Cannes Winners / Trailer for Hallelujah

CANNES WINNERS

Ruben Ostlund won his second Palme d'Or on Saturday for his Triangle of Sadness.  My expectation, at least for the moment is that likely means this will be a TFF that does not host the Palme winner. Ostlund's previous two Cannes films (Force Majeure and The Square) did not make the Cannes-TFF connection.  That doesn't mean it can't happen just that it is historically unlikely.

Films that could have a boost with Cannes accolades leading to a Telluride selection:

Lukas Dhont's Close (tied for the Grand Prix)

Claire Denis' Stars at Noon (tied for Grand Prix)

Park Chan-wook's Decision to Leave (Best Direction)

Jerzy Skolimowski's EO (tied for Jury Prize)

The Dardennes Brothers' Tori and Lokita (Special 75th Anniversary Award)

Ali Abassi's Holy Spider (Best Actress-Zar Amir-Ebrahimi)

Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker (Best Actor-Song Kang-ho)

The Hollywood Reporter has details here.

TRAILER FOR HALLELUJAH

The documentary about Leonard Cohen's most famous song that played as a part of the TFF #48 lineup has a trailer now.  The release happened this week from distrib Sony Pictures Classics.  The film is scheduled for release on July 1st.

Additionally, here's a link to FirstShowing.net and further details about the film.

More later...

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SPC Acquires One Fine Morning / A24 Nabs Aftersun / Critics from Cannes / What's Netflix Got?

SPSC ACQUIRES ONE FINE MORNING

Mia Hansen Love has been a significant presence at Telluride for some time.  That's also been true for her films as far as being invited to Cannes.  This year she has another film playing in France as a part of the Director's Fortnight section.  One Fine Morning has been getting more than decent critical notices.  As such, it has already been mentioned here as a potential TFF #49 selection.

Now comes news that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film for North America and beyond.  That acquisition increases that chances that the film will make a trek to the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.  As most readers of this Blog know, SPC has had a very good relationship with TFF for many years.

Hansen-Love films that have screened at Telluride: Goodbye First Love, Things to Come and Bergman Island

Recent SPC films at TFF: Julia, The Duke, The Father, Pain and Glory, A Fantastic Woman, The Rider and Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool.

Details of the SPC move are here from Variety.

A24 NABS AFTERSUN

Meanwhile, A24 has acquired Charlotte Wells' Aftersun.  The film has made a splash in France.  The solid critical response and the A24 move means that we have to give it some serious thought about a spot at The SHOW.  Adding fuel to the T-ride speculation is that the film is produced, in part, by Barry Jenkin's PASTEL.  You have to think that helps it be on the Telluride radar.

Deadline has the story.

CRITICS FROM CANNES

As we head into the home stretch of the Cannes Film Fest and the choice for the winner of the Palme d'Or looms, here is your latest check of potential TFF films screening in France and their current critical standing based on Reini Urban's collected sample of critics.

Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 7.54

Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.71

Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 6.66

Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius) 7.42

One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.45

Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.88

All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 7.05

Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.81

Aftersun (Charlotte Wells) 8.25

Broker (Hirozaku Kore-eda) 6.25

Tori and Lokita (The Dardennes Brothers) 6.35

Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) 7.54

WHAT'S NETFLIX GOT?

It's that time of year where I try to peer into the films that we think could be ready for a Labor Day screening from some of the producers/distributors that have been common players at previous Telluride Film Fests.

And we start with what has become the most ubiquitous player at TFF over the past few years.  Since 2015Netflix has shown:

2015: Beasts of No Nation, Winter on Fire

2016: I Called Him Morgan, The Ivory Game, Into the Inferno

2017: First They Killed My Father, Wormwood

2018: Dovlatov, Girl, Reversing Roe, Roma, The Other Side of the Wind, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2019: Inside Bill's Brain, Marriage Story, Tell Me Who I Am, The Two Popes

2020: No announced films

2021: The Hand of God, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, Procession

That's an impressive run.  But...

