That's a Wrap!

• Posted on 09/06/11

TFF 38 Sneak Previews and Seminars

SNEAK PREVIEWS

• BUTTER                                                
Set around Iowa’s State Fair, this tale about a sculpting contest—the creations are all made out of butter—becomes a surprising and hilarious investigation of the right-wing divas that increasingly dominate our political discourse. Jennifer Garner (who also produces) plays a resentful, ambitious competitor with a fanatical desire to please; Yara Shahidi may be a little girl but she is a formidable competitor; Ty Burrell is her put-upon husband; Hugh Jackman a horny former sweetheart; and Olivia Wilde a potty-mouthed foe. Director Jim Field Smith gives this political satire, timed perfectly for the launch of a new presidential campaign, some serious bite.  (U.S., 2011, 85m)   In person: Jennifer Garner, Jim Field Smith, Ty Burrell

• CRAZY HORSE                                         
From mental institutions to ballets to boxing gyms, Frederick Wiseman excels in revealing the mechanics of our institutions. This refreshingly positive portrait of Paris’s glamorous Crazy Horse Cabaret, “the best chic nude show on earth,” captures the directors, dancers, costume designers, wig-makers, lighting technicians, and even the janitors. Using mesmerizing visual spectacle (silhouettes, chiaroscuro, and blocks of color) Wiseman recontexualizes the dancers’ exquisite bodies in surprising and beautiful ways. CRAZY HORSE begins with shadows on stage—an allusion to the magic lantern, one of cinema’s precursors—and ultimately celebrates the play of light and movement that is the essence of cinema itself. (U.S., 2011, 134m)

• LE GRAND AMOUR                                             
Pierre Etaix’s lost and hilarious masterpiece, never-before-seen in North America, tells the story of a man who, having lost the spark in his marriage, begins dreaming about his cute young secretary.  The non-stop visual humor is supplemented with references and homages to movie classics. (France,1967, 87m)  In person: Pierre Etaix

SEMINARS – moderated by Annette Insdorf

Saturday - Complex Themes Directed with Simplicity: How do directors draw us deeper into their films?
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, director/writer, THE KID WITH A BIKE
Mia Hansen- Løve,  director/writer, GOODBYE FIRST LOVE
Agnieszka Holland,  director, IN DARKNESS
Micha X. Peled, director, BITTER SEEDS


Sunday - What Screen Are You On?   How does screen format or size affect cinematic storytelling?  How do filmmakers approach projects that jump from theatrical, to television, to 3D formats?
Michel Hazanavicius,  director/writer, THE ARTIST
Werner Herzog,  director/writer, INTO THE ABYSS
Joshua Marston, director/writer, THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD
Wim Wenders, director/writer, PINA

Monday - Actor as Auteur?: How do actors influence not only their own performances, but the deeper layers of a film?
Asghar Farhadi, director/writer, A SEPARATION
Rodrigo Garcia, director, ALBERT NOBBS
Lynne Ramsay,  director/writer, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

• Posted on 09/05/11

TFF 38 FilmWatch now online

• Posted on 09/04/11

38th Telluride Film Festival Opening Lineup

Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its program for the 38th Telluride Film Festival. Featuring diverse programming from around the globe, TFF once again sets the stage for some of the year’s most highly anticipated films.

TFF opens its 38th year with over twenty-five new feature films plus special artist tributes, Guest Director programs selected by Caetano Veloso, Backlot programs, classics and restorations, shorts, student films, seminars and conversations, each introduced or proceeded with a Q&A by its filmmaker, actors, writer or producer. Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 5.

