A major mystery when it comes to this year’s fall fests is what films will actually show up at TIFF, Telluride, Venice and New York. Toronto got the ball rolling yesterday with their slate of Galas and Special Presentation titles. However, the hybrid format this year in Toronto seems to have gotten some studios to pull out titles that were originally planned to be screened there.
Meanwhile, Venice, Telluride, and New York will likely be the beneficiaries of Toronto’s misfortune, as the in-person formats for those festivals have been much more embraced by studios.
For the past week, I’ve been asking around, looking for folks in the know, trying to assess what might be in store for us at the fall fests. Let’s start with Telluride, the festival that has launched many Oscar contenders. The following films seem to very much be in the cards, with only “The Tragedy of Macbeth” as a major question mark:
“The Hand of God” (Paulo Sorrentino)
“C’mon C’mon” (Mike Mills)
“The Power of Dog” (Jane Campion)
“Madres Paralelas” (Pedro Almodovar)
“The Card Counter” (Paul Schrader)
“Spencer” (Pablo Larrain)
“Tick, Tick... Boom!” (Lin Manuel-Miranda)
“Dune” (Denis Villeneuve)
“King Richard” (Reinaldo Marcus Green)
“The French Dispatch” (Wes Anderson)
“The Lost Daughter” (Maggie Gylenhaal)
“The Tragedy of Macbeth” (Joel Coen)
You can add a few more Cannes titles in there, as well as Will Sharpe’s “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,” Michael Pearce’s “Encounter,” Todd Haynes’ “The Velvet Underground,” Celine Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” and Ken Burns’ as-of-yet untitled Muhammad Ali documentary.
Skipping Telluride and going to Toronto will be Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho,” Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde,” Michael Showalter’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and Kenneth Branagh’s much-hyped “Belfast.”
It also looks as though November/December releases, “Nightmare Alley”, “Don’t Look Up”, “House of Gucci”, and “West Side Story” will wait it out and skip festivals for the time being. Maybe the AFI fest is better suited for them, or even, for some of these, no festival presence at all.
We’re not too sure about ‘Sopranos’ prequel, “The Many Saints of Newark.” It was rumoured for a Telluride bow, but now it seems as though a Telluride Film Festival premiere might be in the cards instead. It’s all up in the air.
Warner Bros. has refrained from premiering Clint Eastwood movies at fall festivals for a few years now. The last time he’s had festival presence was when the New York Film Festival world premiered 2015’s “Sully.” His last four films have skipped the fall fests. His latest, “Cry Macho,” might be no exception.
If you missed my Venice predictions, a very speculative competition lineup could look something like this:
"Blonde" - Andrew Dominik
”Madres Paraleles” - Pedro Almodovar
"The Power of the Dog" - Jane Campion
"Triangle of Sadness" - Ruben Ostlund
"The Card Counter" - Paul Schrader
”Last Night in Soho” - Edgar Wright
"The Hand of God" - Paolo Sorrentino
"Spencer" - Pablo Larrain
"Driftwood" - Michel Franco
"Il buco" - Michelangelo Frammartino
“Another World” - Stephane Brizé
“Happening (L'événement)” - Audrey Diwan
"The Lost Daughter" - Maggie Gylenhaal
”Official Competition” - Gaston Duprat, Mariano Cohn
”Freaks Out” - Gabriele Mainetti
“Mali Twist” - Robert Guédiguian
“Veneciafrenia” - Alex de la Iglesias
“Lost Illusions” - Xavier Gianolli
“Henrico’s Farm” - Lav Diaz
As for Toronto, only 32 movies have been announced so far. That means 68 are left to be announced. A lot is up in the air over there, with the festival trying to persuade studios to hop onboard their hybrid format.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.