Ten Bets (Plus) #9 / Pale Blue Eye Won't Be Seen / Aftersun...Maybe Not / Herzog Yes...Just Not What We Thought / Living and a Venice Clue / Godland Looks Telluride Bound / Other Thoughts

TEN (PLUS) BETS #9

A wild couple of days with more announced films from New York and Toronto since Monday's post.  As a result, some shakeup in the Ten Bets for this week.  Here's a look at last week's Ten Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) Broker/Kore-eda

4) Holy Spider/Abbasi

5) The Wonder/Lelio

6) Empire of Light/Mendes

7) Armageddon Time/Gray

8) Bardo/Inarritu

9) TAR/Fields

10) Bones and All/Guadagnino

11) Good Night Oppy/White

12) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

13) A Compassionate Spy/James

14) Aftersun/Wells

15) Close/Dhont

Others Possibilities: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins,  Athena/Gavras.

And now for this week:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) Broker/Kore-eda

4) Holy Spider/Abbasi

5) The Wonder/Lelio

6) Empire of Light/Mendes

7) Armageddon Time/Gray

8) Bardo/Inarritu

9) TAR/Fields

10) Bones and All/Guadagnino

11) Good Night Oppy/White

12) A Compassionate Spy/James

13) Godland/Palmason

14) Theatre of Thought/Herzog

15) Living/Hermanus

Others Possibilities: Close/Dhont, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins,  Athena/Gavras, Aftersun/Wells, Godland/Palmason, Anastasia/McCarthy, Sr./Smith, The Holdovers/Payne

PALE BLUE EYE WON'T BE SEEN

Not in Telluride anyway.  After near certainty that the Scott Cooper film would be in Telluride, Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel reports that's not the case.  From his post from yesterday:

"Cooper’s latest, titled “Pale Blue Eye,” will finally not be going to Telluride...Supposedly, there was a pretty bad test-screening earlier in the year. 

I'm disappointed as Plae Blue Eye would have been a definite watch on my TFF dance card.

AFTERSUN...MAYBE NOT

You'll notice that I have moved Charlotte Wells Aftersun from a spot in the 15 Bets to "Other Possibilities" this week.  That owes to the fact that the film was added this week by the Toronto Fest as a North American Premiere.  I have had a notion that it would be a Telluride film from its reception at Cannes back in May.  That, I thought, was seemingly confirmed when the New York Fest announced it as part of their Main Slate with no premiere designation.

Now, with the TIFF selection and designation, you have one of those classic moments we've all come to know when the status of a film is contradictory between two fests.  What to do?

At this late date I have a hard time believing that Toronto would get this wrong.  Accordingly I moved Aftersun off the Bets list for this week and even really thought that I wouldn't even include it as an "Other Possibility".

HERZOG YES...JUST NOT WHAT WE THOUGHT

Photo via TIFF

Werner Herzog's Theatre of Thought was announced on Wednesday as an International Premiere for Toronto.  The film is so fresh that you can't find it listed on Herzog's IMDb Pro page.  The International Premiere status means that it will have played within its country of origin.  So one can surmise that the film will likely play Telluride (rather than Fantastic Fest which doesn't start until TIFF is over).

Here is the TIFF description for the film:

"Werner Herzog sets his sights on yet another mysterious landscape — the human brain — for clues as to why a hunk of tissue can produce profound thoughts and feelings while considering the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of fast-advancing neural technology."

As a side note, this seeming confirmation that this Herzog doc is playing TFF #49 don't discount the possibility that The Fire Within might also screen at Telluride.

LIVING AND VENICE-A CLUE?

So many chunks of information to sift through this week including the release of the schedule for the Venice Film Fest.  That is often a good indicator of films that will play at Venice first before making the trans-Atlantic flight to Telluride.

To make the leap films generally play the first three to four days of the Venice affair.  This year Venice opens on Aug. 31st.  So what films that we believe are playing Telluride are loaded in that time frame?

