I have been told, via a very knowledgable source, that the Telluride Film Festival will most likely not be happening this year. Why? Well, for the simple reason that they just don’t have enough movies or talent to make it a worthwhile event.
Studios are said to be very reluctant in sending out their talent to the prestigious Colorado-set film festival, which is supposed to launch during the final days of August. We already know that TIFF will have an abbreviated version of their festival in September, with just a 50-film lineup, but Telluride is a very different event, one which usually has its 30-something film lineup filled to the brink with world premieres of Oscar contenders.
There’s also a report from a local Telluride newspaper that the local school district has declined to allow the 2020 Telluride Film Festival (if it actually happens) to use school facilities for screenings, which means the fest has lost two movie theaters for screenings. County public health director Grace Franklin stated during the meeting that “the schools determined it’s not safe to be operating in any of those venues. It’s off the table.”
You can expect the fall festivals to have a lineup filled with Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes titles.
My current 20 best bets:
Ammonite (Francis Lee)
Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg)
Good Joe Bell (Reinaldo Marcus Green)
Spring Blossom (Suzanne Lindon)
True Mothers (Naomi Kawase)
On The Rocks (Sofia Coppola)
Nomadland (Chloe Zhao)
Mangrove (Steve McQueen)
Lover's Rock (Steve McQueen)
There Is No Evil (Mohammad Rasoulof)
Undine (Christian Petzoldt)
Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)
Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)
Soul (Pete Docter)
Deep Water (Adrian Lyne)
Respect (Liesl Tommy)
Forgotten We'll Be (Fernando Trueba)
Notturno (Zu Quirke)
Fireball (Werner Herzog)
Netflix and Skydance Animation have also called it quits. The two sides announced Monday that they're ending the animated film deal struck back in 2023, framing it as a mutual decision.