Fall festivals provide the vitamins for a wealthy weight loss plan of movies for the following six months, all the way in which till Oscar night time. Venice launched Wednesday with Francis Coppola paying tribute to his pal Werner Herzog. On Thursday, Telluride revealed its lineup, which performs over the Labor Day weekend. (And, sure, the German maverick will fly to Telluride, as at all times.)
He’s among the many Telluride regulars who return for the summer-camp vibe within the mountains of Colorado. Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy often throw a celebration. So does Muppet scion Lisa Henson. Oprah Winfrey is coming this yr, even with out a movie, as are filmmakers Rian Johnson and Jason Reitman. (Herzog does have a movie: documentary “Ghost Elephants,” shot in Namibia and Angola.)
“Our neighborhood is an actual neighborhood,” stated pageant director Julie Huntsinger in a cellphone interview with IndieWire. “And I need everyone to hang around collectively and have enjoyable and watch.”
This yr, Huntsinger desires to keep away from the scheduling snafus that led so many loyal badge holders ($780 every) standing in line for hours with out seeing the large movies. Distributors prefer to see how motion pictures play for Telluride’s cross-section of the nationwide arthouse viewers, passing phrase of mouth from line to line.
One clue that one thing particular was taking place final yr with Sean Baker’s Palme D’Or-winner “Anora” was the massive variety of turnaways when the movie was booked in small venues (patron passes, which value $4,900, get in first). “Anora” ultimately gained 5 Oscars, together with Greatest Image. “No one noticed that coming, I promise you, to the extent that it was fashionable,” stated Huntsinger. “It’s a crapshoot, what folks will go loopy for.”
Huntsinger and her programmers cherry-pick titles from Sundance, Berlin, and particularly Cannes. And nicely earlier than Telluride co-founder Tom Luddy’s loss of life in 2023, Huntsinger has been flying solo and reserving a powerful lineup of intellectual awards contenders, classics, and idiosyncratic discoveries.
“We now have precisely what we needed,” she stated. “Every part that performs in Cannes is truthful sport. We’ll contact folks and say, ‘Oh, we’d very very like to point out it.’ And I don’t suppose we’ve ever been turned down.”
In the case of new titles, although, the competitors is fierce, even when Huntsinger pretends that Telluride doesn’t truck in “world premieres,” and touchdown the celebrities who go along with them. That requires distributors like Netflix to pony up for a personal jet to fly George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Adam Sandler from Venice to Telluride for Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly,” a profile of an growing old actor taking a look at himself within the mirror.
Additionally making the trek from Venice are Yorgos Lanthimos and his regulars Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, returning to the pageant for Focus Options’ “Bugonia.” “It’s [Lanthimos’] typical, ‘Oh, my God. What was he pondering?,’” stated Huntsinger. “This time, he has kicked the dwelling shit out of Emma Stone. What extra will he ask her to do? But it surely’s a incredible trip. Jesse Plemons would be the speak of the whole lot.”
However, Kathryn Bigelow’s Netflix movie “A Home of Dynamite” won’t journey from Venice to Telluride. And to date, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” starring Oscar Isaac because the scientist and Jacob Elordi because the monster, has not been introduced. However there’s at all times a “secret screening” or two because the pageant runs its course.
Some titles on Telluride’s top-secret lineup flow into prematurely — inevitable as different festivals reveal their premieres and publicists set up their schedules. Outstanding showings embody Netflix’s “Ballad of a Small Participant” (Edward Berger’s return after “Conclave”) starring Colin Farrell as a sad-sack gambler, and Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the bestselling tearjerker “Hamnet” (Focus), starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William and Agnes Shakespeare.
“Ballad of a Small Participant” proves Berger’s virtuosity, stated Huntsinger. “It’s true that Edward can direct something, his versatility is so underrated. That is uncommon and dreamy and nearly like a little bit of a Wong Kar-Wai really feel. However he by no means feels spinoff or copycat.”
“Hamnet” represents one thing of a homecoming: It was born out of a stroll within the woods at Telluride 2022 with Zhao and Mescal when he was there for “Aftersun.”
“The movie is a meditation on loss from a female perspective,” stated Huntsinger. “It shifts the story round Shakespeare to give attention to his spouse, but it surely doesn’t diminish anyone within the course of. Chloé’s working with Paul and Jesse. They’re like a phenomenal instrument, all three of them working collectively.”
Different first-time showings embody “Loopy Coronary heart” director Scott Cooper’s “Springsteen: Ship Me from Nowhere” (twentieth Century Studios). “It delivers,” stated Huntsinger. “It’s a kind of motion pictures that, on paper, sounds good, though musical performances might be iffy. However [Timothee] Chalamet knocked it out of the park with ‘A Full Unknown.’ Jeremy Allen White does the identical, it’s all his voice. It’s not a singing-performance heavy movie with the enormous live performance scenes. That is [Scott Cooper’s] greatest film.”