8/31- TAR and Living

9/1- Bardo, A Compassionate Spy

9/2 Bones and All, Athena, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

9/3 Argentina 1985

So, we've been pretty sure about Bardo, TAR and Bones and All for awhile.  I'm also pretty confident about A Compassionate Spy.

I think most of you have seen my theory about Living making a stop at Telluride and this early screening time for it fits that theory really well.  

As for Athena...timing works well enough.  Argentina 1985 is problematic with the screening on Day 4 and I'm still leery that All the Beauty is, in fact as advertised by some portions of the Toronto PR, a North American Premiere there and won't be at TFF #49.

Here's the link to the Venice schedule.

GODLAND LOOKS TELLURIDE BOUND

Toronto's announcement yesterday included Hylnur Palmason's Godland as a Canadian Premiere.  The film played Cannes as a part of the Un Certain Regard program where it was generally well regarded by critics.

Godland has played a number of other international film fests including: Sydney, Transylvania and New Horizons.  The Canadian Premiere designation means an almost certain play at TFF #49.  

The IMDb description of the film:

"In the late 19th century, a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, his mission and morality."

OTHER THOUGHTS:

Looks like Sarah McCarthy's short Anastasia could be Telluride bound as it is listed by Toronto as a Canadian Premiere.

NYFF announced a screening of Chris Smith's Sr. a documentary focused on the life of Robert Downey Sr.  NYFF listed without any premiere designation which could mean a TFF #49 play.

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Ten Bets #8 / New York Announces Main Slate / Teaser for Bones and All / Marshall Flores Tracking the Films and Fests

TEN BETS #8

The New York Film Festival's full Main Slate announcement on Tuesday allowed us to interpret information about possible TFF #49 selections but mostly at the margins.  It also posed a couple of mysteries.

That said, here's a review of last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) Broker/Kore-eda

4) Holy Spider/Abbasi

5) The Wonder/Lelio

6) Empire of Light/Mendes

7) Good Night Oppy/White

8) Bardo/Inarritu

9) TAR/Field

10) Bones and All/Guadagnino

11) Armageddon Time/Gray

12) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

13) A Compassionate Spy/James

14) Close/Dhont

15) Aftersun/Wells

Others Possibilities: Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren,Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, Blonde/Dominik, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre

And here is the latest Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) Broker/Kore-eda

4) Holy Spider/Abbasi

5) The Wonder/Lelio

6) Empire of Light/Mendes

7) Armageddon Time/Gray

8) Bardo/Inarritu

9) TAR/Fields

10) Bones and All/Guadagnino

11) Good Night Oppy/White

12) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

13) A Compassionate Spy/James

14) Aftersun/Wells

15) Close/Dhont

Others Possibilities: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre, The Story of Film: A New Generation/Cousins,  Athena/Gavras

See the next section for New York analysis and its effect or lack thereof.

NEW YORK ANNOUNCES MAIN SLATE

In the run-up to yesterday's announcement NYFF had already announced White Noise, Armageddon Time, Till  and All the Beauty and the Bloodshed as various special presentations.  From those announcements I had gleaned that White Noise, Till and The Inspection were off the list for a Telluride screening,  Cagey wording for the Armageddon Time announcement and lack of a premiere designation for All the Beauty made me think that those films could still be TFF possibilities.

With yesterday's announcement, here's what I think we can say:

Lack of any premiere status makes me believe that Armageddon Time, TAR, One Fine Morning and Aftersun are headed to TFF #49.

Premiere status for Master Gardener (North American premiere) and Showing Up (North American premiere) tell us that both films will NOT be at Telluride.  Other films that I had as borderline Telluride possibilities that will not make the trip to the San Juans: EO, No Bears, R.M.N., Return to Seoul and Stars at Noon.

There were also films with no premiere status that likely will NOT be T-ride players because they played at Sundance: All That Breathes and Descendant.

