Obsessing about the Telluride Film Festival and the film awards season since 2008!
"The best blog out there for predicting what will be going to Telluride."-Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
"The Nostradamus of Telluride"
-Tim Appelo, Movies for Grownups
On this Boxing Day, I take a look at my latest assessment at the Oscar nomination chances for the categories of Visual Effects as well as Sound Editing and Sound Mixing. I last assessed these categories on Nov. 25th. As always, TFF #46 films are indicated with Bold.
VISUAL EFFECTS
1) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2)
2) The Irishman (4)
3) The Lion King (1)
4) Avengers: Endgame (3)
5) 1917 (-)
6) Alita: Battle Angel (-)
Other possibles: Gemini Man, Cats, Captain Marvel
SOUND EDITING
1) 1917 (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (2)
3) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (3)
4) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood (6)
5) Avengers: Endgame (5)
6) Joker (-)
Other possibles: Ad Astra, The Irishman, Toy Story 4
SOUND MIXING
1) 1917 (1)
2) Ford v Ferrari (3)
3) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2)
4) Once Upon a Time... (5)
5) Rocketman (6)
6) Ad Astra (4)
Other possibles: The Irishman, Avengers: Endgame, Toy Story 4
PRESENT FOR IN THE ABSENCE
If you read the previous post, you know that I crowed about getting my first Oscar film screener. That came last week from the producers of the Oscar short-listed Documentary Short Subject film In the Absence.
The 29 minute film explores the sinking of a South Korean ferry boat in 2014 that cost the lives of nearly 300 people and seeks to reveal the choices among bureaucrats that contributed to the loss of life.
I found it harrowing and moving, and of course will now keep my fingers crossed that it moves from the short list to the list of nominated doc shorts that are announced on Jan. 13th.
Here's a link to Anne Thompson's (Indiewire) video interview with the two lead actors from Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life: August Diehl and Valerie Pachner.
Continuing today with the new Oscar prediction schedule that will take us right up to the announcement of Oscar nominations on Jan. 13th.
Here's the latest updated predictions for Best Picture, Director and both Screenplay categories as well as first time predictions for Cinematography, Original Score and Production Design. For the updates I have indicated the last time I posted them as well as that film's position in that previous posting. As always all films from TFF #46 are in Bold.
BEST PICTURE (last update on Oct. 28th)
1) Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (1)
2) The Irishman (2)
3) Parasite (4)
4) Marriage Story (3)
5) Jojo Rabbit (5)
6) The Two Popes (6)
7) 1917 (7)
8) Bombshell (8)
9) Ford v Ferrari (-)
10) Joker (-)
Other possibles: The Farewell, Little Women, Judy, Just Mercy
Notes: with its actual release to theaters, Ford v. Ferrari makes a move.
BEST DIRECTION (last update on Nov. 7th)
1) Bong Joon-ho/Parasite (2)
2) Quentin Tarantino/Once Upon a Time... (1)
3) Martin Scorsese/The Irishman (3)
4) Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story (4)
5) Sam Mendes/1917 (5)
6) Taika Waititi/Jojo Rabbit (-)
Other possibles: Fernando Meirelles/The Two Popes, Todd Phillips/Joker, James Mangold/Ford v Ferrari
Notes: Bong makes a move to the top spot.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY (Last updated on Nov. 4th)
1) Jojo Rabbit (2)
2) The Irishman (3)
3) The Two Popes (1)
4) Little Women (4)
5) Joker (-)
6) Just Mercy (-)
Other possibles: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Hustlers, Downton Abbey
Notes: Nice jump up for Jojo Rabbit. A lot of uncertainty about which category The Two Popes will end up in.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (Last updated on Oct. 31st)
1) Marriage Story (1)
2) Once Upon a Time... (2)
3) Parasite (3)
4) The Farewell (4)
5) Bombshell (5)
6) Ford v Ferrari (-)
Other possibles: Knives Out, Dolemite Is My Name, 1917
NEW OSCAR PREDICTIONS
CINEMATOGRAPHY
1) Once upon a Time...
2) The Irishman
3) 1917
4) A Hidden Life
5) Parasite
6) Ad Astra
Other possibles: The Lighthouse, Ford v Ferrari, Joker, Little Women
ORIGINAL SCORE
1) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
2) Little Women
3) 1917
4) Marriage Story
5) Ford v Ferrari
6) Jojo Rabbit
Other possibles: Waves, The Irishman, Ad Astra
PRODUCTION DESIGN
1) Once Upon a Time...
2) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
3) The Irishman
4) Little Women
5) The Two Popes
6) Cats
Other possibles; 1917, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Ad Astra, Downton Abbey, Jojo Rabbit
OSCAR HISTORY AND TFF
Matching the new categories added to this wave of Oscar predictions, here's the history of Oscar nominations for the films that played at the Telluride Film Festival in the Cinematography, Original Score and Production Design (Art and/or Set Direction) categories:
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1993- The Piano, Farewell My Concubine
1995- Shanghai Triad
1996- Fly Away Home
2000- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-WINNER
2001- Amelie
2002- City of God
2003- Girl with a Pearl Earring
2004- The House of Flying Daggers
2005- Brokeback Mountain
2007- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, There Will Be Blood (scenes screened)
2008- Slumdog Millionaire-WINNER, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (scenes screened)
2009- The White Ribbon
2010- The King's Speech, Black Swan
2011- The Artist
2013- Gravity-WINNER, Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis, Prisoners
2014- Birdman-WINNER
2015- Carol
2016- La La Land-WINNER, Moonlight, Arrival
2017- The Shape of Water, Darkest Hour
2018- Roma-WINNER, The Favourite, Cold War
Overall 32 nominations and six wins.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
2000- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-WINNER
2002- Frida-WINNER
2005- Brokeback Mountain-WINNER
2006- Babel- WINNER
2008- Slumdog Millionaire-WINNER, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (scenes screened)
2010- The King's Speech, 127 Hours
2011- The Artist-WINNER
2012- Argo
2013- Gravity-WINNER
2014- The Imitation Game
2015- Carol
2016- La La Land-WINNER, Moonlight
2017- The Shape of Water-WINNER
Overall 16 nominations and a remarkable nine wins.
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
1990- Cyrano de Bergerac
1994- Bullets Over Broadway
2000- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-WINNER, Quills
2007- Amelie
2003- The Girl with the Pearl Earring
2007- There Will Be Blood (scenes screened)
2008- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- WINNER (scenes screened)
2010- The King's Speech
2011- The Artist
2013- 12 Years a Slave, Gravity
2014- The Imitation Game
2016- La La Land-WINNER, Arrival
2017- The Shape of Water-WINNER, Darkest Hour
2018- Roma, The Favourite, First Man
Overall 20 nominations and four wins.
THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE AERONAUTS
Pathikrit Sanyal writes of the actual incidents that inspired the creation of the Tom Harper film The Aeronauts starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.
As you might expect, the real story differs at points from the actual incidents including the fact that the ascent depicted in the film was made by two men rather than a man and a woman.
I'm posting my latest take on the Best Picture race today. My last Best Picture predictions were posted on Oct. 7th. Each film is followed by its position from the last prediction posting in parentheses. TFF #46 films are Bold.
1) Once Upon a Time in...Hollywood (1)
2) The Irishman (3) 3) Marriage Story (2) 4) Parasite (5)
5) Jojo Rabbit (4) 6) The Two Popes (9)
7) 1917 (7)
8) Bombshell (-)
9) The Farewell (10)
10) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (6)
Other Possibles: Joker, Ford v. Ferrari, Dolemite Is My Name, Just Mercy
Notes: Substantial positive moves for The Two Popes and Bombshell. Meanwhile Ford v. Ferrari and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood both have lost some steam.
AWARDS SEASON STARTS TO GET REAL...
GOTHAM AWARD NOMINATIONS
The first of the end of season feature films awards organizations was out this week with their nominations for the best films of the year. The Gotham Awards focus on small to modest budgeted independent American films and as such do not nominate a film like Ford v. Ferrari. Nevertheless, their list gives us the first taste of some of the films and performances that will likely be a part of the larger awards conversation as the next few months unfold.
Last year's nominees included The Rider, The Favourite and First Reformed for Best Feature; Ethan Hawke and Richard E. Grant for Best Actor and Yalitza Aparicio for Breakthrough Actress.
This year's newly announced nominees include a number of films/performances from TFF #46 films:
Best Feature includes: Marriage Story, Uncut Gems and Waves.
Best Actor: Adam Driver/Marriage Story, Adam Sandler/Uncut Gems
Best Screenplay: Noah Baumbach/Marriage Story
Breakthrough Actor: Julia Fox/Uncut Gems, Taylor Russell/Waves
Other Best Feature nominees includes The Farewell and Hustlers.
Coverage of the Gotham Award nominees is linked here from:
CLIO SHORT LIST FOR TRAILERS AND TEASERS ANNOUNCED
The shortlist for the Clio Awards for trailers, teasers and integrated campaigns was released last week and included several nominees from TFF #45 and #46 films.
Among the teasers on the short list were "La Casa" from Roma
Among trailers short listed were trailers for First Man, Roma, Border and Parasite.
Roma was also short listed for Best Integrated Campaign.
Also announced this past week were the nominees for this year's International Documentary Awards. A couple of TFF docs from the past two years made it into the various lists of finalists.
TFF #45 film The Biggest Little Farm was nominated for Best Feature and Best Music Score. Meanwhile TFF #46 doc The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash was nominated for Best Music Documentary. Also nominated in that category was two-time nearly a TFF film and finally a part of this year's lineup, Amazing Grace.
