The Distributors: Fox Searchlight / The Telluride History Book: TFF #24 / Travernier's Trailer

THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOX SEARCHLIGHT

Today's look at past T-ride distribution outfits is Fox Searchlight.  I've tracked their presence there since 2004.  You'll note that FS missed having any film at TFF in 2009, 2012 and 2016.


2015: He Named Me Malala
2014: Birman, Wild
2013: 12 Years a Slave
2011: Shame, The Descendants
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan
2008: Slumdog Millionaire
2007: Juno, The Savages
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake
2005: Bee Season
2004: Kinsey

The math here tells us that Fox Searchlight averages 1.2 films per year at Telluride.

This year, they appear to have as many as four films with at least some potential to lay the festival:

Battle of the Sexes, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Shape of Water.

Battle of the Sexes is directed by the team of  Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (the team behind Little Miss Sunshine) and stars Emma Stone and Steve Carell.  The film is produced, in part, by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs).  The Boyle connection might be enough to give this film the best chance of the four to make the Telluride lineup.  Chances: 55%.  Here's the trailer from YouTube:

Goodbye Christopher Robin is directed by Simon Curtis and stars Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie.  Beyond those basics, the trailer makes it seem very similar to Finding Neverland which played Telluride in 2004 and went on to one Oscar win and an additional six nominations.  Chances: 45%.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is written and directed by Martin McDonagh of In Bruges fame.  It looks (again based on its trailer) as if it is a serious awards vehicle for Francis McDormand. Chances: 40%.

Here's the link to the Red Band trailer for Three Billboards...and it earns its Red Band...


The Shape of Water is co-written and directed by Guillermo Del Toro and stars Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins.  Del Toro could return to Telluride for the first time since playing his The Devil's Backbone there in  2001 making him the only director in this group who has had a film previously make the lineup.  Chances: 35%.



THE TELLURIDE FILM FEST HISTORY BOOK: TFF #24

Here's another installment of my reach back in time to document the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  Today, the 24th TFF.  TFF #24 ran from Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 1997

Guest Director: Peter von Bagh

Tributes: Neil Jordan, Horton Foote, Alexander Sukurov

Special Medallion: Milos Stehlik

SHOWS:

Affliction
Alone
The Butcher's Boy
Can Memory Be Dissolved in Evian Water
Capitaine Conan
Caught
Classe Tout Risk
Eve's Bayou
Fast, Cheap and Put of Control
The Girl and the Hyacinths
Gummo
Lea
Letter from and Unknown Woman
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Love and Death on Long Island
Ma Vie En Rose
Madame De
Men with Guns
Mother and Son
The Narrow Margin
Perfect Circle
Rothchild's Violin
Simoom
Steamboat Bill Jr.
The Sweet Hereafter
Taste of Cherry
Two Girls and a Guy
U-Turn
Unmade Beds
The White Reindeer
Who the Hell Is Juliette?

Guests:

Russell Banks
Powers Boothe
James Coburn
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Robert Downey, Jr.
Atom Egoyan
Richard Fleischer
Horton Foote
Werner Herzog
Mary Beth Hurt
Neil Jordan
Abbas Kiarostami
Gary Larson
Kasi Lemmons
Jennifer Lopez
Errol Morris
Joshua Oppenheimer
John Sayles
Paul Schrader
Alexander Sukurov
Oliver Stone
Bertrand Travernier
Billy Bob Thornton
James Toback
Haskell Wexler

Notes; Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers) shows his first feature at Telluride-Gummo and Joshua Oppenheimer makes his first Telluride appearance (The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence) with The Entire Story of the Louisiana Purchase.


TRAVERNIER'S FRENCH FILM EXTRAVAGANZA GETS A TRAILER

You may have caught Bertrand Tavernier's Journey Through French Cinema at TFF #43 last fall.  The film just played the Seattle Film Fest and is set to open in the U.K. in September, you can re-visit it to a degree as The Film Stage revealed the release of a trailer this past weekend.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

And here's the link to the story from The Film Stage.

