Here comes the 2014 Telluride Film Festival (TFF). I am sure this year’s selections will be both wonderful and wrenching. We’ve been going with family to this festival for more than 15 years so I thought I’d try to predict what they might show this year. Let’s see how I do! Of course, you are also welcome to recommend films that you think should be shown at the festival.
Last year at Telluride “Gravity” (Alfonso Cuaron’s film starring Sandra Bullock) was a big hit, and now I am hearing a lot of buzz about a new film called“Intersteller” starring Mathew McConaughey (last years’ Oscar winner).
In the same light of films featuring solo expeditions, “Tracks” was a hit last year at TFF and is finally getting distribution this fall. Perhaps Telluride will continue along the path of personal journeys and premiere Reese Witherspoons’ “Wild.”
Jon Stewart has directed a new film which is not a comedy. I have found though that comedians have great timing and with a film that is about a tense subject, timing might play into his favor and actual put him in the running for an Oscar. Stewart’s film is called “Rosewater” and is about an Iranian Journalist Maziar Bahari held and tortured for 118 days following Iran’s highly contested 2009 presidential election. This film also stars a Telluride favorite Gael Garcia Bernal.
Last year Brad Pitt came as a producer with the big hit film “12 Years A Slave” and now, similarly, he has a new film coming out called “Fury.” I think Brad has a place in the valley and has been a festival sponsor in the past so I wonder if this new film might be shown for a family screening.
Another film with a huge mix of familiar and new talent is a film about Martin Luther King called “Selma.” Oprah has been known to enjoy the Colorado air and stars in this film — might she come? This film is also produced by both Brad Pitt and Oprah Winfrey (directed by Ava DuVernay). in 2012 Ava won best director prize at Sundance for the film “Middle of Nowhere.”
Since Alejandro Gonsales Inarritu is a Telluride Film Festival favorite with “Babel” he has a new film “Birdman” starring Michael Keaton and Edward Norton. Maybe we’ll see this film in the program.
I have always been a huge fan of William H. Macy and he has his first film directorial debut with “Rudderless.”
My hopefuls:
The indie film that is getting a lot of talk is “Whiplash” by Damien Chazelle starring Miles Teller (Divergent).
This could be a year that we see the whole Brad and Angelina clan in Telluride. She has “Unbroken,” what some are calling a sure Oscar competition worthy film. Would like to get into the Telluride Q & A on this one. The best thing about this film is that the screenplay was written by the Coen Brothers who attended last year with “Inside Llewyn Davis.”
I remember Telluride really lead the way with Oscar contenders that year they showed the wonderful French film “Amelie” by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I have always been a big fan of his work. My favorite was “City of Lost Children.” There are so many more films that I could go on and on. Every year seems to have a different feel and every year is looked back on with nostalgia. There’s unforgettable moments like being enticed into a screening of “Quills” at 8:30am by a volunteer trying to fill the screening. ROCK ON TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL!
