And the Madness Continues: BFCA, L.A. and N.Y. Critics Weigh-In / Visual Effects Short List: TFF #43 Films in the Mix

It's the first Monday in December friends...and we're still here.

AND THE MADNESS CONTINUES: BFCA, L.A. AND NEW YORK CRITICS WEIGH IN

My last post on Thursday focused on the announcement of year end film awards recognition from The National Board of Review and The Gotham Awards.  The Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced the week before.  In those announcement came the first solid evidence that the TFF #43 lineup is going to be front and center as we move through the awards season.  I think many of us thought something extraordinary was happening over Labor Day.

The end of this week saw the announcement of of awards and/or nominations from The New York Film Critics Circle, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics' Choice Awards).  This latest round of awards seems to confirm the first onslaught.  Here's what happened at the end of this past week...

Three TFF #43 films have been dominant in these early accolades: La La Land, Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea.  There has also been reasonable mentions at various points for Arrival, Sully and Toni Erdmann.

The Broadcast Film Critics/Critics Choice nominations saw La La Land lead the field with 12 followed closely by Moonlight and Arrival with 10 each.  Manchester by the Sea had eight nominations.  Each of those four films had a nomination for Best Picture included in their haul. Additionally, Sully was nominated for Best Picture as well as three other awards.  Neruda and Toni Erdmann were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.  All told TFF #43 films collected 46 BFCA nominations.

Coverage of the BFCA nominations is here from Indiewire and here from SlashFilm.

Meanwhile, The Los Angeles critics met yesterday and cast ballots and Barry Jenkins' Moonlight dominated with four awards including: Best Picture, Direction, Supporting Actor/Ali and Cinematography.  La La Land won Best Original Score and Isabelle Huppert was Best Actress in part for Things to Come (Elle was also mentioned).

La La Land and Manchester by the Sea were the runners-up in a number of categories.  La La was runner-up for Picture, director, film editing, cinematography and production design while Manchester finished second for Actor/Affleck, Supporting Actress/Williams and Screenplay.  Toni Erdmann was the Best Foreign Language Film runner-up.

Coverage and analysis of the L.A. critics is here from:

Variety

Entertainment Weekly

Indiewire

Movie City News

Awards Circuit

The New York Film Critics Circle announced their winners for 2016 on Thursday and Telluride 2016 films dominated that landscape as well with TFF accounting for awards in 75% of the NYFCC categories.  Damien Chazelle's La La Land was named Best Picture, Barry Jenkins Moonlight won Best Director, Best Supporting Actor/Mahershala Ali and Cinematography.  Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea also was named thrice: Best Actor/Casey Affleck, Best Supporting Actress/Michelle Williams and Best Screenplay.  Isabelle Huppert was named Best Actress, in part for Things to Come.  Toni Erdmann was named the Best Foreign Language Film.

New York reportage can be found here from Indiewire and here from Entertainment Weekly.

Coming up this week will be the announcement of The American Film Institutes's list of Best Films as well as the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday.  Additionally, Golden Globe nominations are announced a week from today.

For my money, among all we've had slung at us awards wise over the past two weeks, I can tell you that I mostly pay attention to NBR, BFCA, NY and LA critics.  Among the news to come I pay most attention to: AFI, Golden Globe nominations, BAFTA nominations and the guilds: SAG, DGA, PGA, WGA.


For analysis of what some of these early nominations and awards may mean in the context of the Oscar race I have provided links here to Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn's ScreenTalk podcast as well as this piece from Awards Daily's Sasha Stone.


VISUAL EFFECTS SHORT LIST:  TFF #43 FILMS IN THE MIX

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 20 films that have made their preliminary short list for the Visual Effects Oscar.  That's not a category that TFF films normally find themselves but this year two films from #43 are alive and kicking.  Clint Eastwood's Sully and Denis Villenueve's Arrival made the initial cut.  AMPAS will cut this list down to 10 for nomination voting. Awards Daily has the complete list here.


That's your Monday.  Stay tuned for more on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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AFI Fest in Full Swing-Features TFF #43 Films / Werner Herzog and His Volcanoes / Oscar Pundits Update

Welcome to Monday...

AFI IS IN FULL SWING AND FEATURES FILMS FROM TFF#43

The American Film Institutes's Film Festival began late last week and will continue through the 17th. The fest is the last festival to feature premieres of films that could find their way into the Oscar conversation before we start to hear from critic's groups.  Films such as Miss Sloane and Rules Don't Apply that have gotten a good deal of awards speculation will screen or have screened at AFI.

The National Board of Review announces their list of films in just over two weeks (Nov. 29) with the New York Critics announcing on Dec. 1 and LA critics on Dec. 4.  AFI will announce their top films on Dec. 8. Golden Globe nominations are announced on Dec. 12 and Screen Actors Guild nominations are announced Dec. 14.  The British Academy announces nominees on Jan. 10.

Other key guilds announce as follows:

Writer's Guild: Jan. 4
Directors Guild Jan. 12
Producers Guild: Jan. 10

Oscar voters begin voting for nominees on Jan. 5 and that closes Jan. 13.  Oscar nominees are announced Jan. 24.

