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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT to the BLOG

The Croisette Speculation Continues / Wakefield Wakes / The Scent of Rain and Lightning

Hope you had a nice spring weekend...But now it's Monday.



THE CROISTETTE SPECULATION CONTINUES

Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig in Downsizing (from The Daily Mail)

As we are three weeks prior to the official announcement of the competition (and most other) films for the 70th Cannes Film Festival, the insider dope and speculation continues to come forth.  This week it was The Playlist's turn to offer up thoughts about the films that may be included in the April 13th reveal.

Here's the skinny from that Kevin Jagernauth piece in as far s films that we have been batting back and forth as potential Telluride selections as well.

Jagernauth flat out declares that Wim Wenders Submergence and Alfonso Cuaron's Roma are out for Cannes.

Among the films that he lists as "Possibly in the Mix" are:
George Clooney's Suburbicon
Alexander Payne's Downsizing
Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here
Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete
Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless

And among those he lists as "Strong Contenders":

Michael Haneke's Happy End
Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck
Michel Hazanavicius' Redoubtable
Abdellatif Kechiche's Mektoub is Mektoub


There are several other films listed as "Strong Contenders"  The entire Jagernauth/Playlist piece is here.




WAKEFIELD WAKES

One of the joys of TFF #43 was getting to sit in a room and listen to Bryan Cranston talk about film. Cranston's Wakefield (also starring Jennifer Garner and directed by Robin Swicord) played to a middling response.  The People's Telluride gave it a 3.59/5 rating to be 12th of 21 films rated but The Professionals had it at 2.67/5  to be the 13th of 14 films rated.

We got news this week that the film has a distributor-IFC Films and a release date for the U.S.-May 19th.

Here's the story from The Wrap.




THE SCENT OF RAIN AND LIGHTNING

Film maker and friend of MTFB Casey Twenter and his writing partner Jess Robison are at it again.  The duo who wrote and produces Rudderless, which closed Sundance in January of 2014 have a new film that is out in the world soon.

The Scent of Rain and Lightning is their adaptation of a novel by Nancy Pickard and premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival this past weekend.  The film will also play soon at the Cleveland International Film Festival, the Newport Beach Film Festival and the Kansas City FilmFest.

Blake Robbins directed and the film stars the red hot/rising actress Maika Monroe.

Robbins penned this "nuts and bolts" descriptive piece for MovieMaker.com that appeared this week.

It might be added that a certain blogger has seen a a screener of the film and it very well done.

Congratulations and good luck to Casey, Jeff, Blake and the whole Rain/Lightning crew.



That's your MTFB for this Monday.  I'll have more later in the week...like 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

La La Will Be Later / Assessing Toronto in a Telluride Context / Listening to the Oscar Whisperers

I hope it's a good Monday for everyone and welcome back from the weekend.

LA LA LAND WILL BE LATER

We found put over the weekend that the release plan for Telluride (and Venice and Toronto) hot and what looks to be the momentary Oscar front runner for Best Picture, Damien Chazelle's La La Land has had its release plan altered.  The film was originally scheduled to open inn a limited capacity on Dec. 2nd but as of this weekend the limited release date has been moved to a week later on Dec. 9th. The wide release date will remain Dec. 16 which has been its announced wide release date all along. Here's the full story from Variety.

Meanwhile, we also learned this week that the film's cast was almost very different with Emma Watson penciled in for the Emma Stone role and Miles Teller-who starred in Chazelle's breakout hit, Whiplash, a couple of years ago, was very close to re-upping with the writer/director but reportedly turned down a $4 million offer to play the role that went to Ryan Gosling.  That story is here from Indiewire.

ASSESSING TORONTO IN A TELLURIDE CONTEXT

We're a week removed from the close of the Toronto International Film Festival and three weeks from the close of TFF #43.  As occurred after Telluride, critics have now weighed in individually and collectively.  Indiewire and The Film Stage have both weighed in with critical consensus and it's interesting to look at that in the context of films that first played T-ride and then followed with screenings at TIFF.

