MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / European Film Awards Nominations / British Independent Film Awards Nominations / Trailer for The End /Interviews and Profiles : Saldana, Eisenberg and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 24th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez

4) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun

5) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl

Others: Demi Moore/The Substance, Marianne Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths and Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown

5) Daniel Craig/Queer

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice and Jesse Eisenberg/A Real Pain.

TFF NOMINATIONS FOR EFA AND BIFA

TFF films were well represented in films nominated for the European Film Awards announced earlier this week.

Emilia Perez (4): Best European Film, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Screenwriter.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (3): Best European Film, Direction, Screenwriter.

No Other Land (2): Best European Film, Documentary.

They Shot the Piano Player (TFF #50) (2): Best European Feature, Animated Feature.

Bird (2) Best Direction, Actor (Rogowski).

Santosh (1) Best Discovery

Conclave (1): Best Actor (Fiennes).

TFF films also were recognized with nominations for the British Independent Film Awards:

The Outrun (9): Best British Independent Film, Direction, Lead Performance (Ronan), Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup/Hair, Original Music and Sound. 

Bird (7): Best Direction, Supporting Performance (Rogowski and Keoghan), Breakthrough Performance (Adams), Casting, Editing and Original Music.

Santosh (4): Best British Independent Film, Screenplay, Breakthrough Producer and Debut Screenwriter.

All We Imagine as Light (1): Best Independent International Film.

Anora (1): Best Independent International Film.

La Chimera (from TFF #50) (1): Best Independent International Film.

No Other Land (1): Best Independent International Film.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (1): Best Independent International Film.

TRAILER FOR THE END

From NEON via YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Chelsea Clinton for Zurawski v. Texas from Marie Claire

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from Vanity Fair.

Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez from The Hollywood Reporter.

Co-director Abbie Perrault for Zurawski v. Texas from Next Best Picture.

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The Composite Telluride / September 5 Goes to Paramount / Official Trailer for Will and Harper

 THE COMPOSITE TELLURIDE

Here's my annual final step of computation that has become an MTFB tradition.  It's The Composite Telluride ratings in which I add the average from The People and The Professionals to provide one more glimpse of how The SHOW's films were perceived.   

To begin, here's the history of The Composite Telluride with the film's combined rating at the right followed by its position on each of the two lists in brackets.

1) Anora 8.97 [3-1]

2) Emilia Perez 8.38 [5-3]

3) September 5 8.28 [7-2]

4) Conclave 8.17 [4-5]

5) Saturday Night 7.88 [9-4]

6) Maria 7.11 [11-9]

7) Nickel Boys 7.03 [16-6]

8) Piece by Piece 7.00 [14-7]

9) The Friend 6.76 [12-10]

10) The Piano Lesson 6.75 [15-8]

11) The End 5.17 [18-11]

Anora replaces The Power of the Dog on the All Time Top Ten Composite Ratings list.  That looks like this now:

1) (TIE) 12 Years a Slave (9.25) 2013 (Won Best Picture)

1) (TIE) Argo (9.25) 2012 (Won Best Picture)

3) Roma (9.20) 2018 (Won Best Foreign Language Film)

4) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)

5) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)

6) Parasite (9.11) 2019 (Won Best Picture)

7) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012

8) Poor Things (9.04) 2023

9) (TIE) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013

9) (TIE) Anora (8.97) 2024

SEPTEMBER 5 GOES TO PARAMOUNT

Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter reports that September 5 will be distributed by Paramount.  The film will have a [platformed release beginning Nov. 27th and then expanding into other theaters in December.

Feinberg writes in his article:

"Interest among distributors reached a crescendo after the film premiered at — and blew the roof off of — the recent Venice and Telluride film festivals, generating comparisons to past best picture Oscar winners Argo and Spotlight." 

September 5 landed with a solid 4.20 rating in MTFB's People's Poll and a 4.08 from the Professionals ending up as a surprise #2 from them.  As you can see above the film had a composite rating of 8.28 that put it at #3 on the composite chart ahead of such possible Oscar contenders such as Conclave, Saturday Night, Nickel Boys and The Piano Lesson.

Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter.

OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR WILL AND HARPER

From YouTube:

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MTFB EXTRA: FINAL BETS FOR TFF #51 / Emila Perez Trailer / Tidbits: Potential Guests, Tributes?, Guest Director???, Another Sundance Title? / The People's Telluride

FINAL BETS FOR TFF #51

Well, here we are.  24ish hours from Telluride's big reveal for the 2024 SHOW.  I'm driving somewhere in New Mexico as you read this.  Here is your final list of "Bets" to make the SHOW:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Maria/Larrian

10) The Outrun/Fingscheidt

11) Bird/Arnold

12) Disclaimer/Cuaron

13) Separated/Morris

14) Better Man/Gracey

15) Piece by Piece/Neville

16) September 5/Fehlbaum

17) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

18) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

19) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

20) The Apprentice/Abassi

21) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

22) Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns and McMahon

23) Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

24) Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

25) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

Other possibilities:

Santosh/Suri

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Homegrown/Premo

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

A Real Pain/Jesse Eisenberg

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

The Actor/Johnson

Last year I was 24/25 on the final bets.

Previous years of "Bets" track record:

2023: 24 of 25

2022: 24 of 25

2021: 24 of 25

2020: No fest

2019: 24 of 25

2018: 25 of 25

2017: 24 of 25

2016: 20 of 20

That's 165 0f 170 for a correct percentage of  97.05%

Come back tomorrow to see how I did.

 EMILIA PEREZ TEASER/TRAILER (with english subtitles)

TIDBITS

A REMINDER OF POTENTIAL GUESTS

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

Conclave: Edward Berger, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini

Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Adriana Paz

The End: Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay

The Piano Lesson: Malcolm Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Dedwyler, John David Washington, Denzel Washington

Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjunue Ellis-Taylor

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

The Friend: Scott McGeehee, David Siegel, Carla Gugino, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

Saturday Night: Jason Reitman, Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Nicolas Braun, Jon Batiste

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

Better Man: Robbie Williams

Disclaimer: Alfonso Cuaron, Cate Blanchett, Sasha Baron Cohen, Kevin Kline

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; Embeth Davitz

A Real Pain: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin

TRIBUTES?

Here are what feel like your possibilities:

1) Saorise Ronan

2) Thelma Schoonover

3) Jason Reitman

4) Jacques Audiard

5) Samuel L. Jackson

6) Ralph Fiennes

7) Angelina Jolie

8) Denzel Washington

9) Michael Shannon

10) Naomi Watts

Alternatives: John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci

GUEST DIRECTOR???

I don't know what to tell you.  

Multiple directors like last year?  I don't feel that.  That's an approach that the Fest took in anniversary years #40 and #50.

No Guest Director?  Maybe.  The Guest Director position hasn't always existed.  Its inception was 1988.  I just don't think that's likely.

A BIG NAME?  Maybe.  Spielberg?  Scorsese? Nolan?  If you wanted to make a big splash, holding that name for your official announcement would sure be a way to achieve that.  Cautiously, that's where I'm going to place my money.

ANOTHER SUNDANCE TITLE?

I'm not saying it's in for TFF #51 but I've been seeing/hearing low level background noise about a possible play for Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain.  I already think that The Outrun which played at Sundance is likely to screen at T-ride this weekend.  So, is a second "big" Sundance film possible?

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th 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 to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

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Ten (Plus) Bets #9 for TFF #51 / NYFF Spotlight Announcement / Some Other Possible Guests / New Poster for Saturday Night / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 TEN (PLUS) BETS #9 FOR TFF #51

Well, with what purports to be the last set of announced films for Toronto on Tuesday and the release of the Venice screening schedule on Monday, we have some shifting occurring in this week's Ten (Plus) Bets for TFF #51.

Here was last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Dahomey/Diop

12) Grand Tour/Gomes

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) The Apprentice/Abassi

18) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

19) Maria/Larrain

20) Saturday Night/Reitman

Other possibilities:

Separated/Morris

Oh, Canada/Schrader

Flow/Zibalodis

Santosh/Suri

Megalopolis/Coppola

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

The Outrun/Fingscheidt and/or Blitz/McQueen

This week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Saturday Night/Reitman

9) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Ten Bets:

11) Separated/Morris

12) Better Man/Gracey

13) No Other Land/Adra, Ballal, Abraham and Szor

14) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

15) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

16) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

17) Maria/Larrain

18) Bird/Arnold

19) Disclaimer/Cuaron

20) Santosh/Suri

Other possibilities:

The Outrun/Fingsheidt

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Apocalypse in the Tropics/Costa

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

The Apprentice/Abassi

Chain Reactions/Philippe

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Homegrown/Premo

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns, Burns, McMahon

The Actor/Johnson

Parthenope/Sorrentino

Hand of Dante/Schnabel

NYFF SPOTLIGHT ANNOUNCMENT

The New York Film Festival announced the rest of the films playing in its Spotlight section yesterday and that offered up minimal clues regarding the TFF #51 lineup.  It does appear the one more Venice selection will also play Telluride as NYFF labeled the documentary Apocalypse in the Tropics (dir: Petra Costa) without a premiere status.  The film is slated to screen in Venice on Sept. 29th which would give it time to make it to T-ride.  The IMDb description says the film...