THE ‘SHOW’
38th Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films to play in its main program, the ‘SHOW’:
•    ALBERT NOBBS (d. Rodrigo Garcia, U.S., 2011)
•    THE ARTIST (d. Michel Hazanavicius, France, 2011)
•    BECOMING BERT STERN (d. Shannah Laumeister, U.S., 2011)
•    BITTER SEEDS (d. Micha X. Peled, U.S., 2011)
•    BONSÁI (d. Cristián Jiménez, Chile, 2011)
•    A DANGEROUS METHOD (d. David Cronenberg, U.K.-Switzerland-U.S.-Canada, 2011)
•    THE DESCENDANTS (d. Alexander Payne, U.S., 2011)
•    DIANA VREELAND: THE EYE HAS TO TRAVEL (d. Lisa Immordino-Vreeland, U.S., 2011)
•    FOOTNOTE (d. Joseph Cedar, Israel, 2011)
•    THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (d. Joshua Marston, U.S.-Albania-Denmark-Italy, 2011)
•    GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France, 2011)
•    LE HAVRE (d. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2011)
•    HOLLYWOOD DON’T SURF (d. Greg Macgillivray, Sam George, U.S., 2011)
•    IN DARKNESS (d. Agnieszka Holland, Poland, 2011)
•    INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2011)
•    THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (d. Jon Shenk, U.S., 2011)
•    THE KID WITH A BIKE (d. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium, 2011)
•    LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD (d. Martin Scorsese, U.S., 2011)
•    PASSERBY (d. Eryk Rocha, Brazil, 2011)
•    PERDIDA (d. Viviana García Besné, Mexico, 2011)
•    PINA (d. Wim Wenders, Germany, 2011)
•    A SEPARATION (d. Asghar Farhadi, Iran, 2011)
•    SHAME (d. Steve McQueen, U.K., 2011)
•    THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2011)
•    TARGET (d. Alexander Zeldovich, Russia, 2011)
•    THE TURIN HORSE (d. Béla Tarr, Hungary, 2011)
•    THE WAY HOME (d. Dr. Biju, India, 2010)
•     WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (d. Lynne Ramsey, U.K., 2011)

Additional Sneak Previews will play outside the main program and will be announced over the course of the four-day weekend on the Telluride Film Festival website: www.telluridefilmfestival.org.

“This has proven to be a marvelous year for the Telluride Film Festival. We discovered many more fine movies than our four-day weekend could include. There were difficult decisions and the results make for an exciting and varied selection of new works by both established filmmakers, many returning to Telluride, and first-time directors," said Festival Co-Director Gary Meyer.

MEDALLION AWARDS
The 2011 Silver Medallion awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, go to the following three honorees:

•    GEORGE CLOONEY – Academy Award-winning actor (SYRIANA; MICHAEL CLAYTON; UP IN THE AIR) and director (CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND; GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK) George Clooney will grace the stage to receive the Silver Medallion award and participate in an onstage interview. His latest starring role in Alexander Payne’s THE DESCENDANTS will screen throughout the festival in the main program.

•    PIERRE ÉTAIX –The French filmmaker, actor, writer and visionary will be presented the Silver Medallion award followed by an onstage interview and screening of THE SUITOR (d. France, 1963). An additional program will include a screening of YOYO (France, 1970) and Étaix’s Oscar-winning short film HAPPY ANNIVERSARY (France, 1962).

•    TILDA SWINTON – Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton (EDWARD II; ORLANDO, MICHAEL CLAYTON; DEEP END) stars in Lynne Ramsey’s WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, shown following the presentation of the Silver Medallion and onstage interview.

Telluride Film Festival annually celebrates a hero of cinema that preserves, honors and presents great movies. This year’s Special Medallion award goes to British film magazine Sight & Sound. Alan Clarke’s rarely seen 1974 film PENDA’S FEN, will be introduced by one of the magazine’s editors, Nick James.

Tom Luddy, Co-Founder of the Festival expressed his anticipation of this year's event, "In addition to an especially strong mixture of new surprises from around the world and archival finds, this year's Guest Director, Caetano Veloso will be presenting six films, both rare and established classics, with his unique enthusiasm about why they are movies worth seeing again or for the first time."

GUEST DIRECTOR PROGRAM
Previously announced Guest Director Caetano Veloso, who serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s program, presents the following six films in archival 35mm prints:
•    ANICETO (d. Leonardo Favio, Argentina, 2008)
•    THE APARTMENT (d. Billy Wilder, U.S., 1960)
•    BLACK GOD, WHITE DEVIL (d. Glauber Rocha, Brazil, 1964)
•    LE GRANDES MANOEUVRES (d. René Clair, France, 1955)
•    NORDESTE:  CORDEL, REPENTE E CANÇÃO  (d.  Tânia Quaresma, Brazil, 1975)
•    VIVRE SA VIE (d. Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1962)

ADDITIONAL FILM REVIVALS
•    FROM MORNING TO MIDNIGHT (d. Karl-Heinz Martin, Germany, 1920) – Brand new original score performed live by the Alloy Orchestra.
•    HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (d. Vasili Shukshin, Russia, 1972)
•    THE HOUSE ON TRUBNAYA SQUARE – (d. Boris Barnet, USSR, 1928) – A score by Dennis James, commissioned by the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley for its 25th Anniversary, will be performed by its composer and his Filmharmonia Ensemble.
•    SPOTLIGHT ON MARCEL PAGNOL – Two films will screen in celebration of the great French filmmaker: HARVEST (France, 1939) and MERLUSSE (France, 1938) introduced by Nicolas Pagnol and Alice Waters.
•    A TRIP TO THE MOON AND BEYOND – Serge Bromberg returns to Telluride with Georges Méliès’s famous 1902 “moon with a rocket in the eye” completely restored by Lobster Films and the Groupama Gan and Technicolor Foundation. Along with other surprises from attics and flea markets, Bromberg accompanies it all with live piano and stories.

