MTFB Oscar Update: Screenplays and More / The MTFB Nomination Totals

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SCREENPLAYS AND MORE

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Screenplay categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 28th.  A film's previous rank appears to the right in parentheses. In addition I have added first predictions for Best Costume Design, Makeup/Hair and Visual Effects.  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave

2) Emilia Perez

3) Sing Sing

4) Nickel Boys

5) Dune Part Two

Others: A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door and Inside Out 2.

BEST  ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora

2) A Real Pain

3) The Brutalist

4) September 5

5) The Substance

Others: Hard Truths, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Saturday Night.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1) Wicked

2) Dune Part Two

3) Gladiator II

4) Maria

5) Nosfaratu

Others: Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Blitz and A Complete Unknown.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR

1) Dune Part Two

2) The Substance

3) Wicked

4) Nosferatu

5) Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

Others: A Different Man, Emilia Perez and A Complete Unknown.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1) Dune Part Two

2) Gladiator II

3) Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

4) Wicked

5) Twisters

Others: Mufasa: The Lion King, Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga and Better Man.

THE MTFB NOMINATION TOTALS

And so for the first time in this 2024-25 Oscar race, MTFB has predictions for all 20 feature film categories.  Here's what MTFB is currently predicting for TFF #51 films in as far as Oscar nominations are concerned:

EMILIA PEREZ (11) Best Picture, International Feature,  Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Score, Song (Mi Camino), Song (El Mal) and Sound.  The film could also end up with nominations for Selena Gomez for Supporting Actress, Cinematography and Production Design.

CONCLAVE (7): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Score. Conclave could also possibly be nominated for Supporting Actor (Tucci), Cinematography and Production Design.

ANORA (6): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Supporting Actor (Borisov), Original Screenplay and Editing.

A REAL PAIN (3): Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Culkin) and Original Screenplay.  A Real Pain could also score a Best Actor nomination for Jesse Eisenberg.

MARIA (3): Best Actress (Jolie), Cinematography and Costumes.

SEPTEMBER 5 (2); Best Picture and Original Screenplay.  The film could aso snag nominations for Supporting Actor (Magaro) and Editing.

Single Nominees:

NICKEL BOYS: Best Adapted Screenplay.  Three other possible nominations: Direction, Cinematography and Supporting Actress (Ellis-Taylor).

PIECE BY PIECE: Best Song (Piece by Piece).  Also a possible additional nomination for Animated Feature.

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG: Best International Feature.  "Seed" also could get nominated for Original Screenplay.

THE OUTRUN: Best Actress (Ronan).

THE PIANO LESSON: Best Supporting Actress (Deadwyler).

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL: Best Animated Feature.

NO OTHER LAND: Best Documentary Feature.

Films that aren't currently predicted nominees but who could still get in:

WILL & HARPER: Best Documentary  Feature and Best Original Song (Harper and Will Go West).

SATURDAY NIGHT: Original Screenplay and Score.

THE APPRENTICE: Best Actor (Stan) and Best Supporting Actor (Strong).

BETTER MAN: Best Visual Effects.

In total, MTFB predicts 13 TFF #51 films earn 40 nominations including five for Best Picture.  In addition, 16 other possible nominations that could include an additional seven TFF #51 films. WOW!

I'll be updating Best Picture predictions on Monday.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Supporting Acting / TFF #51 Films Awarded / Behind the Scenes: Maria / TFF Films Qualify / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Lithgow, Rossellini and More

 MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: SUPPORTING ACTING

Here are updated nomination predictions for the Supporting Acting categories for the 97th Academy Awards.  These categories were last predicted on Nov. 11th.  An actor's previous rank appears to the right of their names in parentheses.  TFF #51 actors/films are in Bold.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez (1)

2) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave (4)

3) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson (2)

4) Ariana Grande/Wicked (-)

5) Felicity Jones/The Brutalist (5)

Others: Saoirse Ronan/Blitz, Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain (1)

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II (2)

3) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist (3)

4) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing (4)

5) Stanley Tucci/Conclave (5)

Others: Yura Borisov/Anora, Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice and John Magaro/September 5.

TFF #51 FILMS AWARDED

The Palm Springs International Film Fest names Kieran Culkin winner of its Breakthrough Performance Award.

BEHIND THE SCENES: MARIA

From Netflix via YouTube here's a behind the scenes video for the film Maria starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas.

TFF FILMS QUALIFY

Official lists of films that have qualified for Academy Award consideration for Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature and Best Documentary Feature were released by The Academy this week.  Here are the qualifiers that screened at TFF by category:

Animated Feature:

Memoir of a Snail

Piece by Piece

International Feature:

Emilia Perez/France

Santosh/United Kingdom

The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Germany

Documentary Feature:

Blink

Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid

Casa Bonita, Mi Amor

Food Inc. 2*

Hollywoodgate*

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

Martha

No Other Land

Piece by Piece

Separated

Will and Harper

Zurawski v. Texas

The complete lists can be accessed here via Awards Watch.

