Day One of TFF #48/ The French Dispatch Will Sneak / Program Link

 DAY ONE OF TFF #48

My normal first day would not include driving but because U.S. 50 has a five mile construction zone between Gunnison and Montrose, the wife and I have to travel through the backdoor.  That means an added couple of hours.  So, yesterday we made it to South Fork and stopped there for the night.  We're making the last four hours of the journey this morning.  

My expectation is that we'll catch one of the films in the post-Colorado Ave. Feed time slot.  Choices there are the Dinklage Tribute with a World Premiere Cyrano screening or World Premieres of King Richard, Belfast  C'mon C'mon or The Same Storm.  Might chose any of them.

If I still have any spunk (shout out to the late Ed Asner) I might try to get in Louis Wain.  We'll see.

THE FRENCH DISPATCH WILL SNEAK

Eagle eyed friend of the Blog Chris Schneider pointed out last night that The Watch, the printed guide t the fest, reveals that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a sneak addition to the program at some point this weekend,  Here's the pic Chris included with his Tweet alerting me and the TFF Twitterverse that the film would play:

The Program Guide has nine TBA slots on Friday.  As the saying goes, you do the math.

PS...I am fully expecting The Card Counter to show upas well at some point this weekend after its bow at Venice.

PROGRAM LINK

This is the link to the electronic version of the TFF #48 program.

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LATE BREAKING: Trailer for The Velvet Underground / Hints for Tributes / App's A Happenin'

LATE BREAKING

Here are some tidbits with just a bit more than 24 hours before the TFF #48 lineup is revealed 

TRAILER FOR THE VELVET UNDERGROUND

I expect that we'll see this title when the lineup is revealed tomorrow.  Here's the recently released trailer for Todd Haynes documentary about The Velvet Underground from YouTube:

 HINTS FOR TRIBUTES:

Tribute recipients initials:  J.C., P.D. and R.A.

APP'S A HAPPENIN'

The App for the 48th edition of The SHOW became available for download last night.  Of course, there's no info accessible as yet.  That won't become available until sometime after the lineup is officially announced on Wednesday morning.

FINAL BETS / The Guests and Tributes / Cousins Looking Trailer / Crazy Thoughts / Lists of the Fall Films That Are Must-Sees / The People's Telluride / Can You Say Hurricane Nora?

 FINAL BETS...

Here we are TFF fans. The program should drop on Wednesday.  The forecast looks wet (***see below) so make sure you bring an umbrella.

Here, without any guarantee of accuracy are my Bets for what will be revealed on Wednesday.

1) The Power of the Dog/Campion

2) The Card Counter/Schrader

3) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe

4) Spencer/Larrain

5) A Hero/Farhadi

6) C'mon, C'mon/Mills

7) The Hand of God/Sorrentino

8) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi

9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes

10) Julia/Cohen and West

11) Becoming Cousteau/Garbus

12) Cyrano/Wright

13) Petite Maman/Sciamma

14) King Richard/Green

15) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine

16) Encounter/Pearce

17) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon

18) The First 54 Years/Mograbi

19) The Lost Daughter/Gyllenhaal

20) Three Minutes-A Lengthening/Stigter

21) Flee/Rasmussen

22) Red Rocket/Baker

23) The Story of Looking/Cousins

24) The French Dispatch/Anderson

25) The Same Storm/Hedges

Other Possibles: Prayers for the Stolen,  Last Exit: Space, Unclenching the Fists, A Chiara, The Starling, Bergman Island.

For me...hot titles are French Dispatch, Power of the Dog, Card Counter, C'mon C'mon, Louis Wain, Hand of God, Flee, King Richard and A Hero.  That could change.  If The Starling SHOWS...it'll probably go on my list.

THE GUESTS AND TRIBUTES

I have no way of knowing who will and won't physically be in Telluride this week.  In a non-Covid world there are a number of cool candidates who could be on the guest list and in consideration for Tributes.  So, I'm approaching this as if it were a non-Covid year though I expect that the numbers of talent in town may be smaller as a result of the pandemic and could we see some folks remotely?  

