The 2023 Telluride Film Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an extra day of screenings and an impressive 20 world premieres. Notable films making their debuts in the mountains include Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” follow-up, “Saltburn”; Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” with Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell; Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy; and Ethan Hawke‘s latest directorial effort, “Wildcat,” co-starring Telluride resident Laura Linney.
READ MORE: Venice Film Festival 2023: The 17 Most Anticipated Movies To Watch
Other narrative world premieres include Christy Hall’s “Daddio” starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn; Annie Baker‘s directorial debut “Janet Planet” with Julianne Nicholson, Pawo Chinoy Dorji’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “Lunana: A Yak in The Classroom,” “The Monk and the Gun”; “Free Solo” filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin‘s dive into the non-documentary film space with “Nyad” starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster; Kitty Green’s Australian outback thriller “The Royal Hotel” with Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick; Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” with Jeremy Allen White, Riz Ahmed, Annie Murphy, and Jessie Buckley; Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy‘s under the radar drama “Baltimore”; Daina Oniunas-Pusic’s “Tuesday” with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Leah Harvey; George C. Wolfe‘s “Rustin” featuring Colman Domingo as gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin; and longtime Telluride attendee Alexander Payne’s reunion with Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers.”
Titles jumping the pond from the Venice Film Festival to Colorado are Nikolaj Arcel’s “The Promised Land” with Mads Mikkelsen; Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” with Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo; and Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde”; Saverio Costanzo’s “Finally Dawn” with Lily James, Rachel Sennott and Willem Dafoe; Ibrahim Nash’a‘s doc “Hollywoodgate“; and Alex Braverman’s Andy Kaufman documentary “Thank You Very Much.”
Three notable Venice premieres: Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” and Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” will not make the trans-Atlantic trek to Telluride’s Oscar buzz bubble.
Other documentaries getting a first look at Telluride include Errol Morris’ John le Carré portrait “The Pigeon Tunnel,” Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” (which will feature a live performance from its subject Jon Batiste following its Thursday premiere); Kevin Macdonald’s “High & Low – John Galliano“; Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’s “The Mission”; JR’s “Tehachapi”; Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo’s “Food Inc 2”; and Wim Wenders’ “Anslem” and Steve McQueen’s “Occupied City,” which debuted at Cannes in May.
La Croisette will be well-represented in the Rockies with Justin Triet‘s Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall“; Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest” (which would have won the Palme, but came in second); Wenders’ other Cannes title, “Perfect Days”; Alice Rohrwacher‘s sublime “La Chimera” with Josh O’Connor; and Aki Kaurismäki‘s “Fallen Leaves.”
Ilker Çatak‘s “The Teacher’s Lounge” and Roger Ross Williams‘ fantastic “Cassandro” will represent the Berlin and Sundance Film Festival respectively. Madeleine Gavin‘s documentary “Beyond Utopia” will also represent the Park City faithful while Paul Presciado’s “Orlando, My Political Biography” is another Berlin title making its way to Telluride.
Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon’s “The Falling Star” is a rare Locarno Film Festival world premiere to make it to Telluride.
There will be three tributes this year, each for a notable director due to the ongoing SAG and WAG strikes. Those filmmakers include Wenders, Lanthimos, and Rohrwacher. Each director will attend a tribute ceremony and Q&A before as screening of one of their works at the festival. It goes without saying that the always low-key festival would have been packed with familiar faces if the work stoppage was not in effect.
Special screenings and events include Pedro Almodóvar’s short film “Strange Way of Life”; Ross White and Tom Berkeley’s short “The Golden West”; the aforementioned Batiste performance, Tina Satter’s “Reality” (currently available to screen on Max); and Agnès Varda’s art installation, Patatutopia; and a Festival poster signing by artist Luke Dorman.
A full list of this year’s Telluride Film Festival selection is as follows. World premieres are noted by an asterisk:
All of Us Strangers (Andrew Haigh)*
American Symphony (Matthew Heineman)*
Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)
Anselm (Wim Wenders)
Baltimore (Joe Lawlor, Christine Molloy)*
Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)
The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)*
Cassandro (Roger Ross Williams)
Daddio (Christy Hall)*
El Conde (Pablo Larrain)
Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismaki)
The Falling Star (Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon)
Finally Dawn (Saverio Costanzo)
Fingernails (Christos Nikou)*
Food, Inc. 2 (Robert Kenner, Melissa Robledo)*
High & Low – John Galliano (Kevin MacDonald)*
The Holdovers (Alexander Payne)*
Hollywoodgate (Ibrahim Nash’at)
Janet Planet (Annie Baker)*
La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher)
The Mission (Amanda MacBaine, Jesse Moss)*
The Monk and the Gun (Pawo Chinoy Dorji)*
Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)*
Occupied City (Steve McQueen)
Orlando, My Political Biography (Paul Presciado)
Perfect Days (Wim Wenders)
The Pigeon Tunnel (Errol Morris)*
Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)
The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)*
Rustin (George C. Wolfe)*
Saltburn (Emerald Fennell)*
The Teacher’s Lounge (Ilker Çatak)
Tehachapi (JR)*
Thank You Very Much (Alex Braverman)
Tuesday (Daina Oniunas-Pusic)*
Wildcat (Ethan Hawke)*
The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)
TFF selects four documentary shorts for its Main Program:
– IF DREAMS WERE LIGHTNING (d. Ramin Bahrani, U.S., 2023)
– INCIDENT (d. Bill Morrison, U.S., 2023)
– THE LAST REPAIR SHOP (d. Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers, U.S., 2023)
– THE LAST SONG FROM KABUL (d. Kevin Macdonald, Afghanistan-Qatar-Portugal-Germany, 2023)
As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, TFF is honoring its long and diverse history by selecting some of its most celebrated past guests to curate its Guest Director program. Alfonso Cuarón, Adam Curtis, Ethan Hawke, Rachel Kushner, Steve McQueen, and Mira Nair’s selections include:
– JUVENILE COURT (d. Frederick Wiseman, U.S., 1973) Selected and presented by Rachel Kushner
– ALL THAT JAZZ (d. Bob Fosse, U.S., 1979) Selected and presented by Ethan Hawke
– JONAH WHO WILL BE 25 IN THE YEAR 2000 (d. Alain Tanner, France-Switzerland, 1976) Selected and presented by Alfonso Cuarón
– THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (d. John Mackenzie, U.K., 1980) Selected and presented by Adam Curtis
– ZÉRO DE CONDUITE (d. Jean Vigo, France, 1933) Selected and presented by Steve McQueen
– THE MUSIC ROOM (d. Satyajit Ray, India, 1958) Selected and presented by Mira Nair
The 2023 Telluride Film Festival will run from Thursday, August 31-Monday, Sept 4. Follow along with all our coverage of the 2023 Telluride Film Festival.
