So Long T-ride / Me and the BBC / The People's Telluride

SO LONG T-RIDE

Well, another fest is in the books and TFF #50 lived up to the hype.  We.ve been coming since 2006 and I've been blogging since 2008.  That's right MTFB is 15 years old.  I'm not quite up to a million views yet but MTFB is closing in.  Just this last month run-up to the fest and the fest itself have racked up nearly 70,000 views.

This year, like every year, it's been great to touch base face-to-face with blog readers and especially with followers which have become friends.  It's also always nice to run into journalists that I have made acquaintance with and in some cases friends with over these past few years.  

The Fest's hierarchy has decided that what I do doesn't merit accreditation as a journalist but many in the community of writers who cover this weekend have been supportive.  It's very likely you'll see some reference to MTFB in the coming days as I collate and publish the results of The People's Telluride poll (see solicitation below) and The Professionals' Telluride poll as well as the Composite of the two.  If past years are any indication, MTFB will pop-up in a number of journalistic publications.

Here's what I saw in chronological order:

American Symphony (with performance)

Saltburn

The Bikeriders

The Holdovers

Fallen Leaves

The Zone of Interest

Rustin

Poor Things

El Conde

Tuesday

The Falling Star

Daddio

Wanted to get: All of Us Strangers, Anatomy of a Fall and Nyad... but things happen.

We're headed back to the Oklahoma Panhandle as you read this...and it seems for those of you who saw Daddio...that's a reference.

ME AND THE BBC

Yes.  It's true, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interviewed me this week in Telluride.  The BBC's "Talking Movies" had some questions regarding Telluride's history and its Oscar presence.  I did my best to answer their questions.

"Talking Movies" host Tom Brook tells me that the Telluride episode will air this coming weekend on the BBC in Europe and on BBC America.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE FOR TFF #50

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

Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com 

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

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

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to be added to the MTFB e-mail list send an email to mpgort@gmail.com

Ten Bets #5 for TFF #50 / The Holdovers Trailer / TIFF Is a Whiff / If I Were Telluride...

TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #50

Well, normally today's post would be full of me crowing about how prescient I have been or whining about how thick I've been because it's usually the first MTFB post after Toronto has announced a bunch of titles for their fest, complete with their revealing premiere status.  However, that did not happen (more about this below in the TIFF IS a Whiff segment).

Consequently, MTFB doesn't know much more than it did last week.  These SAG-Aftra and WAG strikes have demonstrably caused major havoc among the upcoming fall film festivals.  Included in that uproar has been some speculation that some fests might not even happen.

Ugh!

So with that table setting, here's a review of last week's Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Alexander Payne

2) Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

3) Saltburn/Emerald Fennell

4) Strangers/Andrew Haigh

5) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

6) Monster/Kore-eda

7) Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet

8) Fallen Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki

9) The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak

10) The Pot-au-Feu/Trinh Hung

And with announcements from both Toronto and Venice expected next week...here's your updated Ten Bets:

1) The Holdovers/Alexander Payne

2) Poor Things/Yorgos Lanthimos

3) Saltburn/Emerald Fennell

4) Strangers/Andrew Haigh

5) Nyad/Chin and Vasarhelyi

6) Monster/Kore-eda

7) Anatomy of a Fall/Justine Triet

8) Fallen Leaves/Aki Kaurismaki

9) The Teachers' Lounge/Ilker Catak

10) The Pot-au-Feu/Trinh Hung

Other possibilities: The Zone of Interest/Glazer, The End/Oppenheimer, El Conde/Pablo Larrain, Freud's Last Session/Brown, The Royal Hotel/Green, Rustin/Wolfe, The American Buffalo/Burns and Shirley/Ridley.

That's right.  MTFB stands pat for this week.

THE HOLDOVERS TRAILER

Since my last post on July 17,  Focus Features has dropped a trailer for Alexander Payne's The Holdovers.  After a wobble in my thinking a couple of weeks back, The Holdovers has returned to the top of the Ten Bets as the film that I have the most confidence will play TFF #50.  Of course, I'd urge you to remember that I also had Todd Haynes' May December in that top spot for exactly one week until we found out that it was going to North American Premiere at New York's fest.

At any rate, here's The Holdovers trailer via YouTube:

TIFF IS A WHIFF

As you may have heard or surmised, the Toronto International Film Festival was to have announced some of the films that would play there yesterday.  They announced exactly one.  Atom Egoyan's Seven Veils revealed as a World Premiere.  So we can say no Seven Veils at TFF #50.

Normally yesterday's announcement would have included a substantial number of films along with their premiere status which would have provided us with a pretty clear idea about films that would or would not make The SHOW.

But the single film reveal, which TIFF did not prepare any one for, really tells us that the fall film festivals are scrambling as are studios, distributors and producers in this dual strike world.

Reportedly, we could see a more complete announcement from TIFF next week and also there are reports that Venice will go forward with their announcement scheduled on July 25.

Buckle your seat belts...

IF I WERE TELLURIDE...

And I'm not Telluride. 

The fest has made it very, very clear that I am NOT.  But if I were...I'd fill those Guest Directors spots with the biggest names in acting that would say yes and have them each program a film.

The actors are idle...except for walking the picket line. The Guest Director slots...to the best that I'm able to discern...would not violate any provisions of the strike protocols.

Imagine...Tom Cruise...who has been the face of movies for the last year and who has been a Telluride-ite...programs a Kubrick.

Leo DiCaprio...at liberty currently...comes to town and programs a Scorsese.

Meryl Streep...who has been to T-ride before...programs an Eastwood.

Consider this... six of the world's greatest living actors getting to choose one film to screen and then talking about it afterwards.  That might be worth the ticket price by itself.

PS...I volunteer to lead the Q and A for a couple of those my own self.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

TWITTER @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

MTFB's Facebook Page

MTFB is published on Mondays and Thursdays