Telluride ‘25 summary

 I saw 12 films total. As I compile this list, I realized how good many of them were. So I’ll categorize them as follows:

A list:

Hamnet;  it was just an accident ; blue moon; Tuner;

Jay Kelly;  A private life;  Lost in the jungle

B list:

Shifty; H is for Hawk;  if I had legs I’d kick you; Sentimental Value ; History of sound. Turns out they «  sentimental »  was Loved by many —so ignore my views  

Two films I missed and now want to see  (others in my group saw  them) were La Gracia and Springsteen. I definitely want to see La Gracia. It got lots of buzz.

Telluride Labor Day

 Normally, on the last day, they leave a couple of blank spots in the program at our venue for TBAs But oddly this year, they did not do that. It’s a little bit frustrating because sometimes there are some really well received films that we never get to see here. Oh well. We get what we get..

First up was a tribute to Jamar Panahi, an Iranian filmmaker I had not been familiar with before. He has been arrested  & imprisoned for making films that are critical of the regime. The bio we got about him and the interview with him were very touching. He talked about the circumstances of trying to have art in a totalitarian state. A filmmaker who works with him is currently in prison, and he concluded his interview by saying that he wanted all of us to say happy birthday to his friend. He put his phone  towards the audience while we sang happy birthday. It was so touching that after it he could not speak.

The film of his that was screened was « it was just an accident. »  it had won the Palme d’or at Cannes this year. A very interesting story. I highly recommend it. 

Second was « A private life » starring Jodie Foster. ( she attended a film that we saw yesterday and sat a few seats away).  We were surprised to learn that she is fluent in French as the movie was in French!  She played a therapist who, after the death of a patient, becomes a detective. It was a very enjoyable film. My francophile friends will really like it. 

Third film today was called « sentimental value ». I’m afraid I slept through a fair amount so I can’t give a good assessment. But for the parts I was awake, it felt very Bergman like. I found out later people adored this one so my sleeping likely clouded my opinion!  

And the grande finale: » Hamnet »Directed by Chloe Zhao And starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. After the film, we agreed we should just hand her the academy award. No need to bother with other nominations It is the story of Shakespeare, who, following the death of his son, writes Hamlet as a tool for getting over the death. This was a highly anticipated film, and it did not disappoint. The director was present to introduce it. Must see!  It’s so excellent to have such wonderful female directors!

I don’t have time to proofread and correct this post right now. some thoughts are rather incomplete. Sorry. No time And I also want to add a summary of my overall impressions. I will do that later.

Telluride day 3

 The day began with a tribute to writer/director Noah Baumbach. The clips of his movies reminded me how many movies of his I’ve loved! Following the clips was an interview with him, which was delightful. He spent a bit of time talking about « the squid and the whale »   as well  as « Francis Ha, »which is one we saw Telluride. I would like to revisit some of his films. Also, during the tribute,  Laura Dern and Adam Sandler (who are in the film he brought today ) paid  tribute to him from an actor’s perspective. Very sweet. So his screening today was the one I already saw: « Jay Kelly ». I debated about whether to attend it again or skip it and ultimately decided to watch it again. George Clooney was not able to be here, but it was fun hearing from Bombach and Laura Dern and Adam Sandler. 

Next today was a Brazilian story which I decided to skip: the «  secret agent ». I need to pace myself.

So the second one I saw today was called « Tuner» starring Dustin Hoffman and Daniel Roher, as a piano tuner. He had been a piano virtuoso who had to stop playing due to an ailment called hyperacusis— an extreme hypersensitivity to loud noises.  Don’t want to tell much about this movie because I think it’s going to be very popular and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I highly recommend it to everyone.  Really an old school movie that had everything— Struggles, love, crime, drama… 

There were two more films screened tonight, But I skipped them. Actually, all of us skipped one of them in order to have a decent meal at dinner time. The late night one was going to go till after 11:00 so I passed.

And the festival is nearly over. Just one more day. It goes so fast.

Telluride Day 2

 I was very excited about the beginning of today. The festival is paying tribute to Ethan Hawke. So as they usually do with tributes, they showed clips from his films. I had seen a number of them, of course, but I have to say I gained much more appreciation of him today than I ever would’ve imagined.  After the clips were shown, they had an interview with him and he was impressive. Then they screened a new film of his called  « Blue Moon »—-which was one of his famous songs, of course, as well as my funny valentine, The lady is a tramp etc.  

 It’s the story of Lorenz Hart of the team, Rogers and Hart. Musical theater! Virtually all of the action was in Sardis. The time period is just after Roger and Hart split up and Rogers teams up with Oscar Hammerstein. It’s opening night of Oklahoma. Hart left the show a little early and got to the restaurant ahead of the rest of the folks. Through his ongoing dialogue with the bartender we really get to know the man. I was amazed at the transformation of Hawke!  He is well deserving of some serious awards. Throughout the entire film, the piano player in the bar is playing musical theatre numbers from the period. I bit my tongue not to sing along with them.  Director is Richard Linklater, who has collaborated with Hawk on many occasions. The two leading actors and director were present to greet us before the screening. Very special!😀 

The second film today was « lost in the jungle ». It is the real story of four children whose airplane crashes in Amazon jungle. It was a documentary, chronicling the experience of these children surviving in a jungle. Really an amazing story. Turned out it was much more of a story than I had anticipated. I  recommend it for folks who like documentaries.