Huntsinger often affords just a few sudden gems, like final yr’s “Don’t Let’s Go to the Canines Tonight” (Sony Footage Classics), which launched main new auteur Embeth Davidtz. This yr’s surprises embody “Tuner,” the feature-directing debut of “Navalny” Oscar-winner Daniel Roher, starring Dustin Hoffman. (Its sound designer is “The Zone of Curiosity” Oscar-winner Johnnie Burn.) Huntsinger additionally made room for a last-minute submission from Ondi Timoner along with her brief movie about shedding a house to the Altadena fires, “All of the Partitions Got here Down.”
Telluride launches Oscar conversations and reminds everybody of Cannes gems within the awards hunt. These embody three prize-winners from Neon: “It Was Simply an Accident” (director Jafar Panahi will settle for a particular tribute), “The Secret Agent,” starring Greatest Actor Cannes winner Wagner Moura, and Norwegian Oscar entry “Sentimental Worth,” starring Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Rensve.
Skarsgård’s son Alexander stars in risque entry, “Pillion” (A24), which debuted in Un Sure Regard. MUBI brings two movies starring Josh O’Connor with Oliver Hermanus’ “The Historical past of Sound” and Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind.” Additionally displaying is Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut “Urchin” (1-2 Particular), starring Un Sure Regard actor-winner Frank Dillane. Some lacking titles, like Neon’s “Sirat,” will flip up on the schedules at Toronto and NYFF.
Not screening at Telluride, or any of the autumn festivals, is MUBI’s $24-million Cannes pickup “Die, My Love” from Lynne Ramsay, which stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. It earned combined opinions at Cannes and would possibly proceed to take action. MUBI plans a large launch on November 7.
Additionally not within the pageant lineups is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Leonardo DiCaprio-starring “One Battle After One other” (Warner Bros., September 26). Anderson doesn’t like attending festivals.
Dickinson and Mescal will attend Telluride despite the fact that they’re taking pictures certainly one of Sam Mendes’ Beatles motion pictures (Dickinson is Paul McCartney; Mescal is John Lennon). The precise McCartney is on tour, so he won’t be there to assist Morgan Neville’s Wings documentary “Man on the Run” (Amazon/MGM). Associated: McCartney’s former roommate, swinging ’60s music producer Peter Asher, is the topic of Telluride documentary “In every single place Man: The Life and Instances of Peter Asher.” (McCartney as soon as dated Peter’s sister, Jane.)
Sundance hit “If I Had Legs I Might Kick You” may reignite Oscar speak round Rose Byrne’s incendiary efficiency as a frayed mom with a special-needs baby. And Berlin breakout “Blue Moon” (Sony Footage Classics) marks not solely two pageant entries from Richard Linklater, who additionally directed Cannes’ “Nouvelle Obscure” (Netflix), however the Austin director’s first go to to Telluride.
“Blue Moon” stars Telluride tributee Ethan Hawke as alcoholic songwriter Lorenz Hart, sadly watching his former associate Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) rejoice the opening night time of “Oklahoma!” at Sardi’s. (Scott took dwelling the Berlin Silver Bear for Greatest Supporting Efficiency.) Hawke may also be at Telluride to assist his Merle Haggard documentary, “Freeway 99: A Double Album.”
Telluride proceed to assist documentaries, which are sometimes uncared for at festivals like Cannes. (Paradoxically, Cannes pageant director Thierry Fremaux directed a documentary, “Lumière, le Cinéma,” which is among the many 15 in the primary SHOW.) “Typically they’re higher than the scripted movies which can be out these days,” stated Huntsinger.
Telluride docs embody “Summer time Tour” (Grateful Useless & Co.); “Ask E. Jean,” Ivy Meeropol’s portrait of E. Jean Carroll, who’s now 82; Laura Poitras’ “Cowl-Up,” a profile of investigative journalist Seymour Hersh; Nick Hooker’s “Karl,” about Karl Lagerfeld, and “Misplaced within the Jungle” from Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, a search-and-rescue mission about Colombian youngsters who survived a airplane crash. “It’s a thriller,” stated Huntsinger. “Though you realize the ending.”
There’s a plethora of movies from the U.Ok., from Plan B’s adaptation of bestselling memoir “H is for Hawk” starring Claire Foy and an Eurasian goshawk (it’s already screening for distributors), to Riz Ahmed’s South Asian tackle “Hamlet.” “That nation, that tradition, they assist filmmaking,” stated Huntsinger. “Each facet of it.” She’s grateful, because the American provide of movies feels diminished, “with our cabinet being a little bit naked proper now.”
After Venice and Telluride come the bigger amplifier festivals Toronto and New York and a collection of regional festivals from the Hamptons and Middleburg to SCAD. Oscar campaigners will relentlessly bang the drums by March. However Telluride will get the beat began.
The 52nd version of the Telluride Movie Competition will embody 60 options, revivals, and shorts from 30 international locations. It runs August 29 – September 1. Take a look at the complete lineup under.
