Within the past 24 hours Variety’s Clayton Davis, the well-known, DEI-brand columnist who’s always keeping close tabs…a day ago Clayton wrote (and then tweeted) that the three biggest Oscar contenders to ignite at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival were (1) Sean Baker’s Anora (true), (2) Jacques Audiard‘s Emilia Perez (also true) and (3) Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night (probably not outside of the writing, Best Supporting Actress and production design categories).

The forehead-slapper isn’t what Clayton chose but what he omitted —- Edward Berger’s Conclave, easily the most highly favored 2024 Best Picture Oscar contender as we speak…no question, hands down.

And yet Clayton declined to mention it in his Telluride triumvirate piece. I know that ignoring Conclave at this stage of the game is total wackadoo. There must be a Clayton reason that makes sense. Some slight or resentment, some political consideration.

I suspect it’s not the “too many white guys” complaint because Lucian Msamati, a British-Tanzanian actor of color, plays a senior supporting character, Cardinal Adeyemi, plus there’s a very woke-friendly plot revelation that puts a certain kick into the narrative.