"Focuses on how the evangelical movement paved the way for the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro and poses the threat of a national theocracy."

Sound familiar?

Otherwise three other films we thought were playing TFF #51 seem to be confirmed by their lack of premiere status: Maria, Emilia Perez and The Friend.

Here's the announcement from NYFF.

SOME OTHER POSSIBLE GUESTS

Back on Aug. 5th I wrote a bit about what folks might turn up at TFF#51 as guests based on some of the films that looked like they could or would play as a part of the fest.

Today I'm adding a few more possibilities:

Better Man: Robbie Williams

Disclaimer: Alfonso Cuaron, Cate Blanchett, Sasha Baron Cohen, Kevin Kline

The Outrun: Saoirse Ronan

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; Embeth Davitz

NEW POSTER FOR SATURDAY NIGHT

We have the release on Tuesday of a second poster for Jason Reitman's Saturday Night.  Here it is:

I'm pretty sure this is playing at TFF but I did see some references to a "world" premiere occurring in Toronto from some film media outlets on Tuesday.  TIFF continues to list it as a Canadian Premiere which is reassuring regarding its Telluride status.

THE PEOPLE'S TELLURIDE-12TH EDITION

For the 12th 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 to: mpgort@gmail.com 

The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.

I'll compile all of your responses and post those a few days after the festival.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com

X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2 

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Hints and Allegations / Who Could Be at TFF #51? / Looks at Possible Double Plays

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

I had a couple of readers send me information about possible confirmations/inclusions about films and/or attendees this past week.  

Back on July 23rd I posted an MTFB special about announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York.  One of the films I especially noted was Andrea Arnold's Bird as it was labeled as a North American Premiere on the TIFF official website but had been posted here on X as a Canadian Premiere.  However, MTFB reader Bobby Harris contacted me to reveal that TIFF's entry for Bird on the website has been changed to Canadian:

So, for me, that's going to mean that I'm putting Bird back on the Ten Bets/Possible list when it gets updated on Thursday.

Additionally, I had another reader reach out to convey intell about three possible attendees for TFF.  I'm going to be a little cagey here as to who/where the info came from as well as explicitly naming names-at least for now.  I will say that a couple of the names would confirm that Anora and Emilia Perez will play Telluride.  The third person's presence would indicate one or possibly two films neither of which are currently among the "Bets" or "Possibles".

WHO COULD BE AT TFF#51?

For fun, let's assume I'm right about almost everything playing at TFF #51; what star wattage could we see in town, on panels, doing Q&A's?

Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison

Conclave: Edward Berger, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini

Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard, Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Adriana Paz

The End: Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay

The Piano Lesson: Malcolm Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Dedwyler, John David Washington, Denzel Washington

Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross, Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Aunjunue Ellis-Taylor

Piece by Piece: Morgan Neville, Pharrell Williams

The Apprentice: Ali Abassi, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong

The Friend: Scott McGeehee, David Siegel, Carla Gugino, Naomi Watts, Bill Murray

Maria: Pablo Larrain, Angelina Jolie

Saturday Night: Jason Reitman, Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Nicolas Braun, Jon Batiste

Megalopolis: Francis Ford Coppola, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza. Dustin Hoffman

Parthenope: Paolo Sorrentino, Gary Oldman

Hand of Dante: Julian Schnabel, Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese

The Actor: Duke Johnson, Andre Holland

Harvest: Athina Rachel Tsangari, Caleb Landry Jones, Henry Melling

Bird: Andrea Arnold, Barry Keoghan, Frank Rogowski

LOOKS AT POSSIBLE DOUBLE PLAYS

Inspired by a "first look" post from World of Reel, here are some promo shots of films that will possibly screen at Telluride as well as Toronto or Venice: No guarantees that all of these make it to T-ride.