You have to wonder with all the turmoil at Netflix of late...decreasing membership, lower stock prices and layoffs as well as the inability of the big streaming giant to land a Best Picture win (3 big shots at that prize over the past four years-Roma, Marriage Story and The Power of the Dog) if they will consider changing strategies this year.

Then there's the question of what they have that could be players in awards season.

Noah Baumbach's White Noise

Andrew Dominik's NC-17 rated Blonde

George C. Wolfe's Rustin

David Fincher's The Killer  (Will it be ready by September?)

Tobias Lindholm's The Good Nurse

Kenya Barris' You People

Guillermo Del Toro's Piniocchio (Will it be ready?)

John Ridley's Shirley

Sebastian DeLilio's The Wonder

From this group and at the moment it feels like the best bets are White Noise, Shirley and The Wonder with honorable mentions for Blonde and Pinocchio.

***Added on June 9th- Look out for The Good Nurse

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Checking Cannes / Ethan Coen and Jerry Lee

 CHECKING CANNES

I'm continuing to monitor the critical reactions to films unspooling at the 75th Cannes Film Festival which hits its half way point today.  The fest is set to end on Saturday.

Looking at the combination of critical responses that is curated by Reini Urban here are some of the films that I have on my TFF #49 radar and their current combined rating (on a 10 point scale) as well as their position on the overall Cannes chart which includes virtually every film that is screening within any part of the festival:

10) Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook) 9.08

14) Close (Lukas Dhont) 8.40

24) Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi) 7.91

34) Final Cut (Michel Hazanavicius)

42) One Fine Morning (Mia Hansen-Love) 7.17

52) Armageddon Time (James Gray) 6.94

55) All the People I'll Never Be (David Chou) 6.84

59) Showing Up (Kelly Reichardt) 6.75

68) R.M.N. (Cristian Mungiu) 6.66

Still waiting for enough critical responses to evaluate The Dardennes' Tori and Lokita and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker.

For a closer look at individual responses to the Palme d'Or competitors I have linked the charts for that from:

Screen Daily

Ioncinema

The Palme d'Or winner and Telluride cross over in recent years:

2019: Parasite

2018: Shoplifters

2013: Blue Is the Warmest Colour

2012: Amour

2009: The White Ribbon

2007: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, Two Days

2005: L'Enfant

2003: Elephant

ETHAN COEN AND JERRY LEE

Ethan Coen's documentary Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind dropped yesterday at Cannes with a second screening scheduled for today.  The film is being produced (in part) and distributed by A24.  That and the fact that Coen and his co-producer T-Bone Burnett were co-recipients of a TFF Tribute for TFF #40-2013) gives a glimmer of hope that the doc could be a selection for TFF #49.

Coen was interviewed recently by Deadline's Mike Fleming, Jr. about the project.  That is linked here.

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At Cannes: Acquisitions for TFF Possibilities: Return to Soul and R.M.N. / Early Reactions from Cannes

 AT CANNES: ACQUISITIONS FOR TFF POSSIBLES RETURN TO SOUL AND R.M.N.

Variety reports that Sony Pictures Classics has taken distribution rights for David Chou's Return to Soul.  That moves into the "in consideration" position vis-a-vis TFF #49.  Variety describes the film as follows:

"The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions."

The Variety story is linked here.

Meanwhile, Indiewire has reported that IFC Films has acquired R.M.N. the latest film from Cristian Mungiu. Mungiu was at Telluride in 2007 with his 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.  The IFC acquisition could set the stage for return to T-ride in September.

The description form Indiewire:

It "follows the return of Matthias (Marin Grigore) to his multi-ethnic Transylvanian village, where he wishes to involve himself more in the education of his son and to rid the boy of his unresolved fears. When new workers arrive at a factory owned by Matthias’ ex-lover Csilla (Judith State) the peace of the community is disturbed and fears, frustrations, and conflicts erupt."