The SHOW:
“A Non-public Life” (d. Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2025)
“Ask E. Jean” (d. Ivy Meeropol, U.S., 2025)
“Ballad of a Small Participant” (d. Edward Berger, Hong Kong/Macau, 2025)
“Blue Moon” (d. Richard Linklater, U.S./Eire, 2025)
“Bugonia” (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.Ok., 2025)
“Cowl-Up” (d. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, U.S., 2025)
“In every single place Man: The Lives and Instances of Peter Asher” (d. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, U.S./U.Ok., 2025)
“Ghost Elephants” (d. Werner Herzog, Angola/Namibia/U.S., 2025)
“H Is for Hawk” (d. Philippa Lowthorpe, U.Ok./U.S., 2025)
“Hamlet” (d. Aneil Karia, U.Ok., 2025)
“Hamnet” (d. Chloé Zhao, U.Ok., 2025)
“Freeway 99 a Double Album” (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2025)
“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (d. Mary Bronstein, U.S., 2025)
“It Was Simply an Accident” (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg, 2025)
“Jay Kelly” (d. Noah Baumbach, Italy/U.Ok./U.S., 2025)
“Karl” (d. Nick Hooker, U.Ok., 2025)
“La Grazia” (d. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2025)
“Misplaced within the Jungle” (d. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Juan Camilo Cruz, U.S./Colombia, 2025)
“Lumière, le Cinéma” (d. Thierry Frémaux, France, 2024)
“Man on the Run” (d. Morgan Neville, U.S., 2025)
“Nouvelle Obscure” (d. Richard Linklater, France, 2025)
“Pillion” (d. Harry Lighton, U.Ok., 2025)
“Sentimental Worth” (d. Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark/Germany, 2025)
“Shifty” (d. Adam Curtis, U.Ok., 2025)
“Springsteen: Ship Me from Nowhere” (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2025)
“Summer time Tour” (d. Mischa Richter, U.S., 2025)
“The American Revolution” (d. Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt, U.S., 2025)
“The Bend within the River” (d. Robb Moss, U.S., 2025)
“The Cycle of Love” (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.Ok./India/Sweden, 2025)
“The Historical past of Sound” (d. Oliver Hermanus, U.S., 2025)
“The Mastermind” (d. Kelly Reichardt, U.S., 2025)
“The New Yorker at 100” (d. Marshall Curry, U.S., 2025)
“The Reserve” (d. Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Mexico/Qatar, 2025)
“The Secret Agent” (d. Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany, 2025)
“This Is Not a Drill” (d. Oren Jacoby, U.S., 2025)
“Tuner” (d. Daniel Roher, U.S./Canada, 2025)
“Urchin” (d. Harris Dickinson, U.Ok., 2025)
The next brief movies will display screen in the primary program:
“Final Days on Lake Trinity” (d. Charlotte Cooley, U.S., 2025)
“Sallie’s Ashes” (d. Brennan Robideaux, U.S., 2025)
“Music of My Metropolis” (d. David C. Roberts, U.S., 2025)
“All of the Empty Rooms” (d. Joshua Seftel, U.S., 2025)
“All of the Partitions Got here Down” (d. Ondi Timoner, U.S., 2025)
Visitor Curator Ezra Edelman’s collection of movies:
“All of the President’s Males” (d. Alan J. Pakula, U.S., 1976)
“Malcolm X” (d. Spike Lee, U.S., 1992)
“Community” (d. Sidney Lumet, U.S., 1976)
“Rashomon” (d. Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950)
“The Insider” (d. Michael Mann, U.S., 1999)
The Backlot:
“All I Had Was Nothingness” (d. Guillaume Ribot, France, 2025)
“Carol & Pleasure” (d. Nathan Silver, U.S., 2025)
“Chaplin: Spirit of the Tramp” (d. Carmen Chaplin, Spain/U.Ok./Netherlands, 2024)
“Earth to Michael” (d. Nico López-Alegría, ZZ, U.S., 2025)
“Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fireplace” (d. Oren Rudavsky, U.S., 2024)
“King Hamlet” (d. Elvira Lind, U.S./Denmark, 2025)
“Megadoc” (d. Mike Figgis, U.S./U.Ok., 2025)
“Taking pictures” (d. Netalie Braun, Israel, 2025)
“The Golden Spurtle” (d. Constantine Costi, U.Ok./Australia, 2025)
“Their Eyes” (d. Nicolas Gourault, France, 2025)
Particular Screenings and Festivities:
“Cave of Forgotten Desires 3D 2025: Restoration and Recreation” (d. Werner Herzog, France/Canada/U.S./U.Ok./Germany, 2010)
“Studying to Fly” (d. Max Lowe, U.S./France/Switzerland/Italy/China/Hong Kong, 2025)
“The New Yorker at 100: A Gallery Exhibition”
“Steal This Story, Please!” (d. Carl Dean, Tia Lessin, U.S., 2025)
4K restoration of “The Gold Rush” (d. Charles Chaplin, U.S., 1925)
Competition Poster Signing with Daniel Clowes
Fact Be Informed: Journalism and Filmmaking within the twenty first Century