telluride

Source: Warner Bros / Focus Features

‘King Richard’, ‘Belfast’

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard and Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast are among the world premieres on the programme for the 48th Telluride Film Festival (September 2-6).

The festival has confirmed a line-up of 80 films across features, shorts and retrospectives. Francis Ford Coppola, who said this week he is willing to invest up to $100m of his own money to get passion project Megalopolis made, will be among filmmakers attending in person. Coppola has a new cut of The Outsiders and The Rain People playing in Special Screenings.

Barry Jenkins is this year’s guest director.

Scroll down for the full Show programme

Warner Bros’ King Richard and Focus Features’ Belfast are among 36 features that will play in the main ‘Show’ section. Also debuting in the section are Mike Mills’ US feature C’mon C’mon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a radio journalist embarking on a cross-country trip with his young nephew; US sci-fi Encounter, the second feature from Beast director Michael Pearce; and Joe Wright’s UK musical drama Cyrano, based on Erica Schmidt’s 2018 adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac.

Last month Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed that UK title The Electrical Life of Louis Wain will also debut at the event.

Titles heading to the festival directly from a Venice debut include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer starring Kristen Stewart; Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog; Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God; and Roger Michell’s The Duke (which debuted at Venice 2020).

Several Cannes 2021 premieres will also play at the event, including Andrea Arnold’s documentary Cow; Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero; Sean Baker’s Red Rocket; and Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground.

The Backlot strand will screen 11 titles featuring behind-the-scenes films and portraits of artists, musicians, and filmmakers, including Mark Cousins’ UK feature The Story Of Looking.

The festival will present three honorary Silver Medallion awards to recognise an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, to Encounter actor Riz Ahmed, Campion and Cyrano lead Peter Dinklage. A special medallion will be awarded to film scholar Annette Insdorf, “for preserving, honoring and presenting great movies” according to the festival.

The guest director for 2021 is US filmmaker Barry Jenkins, who has made six special selections for the programme including Med Hondo’s 1979 title West Indies, and Claire Denis’ 1988 film Chocolat.

“Attending Telluride is always an adventure: the altitude, the weather, and the travel requirements to get here are not for the faint of heart,” said executive director Julie Huntsinger. “But the past two years have led us to a moment where we truly understand the phrase anything is possible, and we are ready. We have prepared for just about anything this year.”

Telluride Film Festival 2021 Show programme

The Automat (US) dir. Lisa Hurwitz

Becoming Cousteau (US) dir. Liz Garbus

Belfast (UK) dir. Kenneth Branagh

Bergman Island (Fr-Ger-Swe) dir. Mia Hansen-Love

Bitterbrush (US) dir. Emelie Mahdavian

C’mon C’mon (US) dir. Mike Mills

Citizen Ashe (US-UK) dirs. Sam Pollard, Rex Miller

Cow (UK) dir. Andrea Arnold

Cyrano (UK) dir. Joe Wright

The Duke (UK) dir. Roger Michell

The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain (UK) dir. Will Sharpe

Encounter (US) dir. Michael Pearce

Fauci (US) dirs. John Hoffman, Janet Tobias

Flee (Den) dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (US) dirs. Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller

The Hand Of God (It) dir. Paolo Sorrentino

A Hero (Iran-Fr) dir. Asghar Farhadi

Julia (US) dir. Julie Cohen, Betsy West

King Richard (US) dir. Reinaldo Marcus Green

The Lost Daughter (Gr-US-UK-Isr) dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (US) dirs. Dean Fleischer-Camp

Muhammad Ali (US) dirs. Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon

Nuclear Family (US) dir. Ry Russo-Young

Petite Maman (Fr) dir. Celine Sciamma

The Power Of The Dog (Aus-NZ) dir. Jane Campion

Procession (US) dir. Robert Greene

The Real Charlie Chaplin (US) dirs. James Spinney, Peter Middleton

Red Rocket (US) dir. Sean Baker

The Rescue (US-UK) dirs. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

River (Aus) dir. Jennifer Peedom

The Same Storm (US) dir. Peter Hedges

Speer Goes To Hollywood (Isr-Austria-Ger) dir. Vanessa Lapa

Spencer (UK-Ger-Chile) dir. Pablo Larrain

Torn (US) dir. Max Lowe

Unclenching The Fists (Rus) dir. Kira Kovalenko

The Velvet Underground (US) dir. Todd Haynes.