*Screened in TFF #50.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Watch.

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from Awards Radar.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from IndieWire.

John Lithgow for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Leonie Benesch for September 5 from Gold Derby.

Director Tim Fehlbaum for September 5 from The Hollywood Reporter.

Mark Eydershteayn for Anora from Gold Derby.

Yura Borisov for Anora from Next Best Picture.

Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain from IndieWire.

Gabriel LaBelle for Saturday Night from Awards Watch.

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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / New Trailer for The Piano Lesson / Zurawski v. Texas Has International Sales Rep / TFF #51 Films Winning Awards / Interviews and Profiles for Saturday Night, Conclave and Piece by Piece

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Nov. 6th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

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

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (2)

2) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

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

NEW TRAILER FOR THE PIANO LESSON

Netflix released a new trailer for Malcom Washington's The Piano Lesson on Tuesday.  Here it is via YouTube: 

The Piano Lesson is already in limited release.

ZURAWSKI V. TEXAS HAS INETRNATIONAL SALES REP (BUT WHY NO DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION???)

Scree Daily reported this week that Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault's powerful documentary Zurawski v. Texas has had its international sales rights acquired by Together Films.  That comes as the multi-award winning film still lacks domestic distribution.  And I want to know why.

The film has won awards from the following film fests: Hamptons, Heartland (Indianapolis), Mill Valley, Montclair, Philadelphia, Sant Fe and others and has had a number of special screening both live and virtually.

Here is an interview from Together Films for the Academy Conversations series via YouTube:

Here's the story on the acquisition from Screen Daily.

TFF #51 FILMS WINNING AWARDS

Angelina Jolie will be presented the Desert Palm achievement  Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.  Here's the story of that award from Next Best Picture.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Gabrielle LaBelle for Saturday Night from Next Best Picture.

Isabella Rossellini for Conclave from Awards Watch.

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Contending.

Morgan Neveille for Piece by Piece from Next Best Picture.

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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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MTFB Oscar Update: Lead Acting / Middleburg Film Festival Awards Are All TFF films / Interviews and Profiles: Tucci, Baker and Berger

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE: LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today.  These categories were last updated on Oct. 10th.  An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold. 

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Mariann Jean-Baptiste/Hard Truths, Demi Moore/The Substance, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

2) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

3) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson

I'll be updating the Supporting Acting categories on Monday.

MIDDLEBURG FEST AWARDS ARE ALL TFF #51 FILMS

The Middleburg Film festival is one of America's standout regional festivals.  They traditionally schedule an incredible lineup of films each year.  This year, as usual, a number of films that screened at TFF made their way to Middleburg.  Four of those films earned Audience Awards as the fest concluded last Sunday.  

Conclave and September 5 tied for the Audience Award for Narrative Features.  The Seed of the Sacred Fig was named Best International Feature and Martha won the award for Documentary.

Other TFF films in the MFF included: All We Imagine as Light, Anora, Better Man, Carville: Winning Is Everything...Stupid,  Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Memoir of a Snail, Nickel Boys, No Other Land, The Piano Lesson,  A Peal Pain, Santosh, Saturday Night and Separated.  

Other high profile  and non-TFF films included: Blitz, The Brutalist, Flow, Hard Truths, I'm Still Here, The Last Showgirl, Nightbitch. The Room Next Door, Sing Sing and The Wild Robot.

Complete coverage of the awards is linked here from Variety.

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Sean Baker for Anora from The New Yorker

Edward Berger for Conclave from The Playlist.

Stanley Tucci for Conclave from Vanity Fair.

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MTFB Oscar Update-Lead Acting / New Trailers: Anora, Scared Fig, Better Man and More / Interviews and Profiles: Ronan, Madison, Williams and More

MTFB OSCAR UPDATE-LEAD ACTING

I'm updating the Lead Acting categories today and they look a whole lot like the initial predictions from Sept. 30th.   An actor's previous position is indicated in (parentheses).  TFF #51 films are in Bold.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora (1)

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria (2)

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez (3)

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl (4)

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun (5)

Others: Amy Adams/Nightbitch, Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave (1)

2) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing (2)

3) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist (3)

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown (4)

5) Daniel Craig/Queer (5)

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson.

NEW TRAILERS!!!

ANORA

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG

BETTER MAN

SEPARATED

CARVILLE: WINNING IS EVERYTHING, STUPID

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun from IndieWire.

Mikey Madison for Anora from Awards Watch.

