TFF Oscar Streak Continues / 2021 Oscar Rundown

 TFF OSCAR STREAK CONTINUES

The Telluride Film Festival didn't happen for the 2020-21 Oscar season and still managed to extend its streak of having scheduled and screened (at a drive-in) the eventual Best Picture Oscar winner.  11 of the last 13 Oscar winning Best Pictures screened as a part of the festival.  The only two exceptions have been The Hurt Locker for 2009 and Green Book for 2018.

Here's the run:

2008: Slumdog Millionaire

2010: The King's Speech

2011: The Artist

2012: Argo

2013: 12 Years a Slave

2014: Birdman

2015: Spotlight

2016: Moonlight

2017: The Shape of Water

2019: Parasite

2020: Nomadland

2021 OSCAR RUNDOWN

Here are the winners of the 2021 Academy Awards:

Best Picture: Nomadland. 

Best Direction: Chloe Zhao/Nomadland,

Best Actress: Frances McDormand/Nomadland

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins/The Father.

Best Supporting Actress: Yuh-jung Youn/Minari.  

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya/Judas and the Black Messiah.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Father.

Best Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman.

Best International Feature: Another Round. 

Best Documentary Feature: My Octopus Teacher.

Best Animated Feature: Soul. 

Best Original Score: Soul. 

Best Original Song: Fight for You/Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Cinematography: Mank.

Best Editing: Sound of Metal.

Best Production Design: Mank. 

Best Costume Design: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. 

Best Makeup/Hair: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Best Sound: Sound of Metal. 

Best Visual Effects: Tenet. 

Best Animated Short: If Anything Happens I Love You. 

Best Live Action Short: Two Distant Strangers.  

Best Documentary Short: Colette

Nomadland led the way with three wins- Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actress-on a night when The Academy really did share the wealth.  Its wins along with the two for The Father- Best Actor and  Best Adapted Screenplay-gave TFF #47 a respectable total of five Oscars.

The Father' double win was part of a substantial list of two win films on the night.

The rundown of wins by film:

Nomadland- 3- Picture, Direction, Actress.

The Father- 2- Actor, Adapted Screenplay

Soul- 2- Animated Feature, Score

Judas and the Black Messiah- 2- Supporting Actor, Song

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom- 2- Costumes, Makeup/Hair

Sound of Metal- 2- Editing, Sound

Mank- 2- Production Design, Cinematography

Single feature film wins for: Minari, Promising Young Woman, Another Round, My Octopus Teacher and Tenet.

On a personal level:

I correctly predicted 16 of the 23 categories with an additional four statues going to films that I listed as Upset Specials. That's just shy of 70% which is under my average (79.6%) for the past several years.

My biggest surprise of the evening was McDormand winning Best Actress.  I really did not believe she's win again so soon after her Three Billboards win.

Now we gear up with some seriousness of purpose working under the assumption the Telluride happens in 19 weeks to suss out what its lineup looks will look like.

Back to it!

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Telluride at Home- My List / What I Would Have Seen / Lists from Others / McCarthy Reminisces / Venice Begins: Hot Films per The Playlist

TELLURIDE AT HOME- MY LIST

Here it is.  My planned viewing over the next few days as the Mrs. and I celebrate the Telluride Film Festival that could not be by re-visiting some of our favorite films that we've seen from TFFs since we began attending in 2006.

I estimate that between the two of us, my wife and I have seen something more than 150 films that have been screened at Telluride over the past 14 years.  From that list, I whittled down to 35+ films and then we both selected 10ish films each.  About half a dozen made both of our lists and then we added two each plus a special addition of Alejandro Inarritu's Babel-the first film we saw in 2006 at TFF #33

Included is my "programming" for the next few days with the caveat that the following is what we intend to do but just like the real Telluride Film Festival...you never know how circumstances will alter your plans.

Drumroll please...