Here's what Indiewire came up with...

the top film from Toronto critics was the same film that ended up with Toronto's audience award as well as finishing in the #2 spot in MTFB's People's, Professionals' and Composite ratings: Damien Chazelle's La La Land.  Other multi-critic favorites from TIFF were:

#2) Moonlight
#3) Toni Erdmann
#4) Arrival

Telluride films all.

The complete report from Indiewire is here.

Meanwhile, The Film Stage named their 20 Best films at Toronto last week as well and included in that listing were: Into the Inferno, Moonlight, Una and Wakefield.  The complete article and grades for a ton more TIFF films can be found here.



LISTENING TO THE OSCAR WHISPERERS

Awards Circuit is hot and heavy into Oscar analysis after the close of the three bog fall film fests with their weekly podcast Clayton Davis and his crew are hard at it trying to decipher which way the Oscar wind is blowing.   Here are links to the last couple of podcasts.

AC Podcast Ep. 10

AC Podcast Ep. 11

And, not strictly and Oscar crystal ball, but New York Times film critic A.O. Scott takes podcasts his preview of the fall film season in the context of Telluride, Toronto and Venice.  That podcast is here.




That's a wrap fro Monday.  More to come on Thursday including The FAC's look at the Supporting Acting categories and the screenplay categories.

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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT to the Blog itself.

Focus On: La La Land, Wakefield, Una and Toni Erdmann / Amy Adams Speaks...with Kris Tapley / Remember to Rate

Well, it;s Friday and aren't you glad?


FOCUS ON: LA LA LAND

Director and writer Damien Chazelle's La La Land was a huge hit last weekend at TFF #43.  Well reviewed, loved by the Telluride audiences as next week's collected People's Telluride film ratings will attest and it earned some serious Oscar buzz that I suspect will continue into the Toronto Fest which opened yesterday.  As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if La La Land walks away with TIFF's Audience Award at the end of next week.

Chazelle sat down recently to talk about the film with Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian and you can find that interview here.


FOCUS ON: WAKEFIELD

Bryan Cranston's performance is the key factor in Robin Swicord's Wakefield based on an E.L. Doctorow short story.  The film has gotten a mixed reception which you will also see in next week's People's and Professionals' Telluride ratings.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson examines the film in this post.


FOCUS ON: UNA

Benedict Andrew's Una dropped a new clip to the internet yesterday.  Here it is via YouTube:

Coverage of the clip release was provided by The Playlist.


FOCUS ON TONI ERDMANN

Generally regarded as the early favorite for the Foreign Language Oscar, Maren Ade's Toni Erdmann played well in Telluride last week and also sported the appearance of a new clip yesterday.

You can find it in this Tweet from IMDb



AMY ADAMS SPEAKS ...TO KRIS TAPLEY

Possible Oscar contender for Arrival and/or Nocturnal Animals  and one of this year's Telluride Tribute recipient, Amy Adams sat down with Variety's Kristopher Tapley during TFF #43 to talk.

Check Variety's Playback here.



REMEMBER TO RATE

I'll be taking ratings through the weekend but the collection is going to stop soon so make your voice heard and rate the films you saw at this year's Telluride Film Festival on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being soooooo bad and 5 being soooooo terrific.

Send those ratings to:


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

TWITTER @Gort2 (and follow me there as well)

FACEBOOK Message me on FB MTFB's Facebook Page

COMMENT to the Blog itself.

Monday's TBAs and Special Programs / Pics of the Day / Day Three Comments/ And on the Fourth Day / Don't Forget

Welcome to Monday, Labor Day, Sept. 5, 2016...the final day of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival. Was it good for you?

MONDAYS TBA'S AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS

SPECIAL ADDED PROGRAMS:

At the Pierre: Volker Sclondorf's Voyager @ 4:00pm
                       The Fabulous Baron Munchausen @ 7:00pm

TBAs by Venue

The Palm

Una @ 1:00pm
Moonlight @ 3:15pm
Sully @ 6:00pm
Lost in Paris @ 8:15pm

The Galaxy

Things to Come @ 3:00pm
Manchester by the Sea @ 5:30pm


The Chuck

Through the Wall @3:30pm
Toni Erdmann @5:45pm


The Zog

The Eagle Huntress @1:00pm (Free)
Arrival @ 3:45pm
La La Land @ 6:45pm

Sheridan Opera House

I Called Him Morgan @ 9:00am
Frantz @ 3:00pm
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer @ 5:30pm
California Typewriter @ 8:00pm