Nevertheless, looking at the feature films that I have on the Final Bets we could see the following around Telluride this week:

The Power of the Dog: Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee

The Card Counter: Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Willem Dafoe

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy

Spencer: Kristen Stewart, Sally Hawkins

A Hero; Asghar Farhadi

C'mon C'mon: Joaquin Phoenix

Cyrano: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennet, Ben Mendelsohn, Kelvin Harrison, Jr.

King Richard: Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis

Encounter: Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer

The Lost Daughter: Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson

Red Rocket: Simon Rex

The Starling: Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, Kevin Kline, Timothy Olyphant

The Same Storm: Mary Louise Parker, Elaine May

Then there is the cast of The French Dispatch: Bill Murray, Timothee Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Benicio Del Toro and so many more.

Hot prospects for Tributes: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Campion, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, Asghar Farhadi, Joaquin Phoenix, Peter Dinklage, Will Smith, Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer, Olivia Colman, Melissa McCarthy, Kevin Kline, Elaine May, Joe Wright, Sally Hawkins, Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Benicio Del Toro.

COUSINS LOOKING TRAILER

From the very first Ten Bets post back on June 24th I have been all but certain that Mark Cousins would be presenting something for Telluride.  On that first Ten Bets I listed The Story of Looking although through the summer two other Cousins' projects seemed like they might be possible as well (The Storms of Jeremy Thomas and an updated Story of  Film: A New Generation).

It looks as if Looking will almost certainly land this week in the San Juans and, honestly, I wouldn't be all that surprised if one or both of the others also play.

You can have a preview of The Story of Looking as a trailer for the documentary was released yesterday.  Here it is via YouTube:

CRAZY THOUGHTS: (Warning: These never pan out): Dune, Nightmare Alley, Don't Look Up, Soggy Bottom, The Tender Bar, Eternals, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

LISTS OF THE FALL FILMS THAT ARE "MUST SEES"

The last week, prior to the start of the fall film fest onslaught, any number of outlets posted/published "must see" and "hot titles" lists.  So how hot do we think the TFF #48 lineup is?  Let's review which suspected TFF titles made which lists:

Film Stage's 50 Films to See This Fall includes: The Card Counter, The Velvet Underground, Bergman Island, The French Dispatch, Spencer, The Power of the Dog, Flee, The Lost Daughter, A Hero., C'mon C'mon, Red Rocket.

Time's 23 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2021 includes: The Card Counter, The French Dispatch, Spencer, The Power of the Dog, King Richard

Indiewire's 23 Must See Films at Venice, Toronto and New York includes: Bergman Island, The Card Counter, Flee, The Hand of God, The Power of the Dog, Red Rocket, The Rescue, Spencer, The Velvet Underground

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE

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

Report your ratings with any of the following contact methods:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

***CAN YOU SAY HURRICANE NORA?

https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/08/27/nora-hurricane-tropical-storm-colorado-surge-moisture/

LAST WORD FOR TODAY:

I'll keep on top of things this next couple days.  If anything breaks of interest I'll post here and Tweet it.  I will post the lineup here on Wednesday when it drops.  Of course, I'll be posting a few things along the way including TBAs and what I'm up to.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

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We Have Info! (And a Poster) / Nomadland Leads Golden Globes Winners / Oscar Update: Picture and More

WE HAVE INFO! (AND A POSTER)

News dropped on Friday about TFF #48.  It'll be an extra day long; five days as was planned for last year's fest.  The last five day long fest was in 2013 as a part of the celebration of the 40th Telluride Film Festival.

We also found out that no new passes are currently being sold.  There is a waitlist for all pass levels as so many of us rolled our passes from last year over for TFF 48.

Here's the release from the festival:

Telluride Film Festival today announced its dates for the 48th Telluride Film Festival. The event will take place September 2 - 6, 2021, with an added day to the weekend-long event. Festival organizers are optimistic that by September, when the vaccination process will then be long underway, and by taking all necessary safety precautions including the extra day, an in-person event will likely be possible.

 “We are beyond excited to announce our dates,” said Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger. “Our position within the festival calendar gives us hope that we will be able to hold the festival this year. We are guided by science and are continuously evaluating the global pandemic in relation to health, travel and live events. Time will tell, but in the meantime, we are busy planning for and putting together an incredible program.” 