Director Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from IndieWire.

Ali Abassi for The Apprentice from The Hollywood Reporter.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from Vanity Fair.

Pharrell Williams for Piece by Piece from The Los Angeles Times.

Director Morgan Neville for Piece by Piece from Focus Features.

Actor Dylan O'Brien for Saturday Night from Men's Health.

Director Josh Greenbaum for Will and Harper from IndieWire.

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MTFB's Oscar Predictions-First Take / Saturday Night Features / Maria Official Trailer / Clip from The Outrun / Interviews and Profiles

 MTFB's OSCAR PREDICTIONS-FIRST TAKE

It's time!  As we end September here are my first predictions for Oscar nominations for the 97th Academy Awards.  I'll start off with predicting the eight "Above the Line" categories first.  I'll keep updating those from now until the day before the nomination announcement-Friday, Jan. 17th.  I'll also add other categories along the way as we get closer and ultimately will have all the categories predicted before nomination day.  As always TFF films are indicated in Bold.  Films are listed in order of their likelihood of nomination.

BEST PICTURE

1) Anora

2) Emilia Perez

3) Conclave 

4) The Brutalist

5) Dune II

6) Sing Sing

7) Gladiator II

8) Blitz

9) Saturday Night

10) September 5

Other Possibilities: A Real Pain, A Complete Unknown, The Room Next Door.

BEST DIRECTION

1) Jacques Audiard/Emilia Perez

2) Sean Baker/Anora

3) Edward Berger/Conclave

4) Brady Corbet/The Brutalist

5) Denis Villenueve/Dune II

Others: Ridley Scott/Gladiator II, Steve McQueen/Blitz, Pedro Almodovar/The Room Next Door.

BEST ACTRESS

1) Mikey Madison/Anora

2) Angelina Jolie/Maria

3) Karla Sofia Gascon/Emilia Perez

4) Nicole Kidman/Babygirl

5) Saoirse Ronan/The Outrun

Others: Amy Adams/Nightbitch, Tilda Swinton/The Room Next Door, Fernanda Torres/I'm Still Here.

BEST ACTOR

1) Ralph Fiennes/Conclave

2) Colman Domingo/Sing Sing

3) Adrien Brody/The Brutalist

4) Timothee Chalamet/A Complete Unknown

5) Daniel Craig/Queer

Others: Sebastian Stan/The Apprentice, Paul Mescal/Gladiator II, John David Washington/The Piano Lesson.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1) Zoe Saldana/Emilia Perez

2) Danielle Deadwyler/The Piano Lesson

3) Isabella Rossellini/Conclave

4) Saoirse Ronan/Blitz

5) Selena Gomez/Emilia Perez

Others: Felicity Jones/The Brutalist, Lady Gaga/Joker: Folie a Deux, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor/Nickel Boys.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1) Kieran Culkin/A Real Pain

2) Denzel Washington/Gladiator II

3) Clarence Maclin/Sing Sing

4) Stanley Tucci/Conclave

5) Guy Pearce/The Brutalist

Others: Jeremy Strong/The Apprentice, Samuel L. Jackson/The Piano Lesson, John Magaro/September 5.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1) Conclave

2) Sing Sing

3) Dune II

4) Nickel Boys

5) The Piano Lesson

Others: Hit Man, Inside Out 2, I'm Still Here.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1) Anora

2) Saturday Night

3) The Brutalist

4) A Real Pain

5) Emilia Perez

Others: September 5, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Blitz

If I'm 100% accurate this is how nominations breakdown for TFF #51 films in these eight categories:

Emilia Perez (6 noms): Best Picture, Direction, Actress (Gascon), Supporting Actress (Saldana), Supporting Actress (Gomez), Original Screenplay.

Conclave (6 noms): Best Picture, Direction, Actor (Fiennes), Supporting Actress (Rossellini), Supporting Actor (Tucci), Adapted Screenplay.

Anora (4 noms): BestPicture, Direction, Actress (Madison), Original Screenplay.

The Piano Lesson (2 noms and 2 maybes)  Nominations: Supporting Actress (Deadwyler), Adapted Screenplay.  Other possibilities: Actor (Washington), Supporting Actor (Jackson).

A Real Pain (2 noms and 1 maybe):  Nominations: Supporting Actor (Culkin), Original Screenplay.  Maybe: Best Picture.

Saturday Night (2 noms): Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay.

September 5 (1 nom and 2 maybes):  Nomination: Best Picture.  Maybes: Supporting Actor (Magaro), Original Screenplay.

Nickel Boys ( 1 nom and 1 maybe): nomination: Adapted Screenplay.  Maybe: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

The Outrun (1 nom); Best Actress (Ronan).

Maria (1 nom): Best Actress (Jolie).

