Telluride tracker Michael Patterson is eyeing, as always, the Best Bets for the 50th Telluride Film Festival. As I await his latest update, given that yesterday’s NYFF lineup gave us some more clues, here’s what I’ve gathered so far.
For the fest’s 50th edition, festival director Julie Huntsinger has decided to go all out with the world premieres. It’s quite something the batch of films that she’s amassed for this celebratory edition of Telluride.
This is what I have, so far, and, based on what I’ve heard, there may be more surprises around the corner:
NYAD (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)
Rustin (George C. Wolfe)
The Holdovers (Alexander Payne)
Wildcat (Ethan Hawke)
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell)
The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris)
Janet Planet (Annie Baker)
All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh)
The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)
Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos) — NA premiere
Then there’s the Cannes/Berlin films that Huntsinger as selected to be part of her lineup:
The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)
Anatomy of A Fall (Justine Triet)
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez)
Perfect Days (Wim Wenders)
Orlando, My Political Biography (Paul Presciado)
Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismaki)
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)
About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Quality matters at Telluride for Huntsinger and she will gladly reject a film that she might deem unworthy for her lineup. Remember, last year she said no to “The Whale,” “The Son,” and “White Noise.” Attendees were outraged, until those movies screened at Venice.
In a way, I’m wishing I had booked a trip to Venice/Telluride this year instead of Toronto, the lineups look quite formidable, especially at Julie’s fest. Toronto’s edge is the new Miyazaki, but it’s still missing a lot of noteworthy filmmakers such as Lanthimos, Fennell, Mann, Coppola, Fincher, Haigh and Nichols. Hopefully some of those get added in as late additions.
Alas, that’s how it goes, it’s always a gamble when you have to choose between Toronto, Venice and Telluride. Some years TIFF gets the better lineup, other years it’s Venice and/or Telluride. That’s the game we play. Not many people, if any, do all three.
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.