Mysteries:

1) Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed was listed in some NYFF's release materials without a premiere designation and in others as a U.S. premiere.  Confusing?  Of course.  My feeling is that the documentary probably IS a U.S. premiere at NYFF and not bound for T-ride.  We'll see.

2) Joanna Hogg's The Eternal Daughter has no premiere status which lead me to think for awhile on Tuesday that it could be at T-ride.  Then a sharp-eyed  MTFB reader reminded me that the film has a North American premiere status for Toronto.  Now, it's my belief that Eternal Daughter will probably play Fantastic Fest and that would account for its lack of premiere status in the NYFF announcement.

3) Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave has no NYFF premiere status either.  Perhaps it is also headed to Fantastic Fest?  I tend to believe the Toronto North American premiere status and thus no Telluride.

4) Ruben Ostlund's Cannes Palme d'Or winner Triangle of Sadness also has no NYFF premiere status but like Decision to Leave is listed by Toronto as a North American premiere. Like Decision to Leave, I suspect that TIFF's designation is correct and so Triangle of Sadness isn't headed to T-ride.

5) She Said was not announced as a part of NYFF's "Main Slate".  Back on August 1st I reported that She Said was going to land at NYFF and as a World Premiere.  That came from reporting from Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel.  

Now, NYFF likely has some other films to add but it seems more than weird that She Said wasn't a part of the Main Slate of films announced Tuesday.

So, it seems to me that She Said may be more uncertain as a NYFF WP than previously thought. 

On the other hand...can you say NYFF "secret screening"?

TEASER FOR BONES AND ALL

The peeps behind Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All dropped a teaser late yesterday afternoon.  I'm expecting the film to SHOW at TFF #49 based upon an interview with Venice Film Fest head Alberto Barbera in which he claimed that the film would be at Telluride.

Here's the teaser from YouTube:

MARSHALL FLORES TRACKING THE FILMS AND FESTS

Awards Daily's Marshall Flores has been tracking all of the news regarding fall film fests.  That chart is here:

Films that have landed at at least three of the fests (*Telluride, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and New York) are:

Armageddon Time*

Broker*

Decision to Leave

The Eternal Daughter

Holy Spider*

One Fine Morning*

Saint Omer

Films on the list that "technically" could still be in play for Telluride:

Blonde (though the word continues to be it'll be at Venice only)

Close

Don't Worry Darling (noop)

Golda (with Helen Mirren...late word from Ruimy last night is it"ll be out in 2023)

She Said (though rumored to WP at NYFF...no announcement yet...secret screening?)

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Star Gazing at TFF #49 / The Story of Film: A New Generation Trailer / Armageddon to NYFF / A Compassionate Spy Appears Confirmed

STAR GAZING AT TFF #49

Who might be joining us mere mortals in the San Juans in just a few weeks?  Working from my current Ten (Plus) Bets list, here are some possibilities (listed by film) with past TFF Guests indicated with ***:

Armageddon Time: Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Anthony Hopkins (who may have been a Tribute recipient had there been a TFF #47) and Jessica Chastain.

Bones and All: Timothee Chalamet, Taylor Russell***, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark Rylance, Chloe Sevigny***.

Empire of Light: Colin Firth*** (Tribute 2010), Olivia Colman, Toby Jones.

One Fine Morning: Lea Seydoux***.

The Pale Blue Eye: Christian Bale***, Henry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Robert Duvall

TAR: Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong

Women Talking: Jesse Buckley, Rooney Mara*** (Tribute 2015), Clare Foy, Ben Whishaw, Frances McDormand.

The Wonder: Florence Pugh.

Hot prospects for Tributes include Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Colman and Frances McDormand.

