes Anderson.  "Hold up there Newt"  my mind hears some of you saying..."The French Dispatch is set for release on July 24th".  And, yeah, that's true...for the moment.  I suspect that July 24th date was set with a Cannes bow in mind in May.  Now that the Cannes date has changed, I think a whole different strategy might emerge for the film.  The film is under The Searchlight banner (new since the Disney folks dropped the word "Fox" from in front of Searchlight) and I could see them deciding that a new release date after some fall fest presence might be a smart play even with a Cannes that premiered the film in late June/July.  It's still an unlikely TFF choice but now it's not outside of the realm of possibility.

Summer of '85/dir: Francois Ozon.  Ozon has played TFF before with 2016's Frantz. 

Where Is Anne Frank/dir: Ari Folman.  The director of Waltz with Bashir (TFF #35) returns with this animated meditation on Anne Frank. 

The Woman in the Window/dir: Joe Wright.  A film that was on my TFF #46 watchlist for some time and then got dropped when its release date was changed.  It could be back in the convo for TFF #47 if it does make a Cannes appearance.  Certainly there are plenty of TFF connectives involved: Wright who was at TFF #44.  Stars Amy Adams (TFF #43 tribute), Jennifer Jason Leigh (TFF #20 tribute and back in 2007 with Margot at the Wedding), Gary Oldman (at TFF #44 with Darkest Hour). Writer Tracy Letts (at TFF #44 with Lady Bird).  Who knows?

The complete compilation of 25 films on he Indiewire wish list is linked here .



INARRITU'S RETURN?

News from Mexico is that multiple Oscar winner and frequent Telluride presence, Alejandro Inarritu os prepping his next feature film. 

Inarritu hasn't directed a feature since 2015's The Revenant.  His last film at TFF was 2014's Oscar winner Birdman.  He has also screened Babel and Biutiful at TFF as well as being a frequent guest and attendee of the fest often in support of Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity and Roma) and Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water).

The Film Stage reports that Inarritu has begun very preliminary prep work in Mexico City.

Despite the fact that The Revenant did not make a play at TFF, you still have to believe that, if the timing were right, a new Inarritu would be a very big possibility for a TFF bow.

Here's the link to The Film Stage story.



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