The 2021 Silver Medallion Awards recognising an artist’s “significant contribution to the world of cinema” will be presented to Riz Ahmed (Encounter), Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog), and Peter Dinklage (Cyrano). Tribute programs include a selection of clips, the presentation of the Silver Medallion, and a screening of the aforementioned films.

This year’s guest director Barry Jenkins has curated the following special selections:

West Indies (Fra-Maurita-Alg, 1979), dir. Med Hondo

Chocolat (Fra, 1988), dir. Claire Denis

Looking For Langston (UK, 1989), dir. Isaac Julien

Garden (Isr, 2003), dirs.. Ruthie Shatz, Adi Barash – directors to attend in person

Kahlil Joseph: Selected Works. Joseph to attend in person

Russian Ark (Rus, 2003), dir. Aleksandr Sokurov.

Additional film revival programmes include The Apaches Of Athens (Gre, 1929, dir. Dimítrios Gaziadis), and Fragment Of An Empire (USSR, 1929, dir. Fridrikh Ermler), the latter of which will follow a presentation of the Special Medallion award to film scholar Annette Insdorf as a “hero of cinema… who preserves, honours and presents great movies”.

The Backlot screening room featuring behind-the-scenes films and portraits of artists, musicians, and filmmakers will screen the following programmes:

Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (It-Rus-Swe, 2019), dir. Andrei Tarkovsky

Bernstein’s Wall (US, 2021), dir. Douglas Tirola. Director attending in person

Dark Frames (US, 2021), dir. Tom Thurman. Director attending in person

Edna (Bra, 2021), dir. Eryk Rocha. Director attending in person

Joyce Carol Oates: A Body In The Service Of Mind (Swe, 2021), dir. Stig Björkman

Land Of Gold (US, 2021), dir. Peter Sellars. Jon Else, Peter Sellars attending in person.

Songs For Drella (US, 1990), dir. Ed Lachman. Director attending in person

Stay Prayed UP (US, 2021), dirs. D.L. Anderson, Matt Durning. D.L. Anderson, Matt Durning, Phil Cook, Lena Mae Perry attending in person

The Story Of Looking (UK, 2021), dir. Mark Cousins

Three Minutes – A Lengthening (Neth-UK, 2021), dir. Bianca Stigter

The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (US, 2021), dir. Bill Morrison. . Director attending in person

Special Screenings will play throughout the Festival including the short film Lead Me Home (US, 2021, dirs. Jon Shenk, Pedro Kos) with both filmmakers in person; a new cut of The Outsiders (US, 1993, dir. Francis Ford Coppola) presented by Coppola and Matt Dillon; The Rain People (US, 1969, dir. Francis Ford Coppola) with Coppola in person; El Gran Fellove (US, 2020, dir. Matt Dillon) presented by Dillon; and Mississippi Masala (US, 1991, dir. Mira Nair) with Nair in person.

Additional festivities will take place throughout the festival including The Touch (Swe, 1971, dir. Ingmar Bergman); a gallery of Laurie Anderson’s Covid-19 Zoom lectures entitled Spending The War Without You; and a poster Signing with previously announced 2021 poster artist Luke Dorman of Meow Wolf.

Telluride Film Festival’s shorts programme, Filmmakers of Tomorrow, includes three sections: Student Prints, Calling Cards and Great Expectations from 18 emerging filmmakers from around the globe.

Telluride’s free public Talking Heads programmes allow attendees to go behind the scenes with special guests. Eight Conversations take place between festival guests and the audience about cinema and culture, and four outdoor Noon Seminars feature a panel of festival guests discussing a wide range of film topics.