Festivals News

Telluride kicks off 52nd SHOW with lineup drop, tribute announcements

by Josh

The most mysterious of the big fall film festivals, Telluride keeps its prestigious lineup an under wraps until festivalgoers are still on their way to the stunning and remote San Juan mountain town. We beat the rush to get a head start on altitude acclimation, checking off a bucket list item of landing at Telluride’s tiny airport (9070 feet above sea level) yesterday afternoon. Sure enough, after months of speculation and premiere designation logic puzzles, the lineup dropped in my inbox just as I was waking up this morning, thinking about where to get coffee.

Even with all the detective work, the lineup still has plenty of surprises in store. Even if you’re not making the trek to the charming box canyon as it transforms into a cinephile paradise, the Show’s programming team is among the best in the business at drawing up what becomes an instant roadmap for the rest of the year’s must-see movies.

One of the best parts of the Labor Day weekend is the number of filmmakers that also make the trek into town for the festival, providing an opportunity to hear from the creators in a fairly cozy setting just as they’re releasing their work into the world. While this event is the opposite of red carpet, there’s instead the thrill to at least have the possibility of running into celebrities on main street, in quaint ski town bars, or as fellow passengers in the gondola (much different than the ones at Venice, the other gondola film festival unfolding this week).

As part of its programming, the festival will pay tribute to Oscar-nominated writer/director Noah Baumbach (here with Jay Kelly as well as an archival screening of The Squid and the Whale); actor/writer/director Ethan Hawke (here as an actor in Blue Moon and as director in Merle Haggard documentary Highway 99: A Double Album); and Palme d’Or winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (with It Was Just An Accident). Each will receive the Silver Medallion to recognize their contributions to the artistry of cinema in a program featuring conversations and clips. Telluride’s Special Medallion, presented annually to a a hero of cinema who preserves, honors, and presents important, meaningful films will go to British Producer Tessa Ross, who will be recognized at the screening of Ballad of a Small Player.

The main program, a mix of World Premieres — Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet, Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player, and Daniel Roher’s Tuner among the splashiest debuts — as well as films picking up frequent flyer miles by jumping to Telluride straight from Venice, alongside the brightest highlights from earlier festivals like Sundance and Cannes and Sundance, is listed below. (Yes, there’s a Hamnet, Hamlet, and King Hamlet all on the same program).

The 52nd Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films and episodic works to play in its main program, the SHOW: 

  • A PRIVATE LIFE (d. Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2025)
  • ASK E. JEAN (d. Ivy Meeropol, U.S., 2025)
  • BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER (d. Edward Berger, Hong Kong/Macau, 2025)
  • BLUE MOON (d. Richard Linklater, U.S./Ireland, 2025)
  • BUGONIA (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, U.K., 2025)
  • COVER-UP (d. Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, U.S., 2025)
  • EVERYWHERE MAN: THE LIVES AND TIMES OF PETER ASHER (d. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, U.S./U.K., 2025)
  • GHOST ELEPHANTS (d. Werner Herzog, Angola/Namibia/U.S., 2025)
  • H IS FOR HAWK (d. Philippa Lowthorpe, U.K./U.S., 2025)
  • HAMLET (d. Aneil Karia, U.K., 2025)
  • HAMNET (d. Chloé Zhao, U.K., 2025)
  • HIGHWAY 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 JUST AN ACCIDENT (d. Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg, 2025)
  • JAY KELLY (d. Noah Baumbach, Italy/U.K./U.S., 2025)
  • KARL (d. Nick Hooker, U.K., 2025)
  • LA GRAZIA (d. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2025)
  • LOST IN 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 VAGUE (d. Richard Linklater, France, 2025)
  • PILLION (d. Harry Lighton, U.K., 2025)
  • SENTIMENTAL VALUE (d. Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark/Germany, 2025)
  • SHIFTY (d. Adam Curtis, U.K., 2025) 
  • SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE (d. Scott Cooper, U.S., 2025)
  • SUMMER TOUR (d. Mischa Richter, U.S., 2025)
  • THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (d. Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt, U.S., 2025)
  • THE BEND IN THE RIVER (d. Robb Moss, U.S., 2025)
  • THE CYCLE OF LOVE (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K./India/Sweden, 2025)
  • THE HISTORY 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.K., 2025)

In addition to the main program, Telluride invites a guest director to curate a selection of films. It’s hard to imagine what was on Ezra Edelman’s mind as he was making selections for a program that both reflects cinema history as well as pointedly speaks to the current moment: ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (d. Alan J. Pakula, U.S., 1976); MALCOLM X (d. Spike Lee, U.S., 1992); NETWORK (d. Sidney Lumet, U.S., 1976); RASHOMON (d. Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950), THE INSIDER (d. Michael Mann, U.S., 1999).

There are also a series of archival presentations, student films, and public conversations with filmmakers all around town, making every day an intricate jigsaw of planning to make the most out of the long weekend (that flies by too quickly). I’ll be prioritizing making the most of my time on the ground, but stay tuned throughout the weekend for dispatches on the films themselves.