We have a brand new trailer for Tom Harper's The Aeronauts from Amazon Studios. That dropped over the weekend. Here's the new glimpse of the film via YouTube:
The Aeronauts will be in select theaters on Dec. 6th and on Amazon Prime on Dec. 20th.
BLEEKER STREET NABS THE ASSISTANT
Kitty Green's The Assistant, which played at this year's fest, has been acquired for U.S. distribution by Bleeker Street.
That news coming officially from the company and The Hollywood Reporter. I'd been tipped off to the acquisition a couple of weeks ago by a friend of them blog and had been keeping it under warps until the deal became official.
The THR story says the film will be released domestically on Jan. 31st, 2020.
Monday is done day...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
This is the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974.
So today we move to 2005-2009. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
Walk the Line- Actress-Reese Witherspoon-WON, Actor-Joaquin Phoenix, Film Editing, Costume, Sound
Paradise Now- Foreign Language
2006 (14/2)
Babel- Score-WON, Picture, Director-Alejandro Inarritu, Supporting Actress- Rinko Kikuchi, Supporting Actress-Adriana Barraza, Original Screenplay, Film Editing
The Last King of Scotland-Actor-Forest Whitaker-WON
The Lives of Others-Foreign Language-WON
Little Children- Actress-Kate Winslet, Supporting Actor-Jackie Earle Haley, Adapted Screenplay
Volver- Actress-Penelope Cruz
Venus- Actor-Peter O'Toole
2007 (14/2 or ***22/4)
Juno- Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jason Reitman, Actress-Ellen Page
The Counterfeiters- Foreign Language-WON
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly- Director-Julian Schnabel, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography
Into the Wild- Supporting Actor-Hal Holbrook, Film Editing
I'm Not There- Supporting Actress-Cate Blanchett
Persepolis- Animated
Encounters at the End of the World- Documentary
***and if you count it***
There Will Be Blood- Actor-Daniel Day Lewis-WON, Cinematography-WON, Picture, Director-Paul Thomas Anderson, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Art Direction, Sound Editing
2008 (13/8 or ***26/11)
Slumdog Millionaire- Picture-WON, Director-Danny Boyle-WON, Adapted Screenplay-WON, Film Editing-WON, Cinematography-WON, Score-WON, Song-WON, Sound Mixing-WON, Sound Editing, Song
Waltz with Bashir-Foreign Language
Revanche- Foreign Language
Happy-Go-Lucky-Original Screenplay
***and if you count it***
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Art Direction-WON, Visual Effects-WON, Makeup-WON, Picture, Actor-Brad Pitt, Supporting Actress-Taraji P. Henson, Director-David Fincher, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costume, Score, Sound Mixing
2009 (16)
Up in the Air- Picture, Actor-George Clooney, Supporting Actress-Vera Farmiga, Supporting Actress-Anna Kendrick, Director-Jason Reitman, Adapted Screenplay
An Education- Picture, Actress-Carey Mulligan, Adapted Screenplay
The Last Station- Actress- Helen Mirren, Supporting Actor-Christopher Plummer
The White Ribbon- Foreign Language, Cinematography
A Prophet-Foreign Language
Bright Star-Costume
Coco Before Chanel-Costume
NEW TRAILER FOR THE AERONAUTS
Tom Harper's The Aeronauts has a new trailer for its U.K. audiences. The film is set to open there on Nov. 6th, a full month before its opening in the United States.
The Aeronauts stars Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Oscar nominee Felicity Jones. Here's the trailer from YouTube:
THE BEST OF THE FESTS...
The Film Stage, much like a number of other outlets, has put together a list of films they regard as the best that emerged over the runs of the Telluride, Venice and Toronto festivals.
In their estimation that list included the following films from TFF #46:
Marriage Story
Uncut Gems
Waves.
The article also includes letter grades for a number of other films that played across the three fests including:
In addition to that article, Indiewire posted its own unique look at other aspects of the films that have been part of the film fest triumvirate with this article that focuses on their take of the best craft work in those films. Among the films and tech work cited are these from TFF #46:
After ten days and some 70 responses, The People's Telluride for TFF #46 is complete. Those responding were asked to rate the films they saw on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being "not so good" and 5 being"OMG! This film is fantastic!"
Before the big reveal, here's some Peoples Telluride history...