That's a wrap for this Tuesday.  More to come on Thursday.

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The Distributors: The Weinstein Company / Annecy Audiences Loved Loving Vincent / Awards Circuit Takes a Stab

Welcome back from the weekend.  Hope all fathers had a nice day yesterday.


THE DISTRIBUTORS: THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

After having at least one film play at Telluride each year that I have been attending (since 2006) last year was the first in which there was no film on the playlist from The Weinstein Company.  One might have thought (and I did for awhile) that The Founder or Lion might have played but that did not happen.

Here's the recent history of TWC (and before that, Miramax) from 2006 to the present:

2015: Carol
2014: The Imitation Game, Escobar: Paradise Lost, Keep On Keepin'On
2013: The Unknown, Salinger, Tracks
2012: The Sapphires
2011: The Artist, Butter
2010: The King's Speech
2009: The Road
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky
2007: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, My Enemy's Enemy, I'm Not There
2006: Venus, Indigenes

So the question becomes, "Will TWC return to TFF and if so, with what films?"

As I write this on Monday morning, TWC really seems to have on;y two films that are dated appropriately and with enough buzz to be serious Telluride (and for that matter, Venice, Toronto, New York, London) consideration.

The Current War and Mary Magdalene.  Let's breakdown each in terms of its TFF possibility.

The Current War stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse respectively and focuses on the battle between them to determine which form of electricity, Alternating Current or Direct Current, would dominate American electrical delivery.

The film is directed by Alonso Gomez-Rejon who has worked in the past for Alejandro Inarritu, Martin Scorsese and Ben Affleck.  Gomez-Rejon was a second unit director for Argo and for Babel.

I have heard via a back channel some scuttlebutt from a screening of the film that was less than stellar but, this far out, I don't think that necessarily removes The Current War from the TFF discussion.

Mary Magdalene stars Rooney Mara as Mary and Joaquin Phoenix as Jesus in a film that tells the story of the female follower of Christ.  Garth Davis (Lion) directs.  Additionally, one of the film's producers is Iain Canning who also produced The King's Speech, Shame and Hunger; all of which played Telluride.

My feeling is that it's more likely than not that TWC returns to Telluride in 2017 with one film (as you might note, the average for TWC is 1.6 films per year).  

My guesstimate at the moment is that The Current War has a slightly better chance than Mary Magdalene but that advantage is minuscule.

Chances: The Current War 51%, Mary Magdalene 49%.

Tomorrow, a look at Fox Searchlight.

ANNECY AUDIENCES LOVED LOVING VINCENT

The Annecy International Animated Film Festival concluded at the end of this past week with awards going primarily to Japanese film makers but the audience award went to Loving Vincent which I highlighted here last week.

The film likely gets a boost from the win both for Oscar consideration as well as for a Telluride play.

Check here for Variety's complete report about the awards at the conclusion of the festival.

AWARDS CIRCUIT TAKES A STAB

Clayton Davis' Circuitbreaker podcast from Awards Circuit was up this past weekend with a number of topics covered in the 1:20 long program.  The last 20 minutes or so beginning at the 55:35 mark starts as a discussion about the selection of Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying as the opening night film for the New York Film Festival.  That leads to a far ranging discussion about where Davis and his crew think a lot of films will land at fall festivals including Telluride.  Those four titles are electrifying,

The four films that are named as Telluride plays (in order that they're mentioned in the podcast) are:

Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel

Alexander Payne's Downsizing

Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049

Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The inclusion of Downsizing isn't a surprise but Wonder Wheel, Three Billboards and Blade Runner 2049 would all be surprises.

The complete Circuitbreaker podcast can be found here.

That's a wrap for this Monday.

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The Distributors: Sony Pictures Classics / Trailer for Goodbye Christopher Robin

Welcome to Friday everyone...leaving La La Land today to head back to Casa Patterson...

