‘Women Talking’ Soars at Telluride, Sarah Polley Could Be Third Consecutive Female Director Oscar Winner

Clayton Davis Not every race is what it seems, and so it goes with the first category decision of the season. Variety has confirmed Michelle Williams’ work as the piano-playing mother in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” will be campaigned for the Oscars in best actress, instead of supporting as many pundits had speculated. The film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, won the prestigious People’s Choice Award and became the undisputed frontrunner in the early days of the awards season. One of the highlights of the cast was Williams’ turn as Mitzi Fabelman, a lover of the arts who serves as an inspiration for her filmmaking son Sammy (played by newcomer Gabrielle LaBelle).

Is any race for a nomination in this category moot? Has Steven Spielberg already won it for his personal, Hollywood industry-friendly drama “The Fabelmans”? Possibly, but not probably. The Director’s branch of the Academy has become one of the most international of all the branches.

Tilda Swinton has been spotted in the public queue for the Queen’s lying in state.

Over a career that has taken her from child actor to the director’s chair, Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley has spent enough time on set to have a feel for the standard rhythms of a shoot.

You could argue that Daniel Craig’s run as James Bond is highlighted by Sam Mendes’ “Skyfall.” Moreso than the other films over the actor’s tenure as 007, “Skyfall” seems to be the high watermark for the franchise in recent years. So, when you talk about where the James Bond franchise needs to go in the future, now that Craig is no longer involved, Mendes seems like a good person to ask.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras sharply criticized the Toronto and Venice film festivals today for programming documentaries connected with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, suggesting the decision bordered on a “whitewashing” of history.

Ted Lasso‘s Brett Goldstein returned to the Emmy stage yet again this year claiming his second straight best supporting actor Emmy for his performance as Roy Kent. Goldstein also promised that he would try not to swear like the foul mouthed Kent, a promise he just couldn’t keep.

Neon, Double Agent and Film4 are partnering to co-finance and exec produce 2073, a new documentary from Academy Award and BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia (Amy).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba (“La Belle Époque,” “The Queen of Spain”). The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September. The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The Telluride Film Festival wrapped on Labor Day, with many of the season’s mystery films getting a first look from critics, journalists and festivalgoers. But what did we learn from the four-day fest? Do we have an Oscar frontrunner? Four narrative films world premiered in the Colorado mountains – “Women Talking” from MGM/UAR, “Empire of Light” from Searchlight Pictures and “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “The Wonder” from Netflix. Other Venice titles also made their North American debuts such as Netflix’s “Bardo” and Focus Features’ “Tar.” Here are five things we learned at Telluride.

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of Oscar-winner Phil Tippett’s directorial debut Mad God, the film’s producers Tippett Studio and Ultra 8 Pictures are teaming up on Tippett Productions, a new Canadian-based venture.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning star Mark Rylance and his wife Claire van Kampen, a playwright, composer and director, have teamed with Steven Spielberg and his Amblin Entertainment on a TV project, the actor revealed to Deadline.

Rooney Mara and Claire Foy join their co-stars for a special event at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival over the weekend in Telluride, Co.

The women in question here belong to a secluded rural religious order on unidentified prairieland and the talking they do throughout Sarah Polley’s immaculately made, intellectually adventurous and politically incisive new film consists of an ongoing debate that will determine the futures of these mostly young women.

Sarah Polley, at the Telluride Film Festival for the world premiere of Women Talking, her latest film as a director, acknowledged how lucky she was as an actress to have worked with so many female filmmakers. They told her to be “fierce” when they saw that she wanted to work behind the camera.

TELLURIDE – The events at a secluded Mennonite colony in Bolivia during the late ‘00s spurred headlines around the world. Men from the extremely conservative religious group had raped multiple women in their community while they slept.

Vladimir Putin demands absolute fealty to the Russian state, and woe to anyone who defies him.