The Venice Film Festival will begin tomorrow at 8:30 am EST with a screening of Damien Chazelle's "First Man." The Telluride Film Festival will begin the day after, with the lineup only revealed that very day.
What we do know, given all the sources and premiere status' I've put together, is that Telluride no-shows this year, premiering at Venice, include "Suspiria," "The Sisters Brothers," "Sunset," "Maya," "Kursk," "22 July," "Buster Scruggs" "The Nightingale" and "A Star is Born." Meanwhile, Toronto can brag about snatching up world premieres for "Widows," "If Beale Street Could Talk," "High Life," "Beautiful Boy," "The Death and Life of John F. Donovan," "The Outlaw King," "Hold the Dark," "Mid90s," "Fahrenheit 11/9," "Ben Is Back," "Green Book," "The Land of Steady Habits" and many more.
Can we now conclude that this year's Cannes Film Festival had a fantastic lineup? Part of the complaints that derived from this year's pre-Cannes buzz was the fact that the festival failed to deliver the big namesl.
However, looking at all the Cannes rejects, and now the mixed buzz surrounding them, maybe Cannes Head Thierry Fremaux was right all along in not including "Peterloo," Loro," "The Death of John F. Donovan," "The Sisters Brothers," "Suspiria," "The Nightingale," "Sunset," "Maya," "Kursk" and many others. These rejections, and consequent pickups by Venice, could definitely detract from the quality of the films being presented at the Lido this year.
Cannes has always strived for quality over anything else. None of the titles mentioned, safe for "Peterloo," are going to Telluride. A major red flag. Of course, a major mistake by Cannes was not having "Roma" and Netflix appear at the fest.
Venice buzz this year is enormous, with some impressive world premieres about to land in the next few days: Chazelle's "First Man," Alfonso Cuarron's "Roma," Joel and Ethan Coen's "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favorite," Olivier Assayas' "Non-Fiction," Bradley Cooper's "A Star Is Born," and, of course, Orson Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind," which should-a been at Cannes.
Of course Telluride is the grandaddy of quality fall festival cinema, they always have a more intriguing lineup than Venice. With the aforementioned "First Man," "Roma," "Non-Fiction," and "The Favorite," you can add hotly anticipated titles such as David Lowery's "The Old Man and the Gun," Jason Reitman's "The Front Runner," Karyn Kusama's "Destroyer," Marielle Heller's "Can You Ever Forgive Me?," Yann Demange's "White Boy Rick," and Joel Edgerton's "Boy Erased."
Honest opinion on this fall's festival lineups? It looks like the only film with real, heavy, legitimate buzz is Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma." Other than that, Lanthimos' "The Favorite" is being heavily buzzed as well but given the director's divisive style this could most likely be a love it/hate it kind of movie.
We will be keeping a watchful eye on what's happening at Venice and Telluride, that is until I head to TIFF in less than 10 days time.