The first Peoples Telluride was posted on Sept. 10, 2012. The top ten films from that year's fest from the populist perspective were:
1) Stories We Tell- 4.80
2) Argo- 4.75
3) The Attack- 4.70
4) The Act of Killing-4.41
5) Wadjda-4.2
6) Amour 4.17
7) Barbara- 4.17
8) The Sapphires-4.11
9) Frances Ha-4.07
10) (Tie)The Hunt and Baraka - 4.00
In subsequent years the top ten were:
2013:
1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)
2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)
3) Gravity (4.40)
4) The Lunchbox (4.25)
5) Inside Llewyn Davis (4.15)
6) Nebraska (4.08)
7) All is Lost (4.06)
8) The Wind Rises (4.0)
9) Ida (4.0)
10) The Past (3.81)
2014:
1) The Imitation Game (4.73)
2) Birdman (4.46)
3) Wild Tales (4.23)
4) Foxcatcher (4.20)
5) Merchants of Doubt (4.04)
6) '71 (3.90)
7) Red Army (3.63)
8) Wild (Tie 3.50)
8) Escobar: Paradise Lost (Tie 3.50)
8) Mommy (Tie 3.50)
2015:
1) Room (4.47)
2) Spotlight (4.45)
3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)
4) Ixcanul (4.31)
5) Son of Saul (4.30)
6) Marguerite (4.23)
7) Black Mass (4.13)
8) Carol (4.02)
9) Rams (3.98)
10) Steve Jobs (3.86)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.37)
2) La La Land (4.33)
3) Maudie (4.29)
4) The Eagle Huntress (4.21)
5) Manchester by the Sea (4.18)
6) Arrival (4.13)
7) Bright Lights (3.90)
8) Frantz (3.89)
9) Toni Erdmann (3.80)
10) Sully (3.79)
2017:
1) Lady Bird (4.38)
2) The Shape of Water (4.22)
3) Darkest Hour (4.04)
4) Hostiles (3.99)
5) Faces Places (3.71)
6) Battle of the Sexes (3.68)
7) Lean on Pete (3.66)
8) Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (3.57)
9) The Other Side of Hope (3.45)
10) Wonderstruck (3.43)
And from last year:
1) Roma (4.47)
2) First Man (4.34)
3) Shoplifters (4.29)
4) Boy Erased (4.23)
5) Free Solo (4.19)
6) Cold War (4.02)
7) White Boy Rick (3.88)
8) Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3.81)
9) The Favourite (3.76)
10) The Front Runner (3.69)
The Peoples collective yen best films since I began the poll in 2012 have been:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14)
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13)
7) Room (4.47) (15) and Roma (4.47) (18) TIE
9) Birdman (4.46) (14)
10) Spotlight (4.45) (15)
AND NOW...THE 2019 PEOPLES TELLURIDE
16 films had sufficient responses from The People to make the 2019 list:
1) The Two Popes (4.51)
2) Parasite (4.36)
3) Ford v. Ferrari (4.35)
4) Marriage Story (4.14)
5) Pain and Glory (3.81-Tie)
5) A Hidden Life (3.81-Tie)
7) Judy (3.80)
8) The Aeronauts (3.67)
9) The Report (3.66)
10) Motherless Brooklyn (3.64)
11) Lyrebird (3.62)
12) Waves (3.61)
13) Inside Bill's Brain (3.39)
14) Uncut Gems (3.22)
15) The Climb (3.07)
16) First Cow (3.02)
The 4.51 rating for Fernando Meirelles' The Two Popes means it lands in The Peoples Telluride all time top ten (well since I started the thing in 2012) at the #7 spot. It will displace Spotlight which will drop to #11.
The new All Time Peoples Top Ten now is:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)-Won Best Picture
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14) Nominated Best Picture
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13) Won Best Picture
7) The Two Popes (4.51) (19)
8) Roma (4.47) (15) TIE Nominated Best Picture
8) Room (4.47) (18) TIE Nominated Best Picture
10) Birdman (4.46) (14) Won Best Picture
Also...here's were Best Picture Oscar nominees from Telluride have landed on the Peoples list for each year since it was started in 2012:
2012: Argo-4.75 (Winner) #2, Amour-4.17 #6
2013: 12 Years a Slave-4.55 #2 (Winner), Gravity-4.40 #3, Nebraska-4.08 #6
2014: Birdman-4.46 (Winner) #2, The Imitation Game-4.73 #1
2015: Spotlight-4.45 (Winner) #2, Room-4.47 #1
2016: Moonlight-4.37 #1 (Winner), La La Land 4.33 #2, Manchester by the Sea-4.18 #5, Arrival-4.13 #6
2017: The Shape of Water-4.22 #2 (Winner), Lady Bird-4.38 #1, Darkest Hour-4.04 #3
2018: Roma-4.47 #1, The Favourite-3.76 #9
The COMPOSITE TELLURIDE (slamming The Pros and The Peeps together) will be coming your way on Monday!
TFF OSCAR HISTORY PROJECT PART THREE
Here's the continuation of my project to chart every Oscar nominee in the 21 feature categories that played at the Telluride Film Festival since the first TFF in 1974. As I move forward with this I will be posting in five year increments.
So today we move to the first half of the 90's. The number of nominations and wins are indicated in parentheses for each year.
