50th Telluride Film Festival: Due to the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strikes, Telluride Film Festival director Julie Huntsinger was sitting in her office a few weeks ago assuming that this year’s programme would be a repeat of the pandemic year.
Huntsinger boasts, with gratitude, that she didn’t lose a single film in the 50th edition of the festival, which is beloved by film fans for its meticulously curated lineup that blends future best picture Oscar winners (“Argo,” “Moonlight,” and “The Shape of Water”) with the best of international and independent cinema.
The previous week, Huntsinger told me over the phone, “Like I told a couple of filmmakers, we just keep making lemonade.”
50th Telluride Film Festival: Unveiling the Lineup Amidst Challenges
This year’s festival, which begins Thursday, includes new films from Oscar-winning filmmakers Alexander Payne (the wry, Christmas-set “The Holdovers,” which reunites him with “Sideways” star Paul Giamatti), Emerald Fennell (the dark comedy “Saltburn,” her follow-up to “Promising Young Woman”) and Steve McQueen (“Occupied City,” a four-and-a-half-hour documentary about Amsterdam that focuses on the city’s German occupation during World War II).
World premieres include “Rustin,” a biopic of gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin starring Colman Domingo, the sports drama “Nyad” starring Annette Bening as the controversial long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, and “All of Us Strangers,” the latest film from British director Andrew Haigh (“45 Years”) in which a middle-aged man comes out to his parents, who happen to be ghosts.
The festival will honour filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos, Wim Wenders, and Alice Rohrwacher, all of whom have films at the Telluride Film Festival. The latest film by Lanthimos, the surrealistic “Poor Things,” stars Emma Stone, who was nominated for an Oscar for his previous film, “The Favourite.” Wenders has two films at the festival, a documentary about German artist Anselm Kiefer titled “Anselm” and the enthralling drama “Perfect Days,” which premiered earlier this year at Cannes to rave reviews. “La Chimaera” by Rohrwacher, staring Josh O’Connor, also made its world premiere at Cannes.
The director-only tribute lineup reflects a strike-related reality that Telluride could not evade. Typically, the festival distributes prestigious awards to actors; last year, Cate Blanchett was honoured for her performance in “Tár.” Bening was in consideration for a role in “Nyad” this year until the SAG-AFTRA strike derailed those plans.
“It’s fun for the audience to have glimmering stars and their tributes, but given what’s going on, it felt good to go a little old-school,” says Huntsinger, who was astonished that the festival had never honoured Wenders. “You know, it’s not a terrible year to correct that. I believe both of his films to be remarkable. I adore them”
Rohrwacher was the subject of Huntsinger’s enthusiasm, and if you know her, you know that her passion for filmmakers practically emanates from her essence. “She seems somewhat unreal,” says Huntsinger. “She is the most earthy… intelligent, gentle, and beautiful.” Also, Lanthimos. I cannot imagine a scenario in which he does not produce something mind-blowing.
She has a special place in her heart for “Fallen Leaves,” a melancholy, introspective tale laced with deadpan humour from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki.
“Even when you consider the title and what a fallen leaf is, as well as the fact that we’re all approaching fallen leaf-hood, even a fallen leaf is beautiful,” says Huntsinger. You can lose some colour and vibrancy while still being a vibrant creature.
This year’s festival is dedicated to the group of friends who founded it fifty years ago: renowned archivist, producer, and programmer Tom Luddy, Stella and Bill Pence, and film scholar James Card. Six years prior to his demise in February, Luddy had been battling Parkinson’s disease for six years. Bill Pence passed away in December.
Since 2007, Huntsinger has been Telluride’s director. He met Luddy in 1993 at Francis Ford Coppola’s company American Zoetrope. Their rapport was instantaneous.
“Tom had this preternatural equanimity,” according to Huntsinger. “He wanted everyone to share his passion for cinema. And he knew that in order for this love to be infectious, he had to speak about it in a certain way, which was his natural way. He was able to generate enthusiasm for extremely scholarly cinema and films from bygone eras. And they would continually ask, “How have we never seen that? That is so incredible.’ It was merely a combination of taste, courtesy, and charisma…. We’re missing them.”
Huntsinger states that this year’s programme contains a number of Easter eggs for those who knew and admired Pence and Luddy, mentioning the special medallion that will be presented to Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation. Film Foundation’s restoration of “Downpour” by Iranian filmmaker Bahram Beyzaie was one of Luddy’s favourite films.
Unfamiliar with “Downpour”? Such discoveries are what make Telluride an almost religious experience for long-term visitors. But the festival, held in a remote former mining town in a gorgeous box canyon in the Colorado Rockies, can be prohibitively expensive to attend, and all the “cinema” talk can be a bit intimidating to the uninitiated.
“I am aware of the misconception that the festival is more of a film nerd event,” says Huntsinger. Then I realise that some of the film nerds who revere Telluride are really f—ing cool individuals.
Huntsinger mentions Ethan Hawke, who is bringing to Telluride his most recent directorial endeavour, “Wildcat,” a drama about Flannery O’Connor struggling to complete her first novel. Additionally, he will serve as a guest director and introduce a screening of Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz.”
“He genuinely enjoys films and discusses them in a manner that never feels pretentious,” says Huntsinger. “And when someone like Ethan discusses a sexy, cool film like ‘All That Jazz,’ this is how you keep the festival moving. This is how you maintain accessibility.”
“You can hear people discuss Telluride, but until you’ve been here, it won’t make complete sense,” continues Huntsinger. “You arrive here and say, ‘I get it. They are donning nothing but jeans. We do occasionally hear, “Oh, the cinephiles festival!” Let’s rethink the definition of a cinephile. Because there are many amusing, thrilling, and even sexy cinephiles.”
