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
"But it's our job." - Anne Thompson, Indiewire
Here's an update for my predictions of the lead acting categories for the 94th Academy Awards. As always, TFF #48 performers are in Bold. The performers' last position in these predictions is indicated to the right in parentheses. These categories were last predicted on Oct. 21st.
LEAD ACTING
BEST ACTRESS
1) Kristen Stewart/Spencer (1)
2) Jessica Chastain/The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2)
3) Lady Gaga/House of Gucci (5)
4) Olivia Colman/The Lost Daughter (4)
5) Frances McDormand/The Tragedy of Macbeth (3)
Alternates: Penelope Cruz/Parallel Mothers and Jodie Comer/The Last Duel
BEST ACTOR
1) Will Smith/King Richard (1)
2) Denzel Washington/The Tragedy of Macbeth (2)
3) Benedict Cumberbatch/The Power of the Dog (3)
4) Pere Dinklage/Cyrano (4)
5) Andrew Garfield/tick, tick...BOOM (5)
Alternates: Joaquin Phoenix/C'mon C'mon and Clifton Collns/Jockey
NEW CATEGORIES:
CINEMATOGRAPHY
1) Dune
2) The Tragedy of Macbeth
3) Belfast
4) The Power of the Dog
5) West Side Story
Alternates: Nightmare Alley and Spencer
EDITING
1) Belfast
2) Dune
3) King Richard
4) The Power of the Dog
5) Nightmare Alley
Alternates: West Side Story and Licorice Pizza
PRODUCTION DESIGN
1) Dune
2) Nightmare Alley
3) The French Dispatch
4) West Side Story
5) The Tragedy of Macbeth
Alternates: The Power of the Dog and Belfast
BIFA NOMINATIONS AND TFF #48
The British Independent Film Awards announced nominees for its 2021 edition and Kenneth Branagh's Belfast (and TFF #48 selection) co-lead the haul with 11 total nominations. Boiling Point also had 11 nominations. Other TFF #48 films picking up BIFA noms included: Encounter, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Cow, Flee, Petite Maman and TFF #47 selection First Cow. TFF films had a total of 26 nominations.
Here's the breakdown by film:
Belfast (11): Actress (Balfe), Supporting Actress (Dench), Supporting Actor (Hinds), Breakthrough Performer (Hill), Casting, Cinematography, Costumes, Music, Editing, Makeup/Hair and Production Design.
Encounter (4): Actor (Ahmed), Supporting Actor (Chauhan), Music and Sound.
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (4): Costume, Effects, Makeup/Hair and Production Design.
Cow (4): Documentary, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.
Flee (1): International Independent Film.
Petite Maman (1): International Independent Film.
First Cow (1) (TFF #47): International Independent Feature.
Indiewire's crew this past week has profiled actor Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog and The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and multi-hypenate Kenneth Branagh (Belfast). Passing those along to you with the following links:
BAFTA winning director and frequent guest at the Telluride Film Festival Roger Michell died this past Wednesday. He is best known for the films Notting Hill, Venus which featured Pater O'Toole in his final Oscar nominated performance.
Michell was well known to Telluride fans having screened five films there over the years. They are:
Persuasion 1995
Enduring Love 2004
Venus 2006
Hyde Park on Hudson 2012
The Duke 2021*
* The Duke holds a unique distinction as being both on the TFF #48 program as well as the announced TFF #47 program last year.
Michell was in Telluride three weeks ago along with Helen Mirren for The Duke's screening.
Michell's current project is a documentary about Queen Elizabeth and is reportedly completed and expected 2022.
As the New York Film Festival gets going. here's snapshot of where I think the Oscar Supporting Acting races are at the moment. TFF #48 films are in Bold.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1) Kirsten Dunst/The Power of the Dog
2) Anne Dowd/Mass
3) Aujunue Ellis/King Richard
4) Caitriona Balfe/Belfast
5) Judi Dench/Belfast
Alternates: Marlee Matlin/Coda and Toni Collette/Nightmare Alley
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1) Bradley Cooper/Licorice Pizza
2) Ciaran Hinds/Belfast
3) Corey Hawkins/The Tragedy of Macbeth
4) Jason Isaacs/Mass
5) Kodi Smit-McPhee/The Power of the Dog
Alternates: Richard Jenkins/The Humans and Andrew Garfield/The Eyes of Tammy Faye
I'll have a look at the Screenplay categories on Thursday.