1990 (10/2)
-Cyrano de Bergerac- Costumes- WON, Foreign Language, Actor- Gerard Depardieu, Art Direction, Makeup
-Reversal of Fortune- Actor- Jeremy Irons- WON, Director- Barbet Schroeder, Adapted Screenplay
-The Nasty Girl- Foreign Language
-Ju Dou- Foreign Language
1991 (4)
-Rambling Rose- Actress-Laura Dern, Supporting Actress-Diane Ladd
-Oxen- Foreign Language
-Raise the Red Lantern- Foreign Language
-Wild by Law- Documentary
1993 (12/3)
-The Piano- Actress-Holly Hunter-WON, Supporting Actress-Anna Paquin-WON, Original Screenplay-WON, Picture, Director-Jane Campion, Film Editing, Cinematography, Costumes
-Three Colors: Blue- Director-Krzysztof Kielowski, Original Screenplay
-Farewell My Concubine- Foreign Language, Cinematography
1994 (11/3)
-Bullets Over Broadway- Supporting Actress-Dianne Wiest-WON, Supporting Actress- Jennifer Tilly, Supporting Actor- Chazz Palminteri, Director-Woody Allen, Original Screenplay, Costumes, Art/Set Direction
-Ed Wood- Supporting Actor-Martin Landau-WON, Makeup-WON
-Dust of Life- Foreign Language Film
-Strawberry and Chocolate-Foreign Language
FIRST OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE
Here from Neon is the official trailer for Celine Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire from YouTube:
Portrait is set for U.S. release on Dec. 6th.
THANKS
And finally, for today, big gratitude to some of my industry type friends who not only participated in this year's Professional Telluride but who also pumped its posting this past Monday. Specifically Sasha Stone and her sight Awards Daily who included much of it on there on Monday. That's linked here.
Also, Jordan Ruimy had the results up at World Reel on Tuesday.
And Tweets and Re-Tweets Monday came from: Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit, Marshall Flores/Awards Daily, Chris Willman/Variety, Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture and Erik Anderson/Awards Watch.
That's the blog for today. More to come on Monday...including the 2019 COMPOSITE TELLURIDE.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
The time has come...to all of you with an interest, for you followers of this space to express your collective evaluation of the films that made an appearance at the Telluride Film Festival. As most of you know, I'd like you to rate the films you saw this past weekend on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being "Not So Good" and 5 being "Glorious!"
As a matter of fact, I have several that came in overnight. The ratings are afoot!
You can deliver your ratings using any of the contact methods listed below.
The cutoff date for submission for The People's Telluride is one week from today...so get those ratings in by Tuesday, Sept. 10th.
HOME AGAIN
As has become my custom, I jetted out of Telluride right after stopping by TFF's Labor Day picnic. The drive back home runs right at 10 hours with stops along the way for this and that. We also add the hour back that we gained with the move from Central to Mountain time...so it was a long day and a late night. I'm a little fried this early morning.
This year's fest was a little different for me. Mt pass situation was different due to the change in media status. I knew that would mean I'd get to fewer films and that was the case. Most years I average 10-11 films, this year I got in eight (in the order I saw them):
The Aeronauts
The Climb
Uncut Gems
The Report
Waves
Motherless Brooklyn
Marriage Story
Parasite
Regrets that I didn't catch Ford v. Ferrari, The Two Popes or A Hidden Life but I'll get them in.
By the end of the weekend, it seemed to me that two films were dominating the buzz and it will interesting to see if The People's Telluride bears out what I was hearing.
Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to say a word or two to me in lines throughout the weekend. It's always gratifying to hear that this thing is valued by TFF attendees.
THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE
Coming soon. The Pros have already started sending me their ratings so be looking for their collective response soon. Additionally, as I've been doing for some time now, the third part of the TFF ratings triad will come with The Composite Telluride when I combine the ratings for both groups.
That'll do for this early Tuesday...more on Thursday!
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
The Aeronauts...generally very good, very entertaining. The action set pieces are stunning and extremely well executed. I'd recommend it the rest of this weekend.
The Climb...starts strong then loses its way.
Day Two...Saturday
TBA's
Galaxy
• 10:30 PM: JUDY, program number 1a, Cinephile
Herzog
• 10:30 PM: PARASITE, 24, Cinephile
SOH
• 3:30 PM: SOROS with Q&A, D, Cinephile
Masons
• 8:30 PM: THE GIFT: THE JOURNEY OF JOHNNY CASH with Q&A, F, Cinephile
• 10:30 PM: GREAT EXPECTATIONS with Q&A, 43, Cinephile
Noon Seminar, Elks Park FREE
Sponsored by Participant Media
Moderated by Annette Insdorf
How do portraits of the artist present layers of performance?
With Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Guy Pearce, and Jonathan Pryce.
MY DAY TWO...
Netflix Docs Brunch
Then, probably Uncut Gems
Possibly The Report
In addition to that...not sure.
