The Telluride Film Festival has over the past decade gained a reputation as a serious generator of buzz. Three years ago, "Juno" premiered at the eclectic Colorado event before embarking on its fall-season carpet ride, while awards heavyweight "Slumdog Millionaire" used the fest as an important springboard back in 2009. Before that, "Capote," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Brokeback Mountain" were all beneficiaries of the Telluride effect.
The Times will be covering the festival through the weekend, where my colleague John Horn will track many of the high-profile premieres and the unexpected gems. (As per tradition, Telluride announced its lineup Thursday, at the last moment, just hours before the festival was set to start; you can read about the slate, the likely standouts and the growing relevance of the festival in Horn's print story here. And for the full list of what's in the fest's main Show section, click through to the jump of this post.)
Among the movies looking to get a leg up are some returning filmmakers, most notably "Slumdog" director Danny Boyle, who will unveil his mountain-climber drama "127 Hours" at the festival. Fellow Fox Searchlight releases "Black Swan" and "Never Let Me Go" will also make their North American premieres at the festival, as will Peter Weir's "The Way Back" and Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech." At least a few films will win top prizes in the Telluride sweepstakes — we'll just have to wait a little longer to find out which.
–Steven Zeitchik
Photo: "Never Let Me Go" stars (from left) Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield; credit: Fox Searchlight
The Show lineup
"A LETTER TO ELIA" (directed by Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones)
"ANOTHER YEAR" (directed by Mike Leigh)
"BIUTIFUL" (directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu)
"CARLOS" (directed by Olivier Assayas)
"CHICO AND RITA" (directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal)
"THE FIRST GRADER" (directed by Justin Chadwick)
"THE FIRST MOVIE" (directed by Mark Cousins)
"HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA" (directed by Dmitry Vasyukov with Werner Herzog)
"IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE" (directed by Florin Serban)
"THE ILLUSIONIST" (directed by Sylvain Chomet)
"INCENDIES" (directed by Denis Villeneuve)
"INSIDE JOB" (directed by Charles Ferguson)
"THE KING'S SPEECH" (directed by Tom Hooper)
LE QUATTRO VOLTE" (directed by Michelangelo Frammartino)
NEVER LET ME GO" (directed by Mark Romanek)
"OF GODS AND MEN" (directed by Xavier Beauvois)
"OKA! AMERIKEE" (directed by Lavinia Currier)
POETRY" (directed by Lee Chang-dong)
"PRECIOUS LIFE" (directed by Shlomi Eldar)
"THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER" (directed by Bertrand Tavernier)
"TABLOID" (directed by Errol Morris)
"TAMARA DREWE" (directed by Stephen Frears)
"THE TENTH INNING" (directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick)
"THE WAY BACK" (directed by Peter Weir)
