Waiting for It / You Were never Really Here Trailer Appears

Good Thursday friends!  TFF #44 IS IN ONE DAY...

WAITING FOR IT

Not the Stephen King IT.  The lineup for TFF #44 is just minutes away from being released.  I'll have it up here at MTFB as soon as it goes live.  So check back.

Also, you might want to download the TFF #44 app if you haven't already done so.

STAY TUNED...


YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE TRAILER APPEARS

It popped yesterday.  A new international trailer for Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here.  The film is from Amazon Studios and picked up the Screenplay award and Best Actor award (for Joaquin Phoenix) at Cannes last May.

The film has no announced release date and hasn't been announced for Toronto or New York (but has been for San Sebastian).  I have speculated for months that it could well be headed for Telluride and now am wondering if the trailer release might signal that.

I guess we will know quite soon.

Here's the link to The Playlist which has the trailer.





REMINDER TO RATE

Don't forget, my friends, I want your ratings of the films you see next weekend.  Use a 0-5 scale with 0 being "putrid" and 5 being "best film since..."

I will publish The People's Telluride film ratings a week to ten days after the festival concludes.  Join in!

That's all for now.  More tomorrow and on Wednesday I'll post a special edition of MTFB with the final "Bets" for TFF #44.

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

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European Film Producers / Film Stars is Officially SPC / Gathering the Forces of Light / UPDATED: New York Film Fest Announcement

Welcome to your Tuesday...23 days...

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION COMPANIES

I thought I'd take an abbreviated look at the four European production firms that seem to have had the most pronounced Telluride connection over the past decade: Film4, Canal+, France 3 Cinema and Cine+.

Here's the breakdown of what films they have aided in producing that played TFF and then a quick look at the films they have this year that are most likely to make the grade for The SHOW:

FILM4

2007: When Did You Last See Your Father?, Brick Lane
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky, Hunger, Slumdog Millionaire
2009
2010: Another Year, Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours
2011: Shame
2012
2013: Under the Skin, Starred Up, 12 Years a Slave
2014: Mr. Turner, '71
2015: Carol, Suffragette, Room, 45 Years
2016: Una

19 films in ten years.  1.9 per year.

Possibles: The Killing of a Sacred Dear, You Were Never Really Here, Lean on Pete, Mary Magdalene


CANAL+

2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Terror's Advocate, Jellyfish
2008: With a Little Help From Myself, I've Loved You So Long
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, Carlos, Of Gods and Men, The Princess of Montpensier
2011: Crazy Horse, Albert Nobbs, Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, The Artist, Le Havre
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack
2013: Blue is the Warmest Color", Le Maison de la Radio", "The Past"
2014: The Price of Fame, Two Days One Night, Diplomacy
2015: Marguerite
2016: Frantz, Lost in Paris, My Journey Through French Cinema, Things to Come

33 films in ten year.  3.3 films per year.

Possibles: L'amant Double, Happy End


FRANCE 3 CINEMA

2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, Persepolis
2008: I've Loved You So Long
2009: The White Ribbon
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: The Artist
2012: Superstar, Amour
2013: The Past

2014: The Gate, The Price of Fame, Mr. Turner
2015: Marguerite

No film in 2016.

15 films in ten years. 1.5 films per year

Possibles: Happy End, Redoubtable

CINE+

2007: The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
2008: With a Little Help from Myself
2009: Farewell, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, Inferno
2010: The Illusionist, The Princess of Montpensier, Of Gods and Men
2011: Goodbye First Love, The Kid with a Bike, Le Havre, The Artist
2012: Rust and Bone, Superstar, The Attack, Amour
2013: The Past, Blue is the Warmest Color, Le Maison de la Radio
2014: The Gate. The Price of Fame, Two Days One Night, Diplomacy
2015: Marguerite
2016: Frantz, Lost in Paris, My Journey Through French Cinema

28 films in ten years.  2.8 films per year.

Possibles: L'amant Double, Happy End


FILMS STARS IS OFFICIALLY SPC

We had heard a couple of weeks back that Sony Pictures Classics was close to a deal to acquire Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.  That deal was announced as complete yesterday according to multiple reports including from Deadline.com, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.