Thanks to Sasha Stone's Awards Daily for the comprehensive calendar of awards dates.  You can find that complete list here.

At any rate, Telluride 2016 films are a significant presence at this year's AFI fest:  Included in the AFI schedule from TFF #43 are: La La Land, Bright Lights: Starring Debbie Reynolds, Fire at Sea, Toni Erdmann, Graduation, Neruda, Things to Come and Mifune: The Last Samurai.

Here's the link to the AFI Fest's lineup search function.  Also, coverage of the AFI Fest with 14 films highlighted (including Toni Erdmann) by Indiewire.



WERNER HERZOG AND HIS VOLCANOES

Werner Herzog, not surprisingly premiered his Volcano Around the World documentary, Into the Inferno, at Telluride.  Herzog's doc travels the globe and seeks to place volcanic natural phenomena into the contexts in which various cultures have interacted with them.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson reports here.

Additionally, here's the official trailer for the film:

Into the Inferno opened on Oct. 28 and is available to stream on Netflix.

OSCAR PUNDITS UPDATE

I've got a new FAC update coming for Thursday's post that will update the acting races but until then, here are the latest updated Oscar pics from two of the Oscar experts that are used for The FAC metric. 

Sasha Stone's weekly update on Friday has TFF #43 films La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight and Arrival as the top four films contending for Best Picture.  She also has Sully at #9. Best Actor candidates include: Casey Affleck/Manchester and Tom Hanks/Sully.  Actress: Emma Stone/La La Land, Amy Adams/Arrival.  Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali/Moonlight and Lucas Hedges/Manchester.  Supporting Actress: Naomie Harris/Moonlight and Michelle Williams/Manchester,  Best Director: Damien Chazelle/La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan/Manchester and Denis Villeneuve/Arrival.  Check the link above for the rest of Stone's updated predictions.

Meanwhile, The Playlist's Awards Campaign's Greg Ellwood also updated his picks:

Best Picture: La La Land, Sully, Manchester and Moonlight are his top four films.

Actor: Affleck/Manchester and Ryan Gosling/La La Land

Actress: Stone/La La Land

Supporting Actor:Ali/Moonlight

Supporting Actress: Harris/Moonlight and Williams/Manchester

Director: Chazelle/La La Land, Lonergan/Manchester and Barry Jenkins/Moonlight.

That's all I can muster for this Monday.  Return for more on Thursday.

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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Things to Come is Coming (and has a trailer) / Talking Telluride Films

Good Monday people...


THINGS TO COME IS COMING (AND HAS A TRAILER)

Telluride watchers were rewarded this past week with a new trailer for Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come starring past T-ride tribute recipient Isabelle Huppert (and it IS the year of Huppert with this performance plus Elle and others).  Things to Come was very well respected by MTFB's Pros as it  was pegged at the #3 spot with a solid 4.20 rating.  The film currently has an 88 Metacritic score and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (with 36 critics weighing in).


Here's the new trailer (with English subtitles) from Sundance Selects via YouTube:

Things to Come opens in the United States on Dec. 2nd.


I have also linked coverage of the trailer release from Indiewire andFirstShowing.net .



TALKING TELLURIDE FILMS

Kristopher Tapley's Playback Podcast had actor Aaron Eckhardt as his guest this last week.  Eckhardt is getting notice for his roles both in Sully and Bleed for This.  Eckhardt could be in the Best Supporting Actor conversation for both of those roles, though his turn in Bleed for This seems to be getting the most attention.

Here's the link to the Playback podcast.

Additionally, The Hollywood Reporter published a multi-actress interview with German actresses. Two of those are Sandra Huller from Toni Erdmann and Paula Beer from Frantz both of which were part of the TFF #$3 program.

That interview is here.

And, Indiewire's weekly Screen Talk podcast featuring Eric Kohn and Anne Thompson (both of whom serve as MTFB pors for rating films each year at TFF).  This week the duo talk Birth of a Nation and 20th Century Women.

The Screentalk podcast is here.



That's a wrap for Monday.  More to come on Thursday...including a new Film Awards Clearinghouse update.


EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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New York by Way of Telluride / Maudie Has a Home / Screen Talk

Good Monday ladies and germs...

NEW YORK BY WAY WAY OF TELLURIDE

The New York Film Festival opened over the weekend with Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th as the opening night film.  NYFF will run through Oct. 16th and will double up on a number of films that played at TFF #43 including: Fire at Sea, Graduation, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, Neruda. Things to Come and Toni Erdmann among their Main Slate presentations.  Here is the complete NYFF Main Slate lineup.

Additionally, in its Retrospective section you will find Bertrand Tavernier's Journey Through French Cinema which also played TFF #43.
Tavernier and Journey Through French Cinema was recently profiled in this piece from Variety.

Other Telluride 2016 selections playing in NYFF are included in its Spotlight on Documentary section. Included there from Telluride are: The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography, Bright Lights; Starring Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher and I Called Him Morgan.