BACKLOT
Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room featuring behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians and filmmakers, will screen the following programs:
•    AVENTURERA (d. Alberto Gout, Mexico, 1950)
•    DOCUMENTARY REVOLUTIONS: featuring two hour-long documentaries THE DOCUMENTARY FILM MOB (d. Chris Durlacher, U.K., 2011) and THE CAMERA THAT CHANGED THE WORLD (d. Mandy Chang, U.K., 2011)
•    I AM MY FILMS, PART 2… 30 YEARS LATER (d. Christian Weisenborn, Germany, 2011)
•    IN THE TRACKS OF GEORGE DELERUE (d.Pascale Cuenot, France, 2011)
•    MONDO LUX – DIE BILDERWELTEN DES WERNER SCHROETER (d. Elfi Mikesch, Germany, 2011)
•    NOTES FOR AN IMAGINARY BIOGRAPHY (d. Edgardo Cozarinsky, France, 2011)
•    SARRIS, SILENTS AND SOUNDS: a collection of short films including ANDREW SARRIS: CRITIC IN FOCUS (d. Casimir Nozkowski, U.S., 2011); SERGEI PROKOFIEV (d. Julia Titova, Russia, 2011); NIGHT HUNTER (d. Stacy Steers, U.S., 2011); and ODE TO THE DAWN OF MAN (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2011)
•    SODANKYLÄ FOREVER (d. Peter von Bagh, Finland, 2011)
•    TROPICÁLIA (d. Marcelo Machado, Brazil, 2011)

SHORT FILMS
SHOWcase for Shorts features twelve short films chosen to precede select feature films. Filmmakers of Tomorrow includes three short programs: Student Prints, Great Expectations and Calling Cards from eighteen emerging filmmakers.

EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Celebrating its 23rd year, the Student Symposium provides 50 graduate and undergraduate college students a weekend-long immersion in cinema. The City Lights Project, now in its 12th year, brings fifteen high school students and five teachers from three divergent schools the opportunity to participate in a concentrated program of screenings and discussions.

TALKING HEADS
Telluride Film Festival’s Talking Heads programs allow attendees to go behind the scenes with the Festival’s special guests. Seven Conversations between Festival guests and the audience about cinema and culture, and three outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of Festival guests discussing a wide range of film topics. These programs are free and open to the public.

ADDITIONAL FESTIVITIES
•    ALICE WATERS BOOK SIGNING –Alice Waters signs copies of her new book 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering.
•    CAETANO VELOSO BOOK SIGNING – Festival Guest Director Veloso signs copies of Tropical Truth: A Revolution in Music and Brazil.
•    OLIVIA HARRISON BOOK SIGNING – Olivia Harrison signs advance copies of her biography George Harrison: Living in the Material World.
•    JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY (d. Bert Stern, U.S., 1960)
•    THE WORLDS OF MAIRA KALMAN – Previously announced 2011 Poster Artist Maira Kalman http://telluridefilmfestival.org/press/releases, whose works grace the cover of the New Yorker and museum walls around the world, brings some of her favorite prints to Telluride. All proceeds benefit the Festival.

Corporate support at Telluride Film Festival plays an essential role in the life of the Festival. TFF is privileged to collaborate with some of the world’s most renowned and iconic companies, which are each aligned with a unique feature of the Festival. TFF is excited to welcome new partners this year including Land Rover, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Travelocity and Virgin Atlantic Airways who underscore the Festival’s commitment to quality, adventure and distinction in the art of cinema. Equally, Telluride Film Festival has a long relationship with Hollywood and is excited to introduce United Talent Agency to its film family and to underscore its committed and longstanding industry supporters, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Turner Classic Movies and Universal Studios.

“TFF would not be the Festival it is today without the generous support from our sponsors,” said Co-Director Julie Huntsinger. “We enjoy a synergistic relationship with our corporate friends and are proud they are part of the Telluride team.”
 
The 38th Telluride Film Festival’s program is in its entirety here.

• Posted on 09/01/11