Michael's Telluride Film Blog : The Basics of Philopsophy

Showing posts with label The Basics of Philopsophy. Show all posts

Monday, August 10, 2026

What the Venice Screening Schedule Suggests / Provenance for the "Bets" / Primetime Trailer and Poster

WHAT THE VENICE SCREENING SCHEDULE SUGGESTS

The screening schedule for the Venice film Festival popped on Friday and that tells us some possible films that might the jump after a Venetian World Premiere to Telluride. It all depends on what films are scheduled in the first three days in Italy.

Danny Boyle's Ink had already been announced as the Opening Night film for Venice on Sept. 2nd and we've had it as a lock since it was announced for Toronto as a Canadian Premiere there.

Everest: The Other Side fits the same mold as Ink. It's set for Sept. 3rd in Venice

My Undesirable Friends Part II is scheduled for Sept. 4th and its status as a New York Premiere for NYFF seems likely as a Telluride selection.

Other films that are playing the first three days at Venice include:

Bucking Fastard, Wild Horse Nine and Burgundy at Venice on Sept. 3rd.

The Basics of Philosophy at Venice on Sept. 4

And then there's the 5th of September which seems to cut awfully close to being able to get a film from Italy to Colorado. BUT...as best I can tell, four of the last five years have seen a film bow in Venice on it's 4th day of screening and made it to Telluride"

2021: The Lost Daughter

2022: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

2024: One to One-John and Yoko

2025: Frankenstein.

Soooo...maybe there's a film on 9/5 that fits that bill and I say Yes...that film might be Lance Oppenheim's Primetime.

So, conclusions for a TFF #53 screening are:

Bucking Fastard-99%

Burgundy 80%

Wild Horse Nine 60%

The Basics of Philosophy 60%

Primetime 50/50.

Here's what's still hanging for TFF with Venice titles indicated with ***:

Ancient History

Alpha Gang...TIFF"s Canadian Premiere status indicates a Telluride play but I'm still a little leery that it actually happens TFF #53.

***The Basics of Philosophy

***Burgundy

Company

Diamond

***Primetime

Saturn Return

Sense and Sensibility

***Wild Horse Nine

Yellow Letters

PROVENANCE FOR THE "BETS"

Here's a quick look at info for each film that's already an MFTB "Bet" as well as the current "Maybes". It includes the director, the distribution company, release date if available, the stars of the film and the thing we think pegs it as a TFF player.

The current Bets:

1) Elsinore- dir: Simon Stone, Focus, Nov. 20th Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

2) The Debut-dir: Jesse Eisenberg, A24, Dec. 11th, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti TIFF International Premiere.

3) Ink-dir: Danny Boyle, Netflix, Dec. 11th, Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

4) Club Kid- dir: Jordan Firstman, A24, Nov. 6th, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

5) La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)- dir: Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, Netflix, Dec. 4th, Penelope Cruz, Glenn Close.

6) A Long Winter- dir: Andrew Haigh, Mubi, TIFF Canadian Premiere, date unknown, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitriona Balfe, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

7) Fjord- dir: Cristian Mungiu, Neon, Oct. 9th, Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan, Oct. 9th, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

8) Minotaur-dir: Andrey Zvyagintsev, Mubi, Nov. 20th, Dmitriy Mazurov, Nov. 20th, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

9) Everest: The Other Side-dir: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Nat Geo, Disney, Oct. 30th, Hilaree Nelson, Jim Morrison, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

10) Tender Loving Care- dir: Mike Leigh, Bleecker Street, Dec. 4th, Kate O'Flynn, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

11) Gentle Monster-dir: Marie Kreutzer, Netflix, Nov. 18th, Lea Seydoux, Catherine Deneuve, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

12) Tenzing-dir: Jennifer Peedom, UTA Independent Film Group and Cross City Films, Oct. 16th, Tom Hiddleston, Willem Defoe,Catriona Balfe, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

13) Fatherland- dir: Pawel Palikowski, Mubi, release date unknown, Sandra Huller, August Diehl, NYFF New York Premiere.

14) Rose- dir: Markus Schleinzer, Mubi, release date unknown, Sandra Huller, NYFF New York Premiere.

15) The Man I Love- dir: Ira Sachs, no known distributor, release date unknown, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall (TFF #53 Guest Director), NYFF New York Premiere.

16) My Undesirable Friends Part II- dir: Julia Loktev, Mubi, release date unknown, NYFF New York Premiere.

17) Rehearsals for a Revolution- dir: Pegah Ahangarani, Sony Pictures Classics, release date unknown, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

18) The Unknown- dir: Arthur Harari, Neon, release date unknown, Lea Seydoux, TIFF Canadian Premiere.

19) Bucking Fastard- dir: Werner Herzog, no known distributor, release date unknown, Kate Mara, Rooney mara, Orlando Bloom, Domhnall Gleeson, Early slot at Venice.

20) The Story of Documentary Film- dir: Mark Cousins, Kino Lorber, Cousins is a past advisor to TFF and frequent presenter. However, Story of Doc films played Sundance earlier this year and Cousins' spot as a TFF "Esteemed Advisor" seems to have disappeared. I find him last listed as such in the 2024 TFF #51 program.

And some of the other possible players:

Alpha Gang- dir: David Zellner and Nathan Zellner, CAA Media Finance, no known release date, Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Lea Seydoux, TIFF International Premiere.

The Basics of Philosophy- dir: Paul Schrader, no known distributor, no known release date, Bill Pullman, Dana Delaney, Jack Huston, Early slot at Venice.

Burgundy- dir: Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, no known distributor, no known release date, Early Venice slot.