MAUDIE HAS A HOME

 A small film at Telluride that gained some notoriety and  a bit of buzz for Sally Hawkins' performance was Aisling Walsh's Maudie about real life artist Maud Walsh.  As a matter of fact, TFF filmgoers rated the film in MTFB's People's Telluride ratings at a very respectable 4.29 (out of 5) and it finished as the third highest rated film of this year's fest only trailing current Oscar buzzy films La La Land and Moonlight.

The film played T-ride without having been picked up for domestic distribution but that changed over the weekend as Sony Pictures Classics announced that they had grabbed the rights to the film.

Here's coverage of the acquisition from Variety  The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap,

There's no word yet on whether SPC is planning to release the film this year but there is plenty of speculation that they might to get Hawkins into the conversation for the Best Actress Oscar. However, that field is crowded this year.


SCREEN TALK

As the New York Fest gets underway, Indiewire's Anne Thompson and Eric Kohn take aim at the films playing there in the context of the Oscar race with a special focus in this week's podcast on Oscar and film diversity.  Figuring into their conversation is Barry Jenkin's Telluride selection Moonlight.  Check out the latest version of ScreenTalk here.

That'll be a wrap for Monday.  More on Thursday!

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

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COMMENT to the Blog itself.

The Professionals Telluride Revealed / Moonlight Sets MTFB Pros Records / Overviews of TFF #43

Good Thursday everyone.  Hope that you've been having a good week.

THE PROFESSIONALS TELLURIDE REVEALED

Ten days removed for the conclusion of TFF #43 and it's time to reveal the results of this year's view of films from the festival of a collection of industry professionals, critics and pundits.


Serving this year as MTFB's Professionals are:

Alex Billington/FirstShowing.net
David Ehrlich/Indiewire
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Galloway/The Hollywood Reporter
Mark Johnson/AwardsCircuit.com
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Kenny Miles/The Movie Blog
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-In Contention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

The Professionals (just as The People's Telluride) used a 1-5 rating scale with 1 being "abysmal" and 5 being "outstanding",  A film had to be rated by at least a third of the Pros to earn an average.  15 films met that criteria.

Here are The Professionals' results for TFF #43:

1) Moonlight (4.82)
2) La La Land (4.58)
3) Things to Come (4.20)
4) Manchester by the Sea (3.95)
5) Into the Inferno (3.92)
6) Sully (3.89)
7) Arrival (3.88)
8) Toni Erdmann (3.85)
9) Maudie (3.60)
10) Una (3.44)
11) California Typewriter (3.25)
12) Neruda (3.00)
13) Bleed for This (2.71)
14) Wakefield (2.67)
15) Norman (2.67)


MOONLIGHT SETS MTFB PROS RECORDS

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight becomes the first film in the five years that I've been doing these ratings to top both The Pros and The Peoples ratings AND it is also the highest rated film by The Pros in that five year span (see below).

There is a lot of agreement this year between The People's ratings and the Pros.  Numbers one and two are the same in both polls.  The biggest disconnect occurs on Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come which the Pros have at #3 with a 4.20 average rating.  The People had Things to Come as their #19 (of 21) with a composite rating of 3.05)

The Pros were more generous at the top of their list.  For example, #1 Moonlight (in both polls) gets a high 4.82 average from the Pros but The People's average was substantially lower (though still the best rating of all films) at 4.37.

However, The Pros only gave three films a rating of 4+: Moonlight, La La Land and Things to Come whereas the People gave six films a 4+ rating: Moonlight, La La Land, Maudie, The Eagle Huntress, Manchester by the Sea and Arrival.

As mentioned above, Moonlight became the highest rated film in the five years I've been doing this project with its stunning 4.82 rating.  Here's the latest version of The Pros Top Ten with 2016 films added into the mix:

1) Moonlight-2016 (4.82)
2) Birdman-2014 (4.72)
3) 12 Years a Slave- 2013 (4.70)
3) Central Park Five-2012 (4.70)
5) Foxcatcher- 2014 (4.63)
6) La La Land- 2016 (4.58)
7) Argo- 2012 (4.50)
8) Son of Saul- 2015 (4.44)
9) Anomalisa-2015 (4.42)
10) Spotlight- 2015(4.41)

2016's #2 film according to The Pros-La La Land- also landed in the top ten all time at #6.  The rise of Moonlight and La La Land bumped Blue is the Warmest Color and Steve Jobs out of The Pros all time Top Ten.

Coming on Monday...The Combination Ratings...adding The Pros and The Peeps together.


OVERVIEWS OF TFF #43

Eugene Hernandez took a look at his highlights from the recently concluded 43rd Telluride Film Festival for Film Journal.  Hernandez singles out: Moonlight, California Typewriter, Sully and Bright Lights for detailed commentary.


Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy et. al. took a larger view and has named ten films from across the triple threat fall film fest lineups: Telluride, Venice and Toronto.  TFF 43 films that make the cut for The THR article include: Moonlight, La La Land, Arrival, Frantz and Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  Check out the complete THR list here.


Also, Variety's Kristopher Tapley runs down a number of the films that have played over the past two weeks at the fall festivals in this Variety post.  He places attention on Telluride films: La La Land, Sully, Moonlight, Arrival, Bleed for This and Manchester by the Sea.