9/3 THURS. BABEL (‘06 #33)

9/4 FRI.         FIRST MAN (‘18  #45), FRANCES HA (‘12 #39)

9/5 SAT.         12 YEARS A SLAVE (‘13 #40), THE DIVING BELL AND THE                                                          BUTTERFLY(‘07 #34), LADY BIRD (‘17 #44)

9/6 SUN. THE ARTIST (‘11 #38), SHAME (‘11 #38), WILD TALES (‘14 #41)

9/7 MON. A SEPARATION (‘11 #38), BIRDMAN (‘14 #41)

BABEL/NETFLIX

FIRST MAN/AMAZON PRIME

FRANCES HA/NETFLIX

12 YEARS A SLAVE/AMAZON PRIME

THE DIVING BELL…/HBO

LADY BIRD/NETFLIX

THE ARTIST/NETFLIX

SHAME/AMAZON PRIME

WILD TALES/AMAZON PRIME

A SEPARATION/AMAZON PRIME

BIRDMAN/AMAZON PRIME

WHAT I WOULD HAVE SEEN

And while we're on the subject of Telluride lists...here's my list of the 10 films from TFF #47's announced list that I would have likely sought out had the fest actually happened and I had been in The Ride (in alpha order):

All In: The Fight for Democracy

Ammonite

The Bee Gees: How Do You Mend a Broken Heart

Charlatan

The Duke

The Father

Mainstream

MLK/FBI

Nomadland

The Truffle Hunters

How about you?  What would you have tried to get in?

LISTS FROM OTHERS

As promised, I am including "Telluride at Home" lists from friends who have responded to me over the last ten days or so.

From MTFB friend Jack Wertzberger:

So here, on an equal level are my top ten since 2006:

Moonlight

4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days

Nebraska

Slumdog Millionaire

Parasite

California Typewriter

Roma

The Lives of Others

Seymour

La La Land

Films I wish I had seen:

He Named Me Malala

Mr Turner

First Cow

Peggy Guggenheim

Love, Cecil

Biggest Little Farm

Eyes of Orson Welles

Judy

Uncut Gems

Carmichael & Shane

Jack's list and mine don't overlap but I can say a ton of his were nearly on mine including near misses: La La Land, Moonlight, Slumdog and Nebraska.

MTFB friend and "tiffgraffer" Rich Young:

As I mourn for many things this year, including TIFF and TFF, I hope you’re well.  Here’s my list of Telluride faves from my years of attendance:

Anomalisa 15

The Artist 11 (with my 9 and 13 year old kids, transfixed in the open air screening)

Best of Youth 03 (fun banter in line with multiple directors over 2 successive midnight screenings)

Blue Is the Warmest Colour 13

The Descendants 11

Dogville 03

Inside Llewyn Davis 13

LadyBird 17

Lost In Translation 03

Son of Saul 15

Under The Skin 13

Rich and I both included Lady Bird and The Artist.

The very kind and thoughtful friend of the blog Chris Schneider:

So here is my list. Some I want to revisit and some I just haven't seen yet. I'm going to settle in this weekend and make my way through the list. 

Frances Ha 2012

Inside Llewyn Davis 2013

Tim's Vermeer 2013

Wild Tales 2014

Foxcatcher 2014

Carol 2015

Hitchcock/Truffaut 2015

Toni Erdmann 2016

Moonlight 2016

The Cotton Club Encore 2017

The Rider 2017

First Man 2018

Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2018

First Cow 2019

Bonus flick in case I'm needing a late night bust of energy: Uncut Gems 2019

Chris and I double up on Frances Ha, Wild Tales and First Man.


And from longtime MTFB reader and friend Patrick Pringle:


Here is the combined list from Patrick and I. It’s a bit weird. In no particular order...

Stories We Tell
The Insult
A Separation
Parasite
Biggest Little Farm
The Descendants
The Lyrebird
Ladybird
Marriage Story
Spotlight

So Patrick and I would be in the same theater for A Separation and Lady Bird.


MC CARTHY REMINISCES

Todd McCarthy, formerly of The Hollywood Reporter and currently of Deadline.com penned a wonderful look back at his time at the Telluride Film Festival on Wednesday.  McCarthy first attended TFF in 1976-that was TFF #3. 

You can find McCarthy's personal walk down The SHOW's memory lane from Deadline linked here.

VENICE BEGINS: HOT FILMS PER THE PLAYLIST

The Venice Film Festival is underway in Italy.  As many MTFB readers know, there has been, especially in the past few years, a significant overlap of films that screen both at Venice and Telluride and that remained true for this Covid-impacted year.

