Hidden Figures Unhidden / Pitt and Cotillard are Allied / Venice and Toronto Meditations / The People's Telluride Returns / It's Easier to Follow MTFB

Good Monday everyone.  Hope you had an excellent weekend.


HIDDEN FIGURES UNHIDDEN

It's a late entry in the end of the year film sweepstakes and not really a highly likely Telluride candidate but you never know.  Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures (from Fox 2000) debuted a trailer during Olympic coverage last night and then any number of press outlets offered it as well.  The film tells the true story of African American employees of NASA and their contributions to America's successful entry into the space race.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Hidden Figures stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Keven Costner.  It's set for release (at least for the time being) on Jan. 13, 2017.  However, the film has been reportedly test screening.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hidden-figures-trailer-taraji-p-919428

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/08/14/hidden-figures-movie-sneak-peek/88568332/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/08/14/watch-first-trailer-hidden-figures-debuted-olympics/

http://theplaylist.net/taraji-p-henson-octavia-spencer-calculate-history-first-trailer-nasa-drama-hidden-figures-20160814/

http://awardswatch.com/news/the-hidden-figures-trailer-and-new-pics-of-taraji-p-henson-octavia-spencer-janelle-monae/


PITT AND COTILLARD ARE ALLIED

We saw the release of trailers over the weekend for a couple of films that could well be Oscar contenders and are also not terribly likely films to end up in the Telluride #43 schedule.

Allied is directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Marion Cotillard and Brad Pitt in a WWII set romance/thriller.  Cotillard and Pitt have both attended a Telluride Film Fest and the film is from Paramount, which we're pretty sure is going to have Arrival on the T-ride schedule...so...you know...maybe.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Allied is set to open on Nov. 23.

Coverage of Allied and the trailer's release:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/allied-teaser-trailer-brad-pitt-919133

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/allied-trailer-brad-pitt-and-marion-cotillard-test-each-other-in-alluring-spy-thriller-1201716188/

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2016/08/12/first-look-at-allied-brad-pitt-and-marion-cotillard/

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/brad-pitt-and-marion-cotillard-find-love-in-war-in-first-trailer-for-robert-zemeckis-allied/

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/12/allied-trailer-brad-pitt-marion-cotillard

http://theplaylist.net/brad-pitt-marion-cotillard-face-love-war-first-trailer-allied-20160812/



VENICE/TORONTO MEDITATIONS

The Venice Film Fest have unleashed the screening schedule and that, perhaps, it gives us some clues, questions and validations.

The first concern is whether films that the TIFF announcement's have hinted are probable Telluride films that are also playing in Venice have been scheduled in a manner that would allow their play in both fests.

Those films:

Arrival
La La Land
Frantz.

We already knew that La La Land would open Venice on Aug. 31 which fits with a Telluride play easily.  We now know that Arrival is set for its first screening on Sept. 1.  That works as well.  Of some concern is the Sept. 3 screening date for Frncois Ozon's Frantz.  That's dicey for The Ride.  All of those Venice competition films are slated as world Premieres which, if true, would suggest that Frantz would be on a tight schedule to get set-up for a 9/4 play at T-ride.  We think it's headed to Telluride due to its TIFF designation as a Canadian Premiere.  So...maybe it navigates the tight window, plays T-ride first (thus negating its Venice "world" premiere status) or that it doesn't really play at Telluride.

A couple of additional notes:  Wim Wenders The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez is scheduled for a Sept.1 screening  making it a very real possibility to fly to T-ride after that.  Also, jazz documentary I Called Him Morgan looks like it could make a play at Telluride as it is also scheduled for a Sept. 1 screening.  Three other Venice documentaries could still be in the Telluride conversation are: Chasing Trane, Beauties of the Night and American Anarchist.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE RETURNS FOR 2016

It's your annual call to rate the films you see at the Telluride Film Festival.  MTFB is once again asking YOU to participate in The People's Telluride...a gathering of film ratings from the ticket buying public at the fest.

It's simple...rate the films you see on a 1 to 5 scale (1 being awful and 5 being masterpiece) and then send those to me via email: mpgort@gmail.com or michael_speech@hotmail.com OR via the comments section here on the blog or to my twitter account @Gort2.

IT'S EASIER TO FOLLOW MTFB NOW

I've added a "FOLLOW" button to the blog page.  You'll see it in the upper right hand area of the page. Just click on it and you can make it much easier to keep up with what's going on here.

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment.

Venice Announces / New York Centerpiece Revealed / Considering The Accountant

Good Thursday folks...


