Festivals Previews

Out of Town: Telluride Announces SHOW Lineup

by Josh

Every year, the fall film awards campaign springs to life in a trio of Labor Day festivals: Venice, Toronto, and Telluride. While the first two roll out announcements for their programs and premieres months in advance, Telluride keeps its lineup a secret almost until everyone has arrived in the sleepy Colorado mountain town. You buy a pass and book accommodations on faith that the festival will put on a good show, spend weeks reading tea leaves, and stay up like a proverbial kid on Xmas eve wondering what will show up under the tree, or in this case on Friday morning in the theaters springing up around a former mining town nestled in a breathtaking box canyon.

The wait is over … I’m up in the mountains, acclimating to the high altitude, and getting ready for a weekend packed with films. The trip into the mountains from Seattle isn’t the most convenient — small planes into regional airports, drives up the mountain, scrambling for condo space — but once you’re here it’s a dream.

For those keeping score at home, or on their way into the movie nirvana, here’s the official program. I’ll be posting quick reviews on twitter (@thesunbreak) and recaps through the weekend. Over the last decade, the festival has screened the eventual Best Picture Winner with a high degree of regularity (last year’s atrocious Green Book victory broke their streak); so I have a feeling I’m in store for some great discoveries.

The “SHOW” Lineup, of new feature films playing the main program:

  • THE AERONAUTS (d. Tom Harper, U.S. – U.K., 2019)
  • THE ASSISTANT (d. Kitty Green, U.S., 2019)
  • THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM (d. Daniel Gordon, Australia, 2019)
  • BEANPOLE (Kantemir Balagov, Russia, 2019)
  • THE CLIMB (d. Michael Angelo Covino, U.S., 2019)
  • COUP 53 (d. Taghi Amirani, U.K., 2019)
  • DIEGO MARADONA (d. Asif Kapadia, U.K., 2019)
  • FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC (d. Werner Herzog, U.S. – Japan, 2019)
  • FIRST COW (d. Kelly Reichardt, U.S., 2019)
  • FORD v FERRARI (d. James Mangold, U.S., 2019)
  • JUDY (d. Rupert Goold, U.K.-U.S., 2019)
  • A HIDDEN LIFE (d. Terrence Malick, U.S. – Germany, 2019)
  • THE HUMAN FACTOR (d. Dror Moreh, U.K., 2019)
  • INSIDE BILL’S BRAIN (d. Davis Guggenheim, U.S., 2019)
  • THE KINGMAKER (Lauren Greenfield, U.S., 2019)
  • LYREBIRD (d. Dan Friedkin, U.S., 2019)
  • MARRIAGE STORY (d. Noah Baumbach, U.S., 2019)
  • MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN (d. Edward Norton, U.S., 2019)
  • OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE (d. Ric Burns, U.S., 2018)
  • PAIN AND GLORY (d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 2019)
  • PARASITE (d. Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2019)
  • PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (d. Céline Sciamma, France, 2019)
  • THE REPORT (d. Scott Z. Burns, U.S., 2019)
  • TELL ME WHO I AM (d. Ed Perkins, U.K., 2019)
  • THOSE WHO REMAINED (d. Barnabás Toth, Hungary, 2019)
  • THE TWO POPES (d. Fernando Meirelles, U.K., 2019)
  • UNCUT GEMS (d. Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, U.S., 2019)
  • VARDA BY AGNÈS (d. Agnès Varda, France, 2019)
  • VERDICT (d. Raymond Ribay Gutierrez, Philippines, 2019)
  • WAVES (d. Trey Edward Schultz, U.S., 2019)

The main program also includes COUNTRY MUSIC (d. Ken Burns, U.S., 2019); WOMEN MAKE FILM: A NEW ROAD MOVIE THROUGH CINEMA (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2019); and three short films: FIRE IN PARADISE (d. Zack Canepari, Drea Cooper, U.S., 2019), INTO THE FIRE (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, Iraq-U.K., 2019) and LOS AND FOUND (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, Bangladesh-U.K., 2019). Along the way, the festival will pay tribute to Academy Award winning actress Renée Zellweger (with JUDY), Oscar nominated actor Adam Driver (with MARRIAGE STORY and THE REPORT) and Oscar nominated Philip Kaufman (with newly restored THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING) with Silver Medallion Awards, tribute programs, and a screening of the aforementioned films.