CLARITY FROM NEW YORK AND TORONTO
Announcements on Tuesday from both the New York Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival helped to sharpen the focus on what films are likely to be screening as a part of the 51st edition of the Telluride Film Festival.
New York Fest reveals seemed to confirm earlier extrapolations that the following will play TFF #51:
All We Imagine as Light
Anora
Misrecordia
Nickel Boys
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
In addition NYFF premiere designations signal that the following are also likely for TFF #51:
Dahomey
Grand Tour
No Other Land
Meanwhile, Toronto Centerpiece announcements tend to confirm The Seed of the Sacred Fig in addition to the inclusion of Flow and Santosh as TFF #51 films.
Additionally, the fate of Paul Schrader's Oh, Canada is once again, up in the air, as NYFF lists it with no premiere designation as opposed to a U.S. Premiere designation which would normally signal a Telluride play. Meanwhile Toronto's lineup lists it as a North American Premiere. Both things can't be true. I'm thinking Oh, Canada might be in TFF #51 after all.
With three weeks left we expect to hear more from both of these fests as well as nod or two from London.
TEN (PLUS) BETS #8 FOR TFF #51
Woooo...we ARE getting down to it for 2024!
Here's your now weekly prediction about what will be screening at the 51st Telluride Film Festival. First a look at last week's predicted field:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Audiard
4) The End/Oppenheimer
5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia
6) The Piano Lesson/Washington
7) Nickel Boys/Ross
8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie
HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS
I had a couple of readers send me information about possible confirmations/inclusions about films and/or attendees this past week.
Back on July 23rd I posted an MTFB special about announcements from Toronto, Venice and New York. One of the films I especially noted was Andrea Arnold's Bird as it was labeled as a North American Premiere on the TIFF official website but had been posted here on X as a Canadian Premiere. However, MTFB reader Bobby Harris contacted me to reveal that TIFF's entry for Bird on the website has been changed to Canadian:
So, for me, that's going to mean that I'm putting Bird back on the Ten Bets/Possible list when it gets updated on Thursday.
Additionally, I had another reader reach out to convey intell about three possible attendees for TFF. I'm going to be a little cagey here as to who/where the info came from as well as explicitly naming names-at least for now. I will say that a couple of the names would confirm that Anora and Emilia Perez will play Telluride. The third person's presence would indicate one or possibly two films neither of which are currently among the "Bets" or "Possibles".
WHO COULD BE AT TFF#51?
For fun, let's assume I'm right about almost everything playing at TFF #51; what star wattage could we see in town, on panels, doing Q&A's?
Anora: Sean Baker, Mikey Madison
Conclave: Edward Berger, Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini
Emilia Perez: Jacques Audiard, Zoe Saldana, Sele na Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Adriana Paz
The End: Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, Geo
TEN BETS (PLUS) #7 FOR TFF #51
Waiting on announcements from New York, Venice (they just added Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American saga Part 2 to their lineup yesterday) as well as Fantastic Fest
Here's last week's Ten (Plus) Bets:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Audiard
4) The End/Oppenheimer
5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia
6) The Piano Lesson/Washington
7) Misrecordia/Guiraudie
8) Nickel Boys/Ross
9) Better Man/Gracey
10) Piece by Piece/Neville
And a Bonus Five Bets:
11) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof
12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
13) The Apprentice/Abassi
14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee
15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz
Other possibilities:
Maria/Larrain
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975/Reitman
Memoir of a Snail/Elliot
Babygirl/Reijn
Separated/Morris
One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and Rice-Edwards
Harvest/Tsangari
Allegorie Citadine/ Rohrwacher and JR
And here's this week's:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Audiard
4) The End/Oppenheimer
5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia
6) The Piano Lesson/Washington
7) Nickel Boys/Ross
8) Misrecordia/Guiraudie
9) Better Man/Gracey
10) Piece by Piece/Neville
And a Bonus Five Bets:
11) The Apprentice/Abassi
12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
13) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof
14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee
15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz
Other possibilities:
Maria/Larrain
Megalopolis/Coppola
Separated/Morris
Saturday Night/Reitman
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
The Actor/Johnson
Memoir of a Snail/Elliot
One on One: John and Yoko/ Macdonald and R
VENICE SCHEDULE LEAK
World of Reel reports that at least part of the Venice Film fest has leaked. As frequent readers of MTFB know, there is often a fairly substantial crossover between films that screen early at Venice (the first three days) and the TFF lineup.
If the partially leaked titles and dates are correct it looks like Pablo Larrain's Maria is positioned to make the leap from Italy to Colorado as WOR says it bows in Venice on Aug. 29th. The other film that is suggested as a possible Venice-Telluride double play is Halina Reijn's Babygirl (however, see below) starring Nicole Kidman which is said to screen on Aug. 30th.
The reporting also indicates that, as previously reported, both Queer and The Room Next Door will be scheduled far too late to make an appearance at TFF #52.
I suspect that there will be other films that make the trip but as yet no other films screening schedule seems to have been revealed.
DAVIS DETAILS TELLURIDE
Variety's Clayton Davis writing on Tuesday detailed a ton of Telluride lineup info.