THE STORY OF FILM: A NEW GENERATION TRAILER

TFF "Usual Suspect" Mark Cousins has a couple of projects that could make a splash at TFF #49.  One is an updating of sorts of his The Story of Film.  That film is The Story of Film: A New Generation and comes 10 years after the original.  The new version has a new trailer which dropped last week.  Here that is via YouTube:

Additionally, Cousins has a new documentary that will land at Venice and then could end up at Telluride.  March on Rome which is described at IMDb as a film that:

"Depicts the ascent of fascism in Italy, and its fallout across 1930s Europe."

I wouldn't be stunned if both films were screened at the fest.

ARMAGEDDON AT NYFF

The New York Film festival has announced that James Gray's Armageddon Time will play as a "Main Slate selection".  The announcement from NYFF is a little bit cagey with its language about the premiere status of the film:

"The premiere has been designated a special 60th anniversary screening event celebrating the history of the festival, featuring Gray and cast in attendance, along with NYFF filmmakers and supporters who have been integral to the festival’s success." 

There's no actual mention of its premiere status despite using the word premiere" in the announcement.  If the film isn't playing TFF/TIFF then New York could and likely would bill it as an North American premiere.  Also, the "60th anniversary screening event" language makes me think that the film plays somewhere else before NYFF.

So I'm going to stand pat, for the moment anyway, that Armageddon Time still screens at TFF #49.

NYFF's announcement is linked here.

A COMPASSIONATE SPY APPEARS CONFIRMED

Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel continues to be a fount of info regarding festival season.  In one of his later posts he seems to confirm that Steve James' A Compassionate Spy is headed for Telluride:

"Then there’s Steve James’ “A Compassionate Spy,” set to premiere at Venice, Telluride, Toronto and Chicago."

I reported here a week ago that the documentary looked like it was  headed to TFF #49 based on a Chicago Tribune story which included this:

"Though the filmmaker could not confirm the near-future for his latest project, many world premieres start at Venice and then go straight to a U.S. premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado a few days later."

And:

"James wrapped up principal photography in April, and his producers at Participant Media suggested submitting the film for Venice (Aug. 31-Sept. 10) and Telluride (Sept. 2-5)."

Jordan's full story is here.

PS...another doc that Jordan mentions is Laura Poitras' All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" has also been announced as NYFF's Centerpiece and os absent any premiere designation for that fest as far as I can tell.  

That leads me to think that we might consider it as a TFF #49 prospect.  The film focuses on the work of photographer Nan Goldin and her fight against the Sackler family (Purdue Pharma).  

Goldin's story was recently included as a part of the Hulu miniseries Dopesick.

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Ten (Plus) Bets #7 / No GDT at TFF / No White Noise Either / But Probably a Pale Blue Eye / Could Living Play Telluride? / Teaser for Argentina, 1985 n Bets #8

TEN (PLUS) BETS #7 

Here's your latest edition of MTFB's Ten Bets for the TFF #49 lineup.  There is a good deal of movement after last week's announcement of Galas and Special Presentations from the Toronto International Film Festival.  Also making a difference was reporting from Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel and others.

As a recap, here are the Ten Bets and Other Possibilities from last week:

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) TAR/Fields

3) Bones and All/Guadagnino

4) Armageddon Time/Gray

5) Close/Dhont

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

8) The Son/Zeller

9) She Said/M. Schrader

10) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

Others Possibilities: Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Women Talking/Polley, Broker/Kore-eda, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  White Noise/Baumbach, The Forger/Peren,Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, The Wonder/Lelio, Blonde/Dominik, The Whale/Aronofsky, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Living/Hermanus

And here are the new and significantly altered Ten (Plus) Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) Women Talking/Polley

3) Broker/Kore-eda

4) Holy Spider/Abbasi

5) The Wonder/Lelio

6) Empire of Light/Mendes

7) Good Night Oppy/White

8) Bardo/Inarritu

9) TAR/Fields

10) Bones and All/Guadagnino

11) Armageddon Time/Gray

12) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

13) A Compassionate Spy/James

14) Close/Dhont

15) Aftersun/Wells

Others Possibilities: Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, The Forger/Peren,Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, Blonde/Dominik, Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins, Argentina 1985/Mitre

The biggest blows to last week's Ten Bets came with the likelihood that She Said will World Premiere at the New York Film Festival and that The Son will will World Premiere at Toronto.