Nearly a quarter of the feature films on TFF's announced list for what would have been TFF #47 are going to screen in some form as a part of the Venetian fest over the next several days.  

The Playlist published a list and descriptions this week (on Monday) of  what they termed "Must see" films.  I culled that article to determine what films the two fests would have shred that made that list and they were:

Mainstream

Nomadland

Mandibules

and from their Honorable Mentions list: Notturno.

The Playlist list is here.

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Two Weeks... / Telluride at Home / First Looks: Fireball and Mainstream / The Usual Suspects-Covid Edition

TWO WEEKS...

Are you like me?

We're two weeks from what would have been the last day of TFF #47.

It's not that I haven't internalized that the fest isn't going to happen this year.  I had been contemplating the possibility for quite a while before the announcement dropped on July 14th.  However, as the dates approach that would have been the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival (and my 15th time to attend) I, like I suspect many of you, have a serious pang of longing and regret that our normally glorious weekend of film and fun will come and go more or less as just another weekend in Covid-19 America.

It will be weird and dis-orienting two weeks from today, when I would be winding the weekend down.  My habit over the past few years has been to get up on Labor Day to grab an early screening of something that has become buzzy over the weekend (the last two years that my films on Monday morning have been Cold War and Parasite...not bad, eh?) and then booking to Town Park to grab lunch and ice cream, say goodbye to whomever I could find there that needed saying goodbye to...that's how I met Barry Jenkins four years ago.  And then climb in the mini-van and head south and east.

This year, I'll already be "south and east" when I wake up on Labor Day.  Sooooo....


TELLURIDE AT HOME

I've decided that I'm programming a weekend at home of Telluride films from that past 14 editions that either I have seen or missed when they were in T-ride and that I still haven't visited.  The wife and I started compiling a list yesterday.  We'll whittle it down until we get to 10 or so films.  Then, in the tradition of Telluride, I'll announce my list for "Telluride at Home" on Thursday, Sept. 3rd.  The day before my festival starts.

What about you?  If you were to program a Telluride Fest from the years you've been attending, what would you include?  What would re-visit?  What films did you miss that you still haven't seen but wished you had?  Make a list of ten.

Drop me a line with your list if you feel like it.  I might well publish those here.


FIRST LOOKS: FIREBALL AND MAINSTREAM


As a result of their selections for TIFF and Venice, we have our first glimpses of would-be TFF #$7 films.  Werner Herzog's Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds and Gia Coppola's Mainstream.

From the Toronto PR for Fireball, it's Clive Oppenhiemer and Herzog as they search the world for meteors and stories of meteors.

From Venice, we got a still from her new film, Mainstream via Twitter.  It looks intriguing:

THE USUAL SUSPECTS: COVID-19 EDITION

Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent in Roger Michell's The Duke 

Looking over the 29 feature film titles that were announced as what would have been selections had TFF #47 taken place, I can't help but notice that a number of folks who have had a presence at TFF in past Telluride Film Festivals were returning.  Some, like Chloe Zhao were returning after a maiden voyage with the fest.  Zhao's The Rider screened at Telluride in 2017.  The lineup also included Werner Herzog who is a mainstay of many, many TFF lineups.

Here's a quick rundown of folks that are or may soon be on my list of TFF"s "Usual Suspects" that are included in the TFF #47 lineup:

*Liz Garbus/All In: The Fight for Democracy  (Love, Marilyn TFF #39)
*Andrey Tarkovsky/Andrey Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (Tarkovsky's works have often been featured at TFF)
*Frank Marshall/The Bees Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (Marshall is on TFF's Board of Advisors)
*Roger Michell/The Duke (Michell's TFF credits include: Venus, Hyde Park on Hudson and Enduring Love)
*Gia Coppola/Mainstream (Coppola's first and only feature thus far, Palo Alto, was at TFF #40)
*Chloe Zhao/Nomadland (Zhao's The Rider was at TFF #44)
*Gianfranco Rosi/Notturno (Rosi was last at Telluride in 2016 with Fire at Sea)
*Mohammad Rasoulof/There Is No Evil (TFF tribute recipient in 2013, last film at TFF was 2017's A Man of Integrity)
*Lisa Immordino Vreeland/Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (multiple TFF appearances: Love, Cecil, Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel)

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When Will TFF Announce? / Ten Bets #4 / Some Notes on The French Dispatch / The Telluride Drive-In?

