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
We cap off the run of posts that highlight the way people rated the films at Telluride today with what I call The Composite Telluride in which I add up a film's ratings from both The People and the Pros. This year 11 films had enough responses from both groups to make this list. There are three films that made one list but didn't make The Composite because they failed to get enough people to see them from one group or the other. Those were Nouvelle Vague which didn't make the People's list and If I Had Legs I'd Kick you as well as A Private Life which weren't seen by enough Pros.
So, here's the Composite. Each title is listed with it's composite rating (on a scale of 10) and its positions on the Pro list then the Peoples list.
1) Hamnet 9.19 [1-1]
2) Sentimental Value 8.79 [2-3]
3) It Was Just an Accident 8.58 [3-4]
4) Bugonia 7.85 [9-2]
5) Jay Kelly 7.79 [4-8]
6) The History of Sound 7.67 [5-7]
7) [TIE] Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 7.30 [8-6]
7) [TIE] Tuner 7.30 [10-5]
9) Blue Moon 7.12 [7-10]
10) Frankenstein 6.64 [12-9]
11) Ballad of a Small Player 6.11 [11-13]
After these additions the All Time Composite Top Ten looks like this:
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) (TIE) Moonlight (9.19) 2016 (Won Best Picture)
4) (TIE) Hamnet (9.19) 2025 (???)
6) Birdman (9.18) 2014 (Won Best Picture)
7) Parasite (9.11) 2019 (Won Best Picture)
8) Stories We Tell (9.10) 2012
9) Poor Things (9.04) 2023 (Nominated Best Picture)
10) (TIE) Tim's Vermeer (8.97) 2013
10) (TIE) Anora (8.97) 2024 (Won Best Picture)
So Chloe Zhao's Hamnet lands tied with Moonlight for the fourth best Composite score of all time.
An expanded list of The Composite and updated All Time ratings for all three categories (Pros, Peeps and Composite) can be found on the "Film Ratings from Past Fests" page. The tab for that is above.
One last thing. The top 10 films that were most viewed as a percentage of the total number of people who rated films for The People's Telluride.
They're back. It's time to reveal the results of MTFB's annual poll of film industry professionals who agreed to rate the films on a 1-5 scale and allow me then to collate and average those scores. The pros are a mix of critics, awards experts and other industry insiders. To make the list this year a film had to be rated by at least half of the Pros. That threshold allowed a dozen films to make the list.
Here are the Pros for TFF #52:
Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
J. Don Birnam-Jorge T/SplashReport.com
Josh Bis/Seattle Film Critics Society and TheSunBreak.com
Christina Jeurling Birro/Pop Culture Confidential
Clayton Davis/Variety
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Johnson/The Awards Alchemist
Dave Karger/Turner Classic Movies
Scott Kernan/Awards Daily
Tomris Laffly/Film Critic and Journalist
Joey Magidson/Awards Radar
Ryan McQuade/Awards Watch
Will Mavity/Next Best Picture
Clarence Moye/The Contending
Matt Neglia/Next Best Picture
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Chris Willman/Variety
Anonymous
And here are your Professionals average ratings:
1) Hamnet 4.64
2) Sentimental Value 4.49
3) It Was Just an Accident 4.35
4) Jay Kelly 4.01
5) The History of Sound 3.88
6) Nouvelle Vague 3.76
7) Blue Moon 3.69
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere 3.50
9) Bugonia 3.48
10) Tuner 3.14
11) Ballad of a Small Player 2.89
12) Frankenstein 2.87
Just missing out on making the list because they were one pro shy of the threshold were The Secret Agent, La Grazia and A Private Life.
Historically, Hamnet's 4.64 will put it in the Professionals all time top ten at #7 and because there is a tie for the 10th spot, no film drops out of this top ten.
New all time PROs Top Ten Films
1) Moonlight (4.87) (16) (Won Best Picture)
2) Parasite (4.75) (19) (Won Best Picture)
3) Roma (4.73) (18) (Nominated Best Picture)
4) Birdman (4.72) (14) (Won Best Picture)
5) 12 Years a Slave (4.70-tie) (13) (Won Best Picture)
6) Central Park Five (4.70-tie) (12)
7) Hamnet (4.64) (25)
8) Foxcatcher (4.63) (14)
9) La La Land (4.58) (16) (Nominated Best Picture)
10) Poor Things (4.53) (23) (Nominated Best Picture)
10) Anora (4.53) (24) (Won Best Picture)
TELLURIDE WINS TORONTO
The Toronto International Film festival's People's Choice Award for 2025 was won by Chloe Zhao's Hamnet. Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein was second and Rian Johnson's Wake Up Dead Man took third.
