Consider mother! / More on Ken Burns' Vietnam Doc / Cannes Adds Polanski and More / Movers and Shakers

Good Monday to you...if such a thing is even possible...

CONSIDER MOTHER!

I have stayed away from speculating about the potential Telluride inclusion of Darren Aronofsky's next film: mother!  Aronofsky made quite the splash in Telluride in 2010 with Black Swan (after it had screened in Venice days before).  The film was nominated for five Oscars withe Natalie Portman winning for Best Actress and the film nominated for Best Picture and Aronofsky nominated for Best Direction.

I have been low-balling the chances for mother! to play in light of the fact that beyond Black Swan, Aronofsky has no other Telluride pedigree and his last film, Noah, seemed anything but the kind of film that you'd find at T-ride.  But...

The release date for the secretive film (no one seems to know much about the plot) is Oct. 13th...right in the post-Telluride, awards season sweet spot.  The film is being distributed by Paramount which, just a few years ago, would have probably meant no Telluride play but Paramount has (along with Warners) become a semi-Telluride regular. Paramount plays of late at TFF include:  Arrival last year, Anomolisa in '15, Labor Day in '13.  So, maybe...

Although Paramount also has Alexander Payne's Downsizing and George Clooney's Surburbicon on their plate for this fall (either, neither or both of which might be Telluride possibilities).

Clayton Davis at Awards Circuit posted an awards prospectus for mother! this week and the spurred my re-evaluation.  Take a look at that story here.

MORE ON KEN BURNS' VIETNAM DOC

Ken Burns at the LBJ Presidential Library (photo by Laura Rice/Texas Standard)

I've been highlighting Ken Burns' next documentary the last couple of weeks as it's getting a substantial P.R. push.  The documentary will bow on PBS on Sept. 17th which makes me think that some portion (or maybe all of it) plays in the TFF #44 lineup.

This past week, Burns was at the LBJ Presidential Library talking about the project.  Texas Standard provides the nine minute recording of a portion of the Burns interview from the presentation.  You can find the story and recording here.

Additionally, here's the PBS trailer for the 10 part series via YouTube:

CANNES ADDS POLANSKI AND MORE

Cannes' Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux announced the addition this past week of seven more titles to various sections of the festival.  Among the most notable are Roman Polanski's Based on a True Story which has been added out of competition.  Added to the Palme contest was Ruben Ostlund's The Square, his follow up to his critically well received 2014 film Force Majuere.

Ostlund's film and a new documentary from Barbet Schroeder, Le Venerable W, which was added as a special screening are probably the most likely films among the seven to be considered for TFF.

Indiewire has the complete story here.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

A couple of stories caught my eye since last Thursday's post and I thought I'd link them here for those who might be interested.

First, buzz that frequent Telluride guest Laura Dern might well be in serious contention for the post as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Should that come to pass, we could likely expect to see Ms. Dern at subsequent SHOWS as the relationship between AMPAS and TFF has been tight for a number of years.

That story was reported by Variety and you can peruse it here.

Additionally, Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) was profiled this past week by The New Yorker Magazine.  Podcast of that interview and the accompanying story can be found here.

There you have it for this Monday...I'll have more on Thursday.

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First Looks at You Were Never Really Here / Wakefield Begins to Emerge / Barry Jenkins Profiled / Burns Presents Vietnam at Harvard / A Look Back at TFF #31

It's your weekly Thursday...howdy!



FIRST LOOKS FOR YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

Among the films chosen to play at Cannes that has caught my eye as a possibility to play Telluride in September is Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here.  The film stars Joaquin Phoenix.

The combination of Ramsay (who played T-ride in 2011 with We Need to Talk About Kevin), a Cannes selection and Amazon with distribution (Amazon had Manchester by the Sea at Telluride last year) make me believe that the film has a good shot at a T-ride slot.

Amazon released the first images for the film this past week which included the still from above.

Details and other photos can be accessed with these links:

from The Film Stage

and from The Playlist.

WAKEFIELD BEGINS TO EMERGE

One of the films that I salivated the most about prior to TFF #43 was Bryan Cranston's Wakefield. The film dropped a complete trailer this week in its run up to a release on May 19th.  You can see the trailer above and find more about the film, the trailer and its release here:

from Entertainment Weekly

from Indiewire

and from FirstShowing.Net

BARRY JENKINS PROFILED

Director/writer Barry Jenkins has had a whirlwind going since Moonlight dropped at Telluride last Labor Day weekend.  The film became a key player in the awards season earning eight Academy Award nominations and it won Oscars for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor. Jenkins was busy throughout.

The Denver Post recently profiled the film maker who, as you might expect, is red hot as a result of Moonlight's success.  Take a look by clicking on the link.