All We Imagine as Light:

Allegorie Citadine:

Bird:

Conclave:

Emilia Perez:

The End:

Maria:

Misrecordia:

The Piano Lesson:

Piece by Piece:

Separated:

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Ten (Plus) Bets #7 for TFF #51 / A New Name and a Date / TFF #51 Has a Poster

TEN BETS (PLUS) #7 FOR TFF #51 

Waiting on announcements from New York, Venice (they just added Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American saga Part 2 to their lineup yesterday) as well as Fantastic Fest

Here's last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

8) Nickel Boys/Ross

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Five Bets:

11) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

13) The Apprentice/Abassi

14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

Other possibilities:

Maria/Larrain

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975/Reitman

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Babygirl/Reijn

Separated/Morris

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

And here's this week's:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Five Bets:

11) The Apprentice/Abassi

12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

13) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

Other possibilities:

Maria/Larrain

Megalopolis/Coppola

Separated/Morris

Saturday Night/Reitman

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

The Actor/Johnson

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

Not much movement on this week's Ten (Plus) Bets.  Nickel Boys and The Apprentice move up a bit as does Jason Reitman's film about Saturday Night Live (see below).  Babygirl and the Untitled Noah Baumbach project have both been removed from the list of possibles after news from Variety.

A  NEW NAME AND A DATE

Multiple outlets reported Tuesday that Jason Reitman's SNL 1975 has been re-titled Saturday Night and also a release date of October 11th.  Their had been hot and heavy rumors that the film was headed to Telluride but that's cooled a bit.

That positions the film nicely to play Telluride/Toronto and even New York (NYFF opens Sept. 27th and runs through Oct. 13th).  I can even see the film announced as NYFF's Centerpiece film.

Here are links to some of stories about the new name and the release date.

The Hollywood Reporter

Entertainment Weekly 

Variety

TFF #51 HAS A POSTER

It's up on the official TFF website for sale.  https://tffshop.myshopify.com/

The art is from Luke Dorman of Meow Wolf.  He also created the poster art for TFF #48 and TFF #50.

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Venice Schedule Leak / Davis Details Telluride

VENICE SCHEDULE LEAK

World of Reel reports that at least part of the Venice Film fest has leaked.  As frequent readers of MTFB know, there is often a fairly substantial crossover between films that screen early at Venice (the first three days) and the TFF lineup.

If the partially leaked titles and dates are correct it looks like Pablo Larrain's Maria is positioned to make the leap from Italy to Colorado as WOR says it bows in Venice on Aug. 29th.  The other film that is suggested as a possible Venice-Telluride double play is Halina Reijn's Babygirl (however, see below)  starring Nicole Kidman which is said to screen on Aug. 30th.

The reporting also indicates that, as previously reported, both Queer and The Room Next Door will be scheduled far too late to make an appearance at TFF #52.

I suspect that there will be other films that make the trip but as yet no other films screening schedule seems to have been revealed.

The complete post from World of Reel is here.

DAVIS DETAILS TELLURIDE

Variety's Clayton Davis writing on Tuesday detailed a ton of Telluride lineup info.

Here's what Davis says will be playing:

Conclave

Piece by Piece

Nickel Boys

The End 

Anora

Better Man

The Piano Lesson

Emilia Perez

Maria

The Friend

All We Imagine as Light

Misrecordia

Maybes for Telluride:

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

The Apprentice

Megalopolis

Will NOT play Telluride:

Babygirl

A Complete Unknown

Nightbitch

The Room Next Door

Pedron Paramo

Gladiator II

Here

We Live in Time

The Brutalist

Wolfs

Queer

Joker: Folie a Deux

Davis' complete article is linked here.

For more clues we now await the complete and official Venice schedule and the announcement from New York for its Centerpiece film as well as the rest of its schedule.

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Ten Bets #6 for TFF #51 / Two Go Away / Two (Maybe) Get Added / Is it Possible?

TEN BETS #6 FOR TFF #51

Well, the hints hit hard this week with the Toronto and Venice Fests announcing the bulk of their 2024 lineups.  New York also got into the act by announcing their opening night film: RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys-with its conspicuous absence of a premiere designation in the media release.  Needless to say...we know more now than we did a week ago.

Here's what the "Ten Bets" and other possibilities looked like last week:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) Maria/Pablo Larrain

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Bird/Arnold

Other possibilities:

The End/Oppenheimer

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

All We Imagine as Light

Memoir of a Snail

Now, here's the update:

1) Anora/Baker

2) Conclave/Berger

3) Emilia Perez/Audiard

4) The End/Oppenheimer

5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia

6) The Piano Lesson/Washington

7) Misrecordia/Guiraudie

8) Nickel Boys/Ross

9) Better Man/Gracey

10) Piece by Piece/Neville

And a Bonus Five Bets:

11) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof

12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

13) The Apprentice/Abassi

14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee

15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz

Other possibilities:

Maria/Larrain

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975/Reitman

Memoir of a Snail/Elliot

Babygirl/Reijn

Separated/Morris

One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards

Harvest/Tsangari

Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR

My most anticipated: Nickel Boys and Conclave.  I'd really love to see Jason Reitman's SNL 1975 make it into the lineup.