The Indiewire article is here.

EARLY REACTIONS FROM CANNES

As is common for this space, I'm keeping an eye on the collective critcal response through Reini Urban's Cannes Critics Ratings. The early response for some films that could play Telluride that are rating a combined 6.0 or better on a 10 point scale include:

One Fine Morning

Brother and Sister

Showing Up 

Return to Soul

You can find the complete rundown linked here.

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Fred Ward 1942-2022 / Marcel Creators Have a Word / Official Clip for Holy Spider / NEON Nabs Broker / Marty Back in Oklahoma

FRED WARD 1942-2022

Fred Ward at TFF #36 (photo via Salon.com and Getty Images)

I will miss Fred Ward.  The actor died on May 8th at the age of 79.  Fred's credits included some great stuff: Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort, The Right Stuff, The Player and, of course, Tremors.  Tremors is one of my wife's favorite movies. For years we've been talking about writing and producing a stage musical adaptation.  Can you envision singing Graboids?

I just watched The Player again a couple of weeks ago.

Ward was in Telluride in 2009 for The SHOW as a part of the group that was there with the foreign film Farewell, a gripping cold war true story that featured Ward as Ronald Reagan.  I saw the film at the fest and it was quote good.

Salon.com had a nice write up about Fred this week.  That's linked here.

MARCELS'S CREATORS HAVE A WORD

Recently, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On co-creators Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate sat down with Joshua Rothkopf writing for Entertainment Weekly for an interview ahead of the films release on June 24th.  The result of that interview was posted at EW.com on Friday the 13th.

Frequent readers of this space already know that I am an outspoken fan of the film so I am pleased to provide the link to the interview, encourage you to read (regarding the genesis of the project and other matters) and then make sure to go see the film or re-watch it of you caught it at Telluride or one of its other film fest stops (SXSW, San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee).

OFFICIAL CLIP FOR HOLY SPIDER

On the TFF #49 watch list is Ali Abbasi's Cannes Plame d'Or contender Holy Spider.  The film focuses on a series of murders in Iran and the female journalist that is trying to unravel the story.

Here's the newly released first look clip from YouTube:

NEON NABS BROKER

NEON has acquired North American distribution rights for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker according to multiple sources including Variety.  This is of note to Telluride Film Fest fans as the film now checks off a bunch of boxes that could signal a TFF #49 appearance.

Cannes competition choice...check

Foreign auteur that's played TFF before... check (Kore-eda's Shoplifters in 2018)

Distributor with a history at T-ride...check (NEON)

Assuming reviews are strong out of Cannes, Broker's lineage could land it on my first "Ten Bets" list.

Here's the news of the acquisition from Variety.

MARTY BACK IN OKLAHOMA

Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel reports that additional filming is underway in the northeast part of my home state for Killers of the Flower Moon.  Jordan, as a part of his story, links to a report from Louise Red Corn writing for The Osage News from last Tuesday with photos showing crew and equipment back in Pawhuska.

Speculation is that they'll be filming a social dance that will include an number of the locals that were filmed earlier as extras and background players.

Here's the link to Jordan's story.

Here's the link to the Osage News story.

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MPA Ratings Signal Two Films / Bitterbrush Trailer / Trailer for Brother and Sister

MPA RATINGS SIGNAL TWO FILMS

Next Best Pictures' Will Mavity reports that a couple of films on my TFF #49 watch list have been rated indicating that they are complete and thus would likely be available to screen at The SHOW.

Mavity Tweeted  on Tuesday that Sarah Polley's Women Talking had been rated PG-13. Polley's film makes the watch list because of a  past TFF appearance (Stories We Tell-2012) and its reception at TFF. The film topped the People's Telluride ratings that year and was #3 among the Professionals.  It still remains among the top ten all time for the Composite ratings.