VENICE ANNOUNCES

The Venice Film Fest announced its major lineup films early, early this morning...

VENICE FILM FESTIVAL — IN COMPETITION
“The Bad Batch,” Ana Lily Amirpour (U.S.)
“Une Vie,” Stephan Brizé (France, Belgium)
“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle (U.S.)
“The Light Between Oceans,” Derek Cianfrance (U.S., Australia, New Zealand)
“El ciudadano ilustre,” Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat (Argentina, Spain)
“Spira Mirabilis,” Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti (Italy, Switzerland)
“The Woman Who Left,” Lav Diaz (Philippines)
“La region salvaje,” Amat Escalante (Mexico)
“Nocturnal Animals,” Tom Ford (U.S.)
“Piuma,” Roan Johnson (Italy)
“Paradise,” Andrei Konchalovsky (Russia, Germany)
“Brimstone,” Martin Koolhoven (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, U.K. Sweden)
“On the Milky Road,” Emir Kusturica (Serbia, U.K., U.S.)
“Jackie,” Pablo Larrain (U.S., Chile)
“Voyage of Time,” Terrence Malik (U.S., Germany)
“El Cristo ciego,” Christopher Murray (Chile, France)
“Frantz,” Francois Ozon (France)
“Questi Giorni,” Giuseppe Piccioni (Italy)
“Arrival,” Denis Villenueve (U.S.)
“The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez,” Wim Wenders (France, Germany)

OUT OF COMPETITION

Special Event
“The Young Pope” (episodes 1, 2), Paolo Sorrentino (Italy, France, Spain, U.S.)

FICTION
“The Bleeder,” Philippe Falardeau (U.S., Canada)
“The Magnificent Seven,” Antoine Fuqua (U.S.)
“Hacksaw Ridge,” Mel Gibson  (U.S.)
“The Journey,” Nick Hamm (U.K.)
“A jamais,” Benoit Jacquot (France, Portugal)
“Gantz:O,” Yasushi Kawamura (Japan)
“The Age of Shadows,” Kim Jee woon (South Korea)
“Monte,” Amir Naderi (Italy, U.S., France)
“Tommaso,” Kim Rossi Stewart (Italy)

NON-FICTION
“Our War,” Bruno Chiaravallotti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri (Italy, U.S.)
“I Called Him Morgan,” Kasper Collin (Sweden, U.S.)
“One More Time with Feeling,” Andrew Dominik  (U.K.)
“Austerlitz,” Sergei Loznitsa (Germany)
“Assalto al cielo,” Francesco Munzi (Italy)
“Safari,” Ulrich Seidl (Austria, Denmark)
“American Anarchist,” Charlie Siskel  (U.S.)

HORIZONS
“Tarde para la ira,” Raul Arevalo (Spain)
“King of the Belgians,” Peter Brosens, Jessica Woolworth (Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria)
“Through the Wall,” Rama Burshtein (Israel)
“Liberami,” Federica Di Giacomo (Italy, France)
“Big Big World,” Reha Erdem (Turkey)
“Gukuroku,” Ishikawa Kei (Japan)
“Maudit Poutine,” Karl Lemieux, (Canada)
“Sao Jorge,” Marco Martins (Portugal, France)
“Dawson City: Frozen Time,” Bill Morrison (U.S., France)
“Reparer les vivants,” Katell Quillevere (France, Belgium)
“White Sun,” Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal, U.S., Qatar, Netherlands)
“Malaria,” Parviz Shahbazi (Iran)
“Kekszakallu,” Gaston Solnicky (Argentina)
“Home,” Fien Troch (Belgium)
“Die Einsiedler,” Fien Troch (Germany, Austria)
“Il più grande sogno,” (Italy)
“Boys in the Trees,” Nicholas Verso (Australia)
“Bitter Money,” Wang Bing (China)

Special Out-Of-Competition Screening
“Dark Night,” Tim Sutton (U.S.)
“Planetarium,” Rebecca Zlotowski (France, Belgium)

CINEMA IN THE GARDEN

 “Inseparables,” Marcos Carnevale (Argentina)

“Franca: Chaos and Creation,” Francesco Carrozzini (Italy, U.S.)

“In Dubious Battle,” James Franco (U.S.)

“The Net,” Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)

“Summertime,” Gabriele Muccino (Italy)

“The Secret Life of Pets,” Chris Renaud, Yarrow Cheney (U.S.)

“Robinu,” Michele Santoro (Italy)

“My Art,” Laurie Simmons (U.S.)

Of course we already believe after Toronto's Tuesday announcement that La La Land, Arrival and Frantz are probably bound for Telluride.