TRAILER FOR THE TWO POPES
NEW RUMOR
Twitter last night...David Poland suggesting:
A) There will be a surprise screening
B) It will be Armando Iannucci's The Personal History of David Copperfield
Here it is...the final list of 25 films/programs that I expect to play the 46th Telluride Film Festival. The actual announcement should come sometime tomorrow morning and, of course, I'll have it here for you before I take off for the San Juans myself. I expect to be in T-ride around 10 MDT tomorrow night. In alphabetical order...Here we go...
1) The Aeronauts
2) Beanpole
3) The Climb
4) Country Music
5) Family Romance LLC
6) First Cow
7) Ford v Ferrari
8) A Hidden Life
9) Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
10) Judy
11) The Kingmaker
12) Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
13) Lyrebird
14) Marriage Story
15) Motherless Brooklyn
16) Pain and Glory
17) Parasite
18) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
19) The Report
20) The Truth
21) The Two Popes
22 ) Uncut Gems
23) Varda by Agnes
24) Verdict
25) Waves
Other Possibles: The Assistant, The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, Dark Waters, Little Women, The Good Liar, Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917, Bombshell, Wasp Network, Chicuarotes, No One Left Behind, Gemini Man, Mr. Jones, Antlers.
TRIBUTE CLUES
I got a number of anonymous tips over the past few days which told me that the pre-fest screenings in Elks Park have been revealed in Telluride. As many of you know, those films usually offer clues about who is probably being tributed at The SHOW. The two key films are Bridget Jones' Diary and Star Wars:The Last Jedi. The informative flyer also confirms that there will be some screening of Ken Burns' Country Music documentary will take place this weekend as well.
The free screenings suggest that two of your tributes this year will go to Renee Zellweger- who's Judy is sure to be screening and also Adam Driver who has both Marriage Story and The Report set to be part of The SHOW.
As to the third probable tribute...I have heard on background conflicting suggestions about that and consequently don't have a good enough handle on it to make any bold prediction.
LATE BREAKING... It appears the third tribute is for Philip Kaufman according to the Telluride Daily Planet:
Also note the "Special Screening" on Saturday night.
SOOOO....WHAT DO I WANT TO SEE?
The Aeronauts
Ford v. Ferrari
The Climb
Parasite
The Report
Motherless Brooklyn
Marriage Story
A Hidden Life
Waves
The Two Popes
Full lineup revealed tomorrow morning and I'll have it here.
THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE
For the eighth 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
Toronto announcements with premiere designation uncertainty, Venice scheduling revelations and the appearance of trailers this week all had an effect on the latest Ten Bets for TFF #46.
Last week's Ten Bets (and Bonus Bets) as well as "other possible" films looked like this:
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) A Hidden Life
Bonus 5) The Report
Bonus 6) Beanpole
Bonus 7) The Kingmaker
Still on the list of Other Possibilities:
Family Romance LLC, Country Music, The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, The King, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.
After this past week's events...here's your new Ten Bets plus Bonus Bets:
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Judy
6) Pain and Glory
5) Uncut Gems
4) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3) Motherless Brooklyn
2) Marriage Story
1) Parasite
Bonus Bets:
Bonus 1) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 2) First Cow
Bonus 3) A Hidden Life
Bonus 4) The Report
Bonus 5) The Kingmaker
Bonus 6) The Climb
Bonus 7) Waves
Bonus 8) Lyrebird
Bonus 9) Verdict
The Truth and Beanpole drop out of the Bonus Bets as Toronto lists them both as North American premieres...but...I can tell you that there is some background noise that one or both might still be mis-identified in terms of that premiere status and that there is still some outside possibility that either one of them could still screen at Telluride.
And the remaining list of other possibles gets smaller:
Family Romance LLC, Country Music, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.
On a couple of side notes...
I'm on the case of another film that could be screening at Telluride but i haven't put together enough info to pass it along. Suffice to say the title hasn't been mentioned AT ALL in this space as yet and may not if I can't dig up enough corroboration.
And...I've had a bunch of good guesses come my way about Tributes...and no one has landed on any of the recipients as yet. It's kind of fun. Of course, I could be wrong.
Last note...there are only a couple of Ten Bets left before The SHOW. I'll post #9 a week from today and #10 will go up on Wednesday, Aug. 28th...the day before the Telluride lineup is expected to drop.
GERWIG TALKS LITTLE WOMEN
Entertainment Weekly's Mary Sollosi put together that outlet's coverage of the release of the trailer for Greta Gerwig's Little Women. That story included fresh responses from the director/writer herself focused on the casting of the film. Indiewire picked up on that and provided an expanded story by Ryan Lattanzio.