The film is on our Telluride list due to its status as a Canadian Premiere at Toronto.  I re-checked that status last night in light of the breaking news because the reports indicated that the film is "premiering" at Toronto.  I noticed, however, that the premiere status was not specifically identified.  So, for the moment, I still think it's playing TFF #44.

One other note about the film-I have made the point a few times that Annette Bening will be tied up with her Venice Jury President's duties which begs the question: Will any talent from the film accompany the film in addition to director Paul McGuigan?  The most likely suspect would be Bening's young co-star Jamie Bell but it could include Vanessa Redgrave and/or Julie Walters either of which should probably have been included in yesterday's "Let's Talk Tributes" section on this blog.

Redgrave please.

GATHERING THE FORCES OF LIGHT

It's never too early to start to remind readers that MTFB will again send out the call to rate the films that you see at TFF #44.

The system is simple.  Contact me with a rating of 0-5 for each film you see.  You can send those to me via any of the methods listed at the bottom of this blog.

MTFB will, again this year, also be collecting ratings from a number of the professional film critics and bloggers who will be in town.  Many fine folks have agreed to participate again this year including Indiwire's Eric Kohn, Anne Thompson and David Ehrlich, Awards Daily's Sasha Stone and The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg among others.

At the conclusion of the fest I'll publish the results from the Pros, The People and a combination rating.  It's kind of interesting and can even be illuminating.

Last year, Moonlight broke a trend that had been going for a number of years in that the Oscar Best Picture winner had finished in the #2 spot in The People's Ratings.  Moonlight broke that after finishing in the top spot.

Still, for five straight years now, The People's Telluride has been very predictive bout where the BP Oscar would go.


LATE BREAKING: NEW YORK FILM FEST ANNOUNCEMENT (AND FANTASTIC FEST)

The New York Film Fest announcement dropped at 11am (EDT) and here's the quick takeaway as far as Telluride is concerned:

Apparently headed to Telluride that we didn't already think:

Agnes Varda's Visages/Villages
Aki Kaurismaki's The Other Side of Hope
and it would seem Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Before We Vanish

What appears to be conformed among films we were already fairly sure about:

Wonderstruck
Lady Bird
The Rider

Off our list for TFF #44

The Florida Project
The Meyerowitz Stories
Spoor

Fantastic Fest also released their first wave of titles which included the U.S. Premiere of  Yorgos Lanthimos' The Killing of  A Sacred Deer which means no Telluride for it.  Of interest also, the U.S. Premieres of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and for Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Square.

More to come on Thursday.

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Ten Bets #2 for TFF #44 / Wonderstruck Centers New York AND... / A Trailer for California Typewriter

Welcome to Friday Film Fans...


TEN BETS #2 FOR TFF #44

Here we are on a Friday in July once again which means it's time for our weekly update of my list of ten films that seem, at least at this point, the most likely to play as a part of this year's Telluride Film Festival.

Last week's first attempt looked like this:

1) Loveless
2) A Fantastic Woman
3) Wonderstruck
4) Visages/Villages
5) The Florida Project
6) Downsizing
7) You Were Never Really Here
8) 120 BPM
9) The Rider
10) Battle of the Sexes

The Next Bets, in no particular order of likelihood:  Happy End, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Current War, Loving Vincent, Lean on Pete, Redoubtable, Spoor.

In light of bits and pieces of information, here's this week's Ten Bets:

1) Wonderstruck

2) Loveless

3) Visages/Villages

4) Battle of the Sexes

5) Downsizing

6) The Florida Project

7) A Fantastic Woman

8) The Other Side of Hope

9) 120 BPM

10) You Were Never Really Here

Other films bubbling just below these Ten Bets:

The Rider, Happy End, Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, The Current War, Loving Vincent, Lean on Pete, Redoubtable, Spoor.

WONDERSTRUCK CENTERS NEW YORK AND...

The New York Film Festival announced yesterday that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck will be their Centerpiece this year on Oct. 7th.  Of special note to Telluride followers was the note in the announcement from the Film Society of Lincoln Center that the film would be presented as its New York premiere.  

That implies that the film will have played previously as a North American and U.S. premiere somewhere else.  My conclusion...it plays Telluride.