Third today was « H is for Hawk »  staring Claire Foy as an academic at Cambridge, who, after losing a loved one, decides to train a hawk (in a similar fashion as people who train a falcon). She becomes rather obsessed with it and we follow her as she works out her grief. The cinematography was beautiful and her portrayal convincing.Several Films here have been directed by women (yay ) and this one was Philippa Lowthorpe who was here to introduce it.

So today I saw four! The Final one  was «  the history of Sound. » It’s a very misleading title. It takes place in the early 1900s and shows a couple of academics who research folk music. But the real story is the relationship between these two men played by Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

Telluride Day 1

 Today was the official start to the festival.  The first film was « Shifty » —an Adam Curtis documentary, which was actually a five part series— A total of 347 minutes long! It’s a UK film and I’m not certain what wide screenings that will get in the US but it was really fascinating. Paraphrasing from part of the the program, Curtis uses archival film or TV images from cultural history to construct new often ironic meaning. He looks at the recent history of Great Britain, beginning with Margaret Thatcher and the failed initiatives and the resulting chaos leading into the 21st century which the program described as the 21st century dominated by fragmented half truths and materialism. Many parallels to what is going on in this country today. Brilliant ideas like privatization. 🤪 An example was given of the failed privatization of the water system in Great Britain and the resulting poisoning of people and animals. Stupidity! Extremely long, but really thought provoking. We lasted through all of it without complaint. Several other years, we have had a multi part series shown on Friday and it works well. Often, these are series that we might not see otherwise.

The second film, we saw today was written and directed by Mary Bronstein called « if I had legs, I’d kick you. » Let me quote from the program: « Imagine Cassavetes’  «  woman under the influence », pluck down in the hallucinatory world of David Lynch, and you’ll have a place to start. »  Rose Byrne played the lead, a therapist on Long Island trying to cope with a very sick child and an absentee husband. Interestingly, Conan O’Brien played her therapist. A very unconventional part for him, but I think he did an excellent job. Exhausting but worthwhile. Both the author and leading lady were here to introduce the film. That’s always special.

I decided to pace myself tonight and skip the last film. I need to get through the weekend! So I’m getting to bed at a reasonable time. Pooped!

(as always, please forgive any typos or poor wording. I’m often very tired when I write these!) 

But we’re off to an excellent start.😀

Telluride Thurs

 We picked up our show programs today and we’re thrilled to see who will be here. Last year the actors could not come because of the strike so we felt deprived 😉.  Unsure if I will see everyone, but look at this list:

Ethan Hawke, who will get a tribute as a director, Filmmaker Richard Linklater, Emma Stone, Jodie Foster, Dustin Hoffman, Noah Bombach, who will receive a tribute as a filmmaker, George Clooney, Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup, Ken Burns, of course, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Strong, Alexander Skarsgård, Riz Ahmed.  What a list!

So this afternoon, I was invited to a special screening and was happy but sad because it was the Noah Bombach movie with George Clooney, Laura Dern, and others, and the only reason I was disappointed was when it is shown at our venue on the weekend, they will be there to introduce the film. They were not there today because they were in Venice at the Venice festival. They won’t get here till tomorrow.The film is by Netflix so I assume it will be available at some point.

So the film is called « Jay Kelly », which is the character played by Clooney. He is an aging movie star going through some existential questioning about who he is and what his life has meant. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m kind of a pushover. I actually thought it was one of his better acting jobs. I found the story line provocative and I may just decide to see it a second time. That’s what I did last year when I saw « Conclave »  early and then it came to our venue a couple days later. Oh well. 

So things are off to a wonderful start. We went out to a nice dinner tonight because for the next three days will be grabbing snacks in between films. 

I think we’re all pretty happy with the condo this year. We had stayed here a number of years ago, but had quite a few complaints. In the meantime, they have renovated and it’s much improved! And the distance to get to our theater is quite m  acomfortable. If you’ve read this blog before you know that we buy the festival pass that only lets us go to one venue. That way we don’t have to run all over town to seven other theaters. We just don’t get to choose our films. We see what comes to us. But I have adapted to that very well over the years.

On a personal note, last year, I had a lot of trouble acclimating to the altitude. It was really my breathing that was way out of whack. Last September I started seeing the allergist and after a year of  treatment I am not having trouble this year. Is absolutely amazing the difference it has made!  

By the way, you may have noticed some hot links in this post. Google has added this new feature. They found 15 different Google searches related to words I used and added the hot links. I’ll try it out and see if I like it. You may or may not care to go to any of them. But I’ll try it out.

Happy to be here for a year 22( for me).  

Jane

En route to Telluride Aug 26,2025

 It finally feels real. Another year has passed & it is festival time. I’ll spend tonight in Montrose & shuttle tomorrow to Telluride / Mt Village where I’ll meet the other 4 gals. They’re driving from Denver. (Ugh! ) 

On Thursday I’m invited to a special screening as a member of the legacy circle. So that day will be my first festival post. Then Friday I expect to see 2-3 films & the festival begins!

Each year a different artist designs an unique poster. Here’s this year’s.