The most mysterious of the big fall film festivals, Telluride keeps its lineup a secret until festivalgoers are already en route to the high-altitude of the San Juan mountain town. Sure enough, just as I was boarding my flight for Colorado they provided me ample reading material to prep for the extended Labor Day weekend of moviegoing.
Even if you’re not making the trek to the charming box canyon as it transforms into a cinephile paradise, the selection of films becomes an instant roadmap for the rest of the year’s must-see movies.
Given the ongoing actors strike, opportunities for running into celebrities on gondolas or in quaint bars might be fewer and farther between. As a consequence, the festival will pay tribute to three directors this year: Yorgos Lanthimos (with Poor Things), Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher (with La Chimera), and German filmmaker Wim Wenders (with Ansalem and Perfect Days). In addition, this year’s event is dedicated to Telluride founder Tom Luddy (1943-2023) who died earlier this year as well as previous festival founders Bill Pence (1940-2022), Stella Pence, and James Card (1915-2000)
The main program is listed below, stay tuned throughout the weekend for dispatches on the films themselves!
The 50th Telluride Film Festival proudly presents the following new feature films playing in its Main Program, the SHOW:
• ALL OF US STRANGERS (d. Andrew Haigh, U.K., 2023)
• AMERICAN SYMPHONY (d. Matthew Heineman, U.S., 2023)
• ANATOMY OF A FALL (d. Justine Triet, France, 2023)
• ANSELM (d. Wim Wenders, Germany, 2023)
• BALTIMORE (d. Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy Ireland-U.K., 2023)
• BEYOND UTOPIA (d. Madeleine Gavin, U.S., 2023)
• THE BIKERIDERS (d. Jeff Nichols, U.S., 2023)
• CASSANDRO (d. Roger Ross Williams, U.S., 2023)
• DADDIO (d. Christy Hall, U.S., 2023)
• EL CONDE (d. Pablo Larraín, Chile, 2023)
• FALLEN LEAVES (d. Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 2023)
• THE FALLING STAR (d. Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, France-Belgium, 2023)
• FINALLY DAWN (d. Saverio Costanzo, Italy, 2023)
• FINGERNAILS (d. Christos Nikou, U.S., 2023)
• FOOD, INC. 2 (d. Robert Kenner, Melissa Robledo, U.S., 2023)
• HIGH & LOW-JOHN GALLIANO (d. Kevin Macdonald, U.K., 2023)
• THE HOLDOVERS (d. Alexander Payne, U.S., 2023)
• HOLLYWOODGATE (d. Ibrahim Nash’at, U.S.-Germany, 2023)
• JANET PLANET (d. Annie Baker, U.S., 2023)
• LA CHIMERA (d. Alice Rohrwacher, Italy-France-Switzerland, 2023)
• THE MISSION (d. Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss, U.S., 2023)
• THE MONK AND THE GUN (d. Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan, 2023)
• NYAD (d. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, U.S., 2023)
• OCCUPIED CITY (d. Steve McQueen, Netherlands-U.K.-U.S., 2023)
• ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY (d. Paul B. Preciado, France, 2023)
• PERFECT DAYS (d. Wim Wenders, Japan, 2023)
• THE PIGEON TUNNEL (d. Errol Morris, U.K., 2023)
• POOR THINGS (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.S.-Ireland-U.K., 2023)
• THE PROMISED LAND (d. Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark-Germany-Sweden, 2023)
• THE ROYAL HOTEL (d. Kitty Green, Australia, 2023)
• RUSTIN (d. George C. Wolfe, U.S., 2023)
• SALTBURN (d. Emerald Fennell, U.S., 2023)
• THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (d. Ilker Çatak, Germany, 2023)
• TEHACHAPI (d. JR, France, 2023)
• THANK YOU VERY MUCH (d. Alex Braverman, U.S., 2023)
• TUESDAY (d. Daina O. Pusić, U.S.-U.K., 2023)
• WILDCAT (d. Ethan Hawke, U.S., 2023)
• THE ZONE OF INTEREST (d. Jonathan Glazer, U.S.-U.K.-Poland, 2023)