I'm still cogitating about the chances that the film could be a surprise at T-ride. Believe me, it's a far-fetched notion as my background voices range from "it's not playing" to 'it's probably not playing". Honestly, I haven't run across anyone in the biz who has anything like the same notion that I have. So, everyone, as I have said before, the chance for a T-ride play for this sits at 2%.
Still, the timing of the trailer and these stories makes me wonder...
Jordan Ruimy continues to crank out good stuff about festival season including a new Telluride prediction update on Wednesday that mirrors much of what you see here and who also continues to include kind words about MTFB. That latest update from World of Reel is linked here.
World of Reel's Theo Fisher also posted a list of ten films that he says are not going to film fests that by and large seem on point to me.
Of note are Queen and Slim...which I have seen in at least one place as a prediction for Telluride. Sam Mendes 1917 and Little Women (see what I mean). Though there is this line in the text of the paragraph about the Gerwig project appearing at a fall festival "is highly unlikely". But, hey, it's not definitive.
For the eighth 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
Time for the weekly update of MTFB's Ten Bets for the 46th Telluride Film Festival (plus some Bonus Bets).
Here were your Ten Bets and Bonuses from last week along with "Other Possibilities":
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
This week, I add some "Bonus Bets":
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) Family Romance LLC
Bonus 5) Country Music
Other possibilities (in no particular order):
The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run?), Atlantics, Nomadland, Synonyms, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, Wasp Network, The King, A Hidden Life, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.
Now, after this week's digging and sleuthing...your new Ten Bets and Bonus Bets:
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) A Hidden Life
Bonus 5) The Report
Bonus 6) Beanpole
Bonus 7) The Kingmaker
Gone from the list of "Other Possibilities"- Wasp Network, Atlantics, Synonyms. Also gone that I had given some serious thought to: The Traitor, Bacurau and Young Ahmed.
Still on the list of Other Possibilities:
Family Romance LLC, Country Music, The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run/Dark Water), Nomadland, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, The King, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.
MORE FROM TORONTO
The Toronto International Film Festival announced a slew more of films for their soiree that traditionally takes off the weekend after Telluride. They added films for their Discovery, Midnight Madness and Docs sections. Here's what those new announcements tell us for Labor Day weekend:
It looks as if Laura Greenfield's documentary about former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos is probable for Telluride as TIFF lists it as a Canadian Premiere and I can't find a trace of it having screened anywhere else.
And that seems like the only TFF addition we make from yesterday's TIFF news. All other films added to the three sections are listed as either World Premieres, North American Premieres, International Premieres-none of which are listed as American films -and the only other Canadian Premiere listed is such because it screened earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Fest.
Among notable docs that are listed as World Premiere's that I thought might have been a Telluride consideration:
Alex Gibney's Citizen K
Bryce Dallas Howard's Dads
Gabe Polsky's Red Penguins
Ellen Page's There's Something in the Water
Mark Cousins' Women Make Film
Fisher Stevens' And We Go Green
Toronto still has more to reveal over the next couple of weeks.
For the eighth 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".
Each year the level of participation has grown and I'd like to keep that increasing.
Here are the top three People's results from each year we've done it:
2012:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80)
2) Argo (4.75)
3) The Attack (4.70)
2013:
1) Tim's Vermeer (4.67)
2) 12 Years a Slave (4.55)
3) Gravity (4.40)
2014:
1) The Imitation Game (4.73)
2) Birdman (4.46)
3) Wild Tales (4.23)
2015:
1) Room (4.47)
2) Spotlight (4.45)
3) Beasts of No Nation (4.35)
2016:
1) Moonlight (4.37)
2) La La Land (4.33)
3) Maudie (4.29)
2017:
1) Lady Bird (4.38)
2) The Shape of Water (4.22)
3) Darkest Hour (4.04)
2018:
1) Roma (4.47)
2) First Man (4.34)
3) Shoplifters (4.29)
The all time People's Top Ten going into the 2019 Telluride Film Festival are:
1) Stories We Tell (4.80) (12)
2) Argo (4.75) (12)
3) The Imitation Game (4.73) (14)
4) The Attack (4.70) (12)
5) Tim's Vermeer (4.67) (13)
6) 12 Years a Slave (4.55) (13)
7) Roma (tie-4.47) (18)
7) Room (tie-4.47) (15)
9) Birdman (4.46) (14)
10) Spotlight (4.45) (15)
When the time comes, you can send those ratings to me in any of the following ways listed as contact info for me listed below.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
Here's the sixth iteration of my "Ten Bets" about films to possibly play at the 46th Telluride Film Festival.
Last week's Ten Bets and Other Possibilities looked like this:
10) The Truth
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
Other Possibilities:
Varda by Agnes, Family Romance LLC, Country Music/Ryman Concert, The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run?), Atlantics, Nomadland, Synonyms, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, Wasp Network, The King, The Aeronauts, First Cow, A Hidden Life.
