More Reveals from New York and Toronto / Ten (Plus) Bets for TFF #53-Vol.8 / Tid Bits: La Bola Negra, The Debut

MORE REVEALS FROM NEW YORK AND TORONTO

The New York Film Fest announced its Main Slate of films for 2026 and its use pf Premiere designations leads MTFB to the following conclusions:

New films to add to your TFF #53 list are:

Fatherland

Rose

My Undesirable Friends Part II

The Man I Love

Also, we think confirmed for Telluride, films we already decided would play from earlier announcements:

Minotaur

A Long Winter

The Unknown

Additional announcements from Toronto suggest T-ride will screen Rehearsals for a Revolution but will not have Alex Gibney's Musk.

I'm pretty sure we have more news coming from both Toronto and New York.  Perhaps even today.  Watch MTFB Social Media accounts (see below) for any updates that may occur during the day.

so, with new info, here's the latest "Ten (Plus) Bets...

TEN (PLUS) BETS FOR TFF #53-VOL. 8

Got some changes now...

Last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Elsinore

2) The Debut

3) Ink

4) Club Kid

5) La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)

6) A Long Winter

7) Fjord

8) Minotaur

9) Everest: The Other Side

10) Tender Loving Care

11) Gentle Monster

12) Tenzig

13) Bucking Fastard

14) Fatherland

15) The Story of Documentary Film

Other possibilities: Yellow Letters, Rose, Alpha Gang, The Unknown, Sense and Sensibility.

And your shiny brand new Bets:

Andrew Scott in Elsinore

1) Elsinore

2) The Debut

3) Ink

4) Club Kid

5) La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)

6) A Long Winter

7) Fjord

8) Minotaur

9) Everest: The Other Side

10) Tender Loving Care

11) Gentle Monster

12) Tenzig

13) Fatherland

14) Rose

15) The Man I Love

16) My Undesirable Friends Part II

17) Rehearsal for a Revolution

18) The Unknown

19) Bucking Fastard

20) The Story of Documentary Film

Other possibilities: 

 

Ancient History

Alpha Gang

The Basics of Philosophy

Burgundy

Company

Diamond

Primetime

Saturn Return

Sense and Sensibility

Wild Horse Nine

Yellow Letters

TIDBITS

***Netflix has moved the release date for La Bola Negra (The Black Ball) up from its original date of Nov. 6th to Oct 16th.  The streamer is giving the Cannes hit a 47 day theatrical window in what is seen as a bid to enhance its Oscar prospects.

***Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut has been announced as the closing night film for the BFI/London Film Festival.

Both films are widely expected to screen over Labor Day weekend in Telluride.

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Ten Bets (Plus) #8 for TFF #52 / Venice Schedule Is Up / Jay Kelly Has a Teaser and Posters / First Looks at Nouvelle Vague

TEN BETS (PLUS) #8 FOR TFF #52

Lots of information flying around earlier this week from Toronto and New York allows us to clean up the Ten Bets as well as "possibilities".  By way of review, here's last week's Ten Bets:

This week's new Ten Bets:

1) Hamnet/Zhao

2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

3) Sentimental Value/Trier

4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

5) The Secret Agent/Filho

6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater

7) Tuner/Roher

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

9) The History of Sound/Hermanus

10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach

Other possibilities: Bugonia, Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, The Drama, Pillion, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Train Dreams.

Now, in light of the week's info...the new Ten Bets (Plus):

This week's new Ten Bets (Plus):

1) Hamnet/Zhao

2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi

3) Sentimental Value/Trier

4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger

5) The Secret Agent/Filho

6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater

7) Tuner/Roher

8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

9) The History of Sound/Hermanus

10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach 

11) Bugonia/Lanthimos

12) The Mastermind/Reichardt

13) Cover-Up/Poitras

14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog

15) Hamlet/Karia

Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.

I was shocked that Blue Moon was announced by Toronto as a North American Premiere.  I would have bet actual money that it was going to be at Telluride.  I was almost as certain that The Love That Remains would also make it to TFF#52 but it was also announced as a TIFF North American premiere.

Here's the list of films that I had been T-ride watching which got nuked for TFF#52 by announcements earlier this week:

Blue Moon

The Love That Remains

Late Fame

Magellan

Mirrors #3

No Other Choice

Two Prosecutors

The President's Cake

Unidentified

Left-Handed Girl

Orphan

Orwell 2+2=5

Films that moved up the Ten Bets based on this week's information:

The Mastermind

Cover-Up

Hamlet

Resurrection

Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) is up in the air.  New York says it's a NY Premiere.  Toronto says it has the North American premiere.  If New York is correct means probably Telluride.  If Toronto is correct...no Telluride.

VENICE SCHEDULE IS UP

Early this morning the official public schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted.  The schedule appears to confirm that theses films are screening early enough to make it to Colorado:

La Grazia (Opening night film)

From 8/28

Ghost Elephants

Orphan

Bugonia

Jay Kelly

Megadoc

From 8/29

Cover-Up

After the Hunt

From earlier announcements from other fests we believe that Orphan and After the Hunt are off the table for Telluride.  

We're  also pretty sure that this helps signal that Bugonia, Jay Kelly and Cover-Up are headed to Telluride.