The Nugget

Bright Lights @ 1:00pm
Mifune: The Last Samurai @ 3:15pm
Chasing Trane @ 5:15pm
Neruda @ 7:45pm

The Masons

The Pagnol Trilogy @ 1:30pm, 4:00pm, 6:45pm


The Pierre

Calling Cards @1:30pm (Free)
Other programming is above in the Special Programming section

The Backlot (all programs free)

The Fanatic Heart: Bob Geldof and WB Yeats @ 9:15am
Beauties of the Night @ 1:00pm
The Family Whistle @ 3:30pm
Bernadtte Lafont @ 5:00pm
Cool Cats @ 7:30pm


PICS OF THE DAY

Via the CEO Kristy Patterson;

Bryan Cranston from Wakefield's Q and A:

And Richard Gere from Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer Q and A:

DAY THREE COMMENTS

Toni Erdmann...funny...ver funny and touching but a meandering second act and a third act that strains credulity.  That said, it's still very good.

Una...Rooney Mara is outstanding in this adaption of the Davod Harrower play Blackbird (which I saw in June with Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels).  Ben Mendelsohn gets acted off the screen (imho).  Frankly I'd love to ahve seen a Daniels/Mara film version and something script-wise closer to the stage version.

Wakefield...I liked this quite a lot though the heavy use of voice over may challenge some viewers. Bryan Cranston carries the load with Jennifer Garner giving solid support.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  I liked it  quite a bit too.  Solid performances from richard Gere and company especially Lior Ashkenazi as the Prime Minister of Israel.

Oscar prospects from Sunday: Mara for Una, Erdmann for Best Foreign Language Film.


AND ON THE FOURTH DAY

MTFB sleeps a bit and then...

11:00 Labor Day Picnic
12:00 Noon Convo in Town Park
1:00pm Bleed for This (The Chuck)
3:30pm Through the Wall (The Chuck)
8:15pm Lost in Paris (Palm)



DON'T FORGET...

Time to start thinking about rating those films you've seen this weekend.  Send them in on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being "putrid" ad 5 being"poifect".   The People's Telluride composite ratings will be posted here in a week to ten days.


Send ratings to...

mpgort@gmail.com

michael_speech@hotmail.com

Twitter @Gort2

or as a comment to this blog.

Sundays TBAs by Venue / Day Two Comments / Day Three / Day Two Images

Welcome to Sunday and Day Three of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival


SUNDAY TBA'S BY VENUE

Galaxy

9:00am Bleed for This (replacing Amazing Grace)
9:30pm Sully

The Zog

9:30 am Arrival
10:00pm The B-Side (Free)

Masons
12:45 Graduation

Nugget

4:30pm Through the Wall
10:00pm Things to Come

Pierre

4:00pm  Frantz
6:30pm Student Prints
9:15pm Toni Erdmann

DAY TWO COMMENT

Opened with Sully which I really enjoyed much more than I expected to.  Nice turn by Hanks.  Maybe he will be in the Best Actor conversation.

Then Bright Lights which I also enjoyed.  Very warm and entertaining.  Highlight was during the and A when Debbie Reynolds phoned in to her son Todd Fisher and was able to speak briefly to those of us in the theater.

Then caught Barry Jenkins Moonlight.  Moving with fine performances across the board.  Naomie Harris could be in the Supporting Actress picture.

Ended the evening with Denis Villenieuve's Arrival and the Amy Adams tribute.  Adams was a joy in the pre-show Q and A.  It'll be interesting to see if Oscar voters warm to the SciFi story.

DAY THREE SCHEDULE (at least as it stands now)

Toni Erdmann
Una
Wakefield
Norman

Winners so far: La La Land and (surprise) Sully.  Liking Arrival, Moonlight.  Still not sold on Manchester.