This week's Ten Bets:
10) The Aeronauts
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
This week, I add some "Bonus Bets":
Bonus 1) The Truth
Bonus 2) Varda by Agnes
Bonus 3) First Cow
Bonus 4) Family Romance LLC
Bonus 5) Country Music
Other possibilities (in no particular order):
The Climb, Little Women, The Good Liar, Untitled Todd Haynes Project (Dry Run?), Atlantics, Nomadland, Synonyms, Ad Astra, Molly, Lucy in the Sky, Seberg, Wasp Network, The King, A Hidden Life, Matthias and Maxime, 1917.
MORE ON THE DOLAN
I mentioned in yesterday's post as a part of looking at the Canadian film lineup announced by Toronto the -what seemed to me to be unusual omission- of Xavier Dolan's Matthias and Maxime. As it turns out, I wasn't the only one who noticed.
A Tweet from Tom Linay put me onto a story from The Globe and Mail about the TIFF announcement that included this passage about the Dolan film:
"One highly anticipated Canadian film that wasn’t announced on Wednesday, though, was Matthias et Maxime, the eighth film by Xavier Dolan that premiered at Cannes this spring. Last year, TIFF waited until its splashy Canadian programming news conference to reveal that it had secured the world premiere of Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan – a surprise to the assembled media, who were not informed of the move when presented with TIFF’s initial Canadian slate the day before. Gravestock, however, assures that there will be no such Dolan twist this year. "I don't think there are going to be any surprises, not that I know of," he says. "There will be a whole slew of announcements over the next couple weeks, but no [on the Dolan]. There are lots of films that are not available to us, and that's just the way programming is."
So we can take from this that the film will NOT be announced for TIFF in future news releases. We can also parse from the last sentence that the film...for whatever reason...is not "available" to TIFF. We also know that it screened at Cannes back in May and that it is also set to screen today as a part of of the Melbourne Film Fest...so it's obviously ready.
A first look trailer for Sam Mendes' 1917 landed yesterday. Looks good, intriguing...a little reminded of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk from a couple of years back.
The trailer says "December" at the end suggesting an as yet unannounced U.S. premiere date for that month which doesn't mean that it's necessarily too late Telluride to be part of Universal's strategy for its release and awards campaign. We also learned, though, that the film's English debut is late January which may indicate that Telluride and even Toronto may be out of the picture. Maybe any fest play at all including New York, AFI and London.
Here's the video from YouTube:
Here's a sampling of the stories that accompanied the trailer drop yesterday:
Welcome back from your last July weekend for 2019...
UPS AND DOWNS
Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere tells us that James Gray's As Astra is NOT going to be playing Telluride. The information is not attributed but Jeff knows way more people than I do.
Wells also reported the same thing I had at the bottom of my post on Friday. That Andreas Wiseman had written for Deadline that Tom Harper's The Aeronauts is likely headed to the San Juans for Labor Day weekend.
Jeff also links a Pamela McClintock piece from The Hollywood Reporter that makes that same claim. That THR post is linked here.
So, to re-cap, it seems that The Aeronauts is up and Ad Astra is down.
REVELATION FROM VENICE
Venice Film Festival head Alberto Barbera seems to have the "cow" out of the bag. Barbera claimed in an interview with Screen Daily that was published Friday that the only film that he wanted to program but could not was Kelly Reichardt's First Cow (I'm considering an online petition to change the title of this film) and that A24 had decided to screen the film only in America as it has not found an international distributor as yet. He also is flat quoted as saying that, as a consequence, the film is headed to Telluride.
First Cow also does not appear to have a U.S. release date.
When I began this thing in 2008 nobody else was messing around with trying to peg the films for Telluride. Sure, there were the occasional pieces that would pop up. One shot guesses that you'd find online but not a lot. And certainly nothing in any official way from big time media.
As the years have gone on, and especially with the decision from the Toronto Fest to require that they know what a film's actual status is regarding which fests it's going to play and then their further decision to publicly reveal that status in their programming announcements, it seems increasingly that the reticence from media to deduce the films that will play Telluride has begun to fade.
Last week Screen Daily, for instance, included an assessment that did exactly what I do and have done for several seasons, which is to sort of reverse engineer the announcement from TIFF to make claims about what goes to Telluride.
World of Reel and Hollywood Elsewhere have been all over essentially the same list that I've put together as has BBC News, The Wrap and a couple of hints from Pete Hammond at Deadline.com,
It's generally pretty accurate unless Toronto mis-labels a film's status (which has happened rarely) or, sometimes with regard to International premieres because that designation can get a little murky.
Nevertheless, it feels to me that more outlets are willing to do the same process and publish the results.
10) The Truth
9) Ford v. Ferrari
8) The Two Popes
7) Pain and Glory
6) Uncut Gems
5) Judy
4) Motherless Brooklyn
3) Marriage Story
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire
1) Parasite
That's the Monday MTFB. More tomorrow...
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com
