2024 Telluride Film Festival Report – Day 1 – Omens, Portents and Films

As a reminder, these reports are reflections of my own experiences at the festival. Everyone experiences this fest in their own way. Since the experience of the fest is just as important to the movie goer as seeing great films, it is sometimes necessary to point out where the experience might color their level of enjoyment.

The title of the first film I attempted to see at the Telluride Film Festival might be a portent of things to come. Mark Cousins’ A Sudden Glimpse of Deeper Things is usual fare for me. I’ve always liked his approach to documentaries and with his participation on Telluride’s advisory committee it seemed like the perfect fit to start the fest.

But it wasn’t to be. I arrived over an hour before show time to see a like of film fan hopefuls streaming out the door and around the block. The venue is reported to have been expanded from its 50 seat capacity in previous years to 65 but there were more than 80 lined up hoping to get in with more arriving every minute.

Omens and Portents

Clearly the first shut out of the festival, it doesn’t bode well. Granted it was the first and only venue opening early at the festival, but, the lines for the next three films to show there were just as overfilled.

Usually being shut out of a film showing at Telluride is a right of passage. It has even happened to Patron pass holders who paid a pretty penny for priority seating among other things. But there are indications that this year the dreaded shut out might be a much more common experience.

They have lost a venue in the Nugget theater resulting in the usual number of invited films having fewer places to show. Traditionally the festival pays attention to shut out showings and accommodates them by placing additional showings of those popular films in pre-arranged TBA slots throughout the four days of the fest. But this approach will be drastically hampered because of all the TBAs that would have been absorbed by the Nugget venue. And the choice to show several long-form series in blocks means there are even fewer opportunities to accommodate all the pass holders.

With a few other factors I have gleaned going on behind the scenes, I feel like this year may result in quite a lot of disgruntled complaints. I hope the management can handle it. They will have to find some way to work this out since the Nugget theater is not scheduled to be available again until 2026.

The Films

I did manage to see some films (though another shut-out also loomed,) starting with the highly anticipated Piece by Piece bio-doc by Morgan Neville about and starring Pharrell Williams. It’s a strange mix of music, documentary and LEGOs – yes, the entire movie is done in Legos. And it works surprisingly well.

When disparate consummate artists get together to create magic, no matter how they put the pieces together the result is unique and beautiful. Unlike anything else in documentary cinema in recent memory, this film will please a wide spectrum of audiences, just like Pharrell’s music. Neville does take a light hand in delving into the nitty gritty of the star’s life, but it balances well with the fun and entertaining elements of the animations and music.

Next, I attempted to go see Sean Baker’s Anora but the line was so long I was shut out once again. So, going with the zen-like attitude I’ve adopted over the years of going with the flow, I went to one of those “only in Telluride” events I usually can’t fit in, I went to the Town Feed. In the middle of the main drag the Festival sets up food and drink service and all pass holders are invited to mix, mingle and munch to kick off the Festival. This year, there were extra elements that could only happen in Telluride – A real hot air balloon!

After eating I decided to try one more film and admittedly this one I knew little about beforehand. I was pleasantly surprised by The Swallow by Irish filmmaker Tadhg O’Sullivan. He usually makes documentaries but here turned his documentary eye to his first narrative, a deliberate, introspectively poetic reflection on loss, longing, loneliness and mortality. Beautiful art direction, cinematography and minimalist acting by an Irish legend, Brenda Fricker. The Q&A after the showing allowed a glimpse into the techniques and difficulties O’Sullivan had in transitioning from docs to narrative. If this is any indication, he’s going to be a filmmaker to keep an eye on for some time to come.

Hopefully, tomorrow will have fewer shut outs and more films. We’ll see. I’ll just go with the flow and report back. Stay tuned.

The 2024 Telluride Film Festival runs August 30 - September 2.