2016 Telluride Film Festival Lines Up ‘Arrival,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Sully’ And More, Plus Our Most Anticipated Movies

The Venice Film Festival has kicked off, and now that we move into the Labor Day weekend, it’s time for the Telluride Film Festival. Quaint, peaceful and full of cinephiles — filmmakers like Alexander Payne and Werner Herzog often show up even if they’re not promoting movies — the lineup for this year’s event has been revealed.

READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Venice Film Festival

World premieres, though they are never technically called that at Telluride include: Clint Eastwood’s flight and disaster drama, “Sully” starring Tom Hanks; Benedict Andrews’ “Una” starring Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn; the boxing drama, “Bleed For This” featuring Miles Teller; Barry Jenkins’ much-anticipated follow-up to “Medicine For Melancholy,” the three-decade spanning drama, “Moonlight”; Werner Herzog’s latest documentary, “Into The Inferno”; “Maudie” by Aisling Walsh; François Ozon’s “Frantz” and “Wakefield” from director Robin Swicord.

READ MORE: The 30 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival

With over ten premieres, that’s possibly the highest count Telluride — a festival that alleges that it doesn’t care about world premieres or awards — has ever had and is a big opening salvo in the fall season (though their antiquated stance isn’t just posturing, they tried to ban journalists from tweeting a few years back).

Other pictures in the line-up include the Sundance hit “Manchester by the Sea,” Pablo Larrain’s “Neruda” with Gael Garcia Bernal and more.

It should be said, the secretive Telluride line-up, was actually leaked early this year and 90% of the titles on that list were correct. We suppose this is what happens in the digital age, but boo-runs on the person that spoiled and shared the line-up. That feeling of surprise, the grab-bag of not exactly knowing what’s there — although Toronto tips the festival’s hand each year by announcing the film’s on their slate that are “international premieres” — is part of Telluride’s charm.

Below is the full Telluride line-up followed by our list of Most Anticipated movies. The Telluride Film Festival runs from September 2nd to 5th.

2016 Telluride Film Festival Line-Up

“Arrival” (Denis Villeneuve)

“The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” (Errol Morris)

“Bleed for This” (Ben Younger)

“Bright Lights” (Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens)

“California Typewriter” (Doug Nichol)

“Chasing Trane” (John Scheinfeld)

“The End of Eden” (Angus Macqueen)

“A Fanatic Heart — Bob Geldof on WB Yeats” (Gerry Hoban)

“Finding Oscar” (Ryan Suffern)

“Fire at Sea” (Gianfranco Rosi)

“Frantz” (François Ozon)

“Gentleman Rissient” (Benoît Jacquot, Guy Séligmann and Pascal Merigeau)

“Into the Inferno” (Werner Herzog)

“The Ivory Game” (Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson)

“Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown” (Gregory Monro)

“La La Land” (Damien Chazelle)

“Lost in Paris” (Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon)

“Manchester by the Sea” (Kenneth Lonergan)

“Maudie” (Aisling Walsh)

“Men: A Love Story” (Mimi Chakarova)

“Moonlight” (Barry Jenkins)

“My Journey Through French Cinema” (Bertrand Tavernier)

“Neruda” (Pablo Larraín)

“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer” (Joseph Cedar)

“Sully” (Clint Eastwood)

“Things to Come” (Mia Hansen-Løve)

“Through the Wall” (Assaf Amir)

“Toni Erdmann” (Maren Ade)

“Una” (Benedict Andrews)

“Wakefield” (Robin Swicord)

Repertory titles:

“The Marseilles Trilogy: “Marius,” Fanny” and “César” (Marcel Pagnol)

“Variety” (Ewald André Dupont)

Guest Director selections:

“The Barefoot Contessa” (Joseph Mankiewicz)

“The Fire Within” (Louis Malle)

“I Was Nineteen” (Konrad Wolf)

“It Was the Month of May” (Marlen Khutsiev)

“Les Enfants Terribles” (Jean-Pierre Melville)

“Spies” (Fritz Lang)

Our 11 Most Anticipated Titles

“Sully”
Director Clint Eastwood, coming off the most successful film of his career “American Sniper,” brings out a career-best performance from Tom Hanks, and that’s saying something. Based on pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who glided his commercial flight on an icy Hudson River saving 155 lives in the process, Sullenberger ends up being portrayed as a hero by the media, but aviation experts don’t want to believe the heroism shtick and try to bring out the flaws in his demeanor. Eastwood, shooting with IMAX cameras, gives us dazzling visuals especially the showstopping crash which is unlike anything attempted at the movies before. With a successful showing at Telluride this could prove to be Hanks and Eastwood’s return to the Oscar stage. After watching the breathtaking and intimate “Sully,” you will have no problem with that happening.

“Una”
An adaptation of David Harrower’s controversial play “Blackbird” (the film’s original title), “Una” is the feature-length directorial debut of Benedict Andrews, an award-winning opera and theatre director. While a first timer for the big screen that clearly didn’t scare off two of the best actors of their respective generations, Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn. A psychosexual thriller and revenge tale, Mara plays woman reunited in the workplace with the man who sexually assaulted her as a teenager. Worse, she’s actually sought him out. What transpires is a complex and intense character drama about lust, abuse, vengeance and the capacity for change in those that have horrible deeds. Put this one at the top of our list, we’re entranced by the very idea of these two going toe to toe in what promises to be an explosive and provocative drama.