Among the other films announced for Venice this morning we might keep our eyes open for:

Pablo Larrain's Jackie (perhaps Larrain double dips as we believe Neruda is already set for Telluride)
Terrence Malick's Voyage of Time
Ulrich Seidel's Safari
Wim Wenders The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez

Of course, there could be others.  Scheduling of the Venice films could also give us clues.

Here's immense coverage of the Venice lineup:

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/venice-lineup-mel-gibson-tom-ford-terrence-malik-pablo-larrain-1201824445/

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jul/28/venice-film-festival-2016-full-line-up

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/venice-film-festival-unveils-lineup-915213

http://www.screendaily.com/news/venice-reveals-2016-line-up/5107089.article

http://deadline.com/2016/07/venice-film-festival-2016-lineup-full-list-1201794095/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/venice-2016-line-up-includes-new-films-from-terrence-malick-denis-villeneuve-ana-lily-amirpour-more/

http://theplaylist.net/new-films-terrence-malick-derek-cianfrance-mel-gibson-denis-villeneuve-lead-2016-venice-film-festival-line-20160728/


NEW YORK CENTERPIECE REVEALED

Taking advantage of the day long separation between the first announcement of Toronto films and Venice's announcement this morning, the New York Film Festival revealed yesterday that its centerpiece film will be Mike Mills' 20th Century Women.  The film from A24 is billed as a World Premiere which should mean that there is no Telluride screening planned for the film.

I had been following it as a film that had a real shot at playing T-ride but that possibility now goes by the wayside.

The film will screen in New York on Oct. 8.  It is expected to open domestically in December.

Here's a sample of the coverage of the NYFF announcement from yesterday:

http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2016/daily/mike-mills-20th-century-women-nyff-centerpiece/

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/20th-century-women-new-york-film-festival-2016-1201824401/

http/://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/07/27/fslc-announces-mike-millss-20th-century-women-centerpiece-nyff54/

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/27/20th-century-women-new-york-film-festival

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/07/new-york-film-festival-mike-mills-20th-century-women-centerpiece-world-premiere-1201710302/

NYFF has still to name a closing night film as well as the rest of its slate.  It will run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 16.


CONSIDERING THE ACCOUNTANT



It doesn't really seem like a film that you'd think of immediately as playing Telluride but The Accounatant from director Gavin O'Connor and starring Ben Affleck might be a surprise.  It's from Warner Brothers, which, as I have detailed here, has had a fairly robust presence at Telluride since Affleck's Oscar winner Argo.


I'll admit, it's not a big possibility but...

Here's the new trailer from YouTube:

Here's coverage for the new trailer:

http://theplaylist.net/ben-affleck-lethal-number-cruncher-new-trailer-accountant-20160727/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2016/second-trailer-for-the-accountant-with-ben-affleck-anna-kendrick/

The Accountant is set to open in the U.S. on Oct. 14.


More to come tomorrow including a new Ten Bets list that will almost certainly include some bonus picks.

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment...

A Very Early List / Variety's Further Look at France / 44 Films Indiewire Wants at Cannes

Good Monday and I hope everyone had a great Easter holiday...those that had an Easter holiday...


A VERY EARLY LIST

I've been working on looking into the TFF #43 crystal ball for about a month now since the conclusion of the Oscar race on February 28.  Admittedly, I had begun in some small ways before     then but the focus after the close of each year's fest turns to the awards race until it's over.

As I have explained, each year's serious analysis begins with annual January "films-to-come" lists, followed by three film fests that give insight.  Berlin, traditionally, has provided a couple of films that come to Colorado.  Meanwhile Sundance and South by Southwest largely act as exclusionary festivals-they tell you titles that won't be at Telluride (with rare exceptions).

Also, once the Oscars have come and gone, any number of outlets will publish Oscar speculation pieces.  Those stories can give early insight into films that could have the quality to make the T-ride lineup.

Finally we get to where we are...the Cannes Film Fest announces their lineup in two and a half weeks and speculation pieces about that lineup is the next layer of possibilities for Labor Day as their is usually a significant overlap between the Croisette and Colorado Ave.  As a matter of fact, I have two more big Cannes spec pieces that I look at below.

All of that to get to this...a very early list of ten films that seem to me, at least at the moment, to have he best Telluride profile.  I present them here in alphabetical order with no view yet as to their relative chances of making the Telluride lineup...I need more information to do that:


1) Andrea Arnold's American Honey
2) Wim Wenders The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
3) Gianfranco Rosi's Fire at Sea
4) Garth Davis' Lion
5) Jeff Nichol's Loving
6) Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman
7) Werner Herzog's Salt and Fire
8) Mia Hansen Love's Things to Come
9) The Dardenne Brothers' The Unknown Girl
10) Craig Johnson's Wilson


Let's see how this list looks when we get to September.


