The Telluride Film Festival’s focus on documentary has not diminished in recent years. But arguably the rise of realist literature in the 49th edition made Telluride this year the autumnal Sundance, with some of the biggest fanfare for the docs.
The collection, kept secret until the eve of the festival opening on September 2, includes 16 novice and veteran documentarians, including Steve James (“Merciful Spy”), Matthew Heinemann (“Retrograde”) and Chris Smith (“Father”) Ondi Timoner (“The Father”). “Last Flight Home”) and Ryan White (“Good Night Oppy”). (Additional “secret” offers have yet to be announced.)
The high profile of documentaries at the Colorado Festival is largely due to the influence of Telluride CEO Julie Huntsinger.
“This year, there is almost parity with the narrative features in [main feature] says Huntsinger, who co-directs Telluride with Tom Lodi. “We’re not actively pursuing it. For lack of a better word, that’s what the market does. Every year when we put the show together, we pick from what’s out there, and some of the best movies each year are docs.”
Josh Brown, Sales Agent of Longtime Submarine Entertainment, has a distinct feeling about Documents at Telluride 2022. “There seems to be a different sense of value related to Documents in terms of their location at Telluride this year.”
Huntsinger says the other reason Telluride has an increasing number of docs in its lineup each year is because it “is not recycled.” “They are not derivatives. It is not something you have seen before. You are amazed by a new and compelling story.”
One example Huntsinger provided from this year’s lineup is “Squaring the Circle: The Story of the Hypnosis,” director Anton Corbijn’s first feature-length documentary (“Control”). The film, produced by Colin Firth, Jed Doherty, and Trish de Shetty, chronicles the famous London art studio responsible for the covers of the most famous albums of all time, including Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” and the sacred Houses of Led Zeppelin. Another example that Huntsinger cites is Brian Fogel’s follow-up to the Academy Award-winning Icarus, Icarus: Beyond the Event, which follows detective Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov in the years since the conclusion of the original document.
This is Fogel’s first time at Telluride. (“Icarus” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017.)
One of the many reasons Vogel chose to premiere Icarus: Beyond the Event in Telluride is the festival’s reputation for releasing documentaries that have led to discussions on international issues, such as Errol Morris’s Fog of War (2003) and Dror Moreh’s The Gatekeepers. (2012) and Joshua Oppenheimer “The Act of Killing” (2012).
“While Gregory is a subject we were introduced to in an earlier setting, this film stands alone as an emotional exploration of whistleblower survival and their lives in exile,” Vogel says. “It is also, by extension, an exploration of the fate of many whistleblowers, as Gregory is unfortunately not the only one suffering the consequences of highlighting the abuse of power.”
Morris, along with Ken Burns and Werner Herzog, are among the biggest fans of Telluride or, as Huntsinger describes it, “members of the festival family.” Burns will be attending this year’s festival with his latest PBS series, “The United States and the Holocaust.” Meanwhile, Herzog will celebrate his 80th birthday at the festival as he debuts The Theater of Thought, his latest long-running document on the human mind and what lies beyond consciousness.
Burns, who attended Telluride last year with “Muhammad Ali,” co-directed “The United States and the Holocaust” with Lynne Novick and Sarah Botstein. This three-part, six-hour series examines America’s response to the Holocaust as it unfolds in Europe.
“It’s about how we are not doing enough,” Huntsinger says. “It’s a very good time. Ken has managed to get to the topic that we need to talk about a lot.”
Featured documentaries Steve James and Chris Smith star in “Merciful Spy” and “The Father” respectively. Both docs are looking for a distributor.
“A Merciful Spy” screens globally at the Venice Film Festival Friday before its North American release in Telluride. After releasing several staple films on Sundance, including “Hoop Dreams” and “Life Itself,” the director is looking forward to the fall release for his latest project.
“When I look at some of the films that came out of Venice and Telluride or a combination of those films last year, it can be considered a medium,” James says. Robert Greene’s ‘Parade’ was shown in Telluride last year, and that was huge for this movie to be distributed. [from Netflix] And get a head start.” (The song “Procession” was shortlisted for the Oscars feature last year.)
James adds, “There’s something very appealing about the possibility of your movie premiering in Venice and Telluride in early September because if the stars align, either because you have a distribution in place or because you got it fast, you could be out before the end of the year.”
Despite being a maker of zeitgeist documents, including “Fyre” and more recently “Bad Vegan,” Smith never took any of them to Telluride. The last time the director brought a project to a film festival was “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. His latest film, “Sr.” It revolves around the life and career of Robert Downey Sr.
“I love the experience of going to festivals and being able to see what I’ve made with the audience,” Smith says. “There are certain films that really fit into this experience,” Sr. “He is one of them.”
Award-winning filmmaker and historian Mark Cousins attends “My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock” about the directors’ body of work and how his legacy endures in today’s society. His cousin will also receive a Telluride Silver Medal for achievements in the film industry.
“Telluride is one of the toughest festivals in the world to get into, but once you get in, you’ll be under the shadow of glamor and stardom compared to some huge festivals,” says Cousins. “He is not trying to dazzle, so the films are seen in real light, in a clear mountain light. But it is also quietly filled with very influential people – in cinema, in the press, in technology, etc. Its counter-cultural power is almost invisible but it is great.”
While Cousins is among the many established docu filmmakers heading to Telluride 2022, Huntsinger insists that the festival is also a place to discover talent.
“Wildcat” filmmakers Melissa Leech and Trevor Frost are two examples this year. The film, recently acquired by Amazon, centers on a British Army veteran and Ph.D. A candidate who works together to care for and rehabilitate an orphaned wild feline child.
The directors said in a joint statement to diverse. “The list of documentaries that premiered at Telluride is impressive and we are very excited to premiere them this fall at the festival given the company’s past and present.”
Timoner’s “Last Flight Home,” which was acquired by MTV Documentary Films, premiered at Sundance earlier this year, a rare exception to the festival.
“We show premieres in North America or the world,” she says. “Ondi has touched us in this way. It’s so beautiful, but the reason we asked for the North American or world premiere is because of complete secrecy. Getting here is expensive. Being here is expensive. So we feel that if people make such a commitment to be here, it’s better.” To get off their socks.”
Telluride has featured several real-life features that earned Oscar nominations, including Evgeny Afinevsky’s “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom” (2015), Gianfranco Rosi’s “Fire at Sea” (2016) as well as JR and Agnus Varda. “The Places of Faces” (2017). In addition, in 2018, the song “Free Solo” by Academy Award-winning singers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely made its world premiere at the festival. But Huntsinger doesn’t view the Colorado festival as award season.
“We always did what we do,” she says. “It’s all a bit of a coincidence.”
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