DAY TWO IMAGES

Clint Eastwood exiting after Sully:

Amy Adams at her Tribute:

Carrie Fisher following Bright Lights:

Drector and cast of Sully at Q and A (Aaron Eckhardt, Laura Linney, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks):

Contacts:

mpgort@gmail.com

michael_speech@hotmail.com

Twitter: @Gort2

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:

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

The Final TFF #43 Ten (Plus) Bets / La La Land Poster for Fests / Awards Circuit Looks at Festival Offerings / Rules Breaking to AFI / Notes for TFF #43

Welcome to Wednesday...Leaving for Telluride and heaven thus afternoon.  I'll be on the ground in The Ride early Thursday afternoon and than it all takes flight on Friday...been waiting for a year!

THE FINAL TFF #43 TEN (PLUS) BETS

Here it is.  Less than 24 hours until the lineup is officially announced and here's the last MTFB listing of the films I believe will be announced for the fest tomorrow.  A reminder that this is not a complete list by any means.  There will be many more films on the program in addition to these assuming I've gotten these right.  I've annotated here and there.

20) Sully.  The Clint Eastwood film crawls onto the list.  Too many outlets this last week suggesting it could/will play to ignore.

19) A Journey Through French Cinema.  Bertrand Tavernier's retrospective of French film seems too Telluride-y to not make the lineup.

18) Bright Lights; Starring Carrie Fischer and Debbie Reynolds.  Indiewire says that this is happening.  I'm hoping Carrie Fischer comes to the San Juans.

17) The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Gallery.  The app map that dropped last week seems to guarantee this.

16) Into the Inferno.  After missing the fest last year, I fully expect that Werner Herzog returns home.

15) Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  Richard Gere's late breaking entrant signaled by the Toronto announcement that it will be an International Premiere there.

14) Graduation.  You can't be shocked if Cristian Mungiu returns to T-ride after his success a few years back with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.

13) Wakefield.  Another late entry to my TFF radar that TIFF announcements seems to have revealed. I'm beyond excited about any chance that Bryan Cranston could be in town.

12) Maudie.  Sally Hawkins made a mark at Telluride a few years ago with Happy-Go-Lucky but couldn't attend the fest.  Maybe she gets to make the trip this time with this film.

11) Una.  All but confirmed by Mondays Screen Daily review slip up.  Does last year's tribute recipient Rooney Mara make a return visit to Telluride?

10) Manchester by the Sea.  All signs point to that rare exception for a film that played at Sundance and making the TFF lineup.  Lots of buzz around performances by Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams.  Could they be in town?

9) Frantz.  I'm intrigued that this is the one of the three films that looks like it's going to make the triple threat of Venice-Telluride and Toronto.  The other two appear a bit higher on this final list but that distinction makes me think it will be on my list of possible films to catch.

8) Neruda.  The Pablo Larrain film has long been thought to be a serious contender for a spot this weekend.

7) Fire at Sea.  I've thought this was a likely TFF player since winning the big prize in Berlin back in February.

6) Things to Come.  Same as for Fire at Sea.  Its Berlin reception made me think we could see it over Labor Day

5) Moonlight.  Lots of buzz and a perfect resume to make the lineup.

4) Bleed for This.  Flying  under the radar for most of the summer, its choice for Toronto signaled it as a film to take note of as a Telluride contender.

3) Toni Erdmann.  Its Cannes reception made me believe that it would be a TFF #43 title.

2) La La Land.  Venice and then Telluride.

1) Arrival. Venice and then Telluride.


LA LA LAND POSTER FOR FESTS

A number of outlets published the new poster for Damien Chazelle's La La Land that reportedly has been designed to go along with its festival appearances.  Here's the new poster...It looks good...

Wouldn't mind seeing the poster this weekend.  Bet we can see the film!


AWARDS CIRCUIT LOOKS AT FESTIVAL OFFERINGS

Clayton Davis posted a big, sprawling piece yesterday at Awards Circuit focusing on the Oscars and Telluride.  If you take a look at it, you might notice that he references MTFB.  That's nice.  Davis has been good to MTFB this past couple of weeks as we get closer and closer to TFF #43.

At any rate, the post mentions specifically: Arrival, La La Land, Bleed for This, Moonlight, Toni Erdmann, Una and Maudie.