THE DISTRIBUTORS: SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

As I wrote yesterday, I'm beginning the annual summer assessment of film distribution companies as a way to try to read the Telluride tea leaves.

I tend to begin this each summer with Sony Pictures Classics because, certainly in my time as an attendee, no other distributor has had as strong and continuous presence at TFF than SPC.  As I reminded everyone yesterday, here is the legacy of SPC over the past several years:

2016: The Eagle Huntress, Maudie, Norman, Toni Erdmann (4)
2015: Son of Saul (1)
2014: Foxcatcher, Leviathan, Red Army, Mr. Turner, Wild Tales, Salt of the Earth and Merchants of Doubt (7)
2013: The Invisible Woman, The Lunchbox, The Past, Tim's Vermeer and Jodorowsky's Dune (5)
2012: The Gatekeepers, At Any Price, Rust and Bone, No, Wadjda, Amour (6)
2011: A Dangerous Method, In Darkness, Footnote, A Separation (4)
2010: Incendies, Of Gods and Men, Tamara Drewe, Another Year, The Illusionist, Inside Job (6)
2009: The Last Station, The White Ribbon, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, An Education (5)
2008: Waltz with Bashir, I've Loved You So Long, O'Horten (3)
2007: Brick Lane, When Did You Last See Your Father, Persepolis, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, Steep! (6)
2006: Jindabyne, The Lives of Others, Volver, The Italian (4)
2005: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Cache, The Child (4)
2004: Being Julia, House of Flying Daggers, Bad Education, Merchant of Venice, Up and Down, Yes (6)
2003: The Fog of War, My Life Without Me, The Triplets of Belleville, Young Adam (4)


SPC averages 4-5 films per year at the fest. Looking at the films that are listed as under the SPC umbrella at IMDb...here's a thought or two about those SPC films:

Initially, I'm not gong to assess films from SPC that played Sundance but are not yet in release (ex: Call Me By Your Name, Novitiate) due to Telluride's "first North American showing" policy but I will have a note about that below.  That leaves eight films to evaluate.

In order of TFF likelihood (at least for right now):

1) Loveless/Zvyagnistev.  The factors:  Played Cannes were it won awards and was well reviewed (88 Metascore).  Zvyagnistev played T-ride in '14 with Leviathan.  Chances: 80%.

2) A Fantastic Woman/Lelio.  The factors: Played Berlin where it won awards and was really well reviewed (96 Metascore).  Lelio played T-ride in '13 with Gloria.  Chances: 75%.

3) The Rider/Zhao.  The factors: An SPC purchase at Cannes after a very good play in the Director's Fortnight (86 Metascore).  Despite a young director and a cast of unprofessional actors, this is a film that I just have a gut instinct about in as far as TFF is concerned.  Chances: 60%.

4) Happy End/Haneke.  The factors:  Despite some critical disgruntlement, the film has a respectable Metascore (78) and Haneke's history is very strong with TFF (Amour, The White Ribbon , Cache). Chances: 55%.

After those four, the SPC slate seems a bit murkier as far as predicting films with a possible Telluride fest play.

5) Final Portrait/Tucci.  The factors: The biopic about artist Alberto Giacometti stars Geoffrey Rush (who was in T-ride in '10 with The King's Speech).  Stanley Tucci wrote and directed the film which played Berlin.  That plus a good Metascore (76) give it the #5 spot.  Chances: 40%.

6) The Silent Man/Landesman.  The factors: Liam Neeson stars as Mark Felt, the Deep Throat of Watergate fame.  It hasn't played festivals to this point.  If TFF is looking to program a film that "feels" reflective of the current environment in Washington; this could be a way to do that.  Chances: 25%

7) The Leisure Seeker/Virzi.  The factors: Like Silent Man, The Leisure Seeker has not played at a fest as yet.  It stars Helen Mirren (The Last Station '09) and Donald Sutherland.  Chances: 20%

Note about The Silent Man and The Leisure Seeker.  Though neither has played a festival, neither did SPC films Norman nor Maudie last year...so don't count either film out.

