Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Telluride has been a film festival I’ve wanted to attend since I first heard of it. Taking place right before Toronto this fest is handled a lot like Butt-Numb-A-Thon in that they typically have some incredible premieres and they don’t announce their line-up in advance.

On top of that, they don’t comp their badges for press or industry people, so it’s not a highly publicized festival. Their badges ain’t cheap, either.

So, I’m doing this festival guerilla style, driving up from Austin, renting a room out from someone downtown and doing the fest without a badge, buying individual tickets for every show.

Since they don’t announce their programming in advance I can’t give you a preview of the fest, but IndieWire’s Anne Thompson speculates we’ll see Cannes films White Ribbon, Bright Star and Un Prophete, which won the Grand Prix. She also guesses there’s a shot at THE ROAD, Jason Reitman’s UP IN THE AIR (he brought JUNO to Telluride before it premiered at Toronto) and early Oscar buzzer AN EDUCATION.

Apparently the fest is a favorite of Werner Herzog, so there’s a lot of talk about MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE? and BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS, which has me giddy. If you don’t know why I’m giddy to see that movie you obviously haven’t seen the trailer…

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - #1 Trailer
by hawkbcn

Alexander Payne serves as the Guest Director and will be hand picking a few selections himself.

From word of those that have been and from what I read online Telluride strikes me as a film lover’s festival. It’s all about the movies, not the awards, not the glamour, not the star-fucking, but a kind of leap of faith that you’re going to experience great films in one of the most beautiful places in the country.

Last year Danny Boyle snuck SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE there and the buzz from that fest started the wave that carried him all the way to the Kodak Theater where he took home quite a few little golden statues. David Fincher also snuck a work in progress print of Benjamin Button.

I’ll be there on the ground figuring it out movie by movie, seeing just how much trouble I can get in to. I don’t know how much access I’ll be able to get, but I understand the fest if fairly talent-heavy so I’ll see if I can lock down a few interviews as well a full plate of movies. If you’re around the fest and want to say hi drop me an email at quint@aintitcool.com.

I leave Austin tomorrow morning at 5am beginning the some 1100 mile drive that'll take me through Northern Texas, New Mexico and the crazy Colorado mountains. It'll be an adventure and a half, that's for sure. I look forward to sharing it with you guys.

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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