The Apprentice (2 maybes): Best Actor (Stan), Supporting Actor (Strong).

Overall, these 11 films account for 26 nominations and another 8 possible nominations in these eight categories.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEATURES

Jason Reitman from Deadline.

Jason Reitman from Reel Blend.

Jason Reitman from Forbes.

Cory Michael Smith from Vanity Fair.

MARIA OFFICIAL TRAILER 

From YouTube:

CLIP FROM THE OUTRUN

From YouTube:

INTERVIEWS AND PROFILES

RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys from Vulture.

Embeth Davitz for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight for IndieWire.

Will Ferrell and Harper Steele for Will and Harper from Entertainment Weekly.

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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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Maria Revealed / Elk's Park Films and Clues / Nickel Boys Screened / International Buzz / And Then There's This... / The People's Telluride-12th Edition

 MARIA REVEALED

Are you prepared for a return of Angelina Jolie to Telluride?  Looks like that's going to happen after Pablo Larrain's film Maria (starring Jolie) will screen in Venice on Aug. 29th and then head to the San Juans.

Vanity Fair had a couple of "first look" stills up at the end of last week.

The Vanity Fair article is linked here.

ELK'S PARK FILMS AND CLUES

Long time TFFers know that in the past that the films that the fest chooses to screen in Elk's Park the two nights prior to the fest taking off on Friday often (but not always) provide clues as to who (or in the case of Apocalypse Now-what) will be getting Tributes.  The last really good year for predicting tributes based on Elk's Park films was 2019 when the free flicks were Bridget Jones's Diary, The Right Stuff and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which pointed to Renee Zellweger, Philip Kaufman and Adam Driver as tributees.  

Soooo...here's the flyer for the free films in Elk's Park:

After Hours: My bet is that if it signals anything that it's a tribute for Thelma Schoonmaker.  I'd be surprised but very excited if it were for Martin Scorsese...that's not impossible.  Or maybe it's the two of them together.  At any rate, should either or both be tributed I'd also count on a screening of David Hinton's Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.  Scorsese is a producer of the doc (which did screen at Tribeca but TFF has presented docs from Tribeca in the past).  Schoonmaker is in the film as herself, the wife of Michael Powell, and she also is a producer.

Lady Bird: Does this validate my Saoirse Ronan theory that I first wrote about back on June 3rd?  It was my original thought that Ronan would get a tribute and that Steve McQueen's Blitz might screen at TFF as well as The Outrun.  The announcement that Blitz would world premiere in London made me alter that theory but...

I still think a Ronan tribute likely occurs and occurs with some clips from Blitz.

Hottest possibilities for a tribute beyond these two: Ralph Fiennes, Angelina Jolie, Jason Reitman, Jacques Audiard and Samuel L. Jackson.

NICKEL BOYS SCREENED

According to World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy  RaMell Ross's Nickel Boys has screened privately in London and the response appears to have been very good.  Ruimy writes:

"“Nickel Boys” just had a preview screening at London’s Curzon Soho. A few folks who attended the screening have chimed in on Letterboxd, and you can read their reactions near the tail end of this article. They’re all very positive."

Ruimy continues:

"This adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel has been loaded with buzz for months. The film stars Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. "

Nickel Boys is currently #2 on my "to see" list for later this week.

INTERNATIONAL BUZZ

Pablo Larrain, director of Maria talks to Indiewire.

Screen Daily reports that Germany will submit Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig as its selection for the International Film Oscar.

Variety reveals that Cannes sensation All We Imagine as Light has set a U.S. release date of Nov. 15th.  It's very likely India's entry for the International Film Oscar.

AND THEN THERE'S THIS...

From the "Local News Network/Telluride, Colorado for Aug. 21st, a report that the fest has asked the Telluride Parks and Recreation Dept. for permission to offer tethered hot air balloon rides during the fest (in Town Park) and that the request is somehow related to a "program related event".  You can see the report yourself at about the 1:48 mark:

https://www.telluridelocal.news/newsstories/tln-august-21-2024

What "program" would hot air balloons be connected to?  I'm stumped.  One follower suggested over the weekend a connection to Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls with this balloon sequence (from YouTube):

The speculation then focused on the possibility of a Schnabel tribute and, I would assume, a screening of Hand of Dante.

A REMINDER: I WILL POST "FINAL BETS" FOR TFF #51 ON WEDNESDAY MORNING and then, of course, the actual lineup when it pops on Thursday morning.  MTFB will post daily from TFF #51.  Mostly during the fest I like to make sure to get the TBAs posted each night for the following day.  I sometimes will include what I think my itinerary will look like for each day and also an occasional comment or two about some of the film I've seen.

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

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Bluesky: @gort2.bsky.social

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