As you can see above, Hamnet scored well with the Professionals at Telluride and we'll reveal The People's Telluride results on Thursday.
This is the final call for film ratings from The People. You folks who watched films at TFF #52. The deadline to rate is 5:00pm PDT this evening. Email them to me at mpgot@gmail.com.
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You've have a few days left to get your ratings in for The People's Telluride. At the moment we're at about half the respondents (maybe a bit more) that normally participate each year. Additionally, the Pros are doing their part and I plan to have the The Professionals ratings up a week from today.
Again, email me a list of the films you saw and rate each on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 means it was very bad, 5 means you thought it was terrific. Decimals are fine.
Report your ratings to: mpgort@gmail.com
The deadline for this year to turn in your ratings will be Sept. 15th.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
X (Twitter) @TheMTFB OR @Gort2
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We really are getting down to it. Eight more days and the 52nd Telluride Film Festival opens. So here's the penultimate set of "Bets" for what may play at TFF #52. First, a recap of last week's "Bets":
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach
11) Bugonia/Lanthimos
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
16) Pillion
17) La Grazia
18) Resurrection
19) Nuestra Tierra
20) Blue Moon
Other possibilities: A Private Life, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.
This week' Ten Bets (Plus):
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Bugonia/Lanthimos
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach
11) Tuner/Roher
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
16) Pillion/Lighton
17) La Grazia/Sorrentino
18) Resurrection/Bi Gan
19) Blue Moon/Linklater
20) A Private Life/Zlotowski
Other possibilities: Secret Documentary with Oscar Isaac, Barrio Triste, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Die My Love, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Bucking Fastard, Megadoc, Train Dreams.
The Final Bets will be published next Wednesday in a Special Post!!!
MYSTERY DOC TO PLAY TELLURIDE
I've certainly been bemoaning the fact that Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein isn't indicated for Telluride. Toronto has it listed as a North American premiere. But it seems that at least one of members of that cast will make the trek from its Venetian World premiere to Telluride and that is none other than Dr. Frankenstein himself, Oscar Isaac.
How do we know this? Variety had a huge, splashy piece on Frankenstein up yesterday with . The piece includes interview responses from Del Toro, Isaac and Jacob Elordi who plays the monster. Included in the story is this nugget:
"After the Venice gala, Isaac will fly to Telluride to screen a secret documentary that involves him. Then he travels back to Venice for the debut of “In the Hand of Dante,” a mob drama directed by Julian Schnabel."
A secret documentary? Yes, it is. I can't find a peep about it and I spent some time digging.
So, as you'll see above in the Ten Bets section, I've added that to the list of "Possibilities" and I'm very interested to find out what the story is here.
In my last post I had a section describing some disconnects between premiere designations between Toronto and New York. Some of that has been explained.
A friendly reader pointed me toward the Camden International Film Festival which runs the weekend after Telluride so that also means before New York (Sept. 26-Oct. 13) and its lineup explains what seems to be the contradiction between the two film fest's designation. Three films in question will be playing Camden: Nuestra Tierra (Landmarks), With Hasan in Gaza and Evidence. Camden lists Nuestra Tierra and With Hasan in Gaza as U.S. premieres and Evidence as a North American premiere. That clears up what looked like a disconnect between the Toronto and New York designations and means none of those films are likely playing at Telluride.
Meanwhile Sirat, another film with a TIFF/NYFF contradiction has been announced by Fantastic Fest (Sept. 18-25) as a U.S. premiere so the same logic applies and it looks like Sirat is definitively off the TFF#52 list.
That leaves Blue Moon, A Private Life and Barrio Triste as still unexplained TIFF/NYFF contradictory designations. Of the three it feels to me like Blue Moon is the most likely to play Telluride then A Private Life and lastly, Barrio Triste.
WHO COULD BE AT TFF #52?