WHEN WILL TFF ANNOUNCE?

The answer is I don't know.  I had a hunch that we might see an announcement on Friday after both Venice (last Tuesday and Toronto (on Thursday) had revealed their lineups.  It seemed, to me at least, that was possible.  But Friday came and went and no revelation from TFF.

Perhaps after the New York Fest announces their lineup?  For the last four years at least New York's lineup announcement has come on the first or second Tuesday in August which suggests we'll see it either tomorrow or, more likely,  a week from tomorrow.

Maybe after that TFF will reveal.  

TEN BETS #4

I'm a little bit surprised to be doing an updated Ten Bets but here it is.  As a quick reminder, here's a look at the 3rd Ten Bets list from two weeks ago:

10) Fireball
9) John Prine: Hello In There
8) There Is No Evil
7) Soul
6) The French Dispatch
5) Lover's Rock (Small Axe)
4) Mangrove (Small Axe)
3) Notturno
2) Nomadland
1) Ammonite

Other possibilities: Undine, Forgotten We'll Be, Untitled Garbus/Cortes Voting Rights Documentary, The Secrets We Keep, American Utopia and French Exit.

Here's the latest Ten Bets:

10) The French Dispatch

9) The Secrets We Keep

8) Fireball

7) There is No Evil

6) The Truffle Hunters

5) Mangrove

4) Lover's Rock

3) Notturno

2) Ammonite

1) Nomadland

Other possibilities: Undine, Forgotten We'll Be, Untitled Garbus/Cortes Voting Rights Documentary, John Prine: Hello in There, and French Exit.

SOME NOTES ON THE FRENCH DISPATCH

A couple of interesting tidbits emerged the last few days regarding Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch.  Anne Thompson of Indewire suggested this week on the Indiewire podcast Screen Talk  that she thinks that the film could end up bowing at the Berlin Fest in 2021 and just slide into Oscar contention before the new deadline for eligibility (Feb. 28th).  Berlin is currently scheduled to happen Feb. 11-21, 2021.

Here's the link to the Screen Talk article at Indiewire.

Other reporting that seems to semi-confirm the notion comes from a separate Anne Thompson article at Indiewire that says explicitly that the film will be moved to 2021.  Previously it had been reported that the release date was "indefinitely " postponed.  Trailer Track's Anton Volkov also suggested he was hearing 2021 for it.  Volkov had that up on his Twitter account on Friday.

A few days back, Indiewire suggested that when Telluride makes the announcement about what films would have played TFF #47 that The French Dispatch would be on the list (MTFB's July 20).  But when Searchlight announced that the film was off its Oct. 16th premiere date and was delayed indefinitely, I had to wonder if that would affect its Telluride status (assuming that Indiewire has the story right).

Of course, we won't ultimately know until TFF makes their list public.  

THE TELLURIDE DRIVE-IN

Here's what we know...TFF will screen Chloe Zhao's Nomadland at some drive-in theater in the gretaer Los Angeles area (under the banner of "Telluride in Los Angeles") on Sept. 11th.  That's the same day that it will co-premiere at Venice and Toronto.  It has been reported that Zhao and star Frances McDormand will appear at that screening after having appeared virtually for Toronto and Venice.  We don't know any further details beyond that.  

I'm eagerly awaiting further details.

And then there's this intriguing note.  Jake Coyle, writing about the Toronto announcement for the Associated Press last Thursday, included this:

The major fall festivals — Venice, Toronto, Telluride and New York — earlier announced an alliance, saying they would collaborate on programming. Since then, Colorado's Telluride has been canceled but reborn as a drive-in series in Los Angeles. The festivals earlier announced Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” will debut across all four events.

"Drive-In Series"...now that would be intriguing.  My personal guess is that it's likely a misunderstanding on the part of the AP writer.  But....what if it's not?  That could be stunning!

The complete Coyle/AP story is linked here.