8) Based on a True Story/Polanski.  The factors:  The film was not reviewed well following its Cannes play (Metascore 43) and Polanski's inability to accompany the film to the U.S.  makes it the least likely of the eight SPC films listed here.  Chances: 5%.

One final note:  Although I doubt that Telluride plays another Sundance film this year, it's not impossible.  Last year both Manchester by the Sea and The Eagle Huntress played Sundance first and there was a lot of buzz that Birth of a Nation might make the same journey until the film got mired in director Nate Parker's controversy.  Sooo...2% chances for Call Me By Your Name and Novitiate.


Monday's look will be The Weinstein Company.


TRAILER FOR GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

If you didn't see it yesterday, Fox Searchlight dropped a trailer for Simon Curtis' Goodbye Christopher Robin starring Domnhall Gleeson as Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne.  Margot Robbie co-stars as his wife.

Here's the trailer from YouTube:

The scenes look lovely and obviously, Fox Searchlight, which has dated the film for an Oct. 13th release, thinks it has an awards player on its hands.

Could it play Telluride?  I'll be assessing its chances as I look at the FS slate next week.

Here's additional coverage of the releases of the trailer from:

Indiewire

The Playlist

The Film Stage

FirstShowing


Come back on Monday...


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Lotta Ins, Lotta Outs Part One: Last Flag, Florida and Another Wonder /the 25th Telluride Film Festival Re-visited

It's Tuesday...


LOTTA INS, LOTTA OUTS PART ONE: LAST FLAG, FLORIDA AND ANOTHER WONDER

Yes.  I'm quoting The Dude.  I'm talkin' The Dude here.  Yesterday saw at least three pieces of news that altered some parts of the fall film scene.

First...an "out".  The New York Film Festival announced that Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying will be their opening film and that it will be a world premiere on Sept. 28th.

Cranston, Carell and Fishburne in Last Flag Flying (from NYFF and Collider)

That world premiere status means that the film is off the table in as far as a Telluride play is concerned.

Bums me out a bit as it is a film that I would like to have seen make the TFF #44 lineup.  Bryan Cranston and Steve Carell in a "spiritual sequel" to Hal Ashby's classic The Last Detail? I would have been a very receptive viewer.

And though I never have had it high on my mental list of TFF-possibles...its status as an Amazon Studios film kept me from ruling it out completely.

But it's ruled out now.  No Last Flag at T-ride.

Coverage is linked about the NYFF announcement below:

The New York Film Fest Press Release

Variety

Indiewire

Awards Daily

Collider


And while Last Flag Flying was getting booted off my list, a couple of other films were dated for release yesterday which, in one case, made their Telluride case a little better and in the other might move a film onto the periphery of my list.

Sean Baker's The Florida Project was announced with an Oct. 6th release date.  That puts it in very good chronological position for A24 regarding T-ride and Toronto and a possible awards play.

Florida Project news is here from Variety and here from Indiewire.

Also yesterday, Amazon announced that Woody Allen's latest, Wonder Wheel is getting a release on Dec. 1.  It's Allen's first non-summer release in some time and puts it in play for awards season which means that I might have to pay attention to its chances at Telluride.  I think they're small but...it is Amazon and Allen's Sweet and Lowdown played the fest back in 1999.  So never say never.



Wonder Wheel announcement coverage is here from:

Variety

Indiewire

The Playlist



THE 25TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL RE-VISITED

Another in my continuing attempt to document, online, a more thorough examination of the history of the Telluride Film Festival.  Today, a big anniversary fest.  #25.

The 25th Telluride Film Festival ran Sept. 3-7, 1998 (an extra fifth day for the anniversary).