Davis article concludes with a link to the latest Oscar predictions from Awards Circuit.  You can find the post here at Awards Circuit


RULES BREAKING TO AFI

As expected, at least here at MTFB, The American Film Institute announced yesterday that they will open the AFI Fest on Nov. 10 with the world premiere of Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply.  There is also some word that the film may be screened in a small, private fashion at some point at and during the Venice Film Festival.  I would have liked to have the film sneak at Telluride this weekend but always thought that wasn't probable.

Still, the AFI berth signals that there are some folks who feel that it's a a very good film and that should make everyone take notice as we move into awards season.

Here's the coverage of the AFI/Rules announcement:

Variety

Indiewire

ShowBiz411


NOTES FOR TFF #43

#1) Remember to rate the films you see and report them to me on a 1 to 5 scale for the 2016 edition of The People's Telluride.  See contact info below.

#2) Come back tomorrow for the official announcement of the lineup for TFF #43.  It'll be interesting to see who drops it first and when.  Sometimes it's broken early.  Despite the fact that I'll be on the road somewhere in southern Colorado when it breaks, I'll get it posted here to MTFB as  fast as possible.

#3) Check in often at MTFB during the fest.  I'll be posting reactions, choices and each day's TBAs and any Sneaks that may be added.

#4) Remember that even after the fest concludes, I'll still be posting.  We've got The People's and Professionals' Telluride to collate and report and we'll shift our focus to how the awards season is going to play out and how the films of the 43rd Telluride Film Festival fare.

#5) SEE YOU IN TELLURIDE!!!


As always, you can contact me in any of these ways:

mpgort@gmail.com

OR on Twitter @Gort2

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

Michael's Telluride Film Blog Facebook Page

Or leave a comment.

Latest Toronto News and Telluride / Arrival's Second Wave Arrives / Miss Sloane Emerges / The People, The Pros and The Follow

It's a Wednesday in August.  The month is half over and we're staring down the barrel of slightly two more weeks until TFF #43...and it may have just gotten awesomer! (Is that a word?  Should be).

LATEST TORONTO NEWS AND TELLURIDE

The organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival reveled more of their selections yesterday and is my custom, I began parsing the information and premiere statuses for Telluride clues.

Here's what I think we can say...

First, and most attention grabbing, it appears that Wakefield from writer/director Robin Swicord (The Jane Austen Book Club, co-writer of The Promise...which I will mention in a bit) and starring Bryan Cranston will probably be playing Telluride.  That stems from its classification as an International premiere in Toronto.  An International Premiere means the first play outside of its nation of origin (which is the USA) so unless there is some other screening of the film someplace I can't track down, the most likely scenario is that it's coming to southwestern Colorado.

Now, there's no guarantee that Cranston make the trip to T-ride.  We've been disappointed before when we thought an actor was going to make the trip and then didn't (Benedict Cumberbatch/Imitation Game...I'm looking at you).  And to be sure, Cranston is a busy man as he is cast in the currently filming Power Rangers film.  Still, I'm hopeful that he could be in town.  Would be cool.

Wakefield's IMDb plot description says: "A man's nervous breakdown causes him to leave his wife and live in his attic for several months".  IMDb also does not list a current distributor for the film.

Other big news for additions to our T-ride spec list is that it looks like Joseph Cedar's Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer will make an appearance at Telluride.  The film was previously titled The Oppenheimer Strategies.  The film has been on the MTFB radar since as early as last March because of Cedar's previous Telluride presence with his 2011 film Footnote. Norman was listed by TIFF as an International Premiere as well...see above for why I think this means a T-ride play.

Other things we learned, Wim Wenders The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez appears to be headed directly from Venice to Toronto as it was listed as a North American Premiere.  Terrence Malick's The Voyage of Time appears to be doing the same.

The Promise, which we have been keeping an eye on of late is also not T-ride bound as it was announced as a World Premiere.

No other International or Canadian Premieres seem to be likely for Telluride.

One piece of weirdness.  Pedro Almodovar's Julieta, was NOT listed last week by the New York Film Festival with ANY premiere designation which lead me to conclude it was probably Telluride-bound (or else it would probably be called a "U.S. Premiere by NYFF) was listed yesterday by TIFF as a North American premiere.  So, it's now more likely that Julieta is going to play somewhere else in the U.S. after Toronto and before New York, thereby meaning no Telluride play.