The other film that Mavity mentions with an MPA rating that has TFF potential is Stephen Williams Chevalier.  Chevalier has been rated PG-13 and is on the watch list primarily because it is being distributed by Searchlight which has a long tradition of films screening at Telluride including last year's The French Dispatch.

BITTERBRUSH TRAILER

Emilie Mahdavian's documentary, Bitterbrush premiered at TFF #48 last year and though it didn't get enough responses to make the People or Pros ratings from the fest was, anecdotally, seemed to be well received.  I heard nothing but positive comments from the folks who had seen it as I was standing in line.  Iniedwire refers to the doc as a "Telluride breakout".

Now we have a trailer release for the film and a release date of June 17th.

Here's the trailer via YouTube:

Here's the Indiewire story about the trailer drop with added details about the film.

TRAILER FOR BROTHER AND SISTER

another Cannes film that is on the periphery of TFF speculation is Arnaud Desplechin's Brother and Sister.

The film features past TFF Tribute recipient Marion Cotillard.  The Film Stage describes the film as follows:

"Led by Marion Cotillard & Melvil Poupaud, the film follows the siblings as they near the age of 50. Cotillard plays Alice, an actress, while Poupaud is Louis, a teacher and a poet. After being estranged for many years, the death of their parents brings them closer together."

Here's the trailer form YouTube:

That's a wrap for today.

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Kino Lorber Acquisition Could Be a TFF Player / Cannes Has a New Palme / Initial Views of Holy Spider

KINO LORBER ACQUISITION COULD BE A TFF PLAYER

The Hollywood Reporter let us know on Friday that Kino Lorber had acquired the North American rights to Maggie Peren's The Forger.  The film was selection of the Berlin International Film Festival.  According to IDMb The Forger is:

"The true story of Cioma Schönhaus, a Jewish man who, during the Second World War, repeatedly escaped the Gestapo thanks to his ability to forge passports. But his other talent was perhaps even rarer: the gift for happiness."

The Kino Lorber buy and the film's Berlin lineage suggests at least some possibility that it could play at Telluride this Labor Day.

Kino Lorber has frequently landed films in the TFF lineup.  Some examples:

2020: (announced) Never Gonna Snow Again, There Is No Evil and Truman & Tennessee

2019: Beanpole

2017: Filmworker

2016: Fire at Sea

2015: Ixcanul, Sembene!, Taxi

The trailer for the film is linked here from YouTube:

THR says the film will be released later in 2022.

The complete THR story is linked here.

CANNES HAS A NEW PALME

I mean it literally.  The Cannes Fest has a new design for the physical award that will be handed out at the end of the month.  Awards Watch's Erik Anderson was who first drew my attention to that news with a Tweet this past Saturday.

Here's the new look Palme d'Or:

The Hollywood Reporter's Chris Gardner provided the details with this story that was posted Friday.

INITIAL VIEWS OF HOLY SPIDER

The Playlist provided some early stills from Ali Abbasi's Holy Spider.  The film is playing Cannes in the Main Competition section.  Abbasi previously played Cannes in 2018in the Un Certain Regard section with Border which then made the trip to Telluride later that September.  That opens the door to some serious speculation that this new film might also be a candidate for TFF #49.

The film's description per IMDb:

"In Holy Spider, we follow family man Saeed as he embarks on his own religious quest - to "cleanse" the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of immoral and corrupt street prostitutes. After murdering several women, he grows ever more desperate about the lack of public interest in his divine mission."

Here's a taste from the images at The Playlist:

See the complete set of pics and the full post from The Playlist here.

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Killers May Be Late / Hints at Some Other TFF #49 Possibles / Telluride Favorite Paul Schrader Wins Career Honor

 KILLERS MAY BE LATE

Martin Scorsese on the set of Killers of the Flower Moon last August (photo from The Tulsa World)

All my hopes that Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon might screen at Telluride may be in trouble as World of Reel reports that the film might get pushed to 2023.  Jordan Ruimy, who runs WOR, has been following up on an April 11th tweet from The Playlist's Gregory Ellwood that suggests that there is some buzz that the film could be delayed.