We expect TIFF to announce its Midnight Madness program tomorrow which will probably not have any effect regarding what we can deduce about TFF #49.

NO GDT AT TFF

Admittedly I've thought all summer that the chances pf Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio [laying TFF #49 were slim but that chances seem to have been laid to rest.  Jordan Ruimy at World of reel reports that the film will not be finished until sometime in October at the earliest.

Here's the link to Ruimy's reporting.

NO WHITE NOISE EITHER

The New York Film Festival announced on Tuesday that Noah Baumbach's White Noise will open their fest on Sept. 30th and NYFF has labeled the film a North American premiere.  Assuming that characterization is accurate and Telluride maintains its unspoken policy of features being a first time North American screening, that means White Noise is off the speculation list for TFF #49.

I had been hearing some buzz that this could be true but the scheduling of White Noise as the opener for Venice kept me thinking that there was a great chance that the film would play in Italy and then slide across the Atlantic to land in the San Juans.  Looks like that's not happening.

BUT PROBABLY A PALE BLUE EYE

I've had Scott Cooper's The Pale Blue Eye on the TFF #49 watch list for a long time and now there's scuttlebutt that the Christian Bale led film, is in fact, likely screening for the first time in Telluride.  World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy snuck the increased chance that this will be true into a post called "What's Left-Part Deux".  

This is what Ruimy writes: 

"I’m getting more Telluride intel, this one concerning Scott Cooper’s “Pale Blue Eye” which will be having its world premiere over there." 

Here's the IMDb description of the film:

"At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope just off the parade grounds. An apparent suicide is not unheard of in a harsh regimen like West Point's, but the next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has stolen into the room where the body lay and removed the heart."

The film "Follows a veteran detective who investigates the murders, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe."

Previous Cooper collaborator Christian Bale (Hostiles, Out of the Furnace) as the detective and Henry Melling (The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) as Poe join to tell this tale.

For me, it's a "most anticipated".  Feeling really good that it's a TFF #49 selection.

The entire Ruimy post is linked here.

COULD LIVING PLAY TELLURIDE?

Living starring Bill Nighy made a splash at Sundance earlier this year with a number of mentions of Nighy as a possible Oscar contender for Best Actor.  Clayton Davis at Variety currently has Nighy at the #3 spot for a nomination.

The case against a Telluride play is, of course, the Sundance premiere back in January.  Also, Venice head Alberto Barbera is on record saying that there will less of an overlap between his fest and Telluride and Living IS a Venice selection.  But...

The case for a TFF #49 play includes the fact that it is under the wing of Sony Pictures Classics (a very tight Telluride connection).  It's inclusion in the Venice out-of-competition lineup, despite having already bowed at Sundance-very unusual for Venice to schedule a non-World Premiere.  

And, of late, Telluride has scheduled a couple of Sundance films that were tied to tributes.  In 2016 T-ride invited Manchester-by-the-Sea, a film distributed by Amazon/Roadside Attractions -decent Telluride presence for each- and featured Casey Affleck as a tribute recipient.  In 2018 TFF did the same with Adam Driver featuring both Marriage Story (from Netflix-a very good T-ride relationship) and The Report(from Amazon), which had premiered at Sundance.

So, could Bill Nighy be up for a Tribute and a screening of Living?  Nighy also has a film called A Beautiful Game from Netflix that has yet to be screened anywhere and is listed by IMDb as having been in post-production since January.

So it's not outside the realm of possibility.

TEASER FOR ARGENTINA, 1985

Argentina 1985 is a Venice Golden Lion competition choice and seems like a sleeper for a spot at Telluride.  That it was partially produced by Amazon Studios suggests the possibility that it could make the lineup when it is unveiled on Sept. 1st.

