Creative storytelling and refreshing original voices are the draw at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival.
Every film festival is a labor of love. It takes a huge crew of talented and dedicated staff and volunteers to staff and run a festival. For the Telluride Film Festival, where they literally transform gymnasiums and ice rinks into screening halls, it’s almost a feat of magic. This year’s festival was particularly challenging with one less venue and a few key veteran volunteers not returning to lead the charge. There were fewer experienced staff out talking to the lines and giving assurances to festival goers.
Another challenge TFF faced this year was more Patrons and less films. It seemed there were more Patron passes sold (or more of them using their passes) and more Sponsors showing up for screenings which left less room for the regular passholders. There were lots of unhappy film enthusiasts who were turned away from screenings. In a year with many films with longer run times taking up more room in the program, there were less options for festival attendees to choose from. Both of those issues then created an urgency for film fans to get in line even earlier. And that makes it feel more discouraging when those same people are turned away because 200 Patrons showed up 15 minutes before screening time.
Perhaps that also created a bigger thrill when folks made it INTO a film…because it was an exceptional year for festival films. What stood out for me was the unusual approach to storytelling that was on display. From the POV shots used in “Nickel Boys” (RaMell Ross) to documentarian Morgan Neville turning Pharrell Williams into Lego bricks. There was the outlandish and inventive use of song and dance in the brutal but brilliant “Emilia Perez” (Jacques Audiard).
There were films that featured animals as characters in the film: seals in “The Outrun” (Nora Fingscheidt), birds in “Bird” (Andrea Arnold) and the snails in “Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot). Director and co-screenwriter Michael Gracey turned British rock star Robbie Williams into a literal performing monkey in the moving “Better Man”. The Great Dane in “The Friend” (Scott McGehee and David Siegel) stole the show and was a festival favorite along Main Street.
Venice Film Festival may have had glamorous red carpets and gossip about the stars. This year at Telluride, we had Bill Murray taking a nap outside the Chuck Jones venue and Selena Gomez attending the Telluride high school girls’ volleyball game. Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker was a delight, and she was happy to answer questions from the aspiring filmmakers in the Student Program. There were plenty of insightful conversations in the park and lots of delightful interactions between filmmakers and fans. It’s this intimate experience that elevates TFF and a big part of the reason film fans make the arduous (and costly) journey to the mountains.
Despite the challenges of navigating this year’s festival–printed schedules released late, benches arriving on the second day of the festival so no seating at two of the largest venues, lots of complaining from long-time festival fans–it’s been an amazing experience and a highlight of my year. I cannot wait to review some of my favorite films from this year’s program and to seek the films that I missed. Four days is not enough time to appreciate my time in this beautiful box canyon in Telluride.
Drinks with films 