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TFF Cancellation After Action Report / 600,000 / TFF #46 Films in 2020

TFF CANCELLATION AFTER ACTION REPORT

Well, this is depressing.  I can't say that I was surprised at the announcement but I can say that I thought that if this was the decision that I thought it might come a bit later.  Nevertheless, I was in Oklahoma City with my wife, who was had a doctor's appointment (not Covid-19 related) when I got the news.  Of course, it knocked the breath out of me.

Then my phone blew up.

Lots of reaching out between me and friends and colleagues social media, email amd direct messages.

Full disclosure here:  I have been a bit "at sea" about the Blog's purpose and utility for the last year.

When TFF declined to accredit me as a journalist last year I wrote that I wasn't really sure about what I was going to do with it.  Ultimately I decided to push on and essentially continue to do what I have been doing since 2008 with the notion that I'd re-evaluate this year and after re-applying for this year's fest.

Now, we're here and the fest has again denied my press accreditation request (I still haven't had an answer from them regarding the rationale for the denial for either last year or this).  And now there is no TFF #47 to write about.

Normally, as you know, I'd be spending this next two months expanding the Ten Bets list and looking forward to the clues provided by announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York (all still on the schedule to happen).  Then I'd be reporting on the fest itself followed by the six month runup to the Oscars and how Telluride films fared and affected that race.  Now?

If you saw yesterday's "Special Post" you may have seen the section devoted to Variety's Peter DeBruge's interview with TFF Executive Director Julie Huntsinger then you know that she revealed that there's a possibility that a TFF #47 list of films that would have played is probably going to be released at some point "later this month".  Huntsinger also revealed that the Tribute recipients had been chosen and were planning to physically attend.

Other questions...

*Is there a TFF #47 poster and artist?
*Who was the Guest Director going to be for 2020?
*Will next year's fest be labeled TFF #47 or #48?
*Did Peter DeBruge hint that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch would have been on the Telluride lineup?

Meanwhile, Todd McCarthy writing for deadline yesterday notes that co-director Todd Luddy has said that TFF had about 20 films lined up and that the list of those will be forthcoming soon.  From the McCarthy post:

"Festival co-director Tom Luddy, the only one of Telluride’s founding team still on board, said that the titles of about 20 would-have-been festival entries will be revealed in a few days. This will at least provide some insight into what key tastemakers regard as among the best films of the year, even if critics and the public will, at this point, have nothing to say in the matter."


My probable path for the next few weeks...

Continue the regular Monday/Thursday publishing schedule (there's certainly no reason for an increased publication schedule now) with the concept continuing to be sussing out what the T-ride lineup might have been.  I'll probably also take a stab at guessing who the tributes might have included though there's no indication in the DeBruge article that we'll ever know who they were.

After the TFF #47 lineup that-might-have-been is announced...re-assessment...again.

Here's the link again to the DeBruge/Huntsinger interview.

The Todd McCarthy/Deadline piece is linked here.



600,000

As a weird counterpoint to the above...MTFB blew through its 600,000th view as a result of Monday's post.  Over the 12 years that I've been doing this I have published 1803 (counting today's post) posts in addition to the various History and Oscar pages.  That means that each post has averaged 333.14 views.  Of course, some posts have-been hit more than others.  The current front runner is from Jan. 4, 2018 in the run-up to the Oscar nominations announcement.  It had 2616 views.

It seems odd and counter-intuitive to have a celebratory note in light of Tuesday's announcement but I'd be less than honest if I said that it didn't matter.  As always, I'm stupefied that anyone has found and read the blog over these past few years.  Again I want to thank everyone that takes the time to read my ramblings.  Thanks to those of you that comment and email and message.  Thanks to so many of you that have taken a moment to say hello during the actual fest itself.  Thanks to the real journalists that have been so kind and  welcoming at Telluride.  And the biggest thanks goes to my wife who has out up with this time consuming passion project for more than a decade.  She's got more patience than I do.


TFF #46 FILMS IN 2020

Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel has put together a compilation of over 100 critics and industry experts to name the best films of 2020 so far (Jordan was kind enough to invite my input but I wasn't able to get a list out together in time).