Screenwriter Eric Roth had said in an interview with Indiewire's Anne Thompson in February that the film would be released in November but...

Another factor that may a cause of delay is the report that Scorsese is shooting a new ending to the film in Oklahoma this month.  The Tulsa World reported that back in late March.

Finally, here's the link to the World of Reel story.

So, my dream of  being at a screening of the film at TFF #49 may not happen at all.  Stay tuned.

HINTS AT SOME OTHER TFF #49 POSSIBLES

Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling is a film that I haven't really had on my radar for TFF but a comment from Ioncinema this past week and after its first trailer dropped at Cinemacon...maybe I should have.  Ioncinema tweeted:

"I'm curious to hear where she is going with this".... I think fans of Carlo Mirabella-Davis's Swallow will lather this up / fully expect this to be at @la_Biennale / Telluride @TIFF_NET - @oliviawilde's Don't Worry Darling"

Warner Bros. releases the trailer on Monday.  Here it is from YouTube:

Variety reported on the film and the trailer release earlier this week.  That is linked here.

The film has announced release date of Sept.. 23rd which puts it into theaters three weeks after a potential screening at The SHOW.

Additionally, we found out this week that Cannes will screen part of Etan Hawke's new documentary about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward-The Last Movie Stars- in its Cannes Classics section.  Could that be repeated at Telluride?  Hawke has had a long association with T-ride and HBO Films is one of the films producing organizations which has also been showing up at The SHOW in recent years so...maybe.  The doc did play as a part of South by southwest which in most cases would make it unlikely for TFF #49 but the fest has seemed to be a little more flexible about scheduling previously screened docs in its past.

Here's reporting from The Hollywood Reporter regarding the Hawke project and other additions to the Cannes Classics lineup.

TELLURIDE FAVORITE PAUL SCHRADER WINS CAREER HONOR

Paul Schrader, who makes frequent stops at Telluride including last year's The Card Counter was announced this week as the winner of Venice's Golden Lion for Career Achievement.  Schrader will be feted as a part of the Venice Film Festival.

Here's the story from Variety.

The honor and presentation raises the question : Will his The Master Gardner be scheduled at Venice as a part of the celebration and does that increase or decrease that chances that Telluride audiences will see it in the TFF #49 lineup?

The Magic 8 Ball says: "Cannot Predict Now".

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Two 2023 Oscar Lists: Indiewire and World of Reel / Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

TWO OSCAR 2023 LISTS

Both Indiewire and World of Reel posted lengthy Oscar Best Picture lists for 2023 this past week.  Indiwire's list had 35 titles while World of Reel had a list of 23.  Between the two list there were 11 films that made both lists (in no particular order):

Baz Lurman's Elvis

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon 

Steven Spielberg's The Fablemans

Maria Schrader's She Said

Damien Chazelle's Babylon

Kasi Lemmons' I Wanna Dance with Somebody

Kelly Reicharadt's Showing Up

Martin McDaonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo

Florian Zeller's The Son

Todd Field's TAR

Your five best Telluride bets from this combined list: Bardo, Showing Up, The Son, Babylon and TAR.

You can take a look at the complete lists and  analysis for each outlet.  

The Indiewire post is here.

The World of Reel post is here.

COMNG SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

The Film Stage posted a list of 40+ films with release dates this summer which is revelatory in two ways in as far as Telluride film fans are concerned.  First, the list lets us know what films are OFF the list for TFF consideration i.e. David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future.  The list also tells us when films that have screened (or would have screened at Telluride in one case) will be released.

According to the article these TFF films are pout as follows:

TFF #47 announced film Apples on June 24th.

From TFF #48:

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On on June 24th

Bitterbrush on June 24th 

Three Minutes: A Lengthening on August 19th

The complete Film Stage post is linked here.

