Top Secret SHOW

Antique signs reading “SHOW” have begun to pop up all over town. Labor Day is two weeks out and in Telluride that means Film Festival weekend. The 37th annual Telluride Film Festival to be precise, and like every year, speculations are flying in anticipation.

Which movies will flicker and dance on the big screen? Which premiers will later be swimming in award-season nominations? Which stars will we rub elbows with and Tweet about this year? Festival tickets are sure to sell out—it’s no matter that the Telluride Film Festival never announces its top-secret program of premieres, classics, seminars and discussions with the world’s leading filmmakers and celebrities until showtime. Each Labor Day weekend, tiny Telluride triples in population because the Film Festival always delivers total cinematic bliss.

Surprise underdogs like “Slumdog Millionaire” have walked away from the Telluride Film Festival to later win eight Oscars, including best picture, five months later. You’ve heard of “Juno” (2007), “The Last King of Scotland” (2006), and “Brokeback Mountain” (2005)—they all got their start at Telluride’s film festival too.

So what movies will delight us this year? The press bets Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” (from the director of “Slumdog”), Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go,” Darren Aronosky’s “Black Swan,” and many more. 

Any guesses? What are you rooting for?