BURNS PRESENTS VIETNAM AT HARVARD

I mentioned this as a potential SHOW addition in the last post: Ken Burns screening some of the 18 hours that will make up his documentary Vietnam that is scheduled to begin screening on PBS on Sept. 17th.

Burns recently screened some of the footage at Harvard and also appeared to answer some questions.
Coverage and clues about the project can be found here From The Harvard Gazette.



A LOOK BACK AT TFF #31

I continue the project I wrote about last week in today's post as I try to expend the history of past Telluride Film Festivals beyond the program links on the official Telluride Film Festival website.

Today, it's the 31st fest which ran from Sept. 3-6, 2004. Here's the review of the program:

Guest Director: Buck Henry

Tributes:

Theo Angelopoulous

Jean-Claude Carriere

Laura Linney

Special Medallion:

Fred Roos

Shows:

Aaltra

Adam and Paul

Bad Education

Baober in Love

Being Julia

Blackmail

Ecstasy

Enduring Love

Erotikon

Francis, George and Theo

From Saturday to Sunday

Gunner Palace

Harvest Time

House of Flying Daggers

Hunger

Keane

Kinsey

Kontroll

Landscape in the Mist

Maugham and the Secret Agent

Million $ Legs

Moolaade

Nobody Knows

Overlord

P.S.

Palindromes

Payday

THX 1138

Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow

Unforgiveable Blackness

Viva La Muerte

Yes

Guests included:

Buck Henry

Laura Linney

Rip Torn

Daniel Craig

Joan Allen

Sally Potter

Peter Sellars

Lenny Abrahamson

Annette Bening

Ellen Barkin

Todd Solondz

Bill Condon

Gael Garcia Bernal

George Lucas

Ken Burns

Peter Bogdanavich

Andrea Arnold is included with a short entitled Wasp.

 And that's that for this Thursday...more on Monday.

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

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More from France / Does Burns Vietnam Doc Play Telluride? / Inarritu at Cannes Means T-ride?

Good Monday to ya...

Welcome to the Monkey House...as Mr. Vonnegut might say...


MORE FROM FRANCE

We continue to digest the announcement of the bulk of the Cannes #70 lineup that was released last Thursday with analysis from some other outlets.

Initially, I should note that I hadn't paid enough attention to the announcement that Francois Ozon's L'Amant Double (The Double Lover) had been chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or.  My mistake was not catching this and also indicating that the film needs to be included on the list of Telluride possibilities as Ozon scored well at TFF #43 last year with Frantz.

So definitely put it on the watch list and take a look at this story from Indiewire that includes the teaser for the film.

Additionally, you might want to grab a look at in depth  Cannes coverage from some sources that I did not include in the post last Thursday:

from Nancy Tartaglione and Greg Evans of Deadline

And an additional piece from Tartaglione here.

Gwilym Mumford of The Guardian also takes a look at the lineup

and check this piece from Talia Soghomonian at Collider.


Meanwhile, Indiewire's Anne Thompson has posted an analysis at Indiewire that assesses the potential Oscar players that might be starting down that road by walking the Red Carpet next month in the south of France.  Take a look at Anne's perspective here.


DOES BURNS' VIETNAM DOC PLAY TELLURIDE?

Ken Burns has been a regular part of the Telluride Fest for a long long while.  He's one of its biggest supporters and has often been featured in the lineup.  It's been some time, however since his last inclusion.  I believe his last project to play was 2012's Central Park Five.

We've also known for some time that he has been working on a multi-part documentary about the Vietnam War and PBS has announced just this weekend that the program will debut on Sept. 17. That premiere date would work incredibly well if it were following a TFF #44 bow (Sept. 2-6).

So, it seems to me that there's a better than 50/50 chance that parts of the 10 episode series make their way to some of the screens in and around Telluride.

Here's the announced schedule from Uproxx.



INARRITU AT CANNES MEANS T-RIDE

Well, most years that there was announcement that Alejandro Inarritu was part of the Cannes lineup, I'd immediately think that we'd see his project 3 1/2 months later in Telluride but I'm not so sure about this.

Working with frequent collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki, the Oscar winning director will premiere Carne y Arena at Cannes in May.  Thing id, it's not a film but a virtual reality project.  Reports describe it as a six minute experience that focuses on the current Latin American refugee situation.  I understand that the experience will be presented for groups of ten people at a time.

My inclination is to believe that it probably won't play in Telluride, despite Inarritu's affinity for the fest.  If I grasp it correctly, the presentation requires a fairly large dedicated space and I'd be a little surprised if TFF organizers would give up one of their current spaces or have a new space that they could use.  That said, however, Cannes has apparently put together a way to do it and and if Cannes can, why not Telluride.

I'll be interested to see reports out of France next month about how the presentation occurs.  That will definitely move the needle for me in terms of assessing the Telluride possibilities for a presentation.

Indiewire has the coverage here.



Come back for more on Thursday...

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

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