Hamnet: Chloe Zhao, Paul Mescal, Jesse Buckley, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn
Sentimental Value: Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsgard, Rene Reinsve, Elle Fanning
The Ballad of a Small Player: Edward Berger, Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton
Nouvelle Vague: Richard Linklater, Zoe Deutch
Tuner: Daniel Roher, Dustin Hoffman
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere: Scott Cooper, Jeremy Allen White, Paul Walter Hauser, Jeremy Strong, Stephen Graham (and in a perfect world, the Boss himself)
The History of Sound: Oliver Hermanus, Paul Mescal, Josh O'Connor, Chis Cooper
Jay Kelly: Noah Baumbach, George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig
Bugonia: Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
The Mastermind: Kelly Reichardt, John Magaro, Josh O'Connor, Bill Camp, Hope Davis, Gaby Hoffman
Hamlet: Riz Ahmed, Joe Alwyn, Timothy Spall
Pillion: Henry Lighton, Alexander Skarsgard, Henry Melling
Blue Moon: Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke, Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Canavalle
Secret Documentary: Oscar Isaac
Others from among the "Possibles" list:
Jodie Foster
Jennifer Lawrence
Robert Pattinson
Zendaya
Amy Adams
Anne Hathaway
Kate Mara
Rooney Mara
Orlando Bloom
Joel Edgerton
Felicity Jones
AWARDS WATCH PODCAST IS ALL T-RIDE THIS WEEK
Awards Watch gathered about half a dozen folks who will all be attending TFF for their podcast this week so the focus is all about predicting films and potential Tribute recipients. It's interesting. They've got a title or two that I don't currently have and a slew of guesses about Silver Medallions. Take a listen if you're so inclined:
For the 13th 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 by 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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Just announced this morning after the blog's post time, the New York Film Festival has added Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to its lineup as a Spotlight Gala. Noteworthy is that the language of the press release refers to it as a premiere but does NOT indicate what level of premiere.
I have also been told that the original release may have suggested that it was a World premiere but that has been scrubbed for the current language.
All of this tends to support the notion that the film will, in fact bow initially at Telluride.
Here's the link to the NYFF announcement in its current form:
We haven't heard much about Lynne Ramsay and Die, My Love since Cannes. But now, over the weekend, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel sourcing from Screen Daily suggests that Ramsay has been re-editing the film since Cannes. Ruimy also reminds us that the same scenario occurred when Ramsay screened We Need to Talk About Kevin at Cannes in 2011 and then worked on further editing it afterwards. Of course that film went on to screen at Telluride.
Ruimy even suggests that a repeat of that scenario is not completely out of the question writing:
"IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast seems to now be hinting that Ramsay went back to the editing room after Cannes to further shape “Die, My Love,” which might potentially explain its absence at the fall fests — although I still wouldn’t rule out a Telluride appearance."
GOLD DERBY OSCAR RANKINGS FOR WHAT WE THINK IS HEADED TO TFF #52
As many of you readers know, when the fest concludes on Sept. 1st and this space will then become focused on the awards season fortunes of the films that make up the TFF #52 lineup. So I took a look at how the experts at Gold Derby had rated some of the films that we think may play T-ride in a few weeks. Here's where they sit:
#3 Sentimental Value
#4 Jay Kelly
#7 Bugonia
#8 Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
#13 It Was Just an Accident
#15 Hamnet
#21 The Ballad of Small Player
#35 The History of Sound
#39 The Mastermind
#47 The Secret Agent
#48 Nouvelle Vague
If the Gold Derby experts are correct TFF #52 would have four films get Oscar nominated for Best Picture.
Lots of information flying around earlier this week from Toronto and New York allows us to clean up the Ten Bets as well as "possibilities". By way of review, here's last week's Ten Bets:
This week's new Ten Bets:
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach
Other possibilities: Bugonia, Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, The Drama, Pillion, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Train Dreams.
Now, in light of the week's info...the new Ten Bets (Plus):
This week's new Ten Bets (Plus):
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach
11) Bugonia/Lanthimos
12) The Mastermind/Reichardt
13) Cover-Up/Poitras
14) Ghost Elephants/Herzog
15) Hamlet/Karia
Other possibilities: Resurrection, Nuestra Tierra, The Young Mother's Home, The Drama, Pillion, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Megadoc, Train Dreams.
I was shocked that Blue Moon was announced by Toronto as a North American Premiere. I would have bet actual money that it was going to be at Telluride. I was almost as certain that The Love That Remains would also make it to TFF#52 but it was also announced as a TIFF North American premiere.