IMDb's description intrigues:

"A team of lawyers take on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship during the 1980s in a battle against odds and a race against time."

The first teaser for the film was released last week and here it is via YouTube:

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Ten Bets #6 / Wild Tuesday-Part One / Wild Tuesday-Part Two / Toronto-An Evolving List / Some Random Thoughts

TEN BETS #6

We've got some shuffling of the players this week following the news from Venice announcing its lineup.  First here's your re-cap of last week's Ten Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) The Son/Zeller

3) Close/Dhont

4) Armageddon Time/Gray

5) Bardo/Inarritu

6) TAR/Fields

7) Women Talking/Polley

8) Aftersun/Wells

9) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

10) The Master Gardener/P. Schrader

Others Possibilities: Broker/Kore-eda, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  The Forger/Peren, She Said/M. Schrader, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, The Wonder/Lelio, Blonde/Dominik

And here's this week's updated Ten Bets:

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) TAR/Fields

3) Bones and All/Guadagnino

4) Armageddon Time/Gray

5) Close/Dhont

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

8) The Son/Zeller

9) She Said/M. Schrader

10) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

Others Possibilities: Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Women Talking/Polley, Broker/Kore-eda, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  The Forger/Peren,Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, The Wonder/Lelio, Blonde/Dominik, The Whale/Aronofsky, White Noise/Baumbach. Dreamin' Wild/Pohlad, March on Rome/Cousins

WILD TUESDAY-PART ONE

It was a wild Tuesday afternoon earlier this week as separate interviews with Venice Film Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera stirred the fall film fest pot by dropping some Telluride news.  First the confirmations (it would seem). 

In an interview with Variety's Nick Vivarelli, Barbera revealed that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo, Todd Field's TAR and Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All will be making the jump from Venice to Telluride (hence those films jumping to the top of this week's Ten Bets above).

Here's the quote from the Varity interview:

"One that is going [to Telluride] is”Tar,” as are the Iñárritu and Guadagnino films."

In the same paragraph, Barbera says that there will not be as large a Venice/Telluride crossover as has been the case in past years:

"My impression is that there will be fewer films going from Venice to Telluride this year — not that there aren’t any... But in past years there were more, which has resulted in Venice being a bit less “top-heavy” this year."

So Barbera isn't saying that there aren't others in addition to Bardo, TAR and Bones but fewer.  I did a little digging and discovered that approximately 67 films have made the trek from Venice to Telluride over the past 10 years.  Peak years were 2021 and 2018 with nine films moving form Italy to Colorado.  Weak years were 2019, 2014 and 2012 with 4.  The average, as you can deduce, is 6-7 films each year.

So...likely there will be an addition or two beyond the three Barbera revealed.  

Prior to the Venice announcement there had been strong speculation that those films might include Baumbach's White Noise, Aronofsky's The Whale and Zeller's The Son.  In my Special Post from Tuesday morning with the Venice lineup, I indicated several other films that might be in line to make the trip from Venice to T-ride:

Argentina 1985

Athena

Blonde

A Couple

No Bears

Dreamin' Wild

Master Gardener

Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

Il Viaggio

Best bets to also move from Venice to The SHOW:  White Noise, Master Gardener and The Son.

The complete Variety interview is here.

WILD TUESDAY-PART TWO

And if that wasn't enough...Barbera had an interview with Deadline.com that was posted Tuesday.  Matt Neglia of Next Best Picture screen captured the electrifying news and posted it to Twitter:

Making it easier to read:

"There was only one film we couldn't see, which was the Spielberg film [The Fabelmans].  They decided to go domestic with Telluride.  It was a film that all the fall festivals wanted to see but no one got to see it internationally other than Toronto."

Needless to say my Twitter feed lit up.

A few minutes later the story was re-posted with the sentence "They decided to go domestic with Telluride" edited out.

I saw both versions with my own eyes.