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More Titles for Cannes / Netflix Adds Inarritu

MORE TITLES FOR CANNES

Since my last post a week ago the Cannes Film Fest has added the remaining titles for its 95th edition, named a Palme d'Or jury and an Un Certain Regard opening night film.  Despite all of the new selections I ma hard pressed to put my finger on a single film that is suggestive of a leap from France to Colorado in early September.

After the initial round of films were announced I landed on these as the most likely unseen candidates to add to the tradition of films doing the Cannes-Telluride tango:

The Stars at Noon

Tori and Lokita

Close

Armageddon Time

Broker

RMN

Showing Up

Upon further reflection I might add:

Armageddon Time

Holy Spider

Moonage Daydream

Click here to see the complete list of titles at Cannes (from Next Best Picture).

NETFLIX ADDS INARRITU

Multiple outlets reported yesterday that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths has been acquired for distribution by Netflix.  Most readers of this space know that I have had Bardo on a number of preliminary lists for a slot at TFF #49 for quite some time based on Inarritu's extensive relationship with the festival for many years dating back to Babel in 2006.

The acquisition by Netflix only adds to the likelihood as the streaming giant has become a major player at Telluride over the last several years with films such as The Power of the Dog,  Marriage Story and Roma all flying the Netflix banner at Telluride.

It seems likely enough that Ioncinema reported the story and included this comment:

"...expected to wrap by fall for what should be a Venice Film Festival premiere (plus Telluride), the Netflix folks are getting into the Iñárritu business landing the rights to revised title BARDO, Chronicle of a Handful of Truths."

In addition to the Ioncinema story, the acquisition was reported by:

The Hollywood Reporter

Deadline

Indiewire

The Playlist

World of Reel

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On Hiatus

 ON HIATUS

Michael's Telluride Film Blog is on hiatus.  No post today.  MTFB will return on Thursday, April 28th.

Trailer for Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker / Nathaniel Rogers April Foolish Oscar Predix and TFF #49

TRAILER FOR HIROKAZU KORE-EDA'S TRAILER

Playing Cannes in a few weeks is the latest film from Hirokazu Kore-eda.  Broker is described my IMDb as:

"Boxes that are left out for people to anonymously drop off their unwanted babies."

Seriously...that's what IMDb actually says.  I have seen the film titled "Baby Broker" which gives, perhaps, a little more insight into the film.

Kore-eda played TFF in 2018 with Shoplifters.  Now, with his latest film playing Cannes and competing for the Palme d'Or, we could see his return to Telluride.

Here's the recently released trailer ahead of its screening at Cannes:

Additionally, news about the film and trailer are linked here from The Film Stage.

NATHANIEL ROGERS APRIL FOOLISH PREDIX AND TFF #49

Nathaniel Rogers who runs The Film Experience Blog has up his initial 2022-23 Best Picture Oscar contenders and here's what films are on it (and "in contention") that could make noise at TFF #49:

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Son

White Noise

Babylon

Poor Things

Armageddon Time

Empire of Light

Rustin

The Killer

Women Talking

And among the films listed also are:

Red, White and Water

Showing Up

The Stars at Noon

The Whale

Cassandro

Golda

Crimes of the Future

Tar

Blonde

Shirley

The Wonder

Pinocchio

Chevalier

Next Goal Wins

Carmen

Asteroid City

Bardo

Rogers' complete Best Picture take is liked here.

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Hansen-Love in Play / Look for Tuesday / Pics from Cannes-Telluride Possibilities

HANSEN-LOVE IN PLAY

World of Reel reports that Mia Hansen -Love's One Fine Morning will play as a part of the Director's Fortnight that runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28).  The film is definitely of note as Hansen-Love has long been a favorite of Telluride programmers.   Hansen-Love fare that has screened at Telluride includes Bergman Island, Things to Come and Goodbye First Love.  You have to figure that there is a high likelihood that this new film makes the jump from Cannes to Telluride.

The World of Reel story is linked here.