Guest Director: Peter Bogdanovich

Tributes:  Meryl Streep, Vittorio Storaro, Susumu Hani

Special Medallion: Stanley Kauffman

SHOWS:

The Apple
August 32nd on Earth
Autumn Tale
Brakhage

Central Station
Claire Dolan
The Crowd
Dance Me to My Song
Dancing at Lughnasa
Dial HISTORY
Directed by John Ford
The Dreamlife of Angels
Endurance
The Fire Within
Frank Lloyd Wright
The General
Head

Happiness
I Stand Alone
I'm Losing You
The Informer
The Inheritors
It Happened Here
Kindness
The Last Command
Life at Any Cost
Love
M
Make Way for Tomorrow
The Man Who Laughs

Night of the Hunter
My Son the Fanatic
Outskirts
The Reckless Moment
Remous
She and He
Smiles of a Summer Night
Strike
Tango
Touch of Evil
We All Loved Each Other So Much
The Wedding March
Xiu Xiu-The Sent Down Girl

Guests:

Laurie Anderson
Rosanna Arquette
Peter Bogdanovich
John Boorman
Ken Burns
Joan Chen
Monte Hellman
Buck Henry
Chuck Jones
Janet Leigh
Norman Lloyd
Terrence Malick
Leonard Maltin
Errol Morris
Gaspar Noe
Bob Rafaelson
Michael Ritchie
Walter Salles
Barbet Schroeder
Todd Solondz
Vittorio Stararo
Meryl Streep
Bertrand Tavernier
Denis Villeneuve


Interesting (to me anyway) notes:

Terrence Malick at TFF for the documentary he produced: Endurance.  Twin Peaks alum Joan Chen directing Xiu Xiu, Denis Villeneuve with his first feature.


And that's Tuesday.  Back on Thursday...


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The Distribution Tango / The Cartoons in France

Good Thursday to all...from La La Land...

THE DISTRIBUTION TANGO

I'm right up against it for this summer.  The annual stroll through distribution outlets to examine their wares and try to determine what films from which outlets will wend their way to the San Juans over Labor Day weekend.

Some companies have a long and illustrious relationship with TFF.  Sony Pictures Classics is the prime example of this.  Here's their Telluride resume over the past several years:

2016: The Eagle Huntress, Maudie, Norman, Toni Erdmann (4)
2015: Son of Saul (1)
2014: Foxcatcher, Leviathan, Red Army, Mr. Turner, Wild Tales, Salt of the Earth and Merchants of Doubt (7)
2013: The Invisible Woman, The Lunchbox, The Past, Tim's Vermeer and Jodorowsky's Dune (5)
2012: The Gatekeepers, At Any Price, Rust and Bone, No, Wadjda, Amour (6)
2011: A Dangerous Method, In Darkness, Footnote, A Separation (4)
2010: Incendies, Of Gods and Men, Tamara Drewe, Another Year, The Illusionist, Inside Job (6)
2009: The Last Station, The White Ribbon, Coco Before Chanel, A Prophet, An Education (5)
2008: Waltz with Bashir, I've Loved You So Long, O'Horten (3)
2007: Brick Lane, When Did You Last See Your Father, Persepolis, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, Steep! (6)
2006: Jindabyne, The Lives of Others, Volver, The Italian (4)
2005: Breakfast on Pluto, Capote, Cache, The Child (4)
2004: Being Julia, House of Flying Daggers, Bad Education, Merchant of Venice, Up and Down, Yes (6)
2003: The Fog of War, My Life Without Me, The Triplets of Belleville, Young Adam (4)


Or relative newcomers like A24 which hasn't been in business long but already has made a place for itself in Telluride.

Note:

2016: Moonlight
2015: Room
2014:  _____
2013: Under the Skin
2012: Ginger and Rosa

Then there are the players who are hit and miss like The Weinstein Company and Fox Searchlight:

TWC:

2015: Carol
2014: The Imitation Game, Escobar: Paradise Lost
2013: The Unknown, Salinger, Tracks
2012: The Sapphires
2011: The Artist, Butter
2010: The King's Speech
2009: The Road
2008: Happy-Go-Lucky
2007: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, My Enemy's Enemy, I'm Not There
2006: Venus, Indigenes

But no TWC film at TFF in 2016.