Some TFF #46 made the list:

#5 The Assistant
#6 First Cow
#12 Beanpole
 

Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods was the top vote getter.

Jordan's entire list of 38 films can be found here.

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SPECIAL WEDNESDAY POST: BREAKING NEWS-THE SHOW WON'T GO ON

We got the news yesterday afternoon that the 47th Telluride Film Festival has been cancelled.  Both press and passholders received the official word via email.  It landed in my inbox at 1:17 EDT/4:17 PDT.  At my house we had both with the press release and the passholders letter.

The press release reads as follows:

47TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL CANCELLED 

DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

TELLURIDE, CO – Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, released today a letter officially cancelling the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, originally scheduled for September 3-7, 2020. 

 “After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride,” the statement says. “But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment.”

 The Festival plans to release its lineup in the near future in order to highlight what it says is “the best in film this year,” and hopes its audience will have the opportunity to see the films at other major fall festivals including NYFF, TIFF and Venice.

 That was followed by the full statement which went to passholders:


After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride. 

While there will be those who might say they’re not surprised by it, that this was inevitable, we beg to differ. It didn’t have to be this way. Until the past week or so, we had a very good plan to put on the SHOW safely. But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment. No matter how much many of us wear our masks and observe social distancing protocols, the pandemic has worsened rather than improved and the health and safety of you - our passholders, filmmakers, the people of Telluride and its surrounding areas - cannot be compromised. 

As you may know, we have been working cooperatively with our fellow fall film festival partners to champion global cinema and its artists. We hope that many of you will seek out and discover the titles we’ve selected for this year’s program at the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, or Venice Film Festival, or when they’re made available on a wider basis. We will announce soon what we have carefully programmed in the hopes that you will experience as we did, the best in film this year. There are some incredible, powerful, and beautiful gems and we’re excited to extol their virtues when the time is right. Follow these titles, support them. We intend to champion them outside of the festival as best we can. 

For those who have supported us and believe in what we are trying to do, our gratitude is enormous. Thank you. We will need you in the coming months in many ways. Let’s light candles now to conjure a better 2021 and Labor Day weekend in Telluride, together, under the stars in the mountains doing what many of us love the most. The way we prefer to experience cinema will return.  Let’s make it so.

We wish you good health, peace and may we collectively move forward to a better world. 

 We understand that film festivals and their long-term health are not top of mind today. A safe vaccine, vital medical interventions for those sick and properly enforced health regulations are. However, we do ask that you take this moment to consider a world where gathering around a shared love of culture is no longer possible and what that means for the psychological condition of the world. If the prospect prompts a sense of despair, please advocate and champion the return of our gatherings that provide vital nourishment and oxygen to humanity's soul. 


Additionally, passholders received another email last night outlining options for what they might chose to do regarding the status of their passes from TFF Chief of Staff Kirsten Laursen:


Dear Passholder,

You may already have seen the news that we are cancelling the 47th Telluride Film Festival with very heavy hearts. Please see attached statement. 

Because the National Film Preserve works year-round to keep the cinematic arts alive (i.e. we operate the now temporarily closed Nugget, with a year round lease obligation) and is dedicated to keeping a light on whether a Festival takes place or not, we are deeply grateful to our sponsors and passholders who recognize this effort by turning their 2020 payment into a tax-deductible donation - either full or partial.  Many have already opted to do this and it is a great relief as we chart our course for the very uncertain coming months. 

Your generosity supports the work we do twelve months a year to support film and filmmakers - even and especially during this uncertain time.  

We hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation, either full or partial in any amount to our 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and we will provide a tax letter for your records. 

If rolling over passes and sponsorship to 2021 is best for you, we will of course accommodate.  

If you decide to request a refund, we refund the total amount paid less a 4% fee to cover expenses associated with your credit card transaction.

I am available to talk through any of this if easier - on my cell below, or I'm happy to give you a call at your convenience.

A gift to the National Film Preserve/Telluride Film Festival is deeply meaningful as we work together to get through this crisis.  We look forward to being together around the silver screen again!  Thank you so much for your dedication to the SHOW.

Thank you. 


Finally, Peter DeBruge at Variety posted an interview with TFF Co- Director Julie Huntsinger last night titled: "Telluride Fest Director on Why They Ultimately Pulled the Plug".

