Telluride 2019: ‘Ford v. Ferrari,’ ‘Judy’ & ‘Uncut Gems’ Are Official World Premieres

The 46th Telluride Film Festival announced its program this morning and for those sleuthing through TIFF’s announcements or lucky enough to have good sources, there were few surprises. That is if you consider the world premiere of the documentary Taghi Amirani’s “Coup 53” and Kitty Green’s “The Assistant” surprises. The major premieres, not so much.

The most anticipated narrative debuts at Telluride this year will be James Mangold’s “Ford v. Ferrari,” Rupert Goold’s “Judy,” Edward Norton’s “Motherless Brooklyn,” Dan Friedkin’s “Lyrebird,” Trey Edward Shults’s “Waves,” Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Uncut Gems,” Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow” and Tom Harper’s “The Aeronauts.” Notable documentary premieres include Ken Burns‘ PBS documentary series “Country Music,” Dror Moreh’s “The Human Factor,” Ed Perkins’ “Tell Me Who I Am,” Ric Burns’ “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,” Jesse Dylan’s “Soros” centered on billionaire philanthropist George Soros and James Erskine’s “Billie” about the legendary singer Billie Holiday.

As always, a number of films will make their way from Venice to the Colorado Mountains including Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” Fernando Meirelles’ “The Two Popes” and Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s “The Verdict.” Some popular Cannes titles making their North American debut include Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory,” Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb,” Kantemir Balagov’s “Beanpole,” Werner Herzog’s “Family Romance, LLC,” Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and Bong Joon Ho‘s Palme d’Or winning “Parasite.”

This year’s tributes, which include a 45 to 1-hour long retrospective before a recent subject’s film, are Renee Zellweger (followed by “Judy), Adam Driver (followed by Scott Z. Burns’ “The Report”) and Philip Kaufman (followed by his 1988 classic “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”).

Notable talents besides the filmmakers expected to make their way through Telluride’s streets include Adam Sandler, Sterling K. Brown, Scarlet Johannson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Willem Dafoe, Lucas Hedges, Guy Pearce, Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps, Ridley Scott, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas, Felicity Jones, and Eddie Redmayne.

Last year was the first year Telluride did screen or host the world premiere of the Academy Award winner for Best Picture since “The Hurt Locker” won in 2010.  The festival hopes its luck will change this time around.

A list of the major films not including repertory screening at Telluride this year includes:

“The Aeronauts”*
“The Assistant”*
“The Australian Dream”
“Beanpole”
“The Climb”
“Country Music”*
“Coup 53″*
“Family Romance, LLC”
“First Cow”*
“Ford v Ferrari”*
“A Hidden Life”
“The Human Factor”*
“The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash”
“Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates”*
“Judy”*
“The Kingmaker”
“Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”
“Lyrebird”*
“Marriage Story”
“Motherless Brooklyn”*
“Oliver Sacks: His Own Life”*
“Pain and Glory”
“Parasite”
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
“The Report”
“Tell Me Who I Am”
“Those Who Remained”
“The Two Popes”
“Uncut Gems”*
“Varda by Agnes”
“Verdict
“Waves”*

*denotes world premiere

The 2019 Telluride Film Festival runs from Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept. 2

Follow along with all our 2019 Telluride Film Festival coverage here.