Fox Searchlight:

2015: He Named Me Malala
2014: Birman, Wild
2013: 12 Years a Slave
2011: Shame, The Descendants
2010: Never Let Me Go, 127 Hours, Black Swan
2008: Slumdog Millionaire
2007: Juno, The Savages
2006: The Last King of Scotland, The Namesake
2005: Bee Season
2004: Kinsey

But, like TWC, there was no FS film at Telluride in 2016.

Plus several others including major studios that occasionally play in The SHOW.  We're going to start looking at all of that tomorrow.

THE CARTOONS IN FRANCE

The Annecy Animation Festival has started up in France this week.  The festival opened on Monday and continues through the weekend.  Annecy sometimes serves up a film or two that make the TFF lineup in the fall.  This year I am keeping my eye on Loving Vincent which is playing in the Annecy Fest and which I have been keeping track of for months.

Variety reported on Loving Vincent's accelerating distribution sales this week in light of its premiere at Annecy.  U.S. distribution for the completely hand-painted film is with Good Deed Entertainment which is a very young outlet.

It will be of some interest should the film be  a prize winner by week's end.

More tomorrow.

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Telluride and The New York Times 25 Best Films of the 21st Century / Oscar's Foreign Language Race and Labor Day

Welcome back from the weekend...

TELLURIDE AND THE NEW YORK TIMES 25 BEST FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The New York Times got social media going over the last few days as they posted a list of what A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis have determined are the 25 best films that have been released since the calendar rolled over to the new century.  

It will likely not surprise you that a good number of those films had ties to TFF.  For example, their too choice is Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece There Will Be Blood as the top film.  As many TFFers will recall, TWBB scenes were screened in 2007 as a part of the tribute that year to Daniel Day Lewis.

Other films that make the NYT list with Telluride histories include:

#2 Spirited Away played Telluride in 2002.

#6 Yi Yi 2000

#11 Inside Llewyn Davis 2013

#14 L'enfant 2005

#17 Three Times 2005

#20 Moonlight 2016

#22 I'm Not There 2007

So better than a third of the list (8/25) made a stop in the San Juans in their journey to the NYT list (if you include TWBB, which I do).

The complete NYT list of 25 with commentary from Scott and Dargis is linked here.

OSCARS FOREIGN LANGUAGE RACE, FESTS AND LABOR DAY

Shane Slater at Awards Circuit posted an interesting article over the weekend with some thoughts about the major fests that have already come and gone and the impact that they might have on the foreign language Oscar race.

As a result, we can look at some of those as potential titles for TFF.  

Slater mentions films from Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Cannes.

From those films he mentions these probably have the best T-ride shot:

The Other Side of Hope 

Spoor

Loveless

120 BPM

The Square

Happy End

Check out the entire post from Awards Circuit here.

That's Monday...

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Time Tunnel: TFF #26 / State of the Race 2017 Vol. I

Welcome to the first Friday post on some time...


TIME TUNNEL: TFF #26


I'm continuing my on-going step back in time.  Today we go back to the 20th century and the 26th Telluride Film Festival (1999).  This is a part of my project to more accurately document the history of TFF.  Ultimately all of these posts of past Telluride Film Fests will replace the :Selected History" page that currently exists here at MTFB.


TFF 26 occurred from Sept. 3-6, 1999.