That's it for Thursday.  Return Monday for a look at The Pros and The Peeps combination film ratings.

Contact me at:

EMAIL:  mpgort@gmail.com OR michael_speech@hotmail.com

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SATURDAY TBA'S

TBA'S FOR SATURDAY:

I'm taking these TBAs from what is appearing on the TFF #43 App as of late last night:

By Venue:

The Galaxy:
1:15 Manchester by the Sea
7:45 Arrival

The Zog
1:00 Wakefield
4:00 The Eagle Huntress
10:00 Lost in Paris

The Masons
3:00 Things to Come
8:00 Great Expectations
10:30 End of Eden

Le Pierre
8:15pm Fire at Sea
10:30pm Maudie

Telluride Lineup Revealed / Most Excited / MTFB Milestones / Reminders

Good Thursday Citizens.  The 43rd Telluride Film Festival begins...TOMORROW!

Reporting to you from the road...Here's is the officially released lineup for TFF #43...

TELLURIDE LINEUP REVEALED

Here's the complete lineup for the 43rd Telluride Film Festival according to Deadline.com

· ARRIVAL (d. Denis Villeneuve, U.S., 2016)
· THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY (d. Errol Morris, U.S., 2016)
· BLEED FOR THIS (d. Ben Younger, U.S., 2016)
· CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER (d. Doug Nichol, U.S., 2016)
· CHASING TRANE (d. John Scheinfeld, U.S., 2016)
· THE END OF EDEN (d. Angus Macqueen, U.K., 2016)
· FINDING OSCAR (d. Ryan Suffern, U.S., 2016)
· FIRE AT SEA (d. Gianfranco Rosi, Italy/France, 2016)
· FRANTZ (d. François Ozon, France, 2016)
· GENTLEMAN RISSIENT (d. Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau, Guy Seligmann, France, 2016)
· GRADUATION (d. Cristian Mungiu, Romania/France/Belgium, 2016)
· INTO THE INFERNO (d. Werner Herzog, U.K./Austria, 2016)
· THE IVORY GAME (d. Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani, Austria/U.S., 2016)
· LA LA LAND (d. Damien Chazelle, U.S., 2016)
· LOST IN PARIS (d. Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, France/Belgium, 2016)
· MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (d. Kenneth Lonergan, U.S., 2016)
· MAUDIE (d. Aisling Walsh, Canada/Ireland, 2016)
· MEN: A LOVE STORY (d. Mimi Chakarova, U.S., 2016)
· MOONLIGHT (d. Barry Jenkins, U.S., 2016)
· MY JOURNEY THROUGH FRENCH CINEMA (d. Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2016)
· NERUDA (d. Pablo Larraín, Chile/Argentina/France/Spain, 2016)
· NORMAN: THE MODERATE RISE AND TRAGIC FALL OF A NEW YORK FIXER (d. Joseph Cedar, U.S./Israel, 2016)
· SNAPSHOTS: EYES ON THE WORLD – three nonfiction short films including EXTREMIS (d. Dan Krauss, U.S., 2016); REFUGEE (d. Joyce Chen, Emily Moore, U.S., 2016); THE WHITE HELMETS (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K., 2016)
· SULLY (d. Clint Eastwood, U.S., 2016)
· THINGS TO COME (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany, 2016)
· THROUGH THE WALL (d. Rama Burshtein, U.S./Israel, 2016)
· TONI ERDMANN (d. Maren Ade, Germany/Austria, 2016)
· UNA (d. Benedict Andrews, U.K./U.S./Canada, 2016)
· WAKEFIELD (d. Robin Swicord, U.S., 2016)

MOST EXCITED

The films I am most excited to see:

1) Arrival

2) Toni Erdmann

3) Manchester by the Sea

4) La La Land

5) Wakefield



MTFB MILESTONES

A couple of really big milestones were hit since yesterday's post.  First, as you should be able to see on the page view counter to the right, MTFB passed a quarter of a million lifetime views .  ONE QUARTER MILLION.

I simply have a difficult time grasping that there have been that many looks at this space in the eight years since I started tapping away at the keyboard.  It overwhelms me.

Additionally, at the end of the day yesterday, August 2016 officially became the most viewed month in the Blog's history with 11.980  views.  The previous biggest month had been August of 2014 with 10, 333 views.

A huge thank you to all of you who check in every now and then on MTFB.


REMINDERS...

MTFB will be posting every day of the fest so check back here for commentary, schedules, TBA and Sneak announcements.  Or check out my Twitter @Gort2.

Rate the films you see for MTFB's People's Telluride.  1 to 5 scale and get them to me any way yuj want.  Email, Twitter, Facebook,

I'll compile and reveal the results about a week after the festival.

Here's contact info:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

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Or leave a comment.

Ten (Plus) Bets #10 / Toni Erdmann News / Add an Doc to Your T-ride List / Oscar Watch Podcast

It's Friday...aren't you glad?

The 43rd Telluride Film Festival starts in 6 days!