Ghost Elephants...that's Werner Herzog...making me think that it's in the bag for Telluride.  Megadoc?  I'm not so sure.  Also that could be complicated Francis Ford Coppola's health situation.

You can take a look at the full Venice schedule here.

JAY KELLY HAS A TEASER AND POSTERS

Maybe the hottest buzz for now is coming from Jay Kelly which we feel very confident is going to TFF #52.  Here's the teaser via YouTube:

and posters of George Clooney and Adam Sandler:

Ans some stills from a Vanity Fair "First Looks" article:

Jay Kelly opens on Nov. 14th.

FIRST LOOKS AT NOUVELLE VAGUE

Three stills from Rotten Tomatoes:

 

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Ten (Plus) Bets #8 / New York Announces / Venice Schedule

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #8

We're closing in on what is shaping up to be a great fest for TFF's 50th go-round.  As is the custom on Thursday's this time of year here at MTFB, here is my latest update of films that I think will be announced for the lineup on (I beleive) Wednesday August 29th for The SHOW.

First, a re-visit of last week's Ten Bets and possibilities:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) The Royal Hotel

6) Saltburn

7) Rustin

8) Wildcat

9) Fingernails

10) El Conde

Other possibilities: The Pigeon Tunnel, Poor Things, Without Blood, The End, The Bikeriders, The American Buffalo,  Fallen Leaves,  The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session.

 And for this week's edition here are Ten+ Bets:

1) The Holdovers

2) Nyad

3) The Zone of Interest

4) Anatomy of a Fall

5) Saltburn

6) Poor Things

7) The Royal Hotel

8) Rustin

9) Wildcat

10) Fingernails

11) All of Us Strangers (previously titled Strangers)

12) The Bikeriders

13) Fallen Leaves

14) Perfect Days

15) The Settlers

Other possibilities: El Conde, The Pigeon Tunnel, Without Blood, The Promised Land, The End, The American Buffalo, The Teachers' Lounge, The Pot-au-Feu, Freud's Last Session, About Dry Grasses, Janet Planet, Orlando, My Political Biography, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt.

NEW YORK ANNOUNCES

The New York Film Festival announced its Main Slate selections on Tuesday and it contains hints for possible/probable films that will have screened previously at Telluride.

The way NYFF has formatted their announcement means that we want to look at films with no premiere designation.  Films that NYFF has designated as either a North American Premiere or a U.S. Premiere will not have played Telluride.  With that explanation the non-designated films from their list are:

About Dry Grasses/Ceylan

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt/Jackson*

All of Us Strangers/Haigh

Anatomy of a Fall/Triet***

La Chimera/Rohrwacher+++

Fallen Leaves/Kaurismaki

Janet Planet/Baker

Orlando, My Political Biography/Preciado

Perfect Days/Wenders

Poor Things/Lanthimos**

The Settlers/Galvez

The Zone of Interest/Glazer***

*All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt premiered at Sundance and so is historically unlikely to also screen at Telluride.  That said, I think there's a reasonable chance that it still makes an appearance over Labor Day weekend.

**Poor Things conceivably could play at Fantastic Fest rather than T-ride and earn the "no designation" from NYFF but I'm feeling fairly confident that its at TFF.

***I've been pretty sure about both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest since they were both announced as Canadian Premieres for Toronto.  Their "no designation" here seems to confirm their presence at Telluride.

+++ Despite a lack of premiere designation, Toronto has listed La Chimera as a North American Premiere so there's a disconnect somewhere.

Here's the link to the official Main Slate for NYFF.

VENICE SCHEDULE???

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel reported on Tuesday that at least some of the schedule for the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion competition films had leaked largely from Venice director Alberto Barbera via Twitter or X or Elon's LunchboX...or whatever...

If its accurate it gives us insight about which films might be in play for a Venice/Telluride Two Step.  Meaning that if a film plays early enough in Italy, then there is the possibility that they fly across the Atlantic and screen the film before Telluride is over.

That "Two Step" happens quite a bit each year.  Last year, for example, 11 films made that journey: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Bardo, Bobi Wine, Bones and All, A Compassionate Spy, Desperate Souls, Fragments of Paradise, Living, March on Rome, Salvatore:Shoemaker and TAR.  Over the past seven years the average "share rate" between TFF and Venice has been 7-8 films.

So here's what Ruimy is reporting:

08/30 Comandante

08/31 Ferrari, The Promised Land, Dogman

09/01 Poor Things, El Conde, Finalmente L’Alba, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

09/02 The Palace, Maestro

09/03 The Beast, The Killer, Theory of Everything

09/04 Priscilla, Evil Doesn’t Exist, Coup de Chance

09/05 The Green Border

09/06 Origin

09/07 Holly, Lubo, Io Capitano

09/08 Memory

Now, Telluride, as we know, will open on Thursday, Aug. 31st and runs through Monday, Sept. 4th.  Anything that screens in Venice from Aug. 30th to Sept. 2nd is worth looking at.

Of particular note is The Promised Land, Poor Things, El Conde, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Maestro.

I'm feeling good about Poor Things, El Conde and The Promised Land.  I'm less bullish on Henry Sugar and Maestro.

Additionally, David Fincher's much anticipated The Killer is slated for a Sept. 3rd screening in Venice making a Telluride turn-around very unlikely.

The actual Venice schedule is set to be released tomorrow.

UPDATING: The actual Venice schedule is now live at this link.  

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