Guest Director: Peter Sellars

Tributes:

Catherine Deneuve
David Lynch
Philip Glass

Special Medallion: Arena


SHOWS:

Allah Tantou
Black and White
Bona
The Brian Epstein Story
Dust in the Wind
Dracula
East is East
Falalblas
Farewell, Home Sweet Home
The Girl on the Bridge
Greed
I Could Read the Sky
I'll Take You There

Jesus' Son
Journey to the Sun
Kadosh
Kurt Garron's Karussell
Journey to the Sun
La Garnde Bouffe
Me Myself I
Mifune
My Best Friend
Nothing More than a Woman
Orefu
The Passing
Place Vendome
Princess Mononoke
The Shakedown

The Straight Story
Time Regained
Travellers
The Taeback Mountains
Wisconsin Death Trip


Guests (a partial list):

Ken Burns
Billy Crudup
Catherine Deneuve
Richard Farnsworth
Philip Glass
Werner Herzog
David Lynch
Gary Meyer
Peter Sellars
Ally Sheedy
Adrienne Shelley
James Toback


A personal note: Denueve, Lynch and Glass in town at the same time...OMG!  (and Peter Sellars too...you're killing me!...Farnsworth...Burns...)


STATE OF THE RACE 2017 VOL. I

It's not a secret that one of the factors I look at this far out from the fest is the early line on Oscar contenders from the Oscar prognosticating professionals.

Consequently, when Awards Daily's Sasha Stone starts to turn her attention to the upcoming Oscar race, I pay attention as it may provide valuable insight into the films that will end up making it into the TFF #44 program

Sasha suggests that we keep an eye out for:

The Florida Project'
Wonderstruck


In addition to those two films, Sasha also suggests that we'd be wise to pay attention to clues surrounding these films (that could make The SHOW):

Suburbicon
Battle of the Sexes
The Current War
mother!
Victoria and Abdul
Downsizing


Take a look at Sasha's complete post here.

That's all the news that fits...See you back here on Monday...



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Pre-Release POSTER NEWS / More Quixote Views

Good Thursday film fans...


EXCLUSIVE: PRE-RELEASE POSTER NEWS

If you read Tuesday's blog post, you know that I included a segment about the fact that we haven't seen an announcement concerning this year's poster or poster artist.  The point I was making was that, normally, over the past few years, we have seen that announcement by now.

Well...

In response, I received an email from blog fan/reader Amanda Gessert who reported that she had been in Telluride last weekend and happened to spy, in the window of The Nugget Theater, what appears to be this year's poster.  No kidding...

Here are her photos:

Admittedly, the window glare makes it difficult to really make out all the details but you can get a pretty good sense of what the TFF #44 poster looks like.

My thanks to Amanda for the pics.

MORE QUIXOTE VIEWS

In light of the news from earlier this week that Terry Gilliam had wrapped principal photography, I thought I'd link  an Indiewire story that includes ten photos of the project from the very beginning right up to the present day.

Here are a couple:

The complete selection of images is here from Indiwire.


That's your Thursday post.  More to come tomorrow.


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The Don is Done / What We Haven't Seen...Yet

Haven't posted on a Tuesday for awhile...


THE DON IS DONE

Well...the filming is complete for Terry Gilliam's 17 year long gestating The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.  Now it's time for it to move to post-production.

The film has achieved legendary status as an exercise in frustration and perservernce as Gilliam has been trying to get the film made for 17+ years.  The film was featured as a part of a documentary that played Telluride back in 2002 (TFF #29).  The doc was entitled Lost in La Mancha and Gilliam attended the fest as a part of that.

The Telluride program description for Lost in La Mancha sounds like it could have been written right up until this last year:

Amazon Studios was the principle factor in Gilliam securing the funding to get the project filmed and that makes me think that we could see the film as a part of the TFF #45 lineup.  I don't think a Cannes 2018 spot is outside the realm of possibility either.

Linked for your enjoyment are articles about Gilliam's completion from Indiewire, The Playlist, Variety and Slashfilm.


WHAT WE HAVEN'T SEEN...YET

I'm a little surprised that we haven't seen a poster release for TFF #44 as yet.  I checked back over the last six years and the fest usually has announced the poster by this time.  2012 was an anomaly as the poster artist and poster weren't announced until July 9th.  But each of the other years back to 2011, we've known who and what by this time.

Here's a quick trip down poster memory lane:

2016:

2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

2011:

More to come on Thursday...