TWO GO AWAY

Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera revealed in a post-announcement interview with Deadline that both Luca Guadagnino's Queer and Pedro Almodovar's The Room Next Door will be scheduled to screen the second week of the fest.  That means we can take both of those films off the board and explains why they're no longer among the "Ten Bets" or other possibilities.

Here's the relevant comment from the Deadline post:

"DEADLINE: You said this morning that we’d have to wait into the second week of the festival to see some of the big movies…

BARBERA: Yes, it was a matter of timing and schedules. The Almodóvar, Joker and Queer will be in the second half of the festival. Joker 2 will most likely be on Wednesday, for example."

The complete Deadline interview is here.

TWO (MAYBE) GET ADDED

I went through about a four hour period on Tuesday about two films that had "going to Telluride" buzz.  I wasn't quite ready to jump in and add them but Jordan Ruimy, following some of the same buzz posted this yesterday at his World of Reel website:

"I can confirm that Ali Abassi’s “The Apprentice” will be having its North American premiere at Telluride. The Donald Trump biopic still has no U.S. distribution, although a deal is on the table with Briarcliffe Entertainment — you can read more about this story here."

Later in the post Ruimy writes:

"Meanwhile, Jason Reitman’s “SNL 1975,” which recounts the 24 hours leading up to the premiere of the first Saturday Night Live episode, is close to being added to the Telluride lineup as a world premiere."

Sooo...The Apprentice from Ali Abassi and possibly SNL 1975 from Jason Reitman on their way to the San Juans?

Here's Ruimy's complete rundown on the Telluride lineup.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

Searchlight has dropped a teaser for its Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.  Indiewire reports that the film has been dated for a December release.  Here's the teaser:

Searchlight has looked like it probably wouldn't be represented this year at TFF since the announcement that Nightbitch was World Premiering at Toronto.  I'd really all but written off anything else (see my post from June 17th).

Sooo...could this be ready?  Searchlight has a long history with Telluride and writer/director James Mangold screened Walk the Line and Ford v. Ferrari at past fests.

Then there's this from Scott Menzel of We Live Entertainment posting on X yesterday:

Do I think it could happen?  It would be an incredibly fast turnaround.  If IMDb Pro is to be believed, the film was largely shot in 2023 and had an additional nine days of shooting in early to mid June of this year.  

So, again, do I think it could happen?  Not really, but....what if it did?

And, by the way, I love the teaser.

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Ten Bets for TFF #51-Third Edition / Blitz Goes to London / Trailer and Poster for Napoleon Restoration

TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-THIRD EDITION

Happy Independence Day to everyone!

Here's 2024's third installment of MTFB's "Ten Bets" for the Telluride Film Festival.  The big move this week is that Steve McQueen's Blitz comes off the possibilities list (see the story below).  Additionally Emilia Perez and The Room Next Door move up a couple of spots while Anora and The Seed of the Sacre Fig each drop a couple of spots. Nickel Boys moves up to #5.

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

2) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

3) Anora/Sean Baker

4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

5) Nickel Boys/Ross

6) Bird/Andrea Arnold

7) Maria/Pablo Larrain

8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Conclave/Edward Berger

Other possibilities:

We Live in Time/Crowley

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

SNL 1975

BLITZ GOES TO LONDON

(Saorise Ronan in Blitz via Apple)

Apple+ and the BFI London Film Festival announced on Monday that Steve McQueen's Blitz will World Premiere as the Opening Night Film. Assuming that the premiere designation is accurate that means that the film will not play Telluride nor Venice and Toronto.

I had written here on the blog on May 30th that:

"I'd reallllly...love for Blitz to get to TFF and McQueen has a solid past with the fest, but...given the story is about the blitz of London by the Nazis in WWII, I can see McQueen wanting to hold the World Premiere as a part of the London Film Fest in October."

Looks like I was spot on.

Now, Ioncinema posted this on X Monday:

"BLITZ could still premiere in Telluride ... but chances are indeed low." and "Telluride has "grabbed" world premiere status titles away from other fests before. It's unlikely, but could happen."