My normal first day would not include driving but because U.S. 50 has a five mile construction zone between Gunnison and Montrose, the wife and I have to travel through the backdoor. That means an added couple of hours. So, yesterday we made it to South Fork and stopped there for the night. We're making the last four hours of the journey this morning.
My expectation is that we'll catch one of the films in the post-Colorado Ave. Feed time slot. Choices there are the Dinklage Tribute with a World Premiere Cyrano screening or World Premieres of King Richard, Belfast C'mon C'mon or The Same Storm. Might chose any of them.
If I still have any spunk (shout out to the late Ed Asner) I might try to get in Louis Wain. We'll see.
THE FRENCH DISPATCH WILL SNEAK
Eagle eyed friend of the Blog Chris Schneider pointed out last night that The Watch, the printed guide t the fest, reveals that Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch will be a sneak addition to the program at some point this weekend, Here's the pic Chris included with his Tweet alerting me and the TFF Twitterverse that the film would play:
The Program Guide has nine TBA slots on Friday. As the saying goes, you do the math.
PS...I am fully expecting The Card Counter to show upas well at some point this weekend after its bow at Venice.
Well folks, we're almost there. A week from now, if all goes well, and the spouse and I pass our Covid tests, we'll be in Telluride for TFF #48. So this is the next to last Ten Bets for 2021. I'll post a Final Ten Bets on Monday morning. I hope it's not misleading.
I'm sure that many of you have noticed that I have written that this has been a challenging year in as far as predicting Telluride is concerned. Now, in the last few days, there's new reason for uncertainty. Mark Johnson of Good as Gold, pointed out that Kris Tapley, who knows a thing or two about fests and Telluride (formerly of In Contention, Variety and now currently a consultant), Tweeted this:
Now that's a bombshell. The "honest premiere" status instigated a few years ago by the Toronto Fest and emulated by others has become an indispensable tool in nailing down probable Telluride selections. It's become such an easy and reliable tool over these few years that a lot of people can and do read the T-ride tea leaves. So if Tapley is correct, the whole enterprise of predicting goes back to real digging, intuition...guesswork. Yeeks!
Nevertheless, here's what the Ten (+10) Bets looked like last week:
1) The Power of the Dog/Campion
2) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) Spencer/Larrain
5) A Hero/Farhadi
6) C'mon, C'mon/Mills
7) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi
8) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
9) Julia/Cohen and West
10) Becoming Cousteau/Garbus
11) Cyrano/Wright
12) Petite Maman/Sciamma
13) Something from Mark Cousins***
14) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine
15) Encounter/Pearce
16) The Hand of God/Sorrentino
17) Vortex/Noe
18) The First 54 Years/Mograbi
19) The Lost Daughter/Gyllenhaal
20) Three Minutes-A Lengenthing/Stigter
Other Possibles: The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, Cow, Antlers, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, Prayers for the Stolen, Unclenching the Fists, A Chiara.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
And this week's Ten Bets (+) are:
1) The Power of the Dog/Campion
2) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) Spencer/Larrain
5) A Hero/Farhadi
6) C'mon, C'mon/Mills
7) The Hand of God/Sorrentino
8) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi
9) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
10) Julia/Cohen and West
11) Becoming Cousteau/Garbus
12) Cyrano/Wright
13) Petite Maman/Sciamma
14) Something from Mark Cousins***
15) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine
16) Encounter/Pearce
17) Muhammad Ali/Burns, Burns and McMahon
18) The First 54 Years/Mograbi
19) The Lost Daughter/Gyllenhaal
20) Three Minutes-A Lengthening/Stigter
21) Flee/Rasmussen
22) King Richard/Green
23) The Story of.../Cousins
24) The French Dispatch/Anderson
25) Vortex/Noe
Other Possibles: Prayers for the Stolen, Cow, Antlers, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Unclenching the Fists, A Chiara, The Starling. The Same Storm, Dune.
For me...hot titles are French Dispatch, Power of the Dog, Card Counter, C'mon C'mon, Hand of God, Flee, King Richard and A Hero. That could change. If The Starling SHOWS...it'll probably go on my list.
