The 81st Venice Film Festival officially began today, with our very own Ema Sasic covering it in person. Starting Friday, the 51st Telluride Film Festival will start and run until September 2nd. As always, there’s much speculation over what will screen at this year’s festival since Telluride keeps their lineup a secret until the day before, adding an element of exclusivity to the event (we should know the full lineup tomorrow at 11 am ET).
Unlike Toronto, Venice, or New York, Telluride is the only film festival that charges for the press to attend and doesn’t reveal its lineup in advance. However, this unique approach is backed by a consistently high level of quality in their programming. This assurance of excellent cinema, combined with an aura of exclusivity, makes the Telluride Film Festival stand out as not only one of the best film festivals in the world but also as a launching pad for many of the year’s top awards season contenders.
Since the Best Picture lineup expanded in 2009, here is the Telluride Film Festival’s track record with providing us with the eventual Oscar nominees for Best Picture (which I covered in this article):
2023: Anatomy Of A Fall, The Holdovers (WP), Poor Things & The Zone Of Interest
2022: Tár & Women Talking (WP)
2021: Belfast (WP), King Richard (WP) & The Power Of The Dog
2020: The Father & Nomadland*
2019: Ford v Ferrari (WP), Marriage Story & Parasite*
2018: The Favourite & Roma
2017: Darkest Hour (WP), Lady Bird (WP) & The Shape Of Water*
2016: Arrival, Manchester By The Sea, Moonlight* (WP) & La La Land
2015: Room (WP) & Spotlight*
2014: Birdman* & The Imitation Game (WP)
2013: 12 Years A Slave* (WP), Gravity & Nebraska
2012: Amour & Argo* (WP)
2011: The Artist* & The Descendants (WP)
2010: 127 Hours (WP), Black Swan & The King’s Speech* (WP)
2009: An Education & Up In The Air (WP)
So, you can expect at least two to three Best Picture nominees to screen in Telluride, with an unlikely maximum of four. So, which three will it be?
Another way to anticipate the films that will be screened at Telluride before the official announcement is to consider the premiere distinction labels for each film that is announced for other fall film festivals, especially the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. This approach has allowed us to predict the following films that are likely to be screened at Telluride this year…
All We Imagine As Light
Anora
Apocalypse In The Tropics
The Apprentice
Better Man
Bird
Chain Reactions
Conclave
A Different Man
Disclaimer
Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight
Emilia Pérez
The End
The Friend
Grand Tour
Homegrown
Leonardo DaVinci/Burns
Made In England: The Films Of Powell And Pressburger
Maria
Meet The Barbarians
Memoir Of A Snail
Misericordia
Nickel Boys
No Other Land
Oh, Canada
One To One: John & Yoko
The Outrun
Parthenope
The Piano Lesson
Piece By Piece
A Real Pain
Riefenstahl
Santosh
Saturday Night
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
Separated
September 5th
The Story Of Souleymane
A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things
White House Effect
Will & Harper
Of course, there will be films that come over from Venice, such as Pablo Larraín’s “Maria,” the Munich Olympics Massacre drama “September 5,” Errol Morris’ documentary “Separated” and Alfonso Cuaron’s Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer” starring Cate Blanchett. Telluride is a festival of surprises. Many did not expect it to give us “Room” or “Moonlight” as Best Picture nominees or host surprise secret world premiere screenings of “Argo” or “12 Years A Slave” or steal another film festival’s world premiere as it did with “Belfast” in 2021. The list above may not be perfect, and I’m sure there will be surprise inclusions for films that will be released theatrically in 2025, like how “Tuesday” premiered last year before getting released this summer. One thing I know for sure is that there’s no better lineup than Telluride. It’s an abundance of riches in such a short period, and I cannot wait to share the experience with Will Mavity, who will be attending for the first time this year.
What do you think will screen at this year’s Telluride Film Festival this year? Have you ever been to the festival before? If so, what was your experience like? Who do you think will be announced for this year’s tributes? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below or over on our Twitter account and check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
