The 2009 Telluride Film Festival starts tomorrow! Woo, the wacky, hippie-like film festival in Colorado is only for those with large wallets and risk-taking, adventurous attitudes as the festival doesn’t announce its line-up until the day before. Imagine you booked flight and accommodations to Colorado and the line-up wasn’t to your taste? God, we really don’t live that life of luxury.
But those that are going early are in for a treat and will get a North American early sneak-peak at films playing at the Toronto International Film Festival like Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime,” and John Hillcoat’s “The Road,” which we’ve actually seen, but have to hold review until… Telluride reviews hit? Wonder what that sticky embargo situation will be.
Other highlights include, “A Prophet,” Jacques Audiard’s Cannes-runner-up prix film, “An Education,” Lone Scherfig’s excellent coming-of-age story set in early ’60s London and features a remarkable performance by Carey Mulligan, Jane Campion’s wonderful period romance drama, Bright Star,” but surprisingly not Jason Reitman’s “Up In the Air” which both Hollywood Elsewhere and InContention reported would be at the festival (though it’s apparently rumored to show up a last-minute surprise).
Other feature-films include.
“Coco Before Chanel,” directed by Anne Fontaine
“Farewell,” directed by Christian Carion
“Fish Tank,” directed by Andrea Arnold
“Gigante,” directed by Adrian Biniez
“Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno,” directed by Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea
“The Jazz Baroness,” directed by Hannah Rothschild
“The Last Station,” directed by Michael Hoffman
“London River,” directed by Rachid Bouchareb
“The Miscreants of Taliwood,” directed by George Gittoes
“Red Riding: 1974,” directed by Julian Jarrold
“Red Riding: 1980,” directed by James Marsh
“Red Riding: 1983,” directed by Anand Tucker
“Room and a Half,” directed by Andrey Khrzhanovsky
“Samson,” directed by Warwick Thornton
“Sleep Furiously,” directed by Gideon Koppel
“Terra Madre,” directed by Ermanno Olmi
“Vincere,” directed by Marco Bellocchio
“Vision,” directed by Margarethe von Trotta
“The White Ribbon,” directed by Michael Haneke
“Window,” directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta
As previously reported, Alexander Payne — known for directing “Sideways” in 2004 — is one of the guest directors of the festival which starts September 4 and runs through the 7th. Also please note how on the money we were with our Telluride predictions, but uhh, on second thought, this is maybe our worst picks from the fall film schedule. IndieWire has the whole list. The Telluride announcement also gives us this new look at Viggo Mortensens and Kodi Smit-McPhee from “The Road” courtesy of the L.A. Times.