FRENCH DISPATCH-MINI TEASERS
Searchlight has deployed a series of character specific teasers for Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch. within the last couple of weeks there has been enough buzz that it could play Telluride that I have elevated it from a "possibility" to the #24 spot on this week's Ten Bets (+) list. Here from YouTube are those teasers:
Revisions to a Manifesto:
The Concrete Masterpiece:
The Cycling Reporter:
THR STARLING TRAILER
Listen, I don't have anything resembling concrete intell, but, within the last week I have begun to think that Theodore Melfi's (Hidden Figures, St. Vincent) The Starling could end up making the TFF #48 lineup. The Starling stars Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd and Timothy Olyphant. The IMDb description for The Starling is as follows:
"After Lilly suffers a loss, a combative Starling takes nest beside her quiet home. The feisty bird taunts and attacks the grief-stricken Lilly. On her journey to expel the Starling, she rediscovers her will to live and capacity for love."
And here's the trailer for the film released a couple of days ago from YouTube:
HAND OF GOD TRAILER
I haven't been on board the "The Hand of God" will play Telluride train fully until the last couple of weeks but I am now 95% sure the Paolo Sorrentino semi-autobiographical film will, in fact, play at TFF #48. I'll also be forthcoming that I hadn't worked up much enthusiasm for the notion until I sat down and watched the trailer. Now I am in full anticipation mode.
Here's the trailer from YouTube:
AND HERE'S SOME WEIRDNESS...
Jordan Ruimy 's World of Reel pointed out yesterday that IMDb has listed Taika Watiti's Next Goal Wins has a date with the London BFI Film Festival.
I had all but given up any notion that Watiti's film would play any festival owing to the allegations surrounding Armie Hammer who appears in the film. This, however, changes the pitch (if you will).
If the IMBd Pro entry is accurate, then maybe we have to reconsider. The info from IMDb doesn't reveal the film's actual premiere status leaving the door open to the notion that it might play somewhere else prior to bowing at London/BFI.
It's a Searchlight film...
T-ride in 2021???
Probably not, but deserving of a sliver of the convo...
We're coming down to the wire. Two weeks until TFF #48 launches. My biggest fear at this point is a failed PCR test just prior to the start of The SHOW.
As to the "Bets", I'm feeling fairly confident about today's edition but as I have written earlier, this year has been trickier than the past few years.
My plan right now, prediction wise, is to post Ten Bets 10 a week from today and then likely a Final Ten Bets special post on Monday, Aug. 30th.
By way of review, here's a look at last week's Ten Bets and Other Possibilities:
1) The Power of the Dog/Campion
2) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
3) Petite Maman/Sciamma
4) The Card Counter/Schrader
5) Spencer/Larrain
6) Something from Mark Cousins***
7) A Hero/Farhadi
8) C'mon, C'mon/Mills
9) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi
10) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
11) Julia/Cohen and West
12) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine
13/ Becoming Cousteau/Garbus
14) Cyrano/Wright
15) Il Buco/Frammartino
Other Possibles: The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Cow, Encounter, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, The Lost Daughter, Three Minutes-A Lengthening, Bergman Island, Vortex, Don't Look Up, Dune.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
And here's this week's 10 (+10) Bets:
1) The Power of the Dog/Campion
2) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) Spencer/Larrain
5) A Hero/Farhadi
6) C'mon, C'mon/Mills
7) The Rescue/Chin and Vasarhelyi
8) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
9) Julia/Cohen and West
10) Becoming Cousteau/Garbus
11) Cyrano/Wright
12) Petite Maman/Sciamma
13) Something from Mark Cousins***
14) Hallelujah-Leonard Cohen Doc/Geller and Goldfine
15) Encounter/Pearce
16) The Hand of God/Sorrentino
17) Vortex/Noe
18) The First 54 Years/Mograbi
19) The Lost Daughter/Gyllenhaal
20) Three Minutes-A Lengenthing/Stigter
Other Possibles: The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, Cow, Antlers, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, Prayers for the Stolen, Unclenching the Fists, A Chiara.
Jordan posted a new listing of what he expects/thinks will play T-ride on Tuesday and though we agree on a lot, there are films that he includes that I don't and vice versa.
From last Monday's Ten Bets list, Ruimy and I agree on 17 films that we think will play. From my Ten Bets I have three films that Ruimy doesn't list as "more or less confirmed": Cyrano, Something from Mark Cousins and Hallelujah (The Leonard Cohen doc). Ruimy does list all three of these films as "possibilities".