Here's the list of films that I had been T-ride watching which got nuked for TFF#52 by announcements earlier this week:
Blue Moon
The Love That Remains
Late Fame
Magellan
Mirrors #3
No Other Choice
Two Prosecutors
The President's Cake
Unidentified
Left-Handed Girl
Orphan
Orwell 2+2=5
Films that moved up the Ten Bets based on this week's information:
The Mastermind
Cover-Up
Hamlet
Resurrection
Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra) is up in the air. New York says it's a NY Premiere. Toronto says it has the North American premiere. If New York is correct means probably Telluride. If Toronto is correct...no Telluride.
VENICE SCHEDULE IS UP
Early this morning the official public schedule for the Venice Film Festival was posted. The schedule appears to confirm that theses films are screening early enough to make it to Colorado:
La Grazia (Opening night film)
From 8/28
Ghost Elephants
Orphan
Bugonia
Jay Kelly
Megadoc
From 8/29
Cover-Up
After the Hunt
From earlier announcements from other fests we believe that Orphan and After the Hunt are off the table for Telluride.
We're also pretty sure that this helps signal that Bugonia, Jay Kelly and Cover-Up are headed to Telluride.
Ghost Elephants...that's Werner Herzog...making me think that it's in the bag for Telluride. Megadoc? I'm not so sure. Also that could be complicated Francis Ford Coppola's health situation.
Four weeks from today we'll see the actual lineup for TFF #52. Until then it's all speculation. So, let's speculate. But first, a recap of last week's Ten Bets:
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Bugonia/Lanthimos
9) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
10) The History of Sound/Hermanus
Other possibilities: Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, A House of Dynamite, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up.
With some new information over the last week, the new Ten Bets are so:
This week's new Ten Bets:
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) Jay Kelly/Baumbach
Other possibilities: Bugonia, Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, The Drama, Pillion, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, At the Sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Train Dreams.
Jay Kelly moves into the Ten Bets on the strength of some reporting earlier in the week. It bumps Bugonia. New additions to the "Possibles" include: Pillion, The Drama, At the sea, Late Fame, A Magnificent Life, Mother Mary, Megadoc, No Other Choice, The wizard of the Kremlin and Train Dreams ( I know it played Sundance but maybe it'll be an exception like The Outrun last year).
IS THIS THING OFF?
It sure seems that way as the New York Film Festival announced yesterday that Bradley Cooper's Is This On? was announced as that fest's Closing Night film and will be a World Premiere which means it will not play Telluride or Toronto either for that matter.
It has been a film that I have had high hopes for vis-a-vis TFF #52 but, alas, Nope!
BLUE MOON HAS A TRAILER
Listed currently as a "Possibility" for TFF #52, Richard Linklater's Blue Moon is set for release on Oct. 24th. I've had Blue Moon in earlier iterations of the Ten Bets and still feel pretty good about its chances of making the lineup.
Anyway, Sony Pictures Classics released a trailer for the film on Tuesday. here it is from YouTube:
I liked it.
THE SECRET AGENT AND LEFT-HANDED GIRL GET DATES
Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent has been dated for U.S. release. Neon has set a New York roll out for Nov. 26th followed by release in L.A. on Dec. 5th. The Secret Agent was a big winner at Cannes gaining awards for Best Director and Best Actor among the films in competition for the Palme d'Or.
Its description at IMDb is as follows:
In 1977, a technology expert flees from a mysterious past and returns to his hometown of Recife in search of peace. He soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he seeks.
Meanwhile...
Netflix announced yesterday that Shih-Ching Tsou's Left-Handed Girl has been dated for a Nov. 14th theatrical release allowing it to meet Academy Awards requirements for Oscar consideration should it be submitted. The film played as a part of Cannes Critics Week and had a healthy Cannes-ratings.org average of 7.74 (8th best overall of all films that played in various sections of Cannes). The film also picked up the Semaine Distribution Prize.
The film was produced, co-written and edited by Oscar winner Sean Baker (who won Oscars for each of those jobs for Anora last year).
Its IMDb description:
A single mother and her two daughters relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall, each navigating the challenges of adapting to their new environment while striving to maintain family unity.
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Unlike the previous seven weeks, Mubi comes to Telluride with a much shorter resume only having initially screened a film at the fest in 2021. Overall Mubi has screened five films in the last four fests.