LOOK FOR TUESDAY

Friend of MTFB and general film genius Jason Osiason has dug up a great TFF #49 potential.  He has tracked the film Tuesday and its director Daina Oniunas-Pusic.  Oniunas-Pusic has had two shorts make the Telluride program: 2015's The Beast and 2016's Rhonna and Donna.

The film is described as a "drama-fantasy" and features Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Veep/Seinfeld/SNL fame.  The fil also comes from A24 which also lends some credence to the notion that a Telluride play is a possibility.

Tuesday's Wikipedia entry is linked here and its IMDb page is linked here.

PICS FROM CANNES/TELLURIDE POSSIBILITIES

Along with last week's announcement of Cannes titles for 2022 were photos from a number of the films. Of course, I have targeted some of those titles as TFF #49 possibilities and so pass on some of the pics that were released last week:

George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing:

The Dardennes Brothers Tori and Lokita

Arnaud Desplain's Brother and Sister

More to come...

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Cannes Reveals the 75th Lineup / Mark Johnson Is as Good as Gold / Stay Prayed Up Has a Date

CANNES REVEALS THE 75TH LINEUP

Very early this morning the lineup for the 75th Cannes Film Festival was revealed in France.  Why does this matter to us?  The Cannes/Telluride connection has been deep and lengthy and so parsing Cannes announcements for films that eventually could make an appearance at TFF later in the year is an interesting and, at times, illuminating.

Over the last 10 TFF's here are the numbers of films that have crossed-over from France to Colorado;

2021: 6

2020: 3

2019: 8

2018: 7

2017: 8

2016: 7

2015: 6

2014: 9

2013: 10

2012: 10

As you can see, the connection has diminished somewhat especially the last couple of fests but that may be a Covid caused aberration.  The average over the decade- 7.5 films shared per year.

And some of the titles that have screened at Cannes first and then TFF since 2011:

The Artist

Rust and Bone

Amour

Nebraska

Inside Llewyn Davis

All Is Lost

Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Foxcatcher

Son of Saul

Carol

Toni Erdmann

Cold War

Parasite

Cannes films that I speculated might play both fests from last year were Bergman Island, Cow, The French Dispatch, A Hero, Red Rocket, The Velvet Underground.

With that all said as a prelude, here are the announced titles for Cannes #95:

Opening Night

“Z,” Michel Hazanavicius

Competition

“Holy Spider,” Ali Abbasi

“Les Amandiers,” Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

“Crimes of the Future,” David Cronenberg

“The Stars at Noon,” Claire Denis

“Frere et Soeur,” Arnaud Desplechin

“Tori and Lokita,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

“Close,” Lukas Dhont

“Armageddon Time,” James Gray

“Broker,” Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Nostalgia,” Mario Martone

“R.M.N.,” Cristian Mungiu

“Triangle of Sadness,” Ruben Ostlund

“Decisions to Leave,” Park Chan-Wook

“Showing Up,” Kelly Reichardt

“Leila’s Brothers,” Saeed Roustayi

“Boy from Heaven,” Tarik Saleh

“Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” Kirill Serebrennikov

“Hi-Han (Eo),” Jerzy Skolimowski

Un Certain Regard

“Les Pires,” Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret

“Burning Days,” Emin Alper

“Metronom,” Alexandru Belc

“Retour a Seoul,” Davy Chou

“Sick of Myself,” Kristoffer Borgli

“Domingo y La Niebla,” Ariel Escalante Meza

“Plan 75,” Hayakawa Chie

“Beast,” Riley Keough and Gina Gammell

“Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer

“Butterfly Vision,” Maksym Nakonechnyi

“Volada Land,” Hlynur Palmason

“Rodeo,” Lola Quivoron

“Joyland,” Saim Sadiq

“The Stranger,” Thomas M. Wright

“The Silent Twins,” Agnieszka Smoczynska

Cannes Premiere

“Outside Night,” Marco Bellocchio

“Nos Frangins,” Rachid Bouchareb

“Irma Vep,” Olivier Assayas (Series)

