Telluride Film Festival 2024: Memories for a Lifetime

Being an avid cinephile, attending a film festival has always been a gift of epic proportions. That gift is amplified by being able to share that love of cinema with thousands of fans in the mountains of Colorado at the 51st Telluride Film Festival. 

As someone who grew up fairly close to the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, my expectations as a Telluride newbie were more fear of the unknown than anything else. Being surrounded by nature in all its glorious beauty–babbling brooks, mountain views from every conceivable angle, exquisitely colored birds, crisp air, and a strangely relaxing sense of serenity in the midst of festival madness–was a welcomed departure from the big city bustle of Los Angeles. Telluride is different. The vibe is chill, the people are kind, and the films are magnificent.

The first day was filled with grabbing my press pass, getting a lay of the land, snagging provisions and attending the press orientation with Telluride Executive Director Julie Huntsinger, who addressed newbies and veteran journalists sharing, “We like to show things here at Telluride that are more or less timeless.” Huntsinger  also encouraged attendees to check out the hot air balloon ‘bucket list’ ride arranged for the kids featured in a popular title from NatGeo, “Blink,” which shares the story of siblings diagnosed with a disease that causes progressive loss of vision.  

Every fest has a surprise screening and Pharrell Williams’ animated semi-biographical feature “Piece By Piece” was the perfect kickoff. Directed by Morgan Neville, audiences are thrust into the mind of a musical genius told in the form of animated Lego bricks. As contagious as his hit song “Happy,” audiences will be enthralled, educated and entertained as his life and career are recounted by himself and various interviews with notables like Snoop Dogg, Teddy Riley and Missy Elliott, to name a few.  

Growing up for some portion of my life as Catholic, Edward Berger’s “Conclave” was at the top of my list. The drama about a Vatican gathering to elect a new Pope is sure to ruffle some feathers in certain religious communities. Exquisitely shot, and touting an impressive, all-star cast that includes John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rosellini, Sergio Casellito and Ralph Fiennes, this film is sure to be an awards season contender in multiple categories.

A follow-up to his directorial debut, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” RaMell Ross’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys” is 

visually stunning and creatively immersive. The manner in which it is shot, reminds me vividly of a 2021 Tilda Swinton film, “Memoria”. While “Memoria” is a unique auditory experience, “Nickel Boys” provides its point of view through its lead character Elwood with the images blurred out, forcing audiences to concentrate on the narrative without being distracted by outside forces on the screen. With repurposed archival footage, Ross shared during the post Q&A, led by The Blacklist creator Franklin Leonard, his reasoning for shooting from one character point of view for narrative versus when capturing subjects for documentaries, “…I am not so much documenting the real, but documenting the reaction to the real.” Brandon Wilson and Ethan Herisse are tethered at the hip on screen and creatively, while the whole project is anchored artistically by the undeniable Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.  Ellis-Taylor’s reply was so honest and real when asked why she wanted to work with Ross: “I like working with people who do good sh*t !” 

And that was just Day One!

The next two days included exclusive interviews with the cast and directors of “Nickel Boys” and “The Piano Lesson” (both of which will run soon on this site), along with screenings of director Malcolm Washington’s phenomenal adaptation of August Wilson’s play, Pablo Larrain’s telling of the life of Maria Callas with Angelina Jolie in “Maria,” and the much-buzzed Jason Reitman film “Saturday Night,” which chronicles the behind-the-scenes shenanigans of the first broadcast of Lorne Michaels’ game-changing comedy show.

In addition, many notable tributes took place for artists like Saoirse Ronan, legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and “Emilia Pérez” filmmaker Jacques Audiard.  

Narrative features weren’t the only ones getting attention, as one of my favorite shorts was a French absurdist tragedy selected and curated by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins titled “Two People Exchanging Saliva (Deux Personnes Èchanggeant De La Salive),” made its World Premiere Friday night at the Sheridan Opera House.  

Shot mostly in B&W, this film is set in a repressive society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay for things by receiving intense slaps to the face. Despite this prohibition, Angine (an unhappy married woman) becomes infatuated with a curious, young salesgirl, leading them both down a path of no return. I loved the unconventional storytelling of this film, and the spectacular performances.

The powerful “September 5” made for a particularly timely premiere given the violent state 

of affairs with Gaza and Israel. Even though this dark chapter in history has been cinematically covered in the past, including in Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” this incarnation attacks this subject from the journalistic lens and the ethics associated with whether to share such shocking, incomprehensible events to more than 900 million people. 

A moment that could have gone terribly wrong. I sat down briefly to chat with one of its stars, Peter Saarsgard, who portrays legendary ABC Sports executive Roone Arlege and inquired how to cover a situation like this if all the perpetrators want is the spotlight given to them by the media. Saarsgard shared, “…the more we are connected when we experience when horrible things like this happen, the more we can react in solidarity with positivity for improving humanity rather than just seeking vengeance.”

Having Angelina Jolie bless me with an operatic diva bow after expressing my enthusiasm of her tour de force performance as ‘La Callas,’ discussing cinema with old colleagues and discovering how fest films are transported to the festival were some cool moments that made my ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Telluride adventure the perfect segue into Fall with a Labor Day picnic in the mountains and an experience that shall permeate my soul and memory for a lifetime.

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