VARIETY'S LOOK AT FRANCE

As mentioned above, I continue to dissect the Cannes predictions of a number of industry publications.  Today I'm looking at Peter DeBruge and Elsa Keslassy and their recent post.  They break it down into geographic categories, so I will follow suit in isolating films that might double up between Cannes and Telluride:

U.S. Directors: The Last Face (Sean Penn), Loving (Jeff Nichols)
British/Irish: American Honey (Andrea Arnold), The Secret Scripture (Jim Sheridan)
French: Personal Shopper (Olivier Assasyas)
Romanian: Family Photos (Christian Mungiu)
Other Europeans: Julieta (Pedro Almodovar). The Unknown Girl (The Dardennes), The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)
Canadians; It's Only the End of the World
Latin American: Neruda (Pablo Larrain)
Israel: Oppenheimer Strategies (Joseph Cedar)
Asian: The Salesman/Untitled (Asghar Farhadi)

The complete Variety article is here:

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/cannes-film-festival-predictions-bfg-2016-1201738289/


44 FILMS INDIEWIRE WANTS AT CANNES

And finally, a wish list...probably well informed, from Indiewire, about Cannes films...with my eye toward Telluride...

Among the 44 films that the Indiewire crew lists are:

The Last Face
Loving
Julieta
Neruda
The Unknown Girl
Family Photos
American Honey
It's Only the End of the World
The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
The Secret Scripture
Personal Shopper
Oppenheimer Strategies
Forushande (the untitled Farhadi Salesman film)
Lion



That'll do for Monday...

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 OR to

Michael's Telluride Film Blog's Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse/107846269309712

Cannes Poster Released / Multiple Sources Guess at the Cannes' Lineup

Good Thursday to Everyone...


CANNES POSTER RELEASED

The 69th Cannes Film Festival released its official poster this week as you can see above.  Many observers have noted that the poster art is inspired by Jean Luc Godard.

Variety covered the release of the poster here:

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/cannes-unveils-official-poster-with-nod-to-jean-luc-godard-1201735029/


MULTIPLE SOURCES GUESS AT THE CANNES' LINEUP

We've been seeing a good deal of speculation over the past couple of weeks about American films that might make their way to the Croisette for Cannes in May.  Money Monster, Cafe Society, The Nice Guys, The BFG, The Last Face and  Loving are among the American films already confirmed or that have serious heat about their chances.

As we get closer to the actual announcements, speculation is getting more detailed.  Screen Daily has a very extensive piece that spans the film world and offers a broad array of possibilities.  Among them that initially seem Telluride-ish are(grouped in the same fashion that Screen Daily has used):

UK/Irish: American Honey, The Sense of an Ending, The Secret Scripture
U.S.: Loving, The Story of Your Life, The Last Face, Sully (yes...Sully)
Canada: It's Only the End of the World
France: Personal Shopper
Germany: The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
Spain: Julieta, A Monster Calls
Eastern Europe: Family Photos
Benelux: The Unknown Girl
Middle East: Oppenheimer Strategies
Latin America: Neruda
Australia: Lion

The complete Screen Daily post is here:

http://www.screendaily.com/news/cannes-whos-in-the-running/5101702.article#


Meanwhile, Pete Hammond from Deadline throws his two cents into the pot:

http://deadline.com/2016/03/cannes-film-festival-2016-movies-speculation-sean-penn-woody-allen-steven-spielberg-1201721737/

Similarly, Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter also covered the Cannes spec with a post this week:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/todd-mccarthys-cannes-preview-american-877068


And finally, The Jigsaw Lounge has posted "Odds for Winning" the Palme d'Or already.  One assumes that the odds also give some indication of the likelihood of specific films making the competition lineup.  Of note:

Almodovar's leading odds of 3-1 for Julieta
Arnold's American Honey at 18-1
Larrain's Neruda at 20-1
Penn's The Last Face at 22-1
The Dardennes The Unknown Girl at 25-1
Dolan's It's Only the End of the World also at 25-1
Mungiu's Family Photos at 28-1
Assassyas' Personal Shopper at 33-1
Nichols' Loving at 33-1
Eastwood's Sully at 35-1


The complete odds (and it's an extensive list) are here:

http://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/reviews/cannes2016/

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 OR to

Michael's Telluride Film Blog's Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse/107846269309712