A couple of highlights from that interview include:

“Every single tribute [honoree] was attending, and they were good ones! I had two filmmakers tell me that if they had to walk to Telluride, they would,” says Huntsinger, who hopes to make the lineup public later this month in order to support the films they would have invited."

Two things here: 1) We'll likely get to know what films had been chosen at some point in the not terribly distant future and 2) The Tributes were lined up and ready to go.

DeBruge mentions Ammonite and The French Dispatch in the article and I don't know if he's being coy and telling us those two films will be on the list or if The French Dispatch sounds like a cool title to speculatively include (we're already pretty sure Ammonite is on the list).


The complete article is linked here and has a lot more that you'll find interesting.

I'll be back with the regular Thursday edition of MTFB with musings and such.  Today I have to bag my lodging and deal with rolling over my passes...like a lot of you.

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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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Toronto Announces First Titles / Film Fests Reacting to Oscar Date Change / The Distribs: Focus Features

TORONTO ANNOUNCES FIRST TITLES

The Toronto International Film Festival announced a number of titles yesterday that they are planning to include as a part of a pared back TIFF.  Numerous reports yesterday indicate that TIFF will program approximately 50 films this year.  That contrasts with the common inclusion of 275-300 titles that are customarily a part of the TIFF lineup.

AMong titles announced yesterday were Francis Lee's Ammonite, Thomas Vinterberg's Another Round and Naomi Kawase's True Mothers-three films which I have had on the TFF #47 list of possibles for some time (I've been particularly high on chances that Ammonite might be a TFF choice).

While major publications have not labeled the World Premieres, a couple of the films have been referenced that way.  Indiewire tweeted that Idris Elba starrer Concrete Cowboys will be World Premiering at TIFF and The Danish Film Institute said the same about Another Round.  If that is the case, then that all but removes those titles from TFF #47 consideration.  Further, it implies that entire list of films announced by TIFF are probably World Premieres as well. Halle Berry's directing debut Bruised is also on the list of announced TIFF films.

Other interesting notes:  TIFF will have an initial five days of on-site socially distanced presentations and past that will largely be online.  Other titles will be announced as the summer progresses.

Coverage is here from Variety and Indiewire.




FALL FILM FESTS REACTING TO OSCAR DATE CHANGE

Last week Anne Thompson wrote a piece for Indiewire with her take on how the fall film fests are reacting to the recent announcement that the Oscars ceremony will take place in late April of 2021, a full two months later than their originally announced date.

Among the items of interest mentioned in the piece are:

Telluride is said to be releasing practical plans by mid-July.  Additionally, there are still hurdles for the fest to get through between now and Labor Day.  Thompson writes:

"The Telluride Film Festival is proceeding as though the festival is happening, with practical plans to be revealed by mid-July. But the festival will be dependent on whether the state of Colorado allows theaters to open in time. If not, the county will need to obtain a variance from the state to show films in theaters."

A side note of interest is that Thompson reports that the Toronto International Film Fest is supposed to announce some of their plans within the next few days:

"September’s Toronto festival, which is determined to meet any eventuality and will announce its plans before the end of June."

The third interesting tidbit is in regards to Sony Pictures Classics as they make plans within a shifting landscape.  From the article:

“We kind of plan and prepare,” said Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, who is juggling his release schedule and waiting to see who shows up for “Tenet” on July 31. “And be ready to tonally change the plan if more variables show up. We’ll send our films everywhere we can. We don’t know.”

Which sounds to me like we can probably plan on seeing some SPC projects at Telluride in some form.  I took a look at the current SPC slate in my post on June11th.


Here's Thompson's Indiewire story



THE DISTRIBS: FOCUS FEATURES

Today's look at distributors and what they might submit for TFF #47 focuses on Focus Features.  I have some confidence that Focus has some interest in submitting films for Telluride this year even amidst the pandemic.

So that begs the question...what would they bring?  Their two biggest current projects are Tom McCarthy's Stillwater and Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho.  Stillwater's still set for release on Nov. 6th while Soho has been set for release on April 23rd.  Those release dates suggest that Stillwater is much more likely as a Focus entry for TFF #47 than Soho.  Adding to our calculation is the fact that McCarthy's Spotlight began its run to Oscar glory in 2015 at Venice followed immediately by an appearance at TFF # 42.