Ruimy lists 10 films that he, again, labels as "more or less confirmed: King Richard, The French Dispatch, Passing, Flee, Red Rocket, Bergman Island, A Chiara, Prayers for the Stolen, Unclenching the Fists and Muhammad Ali. Of this list of 10 I have eight on my list of possibilities from Monday's Ten Bets. Ruimy includes Passing and Bergman Island which, at this point I don't think are playing TFF.
Final thought: I hope Jordan's right about The French Dispatch.
PICS OF THE LOST DAUGHTER
Maggie Gyllenhaal's directing debut, The Lost Daughter, has picked up some serious steam the last few weeks as a real T-ride possibility. This stems from three factors: It's a Netflix property. It was chosen for the competition section at Venice and it was scheduled there early enough there (Friday, Sept. 3 at 10:00pm Venice time) to be a viable candidate.
The Playlist, among other outlets, posted first look stills from the film yesterday, Here's a look at a couple of them.
Olivia Colman and Dakota Johnson lead the cast which also includes four time Oscar nominee Ed Harris.
HERE'S A THING...
(Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley)
Soooo, the MPAA rated Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley R in July. Now, I know that the word is that, as of a couple of a month ago, the film wouldn't be ready for Venice. In my post from July 29th, I pointed to an interview with Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera which revealed that Nightmare would have been a Venice choice were it to be ready. Further, its absence from the Toronto and New York lineups seem to confirm that.
But, some version of the film exists to have been rated...
In a dream world...Del Toro shows up at Telluride in a couple of weeks and screens whatever version exists. It wouldn't be the first time that a film wasn't fully complete that screens at Telluride. The film is dated for a Dec. 3rd release.
Do I think this WILL happen...Nope. But a guy can dream.
Not a lot to change in the Ten Bets for this week. There are a couple of changes in the Other Possibilities list (see next section below)
Last week's Ten Bets:
1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
2) Petite Maman/Sciamma
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) Something from Mark Cousins***
5) The Power of the Dog/Campion
6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
7) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar
8) Julia/Cohen and West
9) A Hero/Farhadi
10) Spencer/Larrain
Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Nightmare Alley, Where Is Anne Frank?, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday, Encounter, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Don't Look Up, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
This week's new Ten Bets:
1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
2) The Power of the Dog/Campion
3) Petite Maman/Sciamma
4) The Card Counter/Schrader
5) Something from Mark Cousins***
6) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar
7) Julia/Cohen and West
8) Spencer/Larrain
9) A Hero/Farhadi
10) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God Where Is Anne Frank?, Cow, The Last Duel, Encounter, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, C'mon C'mon, Hallelujah/Leonard Cohen, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard, 7 Prisoners, The Lost Daughter.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
TITLES DISAPPEARING FROM CONSIDERATION
(Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Nightmare Alley via IMDb)
Notes on interviews with Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera who reveled that both Guillermo Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Ridley Scott's House of Gucci both were to have been in the Venice lineup but will not be ready in time.
You have to conclude, by extension, that if neither film is ready for Venice that they will not be playing Telluride either since the two fests occupy the same dates on the calendar.
Additionally, Variety reported last night that Andrew Dominik's Blonde will move to 2022 thereby almost certainly off the Telluride list. The Variety story is here.
NEW TORONTO AND NEW YORK ADDITION
The Toronto International Film Festival added Galas, Special Presentations and Contemporay Wprd Cinema selections yesterday. Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog was added as a "Canadian Premiere". Earlier this week the New York Film Festival named it as its choice for its centerpiece. The NYFF announcement reveals that presentation will be the film's "New York premiere":
"Film at Lincoln Center announces Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog as the Centerpiece selection for the 59th New York Film Festival, making its New York premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 1."
The dual announcements mean that The Power of the Dog is all but locked for a Telluride bow after its screening in Venice.
Meanwhile, the announcement from TIFF also took Mothering Sunday and The Humans out of consideration for T-ride. Mothering Sunday was announced as a North American Premiere while The Humans will be a World Premiere. Those designations indicate that neither will be playing at Telluride.
TFF has denied my application to be an accredited journalist again this year. Here's the wording of the denial email:
"We unfortunately unable to offer you media accreditation for the 2021 Telluride Film Festival".
It's been exactly the same language for three years running. They last accredited me in 2018.
Here's a question- anyone else reading this been denied or know of someone who has been denied?
Never a reason. Just "unfortunately unable". And believe me, I've asked for a rationale.
