Telluride Film Festival 2016 Line-Up: What’s Playing in the Mountains?

The 43rd Telluride Film Festival whirs into action from September 2-5, 2016, in Telluride, Colorado.

As per tradition, the festival waited until the morning before festivities began (i.e. this morning) to announce its line-up, forcing attendees to make a leap of faith when, months ago, they decided to go (in lieu of, say, the concurrent Venice International Film Festival and next week’s Toronto International Film Festival). Did their risk pay off?

The Labor Day weekend will see more than 70 films, with features, shorts and repertory screenings, from 22 countries, alongside the usual mix of panels, conversations, education programs like the annual student symposium, and parties. Check out the selection here.

Feature Films (Main Program)

Arrival (d. Denis Villeneuve, U.S., 2016)

[Further Reading: “Kings of the Underworld: Denis Villeneuve, Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt on Sicario” by Jim Hemphill]

The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (d. Errol Morris, U.S., 2016)

[Further Reading: “Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker” by Errol Morris]

Bleed for This (d. Ben Younger, U.S., 2016)

California Typewriter (d. Doug Nichol, U.S., 2016)

Chasing Trane (d. John Scheinfeld, U.S., 2016)

The End of Eden (d. Angus Macqueen, U.K., 2016)

Finding Oscar (d. Ryan Suffern, U.S., 2016)

Fire At Sea (d. Gianfranco Rosi, Italy/France, 2016)

Frantz (d. François Ozon, France, 2016)

Gentleman Rissient (d. Benoît Jacquot, Pascal Mérigeau, Guy Seligmann, France, 2016)

Graduation (d. Cristian Mungiu, Romania/France/Belgium, 2016)

Into the Inferno (d. Werner Herzog, U.K./Austria, 2016)

[Further Reading: “Three Things Werner Herzog’s Lo and Behold Can Teach Moviemakers About Changing Technologies” by Max Weinstein]

The Ivory Game (d. Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani, Austria/U.S., 2016)

La La Land (d. Damien Chazelle, U.S., 2016)

[Further Reading: “Divide and Conquer: Damien Chazelle on Why You Should Make a Short First” by Damien Chazelle]

Lost in Paris (d. Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, France/Belgium, 2016)

Manchester by the Sea (d. Kenneth Lonergan, U.S., 2016)

Maudie (d. Aisling Walsh, Canada/Ireland, 2016)

Men: A Love Story (d. Mimi Chakarova, U.S., 2016)

Moonlight (d. Barry Jenkins, U.S., 2016)

My Journey Through French Cinema (d. Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2016)

Neruda (d. Pablo Larraín, Chile/Argentina/France/Spain, 2016)

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (d. Joseph Cedar, U.S./Israel, 2016)

Snapshots: Eyes on the World: three nonfiction short films including Extremis (d. Dan Krauss, U.S.,   2016); Refugee (d. Joyce Chen, Emily Moore, U.S., 2016); The White Helmets (d. Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K., 2016)

Sully (d. Clint Eastwood, U.S., 2016)

Things to Come (d. Mia Hansen-Løve, France/Germany, 2016)

Through the Wall (d. Rama Burshtein, U.S./Israel, 2016)

Toni Erdmann (d. Maren Ade, Germany/Austria, 2016)

Una (d. Benedict Andrews, U.K., 2016)

Wakefield (d. Robin Swicord, U.S., 2016)

[Further Reading: “Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker” by Robin Swicord]

Repertory Programs

Guest Director Volker Schlöndorff, who serves as a key collaborator in the festival’s program, presents the following five films as Telluride’s repertory program.

The Barefoot Contessa (d. Joseph Mankiewicz, U.S., 1954)

The Fire Within (d. Louis Malle, France, 1963)

I Was Nineteen (d. Konrad Wolf, East Germany, 1968)

It Was the Month of May (d. Marlen Khutsiev, U.S.S.R., 1970)

Les Enfants Terribles (d. Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1950)

[Further Reading: “The French New Wave Revisited: Today’s Moviemakers Reflect on the Old Guard of Innovators” by Phillip Williams]

Spies (d. Fritz Lang, Germany, 1928)

[Further Reading: “Fritz Lang: The Lost Interview” by Lloyd Chesley]

Other revival programs include The Pagnol Trilogy: Marius (d. Alexander Korda, France, 1931), Fanny (d. Marc Allégret, France, 1932) and César (d. Marcel Pagnol, France, 1936); and Variety (d. Ewald André Dupont, Germany, 1925) with accompaniment from the Alloy Orchestra.

Backlot

Backlot, Telluride’s screening room focusing on behind-the-scenes stories and biopics centered on artists, musicians and filmmakers, will screen the following programs:

Beauties of the Night (d. María José Cuevas, Mexico, 2016)

Bernadette Lafont, and God Created the Free Woman (d. Esther Hoffenberg, France, 2016)

Bright Lights (d. Alexis Bloom, Fisher Stevens, U.S., 2016)

Cool Cats (d. Janus Køster-Rasmussen, Denmark, 2015)

The Family Whistle (d. Michele Salfi Russo, U.S./Italy, 2016)

A Fanatic Heart – Bob Geldof on WB Yeats (d. Gerry Hoban, Ireland, 2016)

Gulag (d. Angus Macqueen, U.K., 2000)

I Called Him Morgan (d. Kasper Collin, Sweden/U.S., 2016)

Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown (d. Gregory Monro, France, 2016)

Mifune: The Last Samurai (d. Steven Okazaki, U.S., 2015)

TFF’s SHOWcase for Shorts highlights four short films which will precede selected feature-length films, while Filmmakers of Tomorrow includes three programs: Student Prints, Great Expectations and Calling Cards (from 16 up-and-coming moviemakers). In addition to the Symposium, Telluride Film Festival’s Student Programs include The City Lights Project, UCLA’s FilmLAB and The FilmSCHOLAR. Lastly, the festival’s honorary 2016 Silver Medallion Awards will be presented to actors Casey Affleck and Amy Adams, and Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín.

For more on TFF, head to the fest’s website. And watch for in-depth coverage of TFF selection Bleed For This—including interviews with Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart and Ben Younger—in MovieMaker‘s Fall 2016 issue. MM