Here's the FSLC announcement.

And additional coverage of the selection by the NYFF from Indiewire.

In light of this announcement, I moved Wonderstruck up to the number one spot in today's Ten Bets as you can see above.

A TRAILER FOR CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER

One of last year's sort of underground hits at TFF #43 was the documentary California Typewriter. The film acts as a love letter to the machine and the people that still love to use them.  The film is being distributed by Gravitas Ventures and The Playlist reports that it has a domestic release date of August 18th.

The trailer, however, is out and here it is from YouTube:

That's a wrap for this Friday and this week.  More to come on Monday.

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

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The Distributors: Streamers: Amazon and Netflix / Oscar Experts at 2017's Halfway Mark

Good Monday film fans...

THE DISTRIBUTORS: STREAMERS: AMAZON AND NETFLIX

I have been writing this last couple of weeks about distribution companies, their recent films that have appeared at the Telluride Film Festival and trying to assess what that means as a predictive tool for the lineup this year.  Up until today, I have focused on traditional distributors but today, it's time to look at non-traditional players Amazon and Netflix.

Both companies have been represented at TFF in recent years.  The two companies have evolved different approaches to the delivery of the films that they have produced.  Amazon has, perhaps made the biggest splash in terms of feature films especially last year with the noise Manchester by the Sea made.  Netflix made news this spring as the Cannes Festival announced a policy of requiring films that played there will have to have a French theatrical release to be considered for inclusion.  That was a decision that was pretty clearly aimed at Netflix.

Netflix also made some news recently with a new hire that suggests that they may make a bigger push at awards season recognition.  Anne Thompson at Indiewire reported a couple of weeks ago that the streaming powerhouse had added Julie Fontaine to their crew.  Fontaine has an Oscar track record including last year's La La Land.  That complete story is here.

All of that is a preamble to get to the point that we probably need to look at the lineups for both as a means of trying to fully predict the TFF lineups of the immediate future.  So...

AMAZON STUDIOS

As mentioned, Amazon had Sundance hot Manchester by the Sea make the Telluride lineup in that rare instance where a feature film played both fests.  Manchester ultimately won twos Oscars: Casey Affleck as Best Actor and Kenneth Lonergan for Best Original Screenplay was nominated for an additional four including Best Picture and Direction.

You have to believe that they return to T-ride this year and if you saw last Friday's first Ten Bets for TFF #44 in this space, you know that I have two Amazon Studios pictures on that first list:  Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck (at #3) and Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here (at #7).

Other films that might seem to have the pedigree to make the TFF #44 playlist won't.  Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying was recently named the opening film for the New York Film Fest as a world premiere thus moving it out of T-ride consideration and Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky will open in August.

The only real question is whether we might see Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel which is the only other Amazon film that fits within the potential TFF parameters.  The scheduling of Allen's film with a Dec. 1 release date, Allen's first non-summer release date in a number of years, made me perk up and take notice.  Additionally, I have recently mentioned that Allen films have played Telluride in the past (Bullets Over Broadway and Sweet and Lowdown).  Consequently, you have to at least consider the chance that Wonder Wheel could play Telluride...

But not for very long.  My expectation is that Wonder Wheel plays New York and maybe AFI.

So...

Chances:

Wonderstruck-75%
You Were Never Really Here-55%
Wonder Wheel- 10%


NETFLIX

Netflix jumped into the Telluride mix in 2015 with Beasts of No Nation and Winter on Fire.  Despite the disappointment that Beasts didn't make some noise at the Oscars (though Idris Elba did get a Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination), Netflix returned to Telluride last year with The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno and The White Helmets which git Netflix and Oscar win for Best Documentary Short.

All that said, it appears that the best and maybe only bet for a Netflix play at Telluride this year is Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories which did play Cannes and was generally well received.  As I write this, Netflix has not scheduled a date for it to stream but has also nit indicated any plays for a theatrical release.

Adding to the difficulty in assessing its chances is Baumbach's history at Telluride having played Margot at the Wedding and Francis Ha there but also not having played Mistress America or While We're Young.