I've been fairly sure that it really comes down to a couple of posts that specifically upset TFF leadership. So, I've tried to be more sensitive to how what I write might be viewed by TFF leadership. Tried very hard after a couple of things that the fest let me know that they were not fond of. Over the last year or so, I have sat on a couple of stories that I felt that the fest would rather not be out of the bag until they were ready. Just a two-three weeks back, I became aware of a situation wherein a film's IMDb listings had it playing at Telluride. Rather than report that, I sent a heads up email to the festival. Those efforts seem to have cut zero ice.
And then there's the general acrimony about what the central organizing principle of this space has been for 13 years.
But, you know, lots of other outlets speculate about possible Telluride selections. Of recent vintage I would point to Pete Hammond's June 18th Deadline post concerning TFF's annual L.A,. party. In that piece Hammond mentions no less than half a dozen films by name and hints at another four from Netflix. Yet, I have little doubt that Mr. Hammond and Deadline will receive accreditation and I wonder if Telluride emailed him a note of approbation like they've emailed me in the past.
Same with Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere yesterday (citing the Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel piece you'll see below, in which he rattles off more than a dozen titles of potential T-ride titles.
"But, Mike, maybe it's just because MTFB has such a small readership?" I hear you asking. And sure, I'll be the first to admit that the blog's numbers aren't big but I would argue that among that number, it lands with some impact. I won't get into followers and industry folks who have reached out over the years to remark to me how valuable a resource this thing has been and is, but it's substantial. And, again, I can imagine someone saying..."well, sure, anyone can claim that what they do has influence-show me the proof." And I'll say...won't name names...but you know who you are.
Also, if it's about smallish numbers...why where my numbers big enough for the eight years I was accredited?
And then there's the point that maybe there are limited spots for journalists. Could be, but they accredited a brand new Oscar outlet in 2019 which had had absolutely no previous experience at the fest.
TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #48
Well, this is weird. Normally. the first Ten bets after Toronto's first announcement of titles causes a massive re-organization of the Ten Bets in the following post. This year...not so much. Last week's ten Bets and other possibilities were:
1) Something from Mark Cousins***
2) Muhammad Ali/Burns. Burns and McMahon
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) The Power of the Dog/Campion
5) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar
6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
7) Nightmare Alley/Del Toro
8) A Hero/Farhadi
9) Julia/Cohen and West
10) Spencer/Larrain
Other Possibles: Dune, Where Is Anne Frank?, Paris 13th District and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday and Bergman Island.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
With the addition of information from Toronto our fifth edition of "Ten Bets" looks like this:
1) The Electrical Life of Louis Wain/Sharpe
2) Petite Maman/Sciamma
3) The Card Counter/Schrader
4) Something from Mark Cousins***
5) The Power of the Dog/Campion
6) The Velvet Underground/Haynes
7) Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers)/Almodovar
8) Julia/Cohen and West
9) A Hero/Farhadi
10) Spencer/Larrain
Other Possibles: Dune, The French Dispatch, Nightmare Alley, Where Is Anne Frank?, Blonde, Cow, House of Gucci, The Last Duel, Mothering Sunday, Encounter, The Velvet Underground, Muhammad Ali, The Hand of God, Don't Look Up, tick, tick..BOOM, Antlers, Being the Ricardos, Titaine, Pig, C'mon C'mon, The Humans, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Red Rocket, Last Exit: Space, Flee, King Richard.
***Mark Cousins projects that could play:
The Story of Looking
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas
The Story of Film: The Next Generation
Paris 13th District, Bergman Island and The Eyes of Tammy Faye all drop from the "Other Possibles" list as their premiere designation for Toronto indicates that they will not have played Telluride but nary a one of the Ten Bets from last week completely disappears this week and that's remarkably unusual.
Also of interest (to me anyway) is that the only film from this year's initial Ten Bets that looks to be out so far is Mia Hansen-Love's Bergman Island.
LOOKS AT POTENTIALS INCLUDING NEW DUNE TRAILER
Continuing to pass along sporadic looks at films that could make the TFF #48 lineup.
***LATE BREAKING: NEW DUNE TRAILER
***TRAILER AND POSTER FOR RIDLEY SCOTT'S THE LAST DUEL
THE CARD COUNTGER POSTER
TRAILER FOR FLEE
VENICE IS COMING
The Venice film Festival is set to announce the bulk of their lineup next week and the reality is that announcement really doesn't rule anything in or out for Telluride. The real info from Venice will be when they announce their schedule because that will tell you more about what's possible in an overlap between T-ride and Venice. We won't see the schedule until August, though.