Here's what Davis says will be playing:
Conclave
Piece by Piece
Nickel Boys
The End
Anora
Better Man
The Piano Lesson
Emilia Perez
Maria
The Friend
All We Imagine as Light
Misrecordia
Maybes for Telluride:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Apprentice
Megalopolis
Will NOT play Telluride:
Babygirl
A Complete Unknown
Nightbitch
The Room Next Door
Pedron Paramo
Gladiator II
Here
We Live in Time
The Brutalist
Wolfs
Queer
Joker: Folie a Deux
TEN BETS #6 FOR TFF #51
Well, the hints hit hard this week with the Toronto and Venice Fests announcing the bulk of their 2024 lineups. New York also got into the act by announcing their opening night film: RaMell Ross' Nickel Boys-with its conspicuous absence of a premiere designation in the media release. Needless to say...we know more now than we did a week ago.
Here's what the "Ten Bets" and other possibilities looked like last week:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard
4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar
5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof
6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
7) Nickel Boys/Ross
8) Maria/Pablo Larrain
9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino
10) Bird/Arnold
Other possibilities:
The End/Oppenheimer
I'm Still Here/Salles
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Hard Truths/Leigh
The Piano Lesson/Washington
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
Oh, Canada/Schrader
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975
All We Imagine as Light
Memoir of a Snail
Now, here's the update:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Audiard
4) The End/Oppenheimer
5) All We Imagine as Light/Kapadia
6) The Piano Lesson/Washington
7) Misrecordia/Guiraudie
8) Nickel Boys/Ross
9) Better Man/Gracey
10) Piece by Piece/Neville
And a Bonus Five Bets:
11) The Seed of the Sacred Fig/Rasoulof
12) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
13) The Apprentice/Abassi
14) The Friend/Siegel and McGeehee
15) Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight/Davitz
Other possibilities:
Maria/Larrain
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975/Reitman
Memoir
TEN BETS #5 FOR TFF #51
Some movement this week primarily around the news about Edward Berger's Conclave (see below). Here's this week's updated Ten bets for TFF. Next week we should know more with added information from Toronto and Venice.
1) Anora/Baker
2) Conclave/Berger
3) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard
4) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar
5) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof
6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
7) Nickel Boys/Ross
8) Maria/Pablo Larrain
9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino
10) Bird/Arnold
Other possibilities:
The End/Oppenheimer
I'm Still Here/Salles
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Hard Truths/Leigh
The Piano Lesson/Washington
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
Oh, Canada/Schrader
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975
All We Imagine as Light
Memoir of a Snail
CONCLAVE REPORTEDLY TO TFF AND FIRST LOOKS
Jordan Ruimy writing at World of Reel reported Monday that Edward Berger's Conclave will screen at Telluride.
"Now, I’m hearing that “Conclave” is going to premiere at the Telluride Film Festival during the first week of September. No word yet on whether it’s a world premiere given that Venice could still be an option."
MTFB has had Conclave on each of the weekly Ten Bets lists from the initial list.
With Ruimy's reporting and Indiewire's Anne Thompson reporting that Sean Baker's Anora will also play Telluride (reported here last week).
Meanwhile, Vanity Fair has released the first images of Conclave. Here's a couple of those:
TEN BETS #4 FOR TFF #51
There is a bit of movement in the Ten Bets this week. One move is the result of Mark Cousin's winning the Crystal Globe, the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, last week. Relatedly, I re-read
the Indiewire article about that and discovered this line from its author, Anne Thompson:
"Word is, Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora” (Neon) may play exclusively at Telluride, which does not announce its slate in advance..."
Anne Thompson is an impeccable source so that tidbit is enough for me to move Anora up even more on the Ten Bets list.
Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:
1) Anora/Baker
2) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard
3) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar
4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof
5) Nickel Boys/Ross
6) A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
7) Maria/Pablo Larrain
8) Conclave/Berger
9) Queer/Luca Guadagnino
10) Bird/Arnold
Other possibilities:
The End/Oppenheimer
I'm Still Here/Salles
Parthenope/Sorrentino
In the Hand of Dante/Schnabel
Hard Truths/Leigh
The Piano Lesson/Washington
Untitled Noah Baumbach
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
Oh, Canada/Schrader
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975
All We Imagine as Light
Memoir of a Snail
ODDS AND ENDS
I've spent some time looking at the most common distributors who screen films at TFF. To date that has included these distribs and their most likely films to be possible for Telluride:
A24:Parthenope, Babygirl, On B
TEN BETS FOR TFF #51-THIRD EDITION
Happy Independence Day to everyone!
Here's 2024's third installment of MTFB's "Ten Bets" for the Telluride Film Festival. The big move this week is that Steve McQueen's Blitz comes off the possibilities list (see the story below). Additionally Emilia Perez and The Room Next Door move up a couple of spots while Anora and The Seed of the Sacre Fig each drop a couple of spots. Nickel Boys moves up to #5.
Here's this week's Ten Bets for TFF #51:
1) Emilia Perez/Jacques Audiard
2) The Room Next Door/Pedro Almodovar
3) Anora/Sean Baker
4) The Seed of the Scared Fig/Mohammad Rasoulof
5) Nickel Boys/Ross
6) Bird/Andrea Arnold
7) Maria/Pablo Larrain
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
Megalopolis/Coppola
Napoleon (new restoration)/Gance
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things/Cousins
Oh, Canada/Schrader
The Actor/Johnson
SNL 1975
BLITZ GOES TO LONDON
(Saorise Ronan in Blitz via Apple)
Apple+ and the BFI London Film Festival announced on Monday that Steve McQueen's Blitz will World Premiere as the Opening Night Film. Assuming that the premiere designation is accurate that means that the film will not play Telluride nor Venice and Toronto.
I had written here on the blog on May 30th that:
"I'd reallllly...love for Blitz to get to TFF and McQueen has a solid past with the fest, but...given the sto
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 fo