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Telluride History Continued: TFF #27 / More Cannes Awards Season Analysis / If I Had To...

Welcome to your first Monday in June...

A note here about MTFB in the summer of 2017.  Because I'm going to be on the road a lot this summer, MTFB is going to go with a four day a week publishing schedule for most weeks between now and the Festival.  Normally, MTFB posts on Mondays and Thursdays and for this summer in the run up to TFF #44 I am going to add posts for Tuesday and Friday.  This is a little departure from the last couple of years in which I have posted five times a week for the summer schedule.

So, at least here at the start of the three month countdown to Telluride, that's the plan.


TELLURIDE HISTORY CONTINUED: TFF #27

Today, I continue my amble back through Telluride Film Fest history.  We look at TFF #27 that took place Sept. 1-4, 2000.

Guest Director: Edgardo Cozarinsky

Tributes: Ang Lee, Stellan Skarsgard. Im Kwon Taek
Special Medallion: Serge Silberman

Special Programs:

Norman Lloyd Reminisces
Elmore Leonard: Storyteller

Films:

Aberdeen
About Bunuel
Beauty Will Save the World
Better Than Sex
Boseman and Lena
The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley
Chinese Coffee
Chopper
Chuck Jones: Extremes and In-Betweens
Chunhyang

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dinner Rush
The Endurance
Faithless
Forever Mine
Hell's Heroes
House of Mirth
Innocence
Jazz
The King is Alive
Kippur
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Native Son
Nosferatu
One Day in September
Our Lady of the Assassins
Rapt

Quills
Seven Men from Now
Shadow of the Vampire
Stranger on the Prowl
Sunset Boulevards
Sweet and Lowdown
A Time of Drunken Horses
The Widow of St. Pierre
Wings of Hope
Yi Yi
Yolgnu Boy

Guests:

Eric Bana
Angela Bassett
Ken Burns
Willem Dafoe
Andrew Dominick
Sarah Gavron
Danny Glover
Werner Herzog
Phil Kaufman
Ang Lee
Elmore Leonard
Kevin Macdonald
Leonard Maltin
Todd McCarthy
Janet McTeer
Al Pacino
Peter Reigert
Paul Schrader
Barbet Schroeder
Peter Sellars
Stellan Skarsgard
Barry Sonnenfeld


Note: Film maker Sarah Gavron made her first Telluride appearance with her short film Losing Touch.

Also, personally...would have loved to have been there for the Elmore Leonard program and the presentation of Nosferatu.



MORE CANNES AWARDS SEASON ANALYSIS

I'm adding links here to post-Cannes awards analysis from Nicole Sperling at Entertainment Weekly  and Erik Anderson of Awards Watch.

Sperling specifically mentions The Beguiled (opening on June 30, so off the table for Telluride) and Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here as potential Oscar hopefuls.  She also makes the point that The Florida Project could be a dark horse (as I have said as well).

Foreign Language film candidates that she assesses are Palme d'Or winner The Square, Loveless, Happy End and BPM.  For my money Loveless and BPM seem the most likely T-ride choices.

Anderson, in his post for Awards Watch, starts with mentioning, The Square, BPM and Loveless as real Foreign Language contenders.

Other article highlights are his suggestion that neither Wonderstruck nor Happy End were probably hurt by their lack of awards and that we should be watching for Agnes Varda and JR's Visages/Villages (Faces/Places) as a serious contender for Best Documentary.



IF I HAD TO...

I won't put up the first "official" Ten Bets for Telluride of the year until June 23rd...but...if I had to tell you right now what I think...in no particular order...

Wonderstruck
The Florida Project
Loveless
A Fantastic Woman
Downsizing
Visages/Villages (Faces/Places)
You Were Never Really Here
BPM
The Current War
Battle of the Sexes

...might be near the top of a hypothetical "Ten Bets" three months before the fest commences...but don't quote me.


And that'll do it for this Monday.  I'll have more tomorrow...


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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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