Telluride’s Top Films of 2009
Posted: September 5th, 2009 | Author: John | Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »The Telluride Film Festival kicked off today with the Opening Night Feed, where pass holders, filmmakers and actors all enjoy a catered meal on Telluride’s picturesque main street. Ken Burns, the famous documentary director was there, as usual. Carey Mulligan, the rising star in “An Education” is as beautiful in real life as she is on the screen. Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt), this year’s guest director, was also at the opening dinner. The shy aborigine stars of “Samson and Delilah” quietly ate on the periphery. Excitement is growing for the films which premiere or “pre-screen” here this year. It was officially announced this evening that Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” (starring George Clooney) will screen tomorrow as a “Sneak Peak.” Nicholas Cage will be here for his film “Bad Lieutenant” and Viggo Mortensen will be here with his entourage for the highly-anticipated “The Road” on Sunday. Helen Mirren is here too… and surely, many other famous and talented actors and directors will join the festival.
Another buzz-worthy, surprise film is going to show tomorrow: “Paranormal Activity.” It was made for just $11,000 on home video cameras. It is said to be terrifyingly suspenseful.
More to come…
I’ll make a projection about what I think will be the “top 10″ movies of this year’s festival.
- The Road (Viggo Mortensen)
- The Bad Lieutenant (Nicholas Cage)
- An Education (Carey Mulligan)
- Up in the Air (George Clooney)
- A Prophet (an awesome film!)
- Coco Before Chanel (Audrey Tautou)
- The Last Station (Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti)
- Bright Star (about John Keats)
- Samson and Delilah (woah.)
- The White Ribbon (won the Palme d’Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival)
Though, there are always some surprise hits, and there are still some surprises coming. The famous Telluride “TBA” films are announced the evening before, which creates some excitement. Last year, Slumdog Millionaire surprised us part way through the festival – and then went on to sweep up eight Academy Awards.
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