My best guess at this time is that the film probably doesn't play T-ride but I'm also not going to completely rule it out.  Chances: 20%.

The other film that could make a play is Mudbound.  The film's debut at Sundance probably moots its T-ride chances despite the success for Manchester by the Sea last year playing Sundance and then Telluride.  Still, the door might be open.  The film was very well received and is thought to be an Oscar contender.  Additionally, star Carey Mulligan seems to have a love affair with T-ride...so...maybe?

Chances:  Also 20%.


OSCAR EXPERTS AT 2017'S HALFWAY MARK

As June has turned into July we've crossed the the halfway point of 2017 and some Oscar prognosticators took the time to review the lay of the land Oscar-wise as we hit the backstretch of the year.

Kristopher Tapley at Variety broke it down into two parts at the end of last week, looking at more indie fare in a Thursday post and then big studio players in  a post on Friday.

If you take a look at both articles, you'll find a number of titles (especially in the indie post) that have been mentioned here over the past few months as possible TFF #44 titles.  Specifically, Tapley suggests that Alexander Payne's Downsizing is a probable TFF play.

Similarly if you take a look at Greg Ellwood's Oscar predictions update for 2017 at the half at The Playlist you'll see that three films from lats Friday's MTFB Ten Bets are on his list of "Likely Contenders" for Best Picture : Downsizing, The Florida Project and You Were Never Really Here.   Also on the "Likely" list is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Current War which I have listed just below my Ten Bets. Additionally, Ellwood includes in his "Potential Nominees" Wonderstruck, Lean on Pete and Battle of the Sexes which also appear either on or just below last week's Ten Bets.

Meanwhile, Clayton Davis of Awards Circuit has also updated his Oscar charts as of yesterday.  His "Predicted Nominees" for Best Picture include: Downsizing and Battle of the Sexes.  His "Next In Line" films include: Three Billboards, Wonderstruck and The Current War.

Other films he mentions that are also somewhere on or near last week's Ten Bets are Lean on Pete and You Were Never Really There.


That's all for today.  More tomorrow.

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

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Cannes: The Critics' Final Analysis / Dame Judi Makes a Move / Three for The SHOW?

It's June...also a Thursday which means another post for MTFB...


CANNES: THE CRITICS' FINAL ANALYSIS

The long awaited and much anticipated 70th Cannes Film Festival has concluded.  It struck me this week that I get almost as obsessive about it as I do about Telluride.  That Cannes obsession is a means to and as I have pointed out any number of times, the overlap of films between the two fests is substantial with an average of 7-8 films playing Cannes first and then following that with a Labor Day bow in the San Juans.  Last year Bright Lights, Bernadette LaFont, Family Whistle, Graduation, Journey Through French Cinema, Neruda and Toni Erdmann (7 films) made an appearance at both.

In 2015 the list included: Carol, Son of Saul, Rams, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words and Sembene.


So it pays to note what makes noise in Cannes if you're trying to figure out possible films that could play three and a half months later.

To that end...the critics take from Cannes can be a useful tool.  Let's look at some of that.

Screen Daily's Critics of Palme competition films:

1) (tie) Loveless 3.2
1) (tie) You Were Never Really Here 3.2
3) (tie) The Square 2.7
3) (tie) Wonderstruck 2.7
5) (tie)  BPM 2.5
5) (tie) Good Time 2.5
5) (tie) The Day After 2.5

The complete Screen Daily final critics' grid is here.

Meanwhile, the Ioncinema critics panel weighed in as follows:

1) BPM 3.8
2) You Were Never Really Here 3.6
3) Loveless 3.5
4) (tie) Okja 3.3
4) (tie) The Meyerowitz Stories 3.3
4) (tie) The Day After 3.3

The complete Ioncinema final critics' grid is here.


Las Todas Criticas had these as the top five Palme competitors:

1) The Day After 7.62
2) Good Time 7.66
3) The Meyerowitz Stories 6.9
4) Wonderstruck 6.68
5) BPM 6.58

Las Todas Criticas also included critical collations for other segments of the fest.