TEN (PLUS) BETS #10

Here's the latest version of MTFB's Ten (Plus) Bets for films to appear at the Telluride Film Festival. It's the next to last Ten Bets for TFF #43.  I'll post a final iteration on Wednesday morning just before I head west.  If the past is an indicator, we should see the official list sometime on Thursday morning. We have some additions and adjustments due to news that I'll delve into in more detail below as well as the revelation this past week that The Red Turtle is billed by the Toronto International Film Festival as a North American premiere.

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


20) Journey Through French Cinema
19) Defying the Nazis
18) The B-Side
17) Into the Inferno
16) Wakefield
15) Graduation
14) Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
13) Manchester by the Sea
12) Maudie
11) Una
10) Frantz
9) The Red Turtle
8) Fire at Sea
7) Neruda
6) Bleed for This
5) Moonlight
4) Arrival
3) La La Land
2) Things to Come
1) Toni Erdmann

And now Ten (Plus) Bets #10:

20) Staying Vertical

19) Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds

18) A Journey Through French Cinema

17) Wakefield

16) Norman: The Rise and Fall...

15) Graduation

14) The B-Side

13) Into the Inferno

12) Manchester by the Sea

11) Maudie

10) Frantz

9) Una

8) Fire at Sea

7) Toni Erdmann

6) Neruda

5) Bleed for This

4) Moonlight

3) Things to Come

2) La La Land

1) Arrival

Continued possibilities: Defying the Nazis, Sully, Nocturnal Animals, Exile, The Sense of an Ending, Eternity,The Circle, The Founder, Gold, Miss Sloane, The Mercy, The Accountant

Again, look for a FINAL TEN (PLUS) BETS on Wednesday next week.

TONI ERDMANN NEWS

A couple of items about Cannes critical sensation Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann.

First, the film has been officially chosen as Germany's entrant for the Foreign Language Oscar.  That news came yesterday and really wasn't surprising.  The film was so warmly received that it would have been a stunner if it hadn't been selected.

I went on record yesterday as suggesting that it could even figure into the Best Picture race depending on its reception in Telluride.

That reception, however, seemed to be about to be rendered defunct yesterday when Jason Osiason alerted me to the fact that the film had been unveiled in the second wave of films for Fantastic Fest (Sept. 22-29).  Fantastic Fest listed the film as a U.S. Premiere.  Jason's point, and it was well taken, was that it couldn't very well be a U.S. Premiere if it had already screened at Telluride three weeks earlier.

However...

Toronto has it listed as a Canadian Premiere and would ONLY do that if it had screened somewhere on the North American continent prior to its Sept. 8 screening date in Canada which means to me that Toni plays T-ride.

Additionally, the Fantastic Fest premiere designations for some other films are a little shaky.  For example, both Fantastic Fest and The New York Film Fest claim to be the U.S. Premiere of  Paul Verhoeven's Elle.  Obviously, both things can't be true.  Another oddity: Fantastic Fest lists Andrea Arnold's American Honey as a "Texas" Premiere and yet I can't find any place the film is screening in the U.S. prior to its appearance at Fantastic.  Under normal circumstances that might lead me to think that the film would make Telluride's lineup but its designation as a North American premiere at Toronto makes that improbable.

  

Meanwhile, I also got an email from MTFB friend Christopher Schiller who had noticed that in the second wave of film announcements for the Austin (TX) Film Festival that Garth Davis' Lion (which I thought was a probable Telluride film for a long time) was being listed as a "Texas" Premiere.  He was curious about it for the same reason Jason had been curious about Toni Erdmann's FF designation and it does seem odd.  Austin's Fest runs Oct. 13-20. Lion is labeled by TIFF as a World Premiere.  So why doesn't Austin label it as a North American Premiere?

I wrote yesterday that there might be some uncertainty about "the veracity' of the "honest premiere policy" this year and today's Toni Erdmann and Lion news makes that seem even more plausible today.


Here are links to the relevant announcements from Fantastic Fest and the Austin Film Fest


ADD A DOC TO YOUR T-RIDE LIST

Image via IMDb

You can add another documentary to your list of films making the TFF #43 lineup as an Indiewire story yesterday from Anne Thompson reveals that Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds is set to play.

The doc is co-directed by Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom.

The revelation comes in an article Thompson writes about the Oscar prospects for a number of this year's docs.

Thompson also repeats the claim that emerged earlier this week that Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno will also make the lineup.

The complete post is here from Indiewire


OSCAR WATCH PODCAST

Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams of Awards Daily returned to podcasting last night and the  cast includes a discussion of probable Telluride films (as well as the Nate Parker situation).  A certain blog devoted to Telluride's Film Fest gets a mention!  Listen to it here: OscarWatch Podcast


That's a wrap for this Friday.  Stay tuned to this space as I may take the unusual step of posting special notices through the weekend if conditions warrant.  Otherwise, MTFB is back on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

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Or leave a comment.

When They Do Your Job for You / Hidden Figures Poster Revealed / The Playlist's 50 Fall Films / Rate Films from The SHOW and Follow, Follow, Follow

Happy Tuesday World!

I think we have another Toronto announcement today...we'll see what we see...