 There are currently no new pass sales available to the public at this time.

 Huntsinger explains, “As a result of the Festival’s 2020 cancellation, the majority of passholders requested to roll over their passes to 2021. Without knowing theater capacity restrictions, the small number of passes left are being held back out of an abundance of caution.” 

 A waitlist is being compiled on a first come, first served basis. More information may be found on the Festival website.

 “We would like to take this moment to thank everyone for their continued support of Telluride Film Festival. There have been some truly remarkable souls who went above and beyond throughout the past twelve months,” said Huntsinger. “It has been a difficult year for everyone, and we hope to welcome back our audience to the beautiful mountains of Telluride to do what we do best: celebrate the art of film.” 

In addition, the festival unveiled the poster for TFF #48 from Meow Wolf artist Luke Dorman.  You can see the poster above.

Here's the text of the release announcing the poster:

Telluride Film Festival (September 2- 6, 2021) today presents its 2021 Festival poster, designed by Meow Wolf’s Luke Dorman. 

 Luke Dorman is the Lead Graphic Designer at Meow Wolf, a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company that creates immersive, interactive experiences. Luke's current focus is on design for Meow Wolf Denver, a permanent 4-story immersive experience opening in late 2021. Over the past 15 years, Luke has maintained a creative practice that straddles fine art, graphic design, and illustration. His contemporary and experimental approach to design work has led him to be recognized by Print, Communication Arts, the Society for Typographic Arts, GDUSA, among others. Prior to joining Meow Wolf, Luke worked in design education and carries his passion for teaching, mentorship and community building into his work today. 

 Dorman began his design for the poster by drawing a large assortment of shapes that functioned as a library from which he could pull forms, and then let the work develop as he moved things around on the computer. All the shapes for the poster were inspired by classic movie theater marquees and film equipment. As he started thinking what configurations he could make, a film projector seemed to make the most sense: something recognizable but also something that would give him freedom to play around with. He wanted to do something wild, colorful and celebratory because it felt like a good fit with the spirit of the Festival, and also because he felt like we are all ready for a healthy dose of “positive vibes” right now.

 Dorman said, “Oddly enough, my first encounter with Meow Wolf was actually when they submitted work to a micro-cinema film festival that I used to run, and they won the top prize. So, in some ways, this isn’t the first collision of Meow Wolf and the film world that I’ve been a part of.” 

 He goes on to say, “Of course, I jumped at the chance to represent Meow Wolf as the poster artist for the 48thTelluride Film Festival. It’s a true honor to be able to work on behalf of these two beacons of creative innovation and expression. But it’s also sort of twice as much pressure working as part of the legacy of all the great artists who have contributed to Telluride Film Festival posters and all the great artists who make up Meow Wolf.”

 Meow Wolf was recognized in Fast Company's 2020 list of The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies. It is a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company that creates immersive, interactive experiences to transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. The company's first location in Santa Fe opened in 2016 and showcases the THEA Award-winning, international sensation, House Of Eternal Return, where two million visitors have now discovered a multidimensional mystery house with secret passages, portals to magical worlds, and surreal, maximalist and mesmerizing art exhibits. In 2019, Meow Wolf expanded beyond Santa Fe and opened Kaleidoscape, the world’s first artist-driven ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver. Meow Wolf recently opened their second permanent installation, Omega Mart, at AREA15 in Las Vegas and their third permanent installation in Denver slated to open in late 2021. Meow Wolf is proud to be the only certified B-Corporation in the themed entertainment industry, with a team dedicated to social impact and building a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

 “We are HUGE fans of Meow Wolf, and Luke Dorman,” said Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger. “His poster is a gorgeous piece of art - for both the short and long term. It’s the perfect escape from pandemic life, right this minute. With its happy, vibrant colors and design, it creates a glorious fantasy refuge. And it will bring joy and inspiration long into the future. We’re delighted to celebrate art and film, in full color, together again in the mountains of Colorado this September.”