2021: Unclenching the Fists
2022: No film
2023: Fallen Leaves, High and Low-John Galliano, Tehachapi
2024: Bird
This year Mubi is loaded with potential TFF film after having gone on a buying spree at Cannes.
To start off, let's note that the Jim Jarmusch film, Mother, Father, Sister, Brother is not Telluride bound. This Mubi distributed film is going to North American Premiere as the Centerpiece of the New York Film Festival...so no T-ride play. But here's the rundown of those Mubi films that could play TFF #52 with an * indicating when a participant has previously attended Telluride.
The first of which we covered last Monday as Focus Features also has a piece of its U.S. distribution. Here that info is again:
The History of Sound. Dir. Oliver Hermanus*. Stars: Paul Mescal, Chris Cooper, Josh O'Connell. Release date: Sept. 12th.. IMDb description:
Two young men during World War I set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.
Mescal and O'Connor are two of the hottest tickets around right now. I had been pretty high on its chances of a Telluride play what with the distributor and Oliver Hermanus having previously having Living at TFF #49.
La Grazia (Grace). Dir. Paolo Sorrentino*. Stars: Toni Servillo, Anna Ferzetti. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
A love story set in Italy.
Seriously, that's the description.
La Grazia is opening the Venice Festival on Aug. 27th giving it plenty of time to make the jump to Colorado.
The Mastermind. Dir. Kelly Reichardt.* Stars: Josh O'Connor, John Magaro*, Bill Camp. The Mastermind played at Cannes in the Plame competition. The film had a fair critical average from Cannes-Ratings.org with a 6.29 our of 10 average. Release date: Oct.17th. IMDb description:
In 1970, Mooney and two cohorts wander into a museum in broad daylight and steal four paintings. When holding onto the art proves more difficult than stealing them, Mooney is relegated to a life on the run.
Reichardt was last at Telluride in 2019 with First Cow.
Die, My Love. Dir, Lynne Ramsay*. Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek*. Also played in competition at Cannes and had a critical rating just above that of The Mastermind with a 6.53. Release date: Nov. 7th. IMDb description:
In a remote forgotten rural area, a mother struggles to maintain her sanity as she battles with psychosis.
Lynne Ramsay was last in Telluride with We Need to Talk Abut Kevin in 2011.
My Father's Shadow. Dir: Ankinola Davies. Stars: Sope Dirisu, Godwin Egbo. This film was in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes where critics responded strongly giving it a 7.47 average, the 12th best of all the films that were included in the composite ratings. Release date: TBD. IMDb description:
Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, witnessing both the city's magnitude and their father's daily struggles as political unrest threatens their journey home.
I have to believe that Mubi lands at least one of these titles. Probably more than one. The two "name" directors, Ramsay and Reichardt are the familiar possibilities but My Father's Shadow and Sound of Falling were more of the critical darlings at Cannes. As to La Grazia, I'm still skeptical it opens Venice and then travels.
Chances:
My Father's Shadow 45%
Die, My Love 40%
The Mastermind 40%
La Grazia 30%
WORLD OF REEL CONFIRMS AND REVEAL TITLES FOR TFF #52
Over the weekend World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy posted some updated Telluride news. The big reveals in the post were the seeming confirmations for Scott Cooper's Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern and The History of Sound starring Josh O'Connor and Paul Mescal.
Ruimy also confirms films we were already pretty sure locks: Hamnet, The Ballad of a Small Player, Tuner, It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value and Nouvelle Vague.
Ruimy also confirms films that will NOT play Telluride including: The House of Dynamite, The Smashing Machine, Frankenstein, Mother Father Sister Brother and Marty Supreme.
And finally he's uncertain about whether Bugonia will or won't go the Telluride after Venice. I'm still cautiously optimistic.
And, here from YouTube, is the trailer for The History of Sound:
ANOTHER TELEVISION POSSIBILTY?
Last Thursday I posted a speculation about Apple TV+ returning to Telluride this year with The Savant starring Jessica Chastain. It seemed to me that after Disclaimer last year, that kind of situation might be repeated.
Then over the weekend I found out that Vince Gilligan's new series is set to be released by Apple TV+ on November 7th. The series is titled Pluribus and stars Rhea Seehorn, who, of course, was Kim Wexler for Gilligan for six seasons on Better Call Saul.
IMDb describes the series this way:
Follows the most miserable person on Earth and the one who must save the world from happiness.