Their top three in the Un Certain Regard section:

1) Western 8.05
2) Closeness 7.28
3) Barbara 6.81

Their top three from the Director's Fortnight section were:

1) A Fabrica de Nada (The Nothing Factory) 8.37
2) (tie) The Florida Project 7.83
2) (tie) Lovers for a Day 7.83

All of the results from Las Todas Criticas can be found here.


And the ultra-inclusive Reini Urban critical round up of Cannes (which includes all of the sources above and more)...

Top five in Palme competition:

1) BPM 7.08
2) Good Time 7.05
3) The Day After 6.91
4) The Meyerowitz Stories 6.68
5) You Were Never Really Here 6.56

Among the Un Certain Regard:

1) Western 7.54
2) Testota 7.36
3) A Man of Integrity 6.43
4) Barbara 6.39
5) The Workshop 6.31


Among the Directors Fortnight films:

1) The Nothing Factory 8.20
2) The Florida Project 8.05
3) Lovers for a Day 7.45
4) Nothingwood 7.29
5) Bright Sunshine In 7.29

Ultimately the best regarded films from Cannes regardless of what section they played:

1) Twin Peaks 9.12
2) The Nothing Factory 8.20
3) The Florida Project 8.05
4) Top of the Lake: China Girl 7.79
5) Visages/Villages (Faces/Places) 7.71

The complete Reini Urban compilation is here.



DAME JUDI MAKES A MOVE

Focus Features released the first trailer for Stephen Frears Victoria and Abdul earlier this week.  We're going to keep an eye on it for a possible Telluride slot based on three factors: 1) Frears who was a tribute recipient in 1987 and returned to the festival in 2010 with Tamara Drewe.  His 2013 Philomena was rumored to be in play for TFF #40.  2) Focus Features...despite a spotty record of T-ride plays over the last few years-Suffragette in 2015 and Hyde Park on Hudson in 2012 and 3) the release date is Sept. 22 so a TFF #44 play might well make sense.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Also, for your edification, a couple of articles related to the trailer release are here from Indiewire and here from The Playlist.

THREE FOR THE SHOW?

Now that the Cannes Fest is in the can, so to speak, I'm taking a moment to note three films that seemed to jump into Telluride consideration or, perhaps solidified my thinking in that regard.

The first is Sean Baker's The Florida Project.  It has not been a film that I was seriously considering as a real T-ride possibility until its pickup for U.S. distribution by A24 and the glowing reviews that came from its Cannes appearance last week.

Baker, who made a big splash two years ago at Sundance with Tangerine (shot entirely on iPhones), is also getting the kind of notice that makes me think that A24 may want to push the film hard as they have had such success in the last two years with Room and Moonlight.

Indiewire's Anne Thompson wrote extensively on Tuesday about the film.

Both Variety's Guy Lodge and Deadline's Pete Hammond have suggested that the film could be an Oscar sleeper and I would think that if A24 has that plan that they're going to want the film to play Telluride.


The next film for this segment is Agnes Varda and JR's Visages/Villages (or Faces/Places if you prefer) whcih I probably should have been taking more seriously as a TFF possibility from the very beginning simply because of Varda.

The fact that the film was nearly universally adored and that many think it may be Varda's swan song also suggest the potential for a SHOW slot.

The third film in that seemed to me to jump into serious Telluride consideration was BPM or 120 BM or 120 Beats Per Minute or whatever it's going to ultimately be called.  The film's title seemed to mutate throughout the festival.

Its claim to Telluride consideration comes from its critical reception, its winning of the Grand Prix and its pickup for distribution by The Orchard (TFF #43-Neruda) and the fact that it is being bandied about in the foreign language film Oscar conversation depending, of course, on what film France decides to put forth for consideration.

Maybe all three make the TFF #44 lineup.  Maybe none of them do but all three are more serious players today than they were two weeks ago.


That's it for this Thursday...more on Monday...

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

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Cannes Concludes and Awards Are Announced / The Telluride Analysis / Oscar Players in the Cannes Afterglow / Non-Cannes Trailers

Good Memorial Day Monday to all...


CANNES CONCLUDES AND AWARDS ARE ANNOUNCED

The 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to its conclusion last night with the awarding of prizes in the main competition category.