You can see the current version of the post from Deadline here.

Now, I will admit that I reached out to Deadline to confirm and/or clarify the sentence.  It was after that email that the edit occurred that eliminated the Telluride mention.

So, what gives?  Seems like these are the possibilities:

Barbera got it wrong.

Deadline got it wrong.

Telluride screened it and decided not to invite it...thus preserving its World Premiere status for Toronto.

Telluride screened and Universal then decided not to go to T-ride after all.

Telluride does have it and TIFF's WP status is flawed.

It was pointed out to me that this could be a repeat of last year when TIFF announced Kenneth Branagh's Belfast as a World Premiere only to have it bow at Telluride first.  Could that be the case with The Fabelmans?

The icing on the cake was a Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel post late on Tuesday in which he says no Fabelmans at The SHOW per a TFF source:

"I’m here to tell you, let’s please stop the speculation. A Telluride source has confirmed to me that “The Fabelmans” is not going to that festival."

You can see that complete post here.

TORONTO-AN EVOLVING LIST

TIFF is using a drip-drip-drip method of announcing World Premieres that they haven't used before.  As that list grows, I will be posting so we know which films are at TIFF and won't be at TFF#49. Those announced to date are:

Green Onions: A Knives Out Mystery

Brother

Bros

On the Come Up

The Woman King

My Policeman

The Fabelmans (see above)

Catherine Called Birdy

The Swimmers

and Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel says The Greatest Beer Run Ever will also be a TIFF World Premiere. 

And there are reports that TIFF will announce some more titles today.

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS

Teaser for Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio which was released earlier this week via YouTube

A list of films that haven't really been talked about for Telluride but...who knows?   Maybe?

The Good Nurse

GDT's Pinocchio

See How They Run

Raymond and Ray

Dreamin' Wild

Tuesday

Moonage Daydream

Spoiler Alert: He Dies at the End

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Ten Bets #4 / Paul Schrader: Another Honor / A New Film to Contemplate

TEN BETS #4

While we wait for some full-scale announcements from the Toronto International Film Festival which should give us some serious insight about the way the fall film slate is going to shake out...

Here's a re-cap of last week's Ten Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) The Son/Zeller

3) Close/Dhont

4) Women Talking/Polley

5) Aftersun/Wells

6) Bardo/Inarritu

7) TAR/Fields

8) Showing Up/Reichardt

9) Broker/Kore-eda

10) Armageddon Time/Gray

Others: The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper, The Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, She Said/M. Schrader

And here is your fresh Ten Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) The Son/Zeller

3) Close/Dhont

4) Women Talking/Polley

5) Aftersun/Wells

6) Bardo/Inarritu

7) TAR/Fields

8) Armageddon Time/Gray

9) The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper

10) The Master Gardener/P. Schrader

Others Possibilties: Broker/Kore-eda, Showing Up/Reichardt, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, She Said/M. Schrader, Tuesday/Oniunas-Pusic, The Fire Within/Herzog, The U.S. and the Holocaust/Burns, The Wonder/Lelio

The top seven remain unchanged as Armageddon Time moves up The Master Gardener returns as a "Bet" and Scott Cooper's Pale Blue Eye moves onto he "Bets" for the first time this summer.

Broker and Showing Up have slipped into the "Other Possibilities" section.

PAUL SCHRADER: ANOTHER HONOR

News from Deadline that Paul Schrader will be honored in August at the Sarajevo Film Festival with the "Heart of Sarajevo".  That news comes after it was previously announced that Shrader will be honored for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival.  

The Sarajevo announcement reveals that Schrader will be screening The Card Counter and doing a Masterclass as part of the Sarajevo program.  No mention of a screening of The Master Gardener which almost certainly will screen at Venice.

The Deadline story is linked here.

