Ten Bets for TFF #51-Second Edition / Checking the
Distributors: Focus Features /A New Source of T-ride Spec
TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-SECOND EDITION
Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:
1) Anora/Sean Baker
2) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof
3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard
4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar
5) Bird/Andrea Arnold
6) Maria/Pablo Larrain
7) Nickel Boys/Ross
8) The End/Joshua Oppenheimer
9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino
10) Conclave/Edward Berger
Other possibilities:
We Live in Time/Crowley
I'm Still Here/Salles
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Hard Truths/Leigh
The Piano Lesson/Washington
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Blitz/McQueen
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
Oh, Canada/Schrader
The Actor/Johnson
CHECKING THE DISTRIBUTORS: FOCUS FEATURES
Today's look at frequent TFF distributors and what films they have with a chance at making the TFF #51 lineup turns to Focus Features.
Here is the moderately recent past of Focus at TFF:
2023- The Holdovers
2022- TAR, Armageddon Time
2021- Belfast, The Card Counter, Red Rocket
2020- The Way I See It
2019- Waves
2018- Boy Erased
2017- Darkest Hour
2015- Suffragette
2012- Hyde Park on Hudson
2006- Catch a Fire
Focus' big player this fall is from All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger. Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
Its IMDb description:
"Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events, selecting a new Pope, where he finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of The Church."
Also in Focus' basket is Robert Eggers Nosferatu set for release on Dec. 25th and Morgan Neville's Piece by Piece an animated documentary about Pharrell Williams set to be released Oct. 11th.
My assessment is that Conclave has a decent shot at a Venice/Telluride play. Though unlikely, both Nosferatu and Piece by Piece can't be totally ruled out. The chances:
Conclave 50%
Piece by Piece 20%
Nosferatu 15%.
A NEW SOURCE OF T-RIDE SPEC
I'm always looking for fresh insight into what might make the Telluride lineup and this week stumbled across Ezra Cubero's WordPress column about the fall fest season. So, I took a look at what
Cubero had predicted last year for Telluride in a post from June 22, 2023 and you know what, it was more than decent. Cubero had predicted 16 films for TFF #50 and got nine right. Not bad...not bad at all. So, I thought it was worth my time, and maybe yours, to see what Cubero thinks for TFF #51. And here's what that is:
Films that are flat out predicted to play TFF #51:
Anora
Bird
Hard Truths
Nickel Boys
The Piano Lesson
A Real Pain
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Above you' ll see that this week's Ten Bets includes Anora, Bird, Nickel Boys and The Seed of the Sacred Fig. I also have Hard Truths and The Piano Lesson on the possibilities list. I do not have A Real Pain on either list as it premiered at Sundance.
Then there are the films he refers to a "Maybes" for Telluride:
The Actor
All We Imagine as Light
The Apprentice
Conclave
A Different Man
Emilia Perez
The End
The Fire Inside
Maria
Memoir of a Snail
Queer
The Room Next Door
From the "Maybes" list I have Conclave, Emilia Perez, The End, Maria, Queer and The Room Next Door all as "Bets"...at least at the moment.
"Maybe" films that are also appearing in my "possibilities" list include The Actor.
As for the other "Maybes"...
All We Imagine as Light might have to go on my list of possibles.
The Apprentice, at least for now, seems dicey as a call for any festival.
A Different Man played Sundance.
The Fire Inside (Flint Strong)...I don't know how I feel about this one. The change of release dates to an awards friendly Dec. 25th, the fact that its coming from Amazon/MGM and that the script is from Barry Jenkins (who is also listed as a producer) screams a Telluride screening but I had been told at one point, from what I feel is a reliable source, that it's not a "Telluride" film. So...I dunno.
Memoir of a Snail...intriguing. from IFC Films and won the top prize at the Annecy Animation Fest. Might have to move this to my list of possibles.
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