So maybe this might be a candidate if TFF decides they want to partner up with Apple TV+ again this year.
PS...TIDBIT...Focus Features has dated Ronan Day-Lewis's Anemone for Oct. 3rd. So...maybe?
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Well, here we are. We probably know some things with a reasonable degree of certainty at this poinmt after reveals from Toronto, Venice and New York.
After Toronto's Monday announcement we think this is true:
These seven films appear locked into Telluride:
Hamnet
Ballad of a Small Player
It Was Just an Accident
Nouvelle Vague
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent
Tuner
These are film's from Venice that feel like they might play there and then come over for TFF #52:
La Grazia
Jay Kelly
The Wizard of the Kremlin
House of Dynamite
Bugoina
Orphan
Hand of Dante
Ghost Elephants
Cover-Up
I had After the Hunt on this list right up until yesterday when New York announced it as its Opening Night film as a North American Premiere...so no Telluride.
Other films that seem gone from Telluride consideration:
Sirat
Frankenstein
Eleanor the Great
Other films that could still play Telluride:
Bugonia
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Blue Moon
The Young Mothers' Home
The History of Sound
The Love That Remains
Left-Handed Girl
Pressure
Die, My Love
The Mastermind
The American Revolution
Bucking Fastard
Last week's Ten Bets:
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Bugonia/Lanthimos
5) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere/S. Cooper
6) Blue Moon/Linklater
7) Sirat/Laxe
8) The Young Mothers' Home/Dardenne Brothers
9) The History of Sound/Hermanus
10) After the Hunt/Guadagnino
Other possibilities: The Ballad of a Small Player, The Love That Remains, The Secret Agent, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Frankenstein, Eleanor the Great, Pressure, Die My Love, The Mastermind, The American Revolution.
This week's new Ten Bets:
1) Hamnet/Zhao
2) It Was Just an Accident/Panahi
3) Sentimental Value/Trier
4) Ballad of a Small Player/Berger
5) The Secret Agent/Filho
6) Nouvelle Vague/Linklater
7) Tuner/Roher
8) Bugonia/Lanthimos
9) Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
10) The History of Sound/Hermanus
Other possibilities: Blue Moon, The Young Mother's Home, The Love That Remains, Jay Kelly, Left-Handed Girl, Die My Love, Anemone, Pressure, The American Revolution, Ghost Elephants, Bucking Fastard, La Grazia, A House of Dynamite, Orphan, Hand of Dante, Cover-Up.
Information that will further illuminate what could be at TFF #52:
*Waiting to hear from Toronto as they likely have other titles to add over the next few weeks.
*Waiting to see Venice's schedule.
*Waiting for the rest of New York's lineup.
All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about where this week's "Bets" are.
THIS YEAR'S BARBERA "MYSTERY"
Over the last couple of years Venice Film Fest chief Alberto Barbera has, unwittingly or not, let slip bits and pieces of information that have given away a couple of Telluride titles. Tuesday as he was introducing the Venice lineup we referenced Josh Safdies' Marty Supreme saying that (it) "will screen in the autumn".
Now, we know that Marty Supreme is set for a Dec. 25th release which isn't "autumn". Does that mean Barbera has, again revealed a Telluride play? My guess is no. I think New York seems more likely. I;m not saying that the reference precludes Telluride but NYFF makes more sense as the film is set primarily in NYC and the "autumn" reference matches up with New York's Sept. 26-Oct. 13 time frame better than TFF just two days after the Venetian kickoff.
From distributor Mubi yesterday, a poster for Oliver Hermanus' The History of Sound, currently sitting at #10 on this week's Ten Bets. Word is that a trailer is coming today. I'll try to add that to this post before the end of the day should it be forthcoming. Here's the poster:
MAYBE SOME TV?
@Movielo10274449 posted on X yesterday the notion that Matthew Heineman's The Savant could play Telluride and it makes some sense.
Last year the fest programmed Apple TV+'s and Alfonso Cuaron's Disclaimer starring Cate Blanchett (currently Emmy nommed for the role) and Kevin Kline. The fest ran all seven of the series episodes.
Could this happen again this year with The Savant which is also from Apple+?
Maybe Jessica Chastain who stars in the series will be in town? Please...
You bet your buns! Heineman, as @Movielo10274449 points out has screened his last two projects at T-ride. 2022's Retrograde and 2023's fantastic American Symphony.
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