 Posters are an annual tradition of the Festival, and Dorman joins a prestigious list of artists who have been selected by, and who have shared their talents with Telluride Film Festival. Past poster artists include Yann Legendre, Laurent Durieux, Christian Marclay, Dean Tavoularis, Ed Ruscha, John Mansfield, Julian Schnabel, Dottie Attie, Doug and Mike Starn, David Lance Goines, Chuck Jones, David Salle, Alexis Smith, Jim Dine, Seymour Chwast, Frederic Amat, Francesco Clemente, Dave McKean, Gary Larson, Chip Kidd, John Canemaker, Mark Stock, Laurie Anderson, William Wegman, Ralph Eggleston, Maira Kalman, Dave Eggers, Lance Rutter and Edwina White. 

 48th Telluride Film Festival posters are available for purchase now on the TFF website at www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

 I have linked coverage of the announcement from:

Variety

Indiewire

Deadline

NOMADLAND LEADS GOLDEN GLOBES WINNERS

Irrespective of the controversy surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Golden Globes, that awards show went off last night and Globes were handed out.  

TFF films were nominated for eight Golden Globes and Nomadland won Best Picture/Drama and Best Director.

Nomadland was nominated for four: Best Picture Drama, Director, Actress and Screenplay

The Father was nominated for four: Best Picture Drama, Actor, Actress and Screenplay

Here are the Globe winners for film:

Best Film Drama: Nomadland

Best Film Musical or Comedy: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm  

Best Actress/Drama: Andra Day/The United States vs. Billie Holiday

Best Actress/Musical or Comedy: Rosamund Pike/I Care A Lot

Best Actor/Drama: Chadwick Boseman/Ma Rainey's Back Bottom

Best Actor/Musical or Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen/Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Best Supporting Actress: Jodie Foster/The Mauritanian

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

Best Direction: Chloe Zhao/Nomadland 

Best Screenplay: The Trial of the Chicago 7 

Best Original Song: Io Si (Seen)/The Life Ahead

Best Original Score: Soul

Best Animated Film: Soul 

Best Foreign Language Film: Minari

OSCAR UPDATE: PICTURE AND MORE

Two weeks left until Oscar nominations are announced...

BEST PICTURE

My last prediction for this category was on Feb. 22nd.  The film's previous position is indicated in parentheses.  TFF films are Bold.

1) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (1)

2) Nomadland (2)

3) Minari (3)

4) Mank (4)

5) Promising Young Woman (5)

6) One Night in Miami (6)

7) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (7)

8) Sound of Metal (8)

9) News of the World (9)

10) Judas and the Black Messiah (10)

Other Possibles: The Father, Da 5 Bloods

Hot: No changes

Not: No changes

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

My last prediction for this category was on Feb. 8th.  The film's previous position is indicated in parentheses.

1) Soul (1)

2) Wolfwalkers (2)

3) Over the Moon (3)

4) Onward (4)

5) Croods: The New Age (7)

6) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (6)

7) Earwig and the Witch (5)

8) The Willoughbys (9)

9) Trolls: World Tour (8)

10) Demon Slayer (10)

Other Possibles: Lupin, Bombay Rose, On-Gaku, Calamity

Hot: Croods: The New Age

Not: Earwig and the Witch

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

My last prediction for this category was on Feb. 15th.  The film's previous position is indicated in parentheses.

1) Mank (1)

2) News of the World (2)

3) Tenet (6)

4) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (3)

5) Emma (5)

6) The Midnight Sky (8)

7) The Personal History of David Copperfield (4)

8) Mulan (7)

9) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (9)

10) One Night in Miami (10)

Other Possibles: Judas and the Black Messiah, First Cow, Jingle-Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Hot: Tenet, The Midnight Sky

Not: The Personal History of David Copperfield

BEST SOUND

My last prediction for this category was on Feb. 15th.  The film's previous position is indicated in parentheses.

1) Sound of Metal (1)

2) Tenet (2)

3) Mank (4)

4) News of the World (3)

5) The Midnight Sky (5)

6) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (7)

7) Soul (6)

8) The Trial of the Chicago 7 (10)

9) Da 5 Bloods (8)

10) The Outpost (9)

Other Possibles: Greyhound, Nomadland, The Prom, The Invisible Man

Hot: The Trial of the Chicago 7

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