WHEN THEY DO YOUR JOB FOR YOU

It doesn't get easier than this though the confirmation comes from a surprising source.  Werner Herzog's Into the Inferno, which I had penciled into last Friday's Ten (Plus) Bets as probable for Telluride owing to its announced premiere status from Toronto is confirmed by...wait for it...Werner Herzog.

Herzog, speaking on Mark Maron's podcast pronounced that the film would be a part of the TFF #43 lineup.  The admission was reported by a number of film outlets (see below).

It's something of a shocker, as Herzog, who has a lengthy history with the fest, has to be abundantly aware that Telluride doesn't reveal the lineup until the day before the festival begins.

Still, I'll take the confirmation and move on.

Reports of the admission from Mr. Herzog are here:

http://theplaylist.net/werner-herzog-says-volcano-doc-inferno-will-debut-telluride-2-dramatic-features-works-20160815/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/listen-to-werner-herzogs-career-spanning-talk-with-marc-maron/


HIDDEN FIGURES POSTER REVEALED

Hot on the heels of its Olympic debuting trailer the Theodore Melfi film Hidden Figures revealed a poster yesterday:

Again, you have to figure that it's not really a likely Telluride play...as Melfi (or someone purporting to be Melfi) said himself on Twitter over the weekend but there is a difference between "Not likely" and "never gonna happen".

Hidden Figures is currently scheduled to open on Jan. 13, 2017.


THE PLAYLIST'S 50 FALL FILMS

The Playlist was up yesterday with a list of 50+ films that they say are their most anticipated for this coming fall/awards season.  Probable Telluride films are well represented in the article:

Moonlight, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Things to Come, Neruda, Julieta and Toni Erdmann all make the list.

Also included are a number of films with no fall film fest agenda for the moment:

Sully, Rules Don't Apply, The Accountant, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Allied, Silence, Miss Sloane, Fences, Collateral Beauty, Passengers, Gold and The Founder.

Some of these films aren't ready for screening.  Some will almost certainly be announced for The AFI Fest.  Some won't play a major festival at all.  I can see anywhere between none and five still showing at The SHOW.

The Playlist list is here:

http://theplaylist.net/50-anticipated-films-fall-season-20160815/#cb-content


RATE FILMS FROM THE SHOW AND FOLLOW...FOLLOW...FOLLOW

It's your annual call to rate the films you see at the Telluride Film Festival.  MTFB is once again asking YOU to participate in The People's Telluride...a gathering of film ratings from the ticket buying public at the fest.

It's simple...rate the films you see on a 1 to 5 scale (1 being awful and 5 being masterpiece) and then send those to me via email: mpgort@gmail.com or michael_speech@hotmail.com OR via the comments section here on the blog or to my twitter account @Gort2.

IT'S EASIER TO FOLLOW MTFB NOW

I've added a "FOLLOW" button to the blog page.  You'll see it in the upper right hand area of the page. Just click on it and you can make it much easier to keep up with what's going on here.

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment.

Ten (Plus) Bets #8 / Moonlight Trailer Impresses / Toronto Platform Lineup Provides Clues

It's Friday everyone...aren't you glad?


TEN (PLUS) BETS #8

Here is my weekly update focused on what appear to be the most probable films to play the 43rd Telluride Film Festival.

Last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

15) Defying the Nazis (Ken Burns PBS Doc)
14) High Summer (Animated short)
13) The Red Turtle
12) Manchester by the Sea
11) Moonlight
10) Fire at Sea
9) Maudie
8) Frantz
7) Una
6) Things to Come
5) Neruda
4) Bleed for This
3) Arrival
2) La La Land
1) Toni Erdmann


And here is this week's Ten (Plus) Bets:

20) Journey Through French Cinema
19) Defying the Nazis
18) The B-Side
17) Into the Inferno
16) Julieta
15) Graduation
14) High Summer
13) Manchester by the Sea
12) Maudie
11) Una
10) Frantz
9) The Red Turtle
8) Fire at Sea
7) Moonlight
6) Bleed for This
5) Neruda
4) Things to Come
3) La La Land
2) Toni Erdmann
1) Arrival

Still in play: The Circle, The Promise. Miss Sloane. Hidden Figures, The Sense of an Ending, Exile, Peshmerga, Gold, Norman, Eternity, The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez, The Founder



MOONLIGHT TRAILER IMPRESSES

As I mentioned here yesterday, Barry Jenkins Moonlight (A24) got a trailer release late yesterday morning.  Here it is from YouTube:

The response to the trailer was nothing short of rapturous.  We may have a serious stealth Oscar player.   Here's coverage of the trailer drop:

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/first-trailer-for-barry-jenkins-moonlight-shows-a-life-in-three-parts/

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/moonlight-trailer-barry-jenkins-trevante-rhodes-a24-1201715487/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/08/11/watch-first-breathtaking-trailer-moonlight-a24/

http://theplaylist.net/gorgeous-first-trailer-barry-jenkins-moonlight-love-heartbreak-20160811/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2016/must-watch-first-trailer-for-barry-jenkins-moonlight-set-in-miami/


Despite The PLaylist's claim that the film is world premiering in Toronto, I'm still relatively confident it will actually screen at Telluride first.  The story below underscores my belief.