The winners:

Palme d'Or: The Square (Ruben Ostlund)

Grand Prix: 120 BPM. (Robin Campillo)

Jury Prize: Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)

Director:  Sofia Coppola-The Beguiled

Actress: Diane Kruger-In the Fade 

Actor-Joaquin Phoenix- You Were Never Really Here

Special 70th Anniversary Honors- Nicole Kidman

Screenplay- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)

In the Un Certain Regard section past Telluride tribute recipient Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity took the top prize and Taylor Sheridan's Wind River won the award for Best Direction. April's Daughter was the winner of the Jury Prize.

Of note among the winners was Coppola's historic win for direction as well as the rare double win for actor and screenplay for Ramsay's film.  A bit of a surprise was the lack of any mention for a Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which Indiewire had listed as having the third best odds for the Palme.

THE TELLURIDE ANALYSIS

So here's my best quick Telluride assessment of the winners' chances in as far as T-ride is concerned:

The Square- Magnolia is the distributor which was last at Telluride with Viva in 2015.  Magnolia hasn't had a deep relationship with the fest.  That combined with The fact that Ostlund hasn't played there either makes me think that 2017 may well be the fourth consecutive TFF at which the Palme d'Or winner does not play.  Cannes at TFF- 25%

120 BPM- A solid critical darling of Cannes #70 and with U.S. distribution from The Orchard, which scored well at Telluride last year with Pablo Larrain's Neruda have it in good position as a T-tide possible.  Probably gets the biggest boost of any Cannes film  that I haven't already had my eye on. Chances- 55%.

Loveless- Zvyagnistev's Leviathan played in the San Juans three years ago and so Loveless was already a hot prospect to get to The SHOW this Labor Day.  Its Jury Award probably boosts to shot. That and the fact that it's distributor is frequent Telluride player Sony Pictures  Classics suggests a high likelihood of a return for Mr. Z.  Chances- 70%.

The Beguiled- 0% chance as it opens at the end of June.

In the Fade- Could this crack the T-ride lineup?  Fatih Akin's lack of Telluride history, the film's lack of U.S. distribution and a middling critical response makes me think that the film's chances are small.  Chances- 20%.

You Were Never Really Here-  A double award win, Lynne Ramsay and coming from a Amazon Studios, this film, which I already thought had a reasonable shot at Telluride, moves even closer, I think.  Chances- 70%.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer- After a couple of great years at Telluride, I have no doubt that A24 will be back with something this year.  I'm just not sure that it will be this Lanthimos film.  It could happen but my guess is that other A24 films may have a better shot (Woodshock, Good Time and especially The Florida Project).  Still, a T-ride play could happen.  Chances- 35%.

A couple of other notes...I imagine that Rasoulof's Man of Integrity has an even chance of playing and despite its awards shut out, I still believe that Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck is a likely Show for The SHOW.

Finally, don't be surprised if Chloe Zhao's The Rider makes the T-ride lineup.

 Additionally, Faces/Places from Agnes Varda and JR looks like a very good bet.

Complete coverage and analysis of Cannes award winners can be found at the following links:

The New York Times

Deadline.com

Entertainment Weekly

Indiewire

OSCAR PLAYERS IN THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The general consensus coming from France as the Cannes Fest concluded was that the Croisette was low on Oscar potential with most observers suggesting that the only real player in terms of Best Picture might be Wonderstruck.

Though there may well some other players as well, especially in the foreign language category...I'm looking at you Loveless...take a look at where some of the sages of Oscar come down as Cannes was coming to an end:

Guy Lodge for Variety

Pete Hammond for Deadline

Anne Thompson from Indiewire

NON-CANNES TRAILERS FOR FILMS WE COULD SEE 

And as Cannes was winding down, there was the release of trailers for two films that did not play in France but that could find their way onto the lineup over Labor Day weekend.

We found out this week that Sony Pictures Classics had picked up the Liam Neeson starrer The Silent Man and that the story of the real Watergate Deep Throat had a trailer.  Here it is from YouTube:

Along with the trailer, here are some posts that accompanied its release and the SPC pickup news:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

The Playlist

Additionally, Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Room's Jacob Tremblay, released its first look video this week.  From Lionsgate, the film is slated to open in mid-November.  Both factors suggest the possibility of serious festival and awards play.