And that's true as far as it goes but since Toronto started announcing what they call "honest" premiere designations, the occurrence of a film being designated as a World Premiere somewhere else but still playing at T-ride has become almost non-existent.

Here are the details from The Hollywood Reporter.

TRAILER AND POSTER FOR NAPOLEON RESTORATION

Ever since Cannes screened the newly renovated version of Abel Gance's Napoleon I have thought there was a real chance that the film (now nearly seven hours long!) could be a part of the TFF #51 lineup.  Now we have a new poster as well as a new trailer for the film.  You can see the poster above and here's the trailer from YouTube: 

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Ten Bets for TFF #51-Second Edition / Checking the Distributors: Focus Features /A New Source of T-ride Spec

TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-SECOND EDITION

Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:

1) Anora/Sean Baker

2) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof

3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard

4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar

5) Bird/Andrea Arnold

6) Maria/Pablo Larrain

7) Nickel Boys/Ross

8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer

9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino

10) Conclave/Edward Berger

Other possibilities:

We Live in Time/Crowley

I'm Still Here/Salles

Parthenope/Sorrentino

In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel

Hard Truths/Leigh

The Piano Lesson/Washington

Untitled Noah Baumbach

Blitz/McQueen

Megalopolis/Coppola

Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance

Leonardo DaVinci/Burns

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins

Oh, Canada/Schrader

The Actor/Johnson

CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOCUS FEATURES

Today's look at frequent TFF distributors and what films they have with a chance at making the TFF #51 lineup turns to Focus Features.

Here is the moderately recent past of Focus at TFF:

2023- The Holdovers

2022- TAR, Armageddon Time

2021- Belfast, The Card Counter, Red Rocket

2020- The Way I See It

2019- No film

2018- Boy Erased
2017- Darkest Hour
2015- Suffragette
2012- Hyde Park on Hudson
2006- Catch a Fire

Focus' big player this fall is from All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger.  Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

Its IMDb description:

"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."

Also in Focus' basket is Robert Eggers Nosferatu set for release on Dec. 25th and Morgan Neville's Piece by Piece an animated documentary about Pharrell Williams set to be released Oct. 11th.

My assessment is that Conclave has a decent shot at a Venice/Telluride play.  Though unlikely, both Nosferatu and Piece by Piece can't be totally ruled out.  The chances:

Conclave 50%

Piece by Piece 20%

Nosferatu 15%.

 

A NEW SOURCE OF T-RIDE SPEC

I'm always looking for fresh insight into what might make the Telluride lineup and this week stumbled across Ezra Cubero's WordPress column about the fall fest season.  So, I took a look at what Cubero had predicted last year for Telluride in a post from June 22, 2023 and you know what, it was more than decent.  Cubero had predicted 16 films for TFF #50 and got nine right.  Not bad...not bad at all.  So, I thought it was worth my time, and maybe yours, to see what Cubero thinks for TFF #51.  And here's what that is:

Films that are flat out predicted to play TFF #51:

Anora

Bird

Hard Truths

Nickel Boys

The Piano Lesson

A Real Pain

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Above you' ll see that this week's Ten Bets includes Anora, Bird, Nickel Boys and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.  I also have Hard Truths and The Piano Lesson on the possibilities list.  I do not have A Real Pain on either list as it premiered at Sundance.

Then there are the films he refers to a "Maybes" for Telluride:

The Actor

All We Imagine as Light

The Apprentice

Conclave

A Different Man

Emilia Perez

The End

The Fire Inside

Maria

Memoir of a Snail

Queer

The Room Next Door

From the "Maybes" list I have Conclave, Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Queer and The Room Next Door all as "Bets"...at least at the moment.

"Maybe" films that are also appearing in my "possibilities" list include The Actor.

As for the other "Maybes"...

All We Imagine as Light might have to go on my list of possibles.

The Apprentice, at least for now, seems dicey as a call for any festival.

A Different Man played Sundance.

The Fire Inside (Flint Strong)...I don't know how I feel about this one.  The change of release dates to an awards friendly Dec. 25th, the fact that its coming from Amazon/MGM and that the script is from Barry Jenkins (who is also listed as a producer) screams a Telluride screening but I had been told at one point, from what I feel is a reliable source, that it's not a "Telluride" film.  So...I dunno.

Memoir of a Snail...intriguing. from IFC Films and won the top prize at the Annecy Animation Fest.  Might have to move this to my list of possibles.

Cubero's complete list for 2024 Fall Fests (Venice, TIFF, NYFF in addition to Telluride) is here.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED...

MTFB is featured at awards Daily this week.

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