TORONTO PLATFORM LINEUP PROVIDES CLUES

Toronto's International Film Festival revealed their competitive young film makers Platform section yesterday.  Included in the list of films were two that have been on the TFF #43 radar.  Pablo Larrain's Jackie, which I had concluded will not be making the trip from Venice to T-ride was listed as a North American Premiere thus buttressing my conclusion.

Barry Jenkins Moonlight was also named to the section and listed as an International Premiere, which, I believe indicates a film's first play outside its nation of origin which comports perfectly with a Telluride screening.

The complete Platform lineup and film descriptions are here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tiff-2016-platform-lineup-natalie-918884

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/tiff-2016-platform-lineup-jackie-moonlight-daguerrotype-1201715395/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/tiff-2016-reveals-platform-line-up-with-jackie-nocturama-moonlight-and-more/

http://www.thewrap.com/natalie-portmans-jackie-kennedy-drama-jackie-added-to-toronto-film-festival-slate/

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

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https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment.

Categorical Weirdness / A Candidate for the Unusual Tribute / Coming Soon: Things to Come

Good Wednesday everybody...


CATEGORICAL WEIRDNESS

It seems to happen every year especially since Toronto and the rest of the film fest world moved to the "honest" premiere status requirement.  That is that between the various announcements of what's eiplaying where and when, there occur some weird anamolies.

Case in point...yesterday, I was alerted by friend of the blog Kenny Miles to the announcement of the film lineup for Fantastic Fest.  It's a film fest based in Austin, TX and will run Sept. 22-29 this year. Mr. Miles called my attention to FF's claim that Andrea Arnold's American Honey would play as a "Texas" premiere.  That's curious as we know that the film has played Cannes (World preem) and was announced last week for Toronto as a North American premiere.  That unto itself is partially beguiling.  What makes it all the more curious is that Fantastic Fest has listed other films with the designation of a "U.S. Premiere" (Aloys and The Crew for example).  What that seems to mean is that Fantastic Fest believes that American Honey will have played somewhere else in the U.S. prior to Sept. 22.

Unless I'm missing something, that means one of the designations from either TIFF or FF have to be inaccurate unless there's a film fest in the United States that's going to get it between Toronto (Sept. 8-18) and Fantastic Fest.   Off the top of my head, nothing springs to mind.  The Aspen Film Fest opens on Sept. 21, so I suppose that's a possibility.

Mr. Miles was curious about whether the "Texas" premiere designation might mean that a Telluride play was possible.  While I doubt it and I suspect that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation that I haven't tumbled onto yet...I can't completely rule it out.

Over the past three years there have been films which have been accidentally categorized in gthe wrong premiere category and there have also been a film or two that have flaunted the designation requirement and kept their Telluride presence under wraps.  Sooo...

Here's the Fantastic Fest announcement:

http://fantasticfest.com/news/entry/fantastic-fest-2016-announces-the-first-wave-of-progamming



A CANDIDATE FOR AN UNUSUAL TRIBUTE

In 2014 the Telluride Film Festival took the unusual step of tributing a film rather than a person.  Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now was feted with screenings as well as screenings of the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse".  FFC was there along with DP Vittorio Sortaro, editor Water Murch and producer Fred Roos.  It was, I believe, the first time that a tribute honored something rather than someone or someones.

Which has got me wondering this week as I have been seeing the promo for the re-issue of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver for its 40th anniversary.  My understanding is that the film will be screened in theaters again.  Both Screen Daily and The Playlist are reporting spruced up version of a 2011 digital restoration.  At this point there are plans foe overseas screenings but no announced plan for the United States.

The film played last April at the Tribeca Film Fest (DeNiro's home festival) so we know that it's festival ready.

So, in the spirit of a tribute to Apocalypse Now, I humbly submit that Taxi Driver be afforded the same status in four weeks.  While you're at it, get Scorsese, DeNiro and Paul Schrader on board to be part of the presentation.

Here's the recently released teaser trailer for the 40th anniversary screenings from YouTube:

And the previously mentioned stories from Screen Daily and The Playlist:

http://www.screendaily.com/home/blogs/taxi-driver-gets-40th-anniversary-trailer/5107152.article

http://theplaylist.net/hit-streets-trailer-40th-anniversary-re-release-martin-scorseses-taxi-driver-20160801/

COMING SOON: THINGS TO COME

Overnight the folks at The Playlist dropped a new trailer for Mia Hansen-Love's Things to Come which played extremely well at this year's Berlin Film Fest winning the Silver Bear and is expected to make the Telluride lineup owing to its announced status as a Canadian premiere for the Toronto Film Fest.

Things to Come stars Isabelle Huppert.  Here is the new trailer from YouTube:

And the post from The Playlist:

http://theplaylist.net/isabelle-huppert-finds-freedom-new-trailer-mia-hansen-loves-things-come-20160803/


That's it for today.  Come back tomorrow when we may have new information from TIFF.

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment.

Telluride #43 Ten Bets #6-Toronto-Venice Aftermath / Others Take a Look at TIFF and Venice / Dreams of Jackie / Could Telluride See Eight Days a Week?

