Serving as a bellweather for the upcoming awards season and a celebration of the love of film, the annual Telluride Film Festival kicks off today, Friday, September 2. Keeping with tradition, the beloved event’s lineup was just revealed yesterday, and is now available online via its program guide. Through its wrap on Monday, September 5, the 43rd edition will showcase nearly 40 new and recent features, with nonfiction representing more than half its offerings. Among these are the following:
Twelve documentary programs are included in the main slate, Show. These include: Errol Morris’ THE B-SIDE: ELSA DORFMAN’S PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY, about the celebrated oversized Polaroid photographer and her work; Werner Herzog’s INTO THE INFERNO, which follows the work of a leading volcanologist; Angus Macqueen’s THE END OF EDEN, about the impact of modern civilization on a hitherto undisturbed remote Brazilian tribe; Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani’s THE IVORY GAME, on attempts to protect African elephants from poachers; Ryan Suffern’s FINDING OSCAR, which follows the forensic detective work to discover what happened to the survivors of a brutal Guatemalan massacre; Doug Nichol’s CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER, a love letter to a typewriter repair store and to those who still cherish the not-quite obsolete writing implement; and John Scheinfeld’s CHASING TRANE (pictured), on the legendary John Coltrane.
Additional nonfiction appears in sections devoted to films about films and tributes to filmmakers and performers, Backlot and Frontlot/Backlot. Among these are María José Cuevas’ BEAUTIES OF THE NIGHT (pictured), a portrait of aging Mexican showgirls; Janus Køster-Rasmussen’s COOL CATS, a portrait of American jazz musicians in Denmark after jazz fell from favor in America; and Steven Okazaki’s MIFUNE: THE LAST SAMURAI, a celebration of the Japanese actor best known for his classic collaborations with Akira Kurosawa.
what (not) to doc 