Here's that video, also from YouTube:

Deadline provides some of the details for the film.

That will do it for this Monday in May...more to come on Thursday...

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

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Battle of the Sexes First Trailer / Orson Welles in 2018 / Cannes Teasers and Clips Continued / More Acquisition News from France / New Films to Watch for TFF #44 / Telluride Rewind-TFF #28

Good Thursday Friends...Cannes is full swing which means that MTFB is busy!



BATTLE OF THE SEXES FIRST TRAILER

From Awards Daily

From Awards Watch

From The Playlist

ORSON WELLES  AND ALFONSO CUARON IN 2018

from The Film Stage

Meanwhile we also learned this week that Alfonso Cuaron's Roma will also be targeting a 2018 release taking it off the Telluride possibilities list.  Indiewire reported the news and also included a "sneak peek" of the film.  That "peek" is here via YouTube:

The Indiewire story is here with further details.

CANNES TRAILERS AND CLIPS CONTINUED

The parade of first-look teasers and clips continues from films that are playing in France over the next few days as a part of the Cannes film festival.  I have provided links to a number of those which have been released in platforms other than YouTube below:

Clips from You Were Never Really Here and The Meyerowitz Stories and more from Playwire and The Film Stage.

Happy End clip from Playwire and The Film Stage

Loveless trailer from Playwire and The Film Stage

MORE ACQUISITION NEWS FROM FRANCE

Two announcements yesterday from Cannes grabbed my attention as the players involved probably boost the notion that the films involved have Telluride potential. 

Sony Pictures Classics bought Andrey Zvyganistev's Loveless while The Cohen Media Group nabbed L'amant Double.  Both of those films had already been on my TFF #44 watch list and SPC's and Cohen's previous plays at Telluride, at the very least, don't reduce those films chances of making the T-ride lineup.

Loveless details are here from Deadline,  Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

Details of the deal for L'amant Double are here from Variety.

NEW FILMS TO WATCH FOR TFF #44

Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer in Final Portrait

Pre-Cannes acquisitions and announcements this week put two new films on my TFF #44 watch list.

First, Sony Pictures Classics announced that they had acquired Stanley Tucci's Final Portrait.  Final Portrait played at the Berlin Film Festival back in February.  

Final Portrait stars Geoffrey Rush (T-ride attendee in 2010 with The King's Speech) and Armie Hammer.

Further details are here from Variety as well as here from The Wrap.

Additionally, we discovered yesterday that documentarian Michael Moore has a Trump documentary in the works  and that film has been bought by The Weinstein Company.  Moore was last at Telluride for the 2013 40th anniversary celebration.

The greater likelihood is that Moore's new doc will play in late July as part of the Traverse City Film Festival (that he founded) and that will probably mean no play at T-ride but never say never.  

The doc is titled Fahrenheit 11/9 playing off of Moore's most successful film, the Iraq war documentary Fahrenheit 9-11.

Details are here from Indiewire.

TELLURIDE RE-WIND: A LOOK BACK AT TFF #28

Today I continue my expended history of the Telluride Film Festival.  If you haven't been following along, I have undertaken to expend the "Selected History" section of this blog.  Working backward from the 2005 fest which is most recent one for which a program is not linked on the official TFF website.

So I have been working in reverse chronological order and posting the details of past fests.  Today we go back to TFF #28 whcih ran from Aug. 31-Sept 3, 2001.

Guest Director: Salman Rushdie

Tributes: Ken Russell, Om Puri and Catherine Breillat

SHOWS:

Amadeus

Amelie

Band of Brothers

The Cat's Meow

Dear Fidel

The Devil's Backbone

Drive-In Movie Memories

The Fast Runner

The Fat Girl

The Golden Fortress

Grateful Dawg

Italian for Beginners

Killer Me

La Cienega

Lantana

Late Marriage

Lovely and Amazing

Mark Twain

Metropolis

Mulholland Drive

The Mystic Masseur

Nine Queens

Orphan of Anyang

Ravi Shankar

Revolution #9

Shot in the Heart

Solaris

Song for Martin

To End All Wars

Turn of the Century

Walt

The Young and the Dead

Partial Guest List:

Bille August

Peter Bogdanovich

Ken Burns

Guillermo Del Toro

Faye Dunaway

Kirsten Dunst

Roger Ebert

Milos Forman

Edward Herrmann

Agnieszka Holland

Nicole Holofcener

Tom Hulce

James Ivory

Catherine Keener

Elias Koestas

Anthony La Paglia

Tobey Maguire

Leonard Maltin

Ismail Merchant

Giovanni Ribisi

Lone Scherfig

Peter Sellars

Kiefer Sutherland

I was particularly pleased an surprised that Del Toro has been to Telluride.

That's it for Thursday...more on Monday...

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

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Cannes Opens This Week / Cannes Trailers, Teasers and Clips: Wonderstruck, L'amant Double and Ismael's Ghost / Lost in Paris Trailer

Welcome back from your weekend.  May is half over...beware the Ides of...May?


CANNES OPENS THIS WEEK

I've been focused on this week for some months now as the 70th Cannes Film Festival opens Wednesday with the screening of Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael's Ghosts starring Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mathieu Almaric.

As regular readers know, we'll almost certainly hear about films that will end up playing Telluride after their bow at Cannes.  That crossover usually averages 7-8 films per year.  The tough part is trying to figure out what those films will be.  In addition to looking at directors and distributors with a Telluride history,  during Cannes it's usually a good idea to pay attention to the critical response as well as the films that ultimately win prizes at the end of the fest.

That doesn't mean that the Palme d'Or winner always makes it to southwest Colorado.  As a matter of fact, the Palme winner is a hot or miss T-ride proposition.  The last Palme winner to play Telluride was 2013's Blue is the Warmest Color.  Amour followed the same path the year before.  So it's best to pay attention to awards at all levels in the main competition category as well as in the other sections of the fest.

As I have for the past few years, I'll be keeping an eye on and posting the critical assessment as the fest progresses.

If you want to know when films are screening, here is the link to the official schedule from the Cannes website.

Additionally, I have linked more pre-Cannes analysis.  Here's Guy Lodge's assessment of the films playing Cannes that he did for Variety.

I also have included this overview of the fest from Indiewire which highlights 22 films that they "want to see" including Happy End, Ismael's Ghosts, Loveless, The Meyerowitz Stories, You Were Never Really Here and Wonderstruck.



CANNES TRAILERS, TEASERS AND CLIPS


The onslaught of media about Cannes films has picked, as you might expect, as we get closer to the festival.  As a result, we continue to get looks at some of the films that seem the best bets, at least at this point to make the trans-Atlantic journey from France to the San Juans.

Perhaps the Cannes film I am most excited about that also seems to me to be an  excellent T-ride prospect is Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck which made a substantial splash this week with a clip from the film which is here via YouTube:

We also saw our first look at a poster for the film:

There was a good deal of coverage of the Wonderstruck images and I have linked a sample of that here from:

Indiewire

Deadline

Awards Daily

The Playlist

The Film Stage

Collider

Awards Circuit

The Wrap

We were also treated to a trailer for Francios Ozon's L'amant Double.  Here it is from YouTube:

In addition, we have a look at the poster for that film as well:

 And coverage for the releases from The Film Stage.

And finally, here we have a couple of clips from the opening night film, Ismael's Ghosts that you can peruse. Here's clip #1 from Facebook.

and here's clip #2 from Facebook as well.

And the story from The Playlist.




LOST IN PARIS TRAILER

Some films that everyone seems to have at the end of each festival are those that you had on a list that, for whatever reason, you didn't get to.  For most of us, it's simply a matter of running out of time before you have to head back to the real world.

One of those films for me this last year was Lost in Paris and now that I've seen the trailer, I really wished I had traded it off for maybe a couple of films I did see.  Hindsight and 20/20.

And maybe the film isn't as entertaining as the trailer makes it seem but the trailer is promising.  Here it is via YouTube:

The film has no U.S. release date as yet but has played a number of other U.S. film festivals in addition to Telluride.  Oscilloscope is the film's distributor.


That's your MTFB for Monday, May 15, 2017.  Check back for more on Thursday.


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

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