Good Friday world...


TELLURIDE #43 TEN BETS #6-TORONTO-VENICE AFTERMATH

After hearing form Toronto, Venice and even a tidbit from New York gave me a lot of fuel to mix for this week's Ten Bets.  It also allows me to expand the Ten Bets to include more than ten films predicted for Telluride in 2016.

Last week's Ten Bets (which I updated on Monday before the TIFF announcement) looked like this:

10) The Unknown Girl
9) Arrival
8) Things to Come
7) American Honey
6) Moonlight
5) La La Land
4) The Salesman
3) Toni Erdmann
2) The Red Turtle
1) Fire at Sea

Close: Lion, Aquarius, Denial, A Monster Calls, 20th Century Women, Paterson, Dog Eat Dog, Manchester by the Sea, Bleed for This, The Sense of an Ending.

Now, here's the latest Ten Bets for TFF #43:

13) Fire at Sea

12) Moonlight

11) The Red Turtle

10) Manchester by the Sea

9) Maudie

8) Frantz

7) Una

6) Neruda

5) Bleed for This

4) Arrival

3) Things to Come

2)  La La Land

1) Toni Erdmann

Close: Aquarius, Dog Eat Dog, The Sense of an Ending, The Unknown Girl.


OTHERS TAKE A LOOK AT TIFF AND VENICE

I'm passing along a couple of posts from yesterday that broke down the information that we've gleaned over the past few days.  I have included the analysis from Variety's Kristopher Tapley and Greg Ellwood from AwardsCampaign.com

Tapley suggests a good deal of the same things you'll have read here.  Additionally, he writes that we might additionally see Cannes Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake as well as The Unknown Girl.  He also suggests that Warner Brothers is likely to return to TFF with something from the slate of The Accountant, Live by Night or Sully.  I'd like that.

Here's Tapley's post:

http://variety.com/2016/film/in-contention/oscar-contenders-venice-telluride-toronto-film-festivals-1201825632/

Ellwood tells us that he believes the possibility of some "sneaks" may be back in play for Telluride and suggests that the premiere designation status, after having been a very clear indicator for the past three years, might not be as clear cut this time around.

The first exception he mentions is for Garth O'Connor's Lion form The Weinstein Company. Jim Sheridan's The Secret Scripture, Ewan McGregor's American Pastoral and Paul Verhoeven's Elle.  He also questions both Telluride passes of Herzog's Salt and Fire and Farhadi's The Salesman.

I'd happily endorse any and all of these "exceptions" but my feeling is that the "honest" premiere status designation is probably still strongly in play.

Read Ellwood's story here:

http://awardscampaign.com/2016/07/28/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-2016-toronto-film-festival-galas-and-special-presentations/


DREAMS OF JACKIE

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Pablo Larrain's Jackie, which was announced for Venice, could be a TFF possibility that would mean that Larrain was presenting two films at the same fest.  You have to be a bit dubious about the chances as it is a very rare case over Telluride's history when a film maker has done that.  Not impossible, but extremely rare.  I think Werner Herzog has done it.  Maybe David Lynch.

SO it could happen...

Jeffrey Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere suggested yesterday that he thought it could/would happen:

http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2016/07/jackie-venice-debut-ought-to-indicate-telluride-showing-especially-with-pablo-larrain-already-booked-for-rocky-mountain-appearance-with-neruda/

Wells wasn't the only one thinking it could happen as the theory was bandied about on the interweb yesterday.  We'll see.  I'm hoping that it DOES make the trip between T-ride and Venice.


COULD TELLURIDE SEE EIGHT DAYS A WEEK?

A second trailer for Ron Howard's Beatles documentary, Eight Days a Week, dropped yesterday and though I have discounted the chance that it could play in the San Juans in September.  But...

The timing works.  The film is to be released on Sept. 15.  The Playlist, reporting on the trailer release yesterday suggested that in might play "a couple of fall festivals before then".  That only includes Telluride, Venice and Toronto.  Venice seems to be out since the doc wasn't announced yesterday.  So...

TFF has had a Beatles-esque presence at past fests with the refurbished Help in 2007 and the George Harrison doc Living in the Material World in 2011.

Hulu...the T.V. Hulu...is distributing and I'm not sure what that means but I do think that Netflix opened the door to that kind of distrib being a part of the fest last year and Amazon looks to be joining that group this year so why not Hulu too?

So...bring it on along with former Beatle and one of the producers of the film, Sir Paul McCartney.

Here's the new trailer via YouTube:

And here's coverage of the trailer release:

http://theplaylist.net/hit-road-new-trailer-ron-howards-beatles-eight-days-week-20160728/

http://www.slashfilm.com/eight-days-a-week-trailer-2/

http://www.firstshowing.net/2016/new-trailer-for-ron-howards-doc-the-beatles-eight-days-a-week/

That will do it for this crazy, crazy week.  Come back Monday.

Contact MTFB at:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

OR check out Michael's Telluride Film Blog on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Michaels-Telluride-Film-Blog-and-The-Film-Awards-Clearinghouse-107846269309712/

Or leave a comment...