A NEW FILM TO CONTEMPLATE

News this week that Cannes' Jury prize-winner The Eight Mountains had been jointly acquired for distribution by Janus Films and Sideshow.  That bumps the film co-directed by Felix van Groeningen (Beautiful Boy and Broken Circle Breakdown) and Charlotte Vadermeersch squarely into the Telluride conversation.

Janus' past Telluride appearances have included: 

The Eyes of Orson Welles

Cameraperson

Le Havre

Janus also has distribution for a couple of other TFF #49 possibilities: Tori and Lokita and EO.  A TFF selection would be a first for Sideshow.

Details from Indiewire are here.

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Ten Bets #3-The Jostling Begins / Bouncing Around / Much More Marcel / She Is Done

 TEN BETS #3-THE JOSTLING BEGINS

After last week's largely unchanged Bets, this week is a different story.  Largely hinging on excellent reporting by Jordan Ruimy/World of Reel-that reporting is detailed below in the following summation of hos collection of posts dating back to Independence Day.

That said, here's a repeat of last week's Ten Bets and other possibilities

1) Bardo/Inarritu

2) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

3) The Son/Zeller

4) Close/Dhont

5) Women Talking/Polley

6) Aftersun/Wells

7) Showing Up/Reichardt

8) Broker/Kore-eda

9) White Noise/Baumbach

10) The Master Gardener/P. Schrader

Others: Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi, Blonde/Dominik, Next Goal Wins/Waititi, The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, TAR/Fields, She Said/M. Schrader.

And here are the latest Ten Bets:

1) One Fine Morning/Hansen-Love

2) The Son/Zeller

3) Close/Dhont

4) Women Talking/Polley

5) Aftersun/Wells

6) Bardo/Inarritu

7) TAR/Fields

8) Showing Up/Reichardt

9) Broker/Kore-eda

10) Armageddon Time/Gray

Others: The Pale Blue Eye/Cooper, The Master Gardener/P. Schrader, Tori and Lokita/Dardennes, Holy Spider/Abbasi,  The Forger/Peren, Babylon/Chazelle, She Said/M. Schrader.

BOUNCING AROUND

As mentioned above, there is some jumbling of the Ten Bets for this week owing to reporting from Jordan Ruimy.  If you compare last week's Ten Bets with this week's you'll see that some films have disappeared, some jumped on and Bardo is still on the list, but moved from the top spot down to #6.

All of that comes as a result of Jordan's reporting at World of Reel.

Specifically two posts from the last week.  Ruimy posted a piece on July 4th indicating that sources had told him that Bardo would NOT being playing fall fests and that Blonde and White Noise would NOT be at Telluride.  Including for T-ride, according to his reporting, will be: Armageddon Time (Gray), Women Talking (Polley), The Pale Blue Eye (Cooper) and TAR (Fields).

I was devastated as my personal hope for list included Bardo and Blonde (in addition to Babylon-which is hanging onto the "maybe: list by the slimmest of threads.

Then on Wednesday, Ruimy was back with a different spin on Bardo.  Ruimy indicated that a new source was telling him that Bardo would be ready for screening at fall fests.  Ruimy writes:

"I had it confirmed this late afternoon that Inarittu and Netflix are hopeful “Bardo” will be done on time for the fall fests." 

Sooo...Bardo stays on the Ten Bets but takes a 5 position demotion.  Shaky!  My belief had been that Bardo would play Venice and then make the trans-Atlantic jump to southwestern Colorado.  We'll see...

As you can see, I have linked both of Ruimy's posts.

MUCH MORE MARCEL

As Marcel the Shell with Shoes On continues its rollout nationwide, there continue to be stories that pop up highlighting the film about the plucky mollusk.  I have some of those here from this week"

From Variety

ScriptMag.com

MovieWeb

SHE SAID IS DONE -IT TESTED

Again reporting from Jordan Ruimy tells us that Maria Schrader's She Said (the film about the Harvey Weinstein affair) has screen tested and seems to have done well.

I think there some possibility that it screens in the San Juans on Labor Day weekend.

The WOR story is here.

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