The 45th Telluride Film Festival announced its alphabetical slate this morning. The only title that hadn’t been predicted in this or any other space space is Ed Zwick‘s TRIAL BY FIRE, a fact-based wrongful execution drama. The boldfaced titles are those I’m especially interesting in seeing, totalling 18. How many of these will I actually see? 12 or 13, if that.

· ANGELS ARE MADE OF LIGHT (d. James Longley, U.S.-Denmark-Norway, 2018)

· BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (d. Pamela E. Green, U.S., 2018)

· BIRDS OF PASSAGE (d. Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego, Colombia-Denmark-Mexico, 2018)….saw it in Cannes.

· BORDER (d. Ali Abbasi, Sweden, 2018)

· BOY ERASED (d. Joel Edgerton, U.S., 2018)

· CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (d. Marielle Heller, U.S., 2018)

· COLD WAR (d. Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland-France-U.K., 2018)

· DESTROYER (d. Karyn Kusama, U.S., 2018)

· DOGMAN (d. Matteo Garrone, Italy-France, 2018)…saw it in Cannes.

· DOVLATOV (d. Aleksei German, Russia-Poland-Serbia, 2018)

· FIRST MAN (d. Damien Chazelle, U.S., 2018)

· FISTFUL OF DIRT (d. Sebastián Silva, U.S., 2018)

· FREE SOLO (d. Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, U.S., 2018)

· GHOST FLEET (d. Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron, U.S., 2018)

· GIRL (d. Lukas Dhont, Belgium-Netherlands, 2018)

· GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME (d. Rithy Panh, France-Cambodia, 2018)

· MEETING GORBACHEV (d. Werner Herzog and André Singer, U.K.-U.S.-Germany, 2018)

· NON FICTION (d. Olivier Assayas, France, 2018)

· PETERLOO (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2018)…too long for Telluride, I’m going to wait.

· REVERSING ROE (d. Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, U.S., 2018)

· ROMA (d. Alfonso Cuarón, U.S.-Mexico, 2018)

· SHOPLIFTERS (d. Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2018)

· THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM (d. John and Molly Chester, U.S., 2018)

· THE FAVOURITE (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland-U.K.-U.S., 2018)

· THE FRONT RUNNER (d. Jason Reitman, U.S., 2018)

· THE GREAT BUSTER (d. Peter Bogdanovich, U.S., 2018)…watching it via link.

· THE OLD MAN & THE GUN (d. David Lowery, U.S., 2018)

· THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND (d. Orson Welles, U.S., 1976/2018)

· THE WHITE CROW (d. Ralph Fiennes, U.K., 2018)

· THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD (d. Morgan Neville, U.S., 2018)

· TRIAL BY FIRE (d. Ed Zwick, U.S., 2018)

· WATERGATE — OR, HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP AN OUT-OF-CONTROL PRESIDENT (d. Charles Ferguson, U.S., 2018)…saw it a week or two ago. Thorough, engrossing, thumbs up. Reviewing later today.

· WHITE BOY RICK (d. Yann Demange, U.S., 2018)

The 2018 Silver Medallion Awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, will be presented to Academy Award winning director Alfonso Cuarón (with ROMA), Academy Award winning actor Emma Stone (with THE FAVOURITE) and Oscar nominated Rithy Panh (with GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME). Tribute programs include a selection of clips followed by the presentation of the Silver Medallion, an onstage interview and a screening of the aforementioned films.

Guest Director Jonathan Lethem, who serves as a key collaborator in the Festival’s program, presents the following revival programs:

· ANGEL (d. Ernst Lubitsch, U.S., 1937)

· BIGGER THAN LIFE (d. Nicholas Ray, U.S., 1956)

· NEVER CRY WOLF (d. Carroll Ballard, U.S., 1983)

· THE TARNISHED ANGELS (d. Douglas Sirk, U.S., 1957)

· THE WHITE MEADOWS (d. Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran, 2009)

· TO BE OR NOT TO BE (d. Ernst Lubitsch, U.S., 1942)

Additional film revival programs include CHRISTIAN WAHNSCHAFFE, PARTS I & II (d. Urban Gad, Germany, 1920 – 1921), FIEÈ̀VRE (d. Louis Delluc, France, 1921), COEUR FID È̀̀LE (d. Louis Delluc, France, 1923) and REMOUS (d. Edmond T. Gréville, France, 1934).

Telluride Film Festival annually celebrates a hero of cinema who preserves, honors and presents great movies. This year’s Special Medallion award goes to Dieter Kosslick, film critic, journalist and researcher and current Director of the Berlin International Film Festival. The Special Medallion film, ELDORADO (d. Markus Imhoof, Germany-Switzerland, 2018) will screen in celebration.

Backlot, Telluride’s intimate screening room featuring behind-the-scenes movies and portraits of artists, musicians and filmmakers, will screen the following programs:

· A FINAL CUT FOR ORSON: 40 YEARS IN THE MAKING (d. Ryan Suffern, U.S., 2018) + THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES (d. Mark Cousins, U.K., 2018)

· HAL (d. Amy Scott, U.S., 2018)

· HUGH HEFNER’S AFTER DARK: SPEAKING OUT IN AMERICA (d. Brigitte Berman, Canada, 2018)

· IT MUST SCHWING! THE BLUE NOTE STORY (d. Eric Friedler, Germany, 2018)

· THE GHOST OF PETER SELLERS (d. Peter Medak, U.K.-Cyprus, 2018)

· WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL (d. Rob Garver, U.S., 2018)

August 30, 2018by Jeffrey Wells5 Comments