There’s a fight brewing between Toronto, Venice and Telluride, all having to do with the “World Premiere” status of Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking.”

I had heard rumblings that it was a very hot title for the upcoming fall fests and CJ Prince’s tweet yesterday basically confirmed it.

Polley is born in Toronto and TIFF would like nothing more than to have a big splashy world premiere for the hometown filmmaker. Venice and Telluride want in on the action as well, they’re proposing a primo slot for “Women Talking”.

What are Polley and United Artists to do with this dilemma? How about give it the “Nomadland” treatment? If you remember, back in 2020, “Nomadland” premiered on the same day at both Venice and Toronto.  That would leave Telluride out of the picture since it ends before TIFF begins.

I haven’t heard of any other fall title with this kind of buzz. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Bardo” will surely do the Venice/Toronto/Telluride rounds, maybe Todd Field’s “Tar” as well. That’s about it. What we’re starting to see take shape is a narrative of what might be the biggest titles to look out for this fall festival season.

Some are skeptical about Polley’s film being any good, mostly due to the #MeToo subject matter and how her films tend to be pretty dry, but I say watch “Take This Waltz,” an unfairly divisive Polley-directed feature. In ‘Waltz’ Polley took an inordinate amount of risks, some of which didn’t truly pay off, but it was a visionary statement that showed great promise.