If Toronto follows their traditional pattern, they'll have one more set of films added to the lineup next week.

TIFF coverage from yesterday is here:

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/tiff-2016-i-daniel-blake-personal-shopper-julieta-the-unknown-girl-1201717188/

https://thefilmstage.com/news/tiff-2016-adds-voyage-of-time-certain-women-julieta-the-promise-and-more/

http://theplaylist.net/tiff-2016-adds-promise-christian-bale-voyage-time-20160816/

https://www.thewrap.com/toronto-film-festival-adds-james-franco-pedro-almodovar-ken-loach-movies/

ARRIVAL'S SECOND WAVE ARRIVES

We saw a great teaser and a few images last week from Denis Villenueve's Arrival and it definitely has our interest piqued.  In all honesty, it's now the film I'm most excited about seeing if it plays Telluride as we presume from its announced status as a Canadian Premiere for Toronto.

Yesterday, the folks behind the hype parade for the film smacked us with two trailers and posters as well.

I'll be honest, I'm not watching the trailer(s).  I loved the teaser last week, but that's all I want to know now.  I'm going to try to keep the blinders on until I see it at The Zog (I assume).

Nevertheless, here's the trailer via YouTube:

And, the international trailer, also from YouTube:

And, to further whet your appetite...posters:

There are several more...

Check these stories for more news about Arrival, it's trailers and images:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2016/08/16/trailer-watch-arrival/

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/08/arrival-trailer-amy-adams-denis-villeneuve-jeremy-renner-oscars-1201716795/

https://thefilmstage.com/trailer/aliens-appear-in-full-length-trailer-for-denis-villeneuves-arrival/

http://www.awardscircuit.com/2016/08/16/watch-new-trailer-posters-arrival-starring-amy-adams-jeremy-renner/

http://theplaylist.net/amy-adams-talks-aliens-new-full-length-trailer-denis-villeneuves-arrival-20160816/

http://www.thewrap.com/arrival-trailer-amy-adams-must-stop-all-out-war-in-first-full-video/


MISS SLOANE EMERGES

It's looking increasingly unlikely that John Madden's Miss Sloane starring Jessica Chastain will be playing Telluride.  The film has always been a very outside chance with an announced release date of Dec. 9th...which is pretty deep in the season and no inclusion in either NYFF or Toronto (at least at this point) it seems to be improbable.

It's not impossible, however.  So, I'm still trailing it mostly because I'd like for it to be at T-ride.  We had a new image of the film published online yesterday.

Here's some of the online coverage from yesterday:

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/16/miss-sloane-jessica-chastain-gun-lobby-thriller

https://thefilmstage.com/news/first-look-at-jessica-chastain-in-gun-control-drama-miss-sloane/

http://theplaylist.net/first-look-jessica-chastain-oscar-contender-miss-sloane-20160816/



THE PEOPLE, THE PROS AND THE FOLLOW

Here's today's reminder to join your fellow Telluride Film Fest attendees and rate the films you see for MTFB.  I'm asking you to rate each film you catch on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being awful and 5 being great.  Send those ratings via email (see below), comment to this blog, Twitter (see below).  I'll compile them and let you know The People's consensus.

I'l  also be doing The Professionals Telluride.  I've asked a number of industry pros to rate the films as well and I'll be reporting their consensus as well.

Agreeing this year to participate are :

Alex Billington/FirstShowing
David Ehrlich/Indiewire
Greg Ellwood/AwardsCampaign.com
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Eric Kohn/Indiewire
Mark Johnson/AwardsCircuit.com
Tomris Laffly/Film Journal
Kenny Miles/TheMovieBlog.com
Christopher Schiller/ScriptMag.com
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Indiewire

There could be a couple of others.

And a reminder that you can now more easily follow Michael's Telluride Film  Blog and the Film Awards Clearinghouse.  I've set up a "FOLLOW" button on the blog page in the upper right hand corner.  Just click on it for an easy way to get every post as we preview, view and then review TFF #43.  Then you can follow the prospects of Telluride's films as they wend their way through awards season.  Just click that "FOLLOW" button!

That's it for Wednesday...more to come tomorrow.

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.