Primetime- dir: Lance Oppenheim, A24, Sept. 25th, Robert Pattinson, Merritt Weaver, Anna Faris, Early-ish Venice slot.

Saturn Return- dir: Greg Kwedar, Netflix, release date unknown, Will Pouter, Rachel Brosnahan, Charles Melton...

Sense and Sensibility- dir: Georgia Oakley, Focus, Oct. 16th, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Caitriona, Balfe, George McKay...

Wild Horse Nine- dir: Martin McDonagh, Searchlight, Nov. 6th, John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Early Venice Slot.

Yellow Letters- dir: Ilker Catak, distribution unknown, release date unknown, Won the Silver Bear at Berlin

PRIMETIME TRAILER AND POSTER

As I wrote above, Lance Oppenheim's Primetime is probably in the very last time slot in its initial Venice screening to have a chance to then make it to Telluride (likely scheduled at TFF on Sunday and Monday should it happen. I'm hoping that it does make the cut. To tease you a bit here are the poster and the trailer for the film:

And the trailer from a24 and YouTube:

Monday, August 3, 2026

Surveying the Landscape / 2.5 Million Views / La Bola Negra Has a Poster / Tidbits

SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE

Here's a quick snapshot of films that I believe could still make the Telluride lineup:

Ancient History

The Basics of Philosophy

Bucking Fastard

Company

Diamond

The Dreamed Adventure

Everytime

Fatherland

Musk

Primetime

Rose

Saturn Return

Sense and Sensibility

Wild Horse Nine

Yellow Letters

and if there is a Sundance crossover:

Josephine

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

The Weight

TWO AND ONE HALF MILLION VIEWS

MTFB swept past 2.5 million views in is 18 year history over the weekend. those views are from 2477 posts that have posted since august of 2008. Average per post 1009.2 views.

Thanks to all the readers!

LA BOLA NEGRA (THE BLACK BALL) HAS A POSTER

TIDBITS

***Gentle Monster to open in the U.S. on Oct. 30th

***Fatherland to open in the U.S. on Oct. 23rd.

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Monday, May 4, 2026

Two Million Times / Collating You Didn't Know You Needed / Looks and Re-looks / No No Narnia

TWO MILLION TIMES

MTFB blew past the two million view mark since the last post. The average views per post now is 818. That's a lot of reading...and writing. Thanks for taking a look...2,000,000 times.

COLLATING YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED

So, I went through the various lists that I have used to try to get a bead on TFF #53 including "Too Early" Oscar predictions, Cannes Speculation and ultimate choices, and "Most Anticipated" lists from the beginning of the year to get a sense of where my mind has been over the first four months of 2026 concerning potential TFF #53 films and here's what I discovered...

James Gray's Paper Tiger leads my take from all the different lists...not by much, but it is the film I have mentioned the most.

The next group all are close to Paper Tiger. Four films are grouped here:

Hamagichi's All of a Sudden, Guadagnino's Artificial, Inarritu's Digger and Munigiu's Fjord.

Weirdly, despite these four being the second most mentioned in my speculations I can't say any of them feel like a sure thing for TFF. And, of course, Warner Brothers has stated that Digger won't be doing any festivals much like Inarritu's The Revenant back in 2015).

The next group includes:

Almodovar's Bitter Christmas, Joel Coen's Jack of Spades, Farhadi's Parallel Tales and Kore-eda's Sheep in the Box.

And like the previous group, they all feel possible and none of them feel certain.

The final group has six films:

Herzog's Bucking Fastard, Pawlikowski's Fatherland, Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, Kwedar's Saturn Return and Harari's The Unknown.

I actually feel pretty good about Herzog and Pawlikowski. The other films in this group seem borderline possible.

Among the 18 other films that have appeared somewhere in m musings over the last four months, the most likely TFF candidates would appear to be:

The Long Winter (Haigh)

Coward (Dhont)

The Basics of Philosophy (Schrader)

As we begin the month of May we'll be paying particular attention to critical responses and ultimately the awards presentations out of Cannes which kicks off on May 12th and concludes May 23rd.

LOOKS AND RE-LOOKS

We have a clip from Oren Jacoby's This Is Not a Drill. The documentary screened at TFF #52. Here's the clip from YouTube and The Film Stage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQNqE6lUk7Q

Also, we have a teaser/trailer for Asghar Farhadi's Parallel Tales with subtitles. Also from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BV9KeJzGM

MTFB had it last week but didn't have a subtitled version.

NO NO NARNIA

I have been rather whimsically including an occasional mention that Greta Gerwig's Narnia; The Magician's Nephew might be a TFF #53 selection. Admittedly, it seemed unlikely but entirely outside the realm of possibility given the frequent appearance of Ms. Gerwig and/or her partner, Noah Baumbach at TFF over the years. Additionally, the fact that the it's from Netflix doesn't hurt in as far as a possible TFF play is concerned.

But all of that has been laid to rest as the film has been re-dates for a 2027 release. The Hollywood Reporter, among many outlets reported this on Friday. From THR:

"Gerwig’s adaptation of the sixth book in the C.S. Lewis fantasy series, The Magician’s Nephew...will now be getting a release on Feb. 12, 2027 and then will hit on Netflix April 2, 2027. Sneak previews of the film will begin on Feb. 10, 2027, only in Imax."

I guess it's still possible in a far-fetched scenario, that the film could still screen at Telluride, but with a release now coming nearly six months later...probably not.

Here's the link to the complete Hollywood Reporter article.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/netflix-narnia-movie-greta-gerwig-release-date-1236581880/