“Dodo,” Panos H. Koutras

Special Screenings

“The Natural History of Destruction,” Sergei Loznitsa

“Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” Ethan Coen

“All That Breathes,” Shaunak Sen

Midnight Screenings

“Moonage Daydream,” Brett Morgen

“Smoking Makes You Cough,” Quentin Dupieux

“Hunt,” Lee Jung-Jae

Out of Competition

“Top Gun: Maverick,” Joseph Kosinski

“Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann

“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” George Miller

“November,” Cédric Jimenez

“Masquerade,” Nicolas Bedos

What could come from these selections to Telluride?  Here's a list:

The Stars at Noon

Tori and Lokita

Close

Armageddon Time

Broker

RMN

Showing Up

Those are all Palme competition titles.  Among the other sections I'm not immediately seeing anything that jumps out as a TFF potential.  As a couple of wishes...George Miller's Three Thousand Years of Longing and Ethan Coen's Jerry Lee Lewis documentary which likely has been the surprise film that has had people guessing the last few days.  That film may well be a project that IMDb has had listed as being under the direction of music man and frequent Coen collaborator, T. Bone Burnett- who, with both Coen brothers, was a Tribute recipient at Telluride in 2013.  Inside Llewyn Davis screened at TFF that year after having premiered at Cannes.

Reportedly there will be more films announced in the days ahead.

Here's the lineup and some discussion from Ryan Lattanzio for Indiewire.

MARK JOHNSON IS AS GOOD AS GOLD

My Telluride buddy, Mark Johnson, runs the Oscar prediction outfit Good as Gold that's housed at Awards Daily.  Mark, as you might expect, has put up his early, early Oscar predictions for next year and, as I am wont to do, I have culled his Best Picture predictions for potential TFF #49 titles.  From the 10 he has as his predicted BP nominees:

Killers of the Flower Moon (mostly because I want to will into a TFF slot...and make the final cut as a background player)

Babylon

White Noise

Empire of Light

Women Talking

Poor Things

Bones and All

and among the films that Mark lists as "On the Radar":

The Whale

Armageddon Time

Bardo

The Son

Asteroid City

Rustin

STAY PRAYED UP HAS A DATE

Deadline, among others, reports that Greenwich Entertainment has taken the North American rights to the gospel documentary Stay Prayed Up.  The film was screened at Telluride last Labor Day weekend as a part of TFF #48.  The film has been dated for a June 17th release.

More details can be gleaned here from the Deadline post written by Matt Grobar.

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Lynch at Cannes? / A Couple of More Cannes Predictions

 LYNCH AT CANNES?

Lots of speculation within the last month or so, that David Lynch might launch a new film in May.  Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel (among others) has been among those that have suggested that a "surprise" inclusion will be a Lynch film.

Ruimy has posted a couple of times about the possibility.  Here's his March 10th post.  He wrote about it again last week.  Here's his April 8th post on the matter.

Over the years there has been a strong relationship between Cannes and Telluride with many films having premiered at the French festival and then screening three and half months later in southwest Colorado.

Which, of course, raises the question: Does Lynch return to Telluride?  Lynch has a history at the fest with Blue Velvet in 1986, a 1989 presentation of Twin Peaks and a Tribute to him in 1999 with a screening of The Straight Story.

We could know on Thursday if the film even exists and if it play Cannes when the the bulk of its lineup is announced.  which leads to...

 A COUPLE OF MORE CANNES PREDICTIONS 

From Ioncinema and Screen Daily come these titles that could be announced Thursday that seem to me to have potential as films that also might then screen as a part of The SHOW:

Armageddon Time

Asteroid City

Bardo

Bones and All

Broker

Crimes of the Future

R.M.N.

Showing Up

The Son

Tori and Lokita

The Whale

Women Talking

Look at the complete lists from both outlets at these links:

Ioncinema

Screen Daily

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