Focus has three other films that I believe have at least some limited possibility of making a play at Telluride: Marilyn Agrelo's Sesame Street documentary Street Gang, Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award nominated actress Robin Wright's feature directorial debut-Land (I think I remember Wright being at TFF in 2007) and Eddie Huang's Boogie.


Chances:

Stillwater  50%
Land 35%
Street Gang 25%
Boogie 15%
Last Night in Soho 5%

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Oscar Has a New Date and the Dominoes Have Begun to Fall / First Domino: BAFTA / The Distribs: Neon

OSCAR HAS A NEW DATE AND THE DOMINOES HAVE BEGUN TO FALL

Oscar has moved.  The ceremony is now set to occur on April 25th after the AMPAS Board of Governors made that decision on Monday.  That's a full eight weeks later than the original date of Feb. 28th.

The decision was also accompanied by an extension of the exhibition eligibility widow to the end of February.

Those two decisions set off a chain reaction of other awards season programs as they adjusted to the new elongated season.

Of concern to readers of the space is how that will affect the lineup for TFF #47 and this is just another hurdle that makes planning for Telluride all the more unpredictable.

Pete Hammond writing at Deadline:

"The traditional fall film festival season, which traditionally kicks off the six-month movie awards season in early September at Venice/Telluride/Toronto, is also likely to be affected by the actions of the Academy’s board today. As one studio consultant just told me, anticipating these changes, “Who will have the stomach for an eight-month season?”

Josh Rottenberg writing for the Los Angeles Times:

"While the marquee fall film festivals in Venice, Toronto and Telluride have, for now, largely stuck to their plans, the postponement of the Oscars could also lead some of those gatherings to shift their dates as well, as the ripple effects spread through the whole awards-season ecosystem."

Anne Thompson of Indiewire:

...festivals from Venice and Telluride to Toronto and New York don’t know what form their annual events will take this year. Big titles like David Fincher’s biopic “Mank” starring Oscar-winner Gary Oldman, may thrive without a fall festival launch (Netflix has not committed to sending its films to festivals), but smaller, less pedigreed titles, that need discovery from media and audiences, could fail to build buzz and attention to become must-sees.

There’s another possibility with the Academy date shift: the festivals themselves can move back as well, allowing for safety concerns as well as finished titles to catch up with them.


Uncertainty upon uncertainty.

Here are the full stories from each of the above:

Deadline

The L.A. Times

Indiewire


FIRST DOMINO: BAFTA

The first domino to fall in the wake of the decision to push the Oscars to April was the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced that they'll be doing their ceremony on April 11th.  It's BAFTA's adjustment to match up with this week's decision from AMPAS.

The Hollywood Reporter's Etan Vlessing has that story linked here.

THE DISTRIBS: NEON

I'm continuing to run down distributors that have had some history with the Telluride Film Festival in what is probably an incredibly futile effort to predict the TFF #47 lineup in a vaccine-free Covid-19 world. Today NEON!

Neon is coming off of last year's fantastic and historic run with Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite.  Their past with TFF looks like this:

2019: Parasite, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Amazing Grace

2018: Border, The Biggest Little Farm

2017: No SHOW

2016: The B Side: Elsa Dorfman

After last year's success, you have to figure that Neon probably wants to play at TFF again.  Of course we can't be certain of  anything currently.  Nevertheless, Neon has a couple of films that could be contenders for TFF #47 chief of which is Francis Lee's Ammonite starring a powerhouse duo of Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan.  The film has not yet been dated for release but went into post-production last in April of 2019.  So you have to figure that it is totally ready.

Another, lesser buzzed title under the Neon umbrella that could be possible is Michael Sarnoski's Pig starring Nicolas Cage as an Oregon man searching for his kidnapped, truffle snuffling pig.  

The third title that Neon has but that we will not see is Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria that is widely believed to now be waiting for a slot at the 2021 edition of Cannes.

Chances:

Ammonite: 50%

Pig 25%

Memoria 0%

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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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