We know that Almodover's Madres Paralelas is opening Venice on Sept. 1 and that Denis Villenueve's Dune is set for Sept. 3. Both of those are early enough in the Venetian sked to make a cross Atlantic jaunt and be at Telluride. Films have made that kind of schedule work in the past.
GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS
Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel, just yesterday posted a "likely for Telluride" list and also some titles that he thinks will NOT play. Among other notes, he's very confident that Del Toro's Nightmare Alley and Dominik's Blonde will not be on the Telluride list. That bums me out as they were two of most hoped for Telluride titles.
The good news is that, in his estimation, Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch is back in Telluride play as well as a number of other films...many of which (seven to be exact) are on the Ten Bets list above.
The Toronto International Film festival announced Galas and Special Presentations this morning and reading the tea leaves of the premiere status they designated each film with, here are some guesses about what they tell us about Telluride in 2021:
PROBABLY PLAYING TELLURIDE:
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Petite Maman
Enocunter
LOOKS LIKE NO TELLURIDE:
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Jagged
Bergman Island
The Worst Person in the World
Drive My Car
Paris 13th District
The Starling
Three Floors
FILMS WE STILL DON'T KNOW ABOUT:
So many...
The Power of the Dog, The Card Counter, Madres Paralelas, Nightmare Alley, The Velvet Underground, A Hero, Spencer, Blonde, House of Gucci, The Last Duel.
And not a peep about Dune, which has been previously announced as a World IMAX Exclusive presentation.
There are more announcements to come from Toronto in next few weeks. Venice is set to announce next week.
As I do each year, once the dust had settled from the announcement of the Cannes lineup last Thursday, I began looking at what industry focused websites were saying about the films chosen and not chosen trying to glom onto some nuggets that could point the way to possible Telluride titles. The most intriguing, to me at any rate, was Eric Kohn's piece for Indiewire. Here are some nuggets of interest from that article for those of us who are Telluride junkies.
1) The French Dispatch news...If you've been reading here the last couple of years, you've likely picked up on the notion that I'm hot to see this film play T-ride. Wes Anderson snuck Rushmore into Telluride in 1998 and hasn't been back since. I have been thinking that there was a chance that Anderson might return to Telluride last year and then again this year with the film and Kohn adds some fuel to that fire as he writes:
"Cannes held the door open for... titles that wanted to wait. “The French Dispatch,” Wes Anderson’s imaginary vision of 20th-century journalists, has been one of Searchlight’s most promising new titles for some time. The movie was set for a Cannes premiere last year and would have later played Telluride"
Yes indeed, Kohn reports that "Dispatch" would have played TFF #47 had it happened. To me that suggests the possibility that last year's plan could become this year's reality. Other factors suggesting that it might play: From Searchlight, already announced fall release date post-Telluride (Oct. 22) and no suggestion of its premiere status re: its announced play at the New York Film Fest.
2) Films NOT in Cannes (barring something still to be announced-and there are other films that are still to be announced):
Dune
Soggy Bottom
The Power of the Dog
The Card Counter
Spencer
All or none of which might land a slot at Venice and then???
3) A couple of docs to keep an on: Kohn mentions a few documentaries that we maybe should keep an eye on moving toward Labor Day weekend.
The Val Kilmer doc "Val" is one. Andrea Arnold's Cow, Todd Haynes The Velvet Underground and Oliver Stone's JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass all seem like possibilities.
My look at film distributors that have had a significant presence at Telluride over the past five years continues today with Amazon Studios.
Here's their complete past at TFF:
2016: Manchester by the Sea
2017: Wonderstruck
2018: Cold War. Peterloo
2019: The Aeronauts, The Report
2020: All In; The Fight for Democracy
Best shots at TFF #48:
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Being the Ricardos (if it's done)
Val (see above)
AND...if the MGM deal is done and Amazon has control of the MGM inventory??? In play could be:
The Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson project (Soggy Bottom)
Ridley Scott's House of Gucci
George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing
Joe Wright's Cyrano
IMAGES FROM CANNES FILMS
The Film Stage has put together a collection of images from a number of the films that were announced for Cannes last week including some for films that might make the cut for TFF #48.
