..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

August 31, 2006

EMBARGOED UNTIL 2:00 PM ET THURSDAY, AUGUST 31

33rd Telluride Film Festival Presents a World of Cinema

Festival Opens September 1

Actress Penelope Cruz, writer-director Rolf de Heer, and legendary editor Walter Murch to be honored

Film historian and columnist David Thomson to Receive Special Medallion

Program includes new films by award-winning directors Kevin Macdonald, Pedro Almodovar and Todd Field.

Telluride, Colorado, USA (August 31, 2006) The Directors of the Telluride Film Festival have unveiled the program for the 33rd Festival, featuring many of this year’s highly anticipated films from around the globe. This celebration of art in film set among the majesty of the Rockies opens Friday, September 1 and continues through Monday, September 4.

The Telluride Film Festival is presented by the National Film Preserve, Ltd. with Apple.

Continuing its long tradition, the Festival will pay tribute to three film artists. Honorees include actress Penelope Cruz, who continues her award winning work with director Pedro Almodovar in VOLVER, debuting in North America after capturing an ensemble acting prize in Cannes; Australian writer-director Rolf de Heer whose TEN CANOES, the recipient of the special jury prize in Cannes, is the first film shot entirely in an Australian aboriginal language and Academy Award winning editor Walter Murch (APOCALYPSE NOW, THE ENGLISH PATIENT) profiled in the documentary MURCH, being seen for the first time at Telluride.

Films also celebrating their first preview screenings at Telluride include:

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, the first fiction film by Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald, featuring Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin

Todd Field’s LITTLE CHILDREN, a darkly comedic examination of suburban family lives starring Kate Winslet

T the bittersweet comedy VENUS, directed by Roger Michell, written by Hanif Kureishi and starring Peter O’Toole and Vanessa Redgrave.

INFAMOUS, Douglas McGrath’s profile of Truman Capote featuring Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig, Hope Davis and Toby Jones as Capote.

FUR starring Nicole Kidman as Diane Arbus, featuring Robert Downey, Jr. and directed by Steven Shainberg

Danish documentarian Asger Leth’s GHOSTS OF CITE SOLEIL which captures the life and death struggle of urban warfare in Aristide’s Haiti.

THE U.S. VS. JOHN LENNON, a reflective look at the singer-songwriter’s anti-war activism and its far reaching consequences directed by David Leaf and John Scheinfeld

Paolo Cherchi Usai’s experimental silent film PASSIO which explores the impending crisis of visual culture and its reflection in politics and society.

Among the North American debuts are:

BABEL directed by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and starring Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael Garcia Bernal as characters on three continents connected by one moment of violence.

Past Festival tributee Laura Linney’s return to Telluride, JINDABYNE also starring Gabriel Byrne and directed by Ray Lawrence

THE LIVES OF OTHERS, the award winning debut of writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck portraying the oppressive atmosphere of cold war East Germany through the gripping story of a Stasi agent.

Corneliu Poremboiu’s 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST, winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes.

DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT video installation artist and documentary filmmaker Julia Loktev’s Cannes award winning entry into dramatic filmmaking focusing on an isolated young woman making her way through an unnamed city to a mysterious rendezvous.

Berlin Film Festival award winner THE ITALIAN directed by Andrei Kravchuk

THE PAGE TURNER a story of class hostility and psychological obsession punctuated with musical pieces by writer-director Denis Dercourt

SEVERANCE, Christopher Smith’s new twist on classic cult filmmaking .

INDIGENES, the story of Arab volunteer soldiers in World War II and winner of the best actor award at Cannes for the ensemble cast, by Telluride veteran Rachid Bouchareb

CIVIC LIFE, seven interconnected short films – each filmed in a single day – examining the state of the British soul today by Irish performance artists and theater directors Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Desperate Optomists).

The BBC television series 20,000 STREETS UNDER THE SKY based on novels about 1930’s life in a pub on Euston road, directed by Simon Curtis

DEEP WATER which follows a stranger than fiction solo sailing trip, directed by Louise Osmond and Jerry Rothwell.

In addition, several presentations continue the Festival hallmark of spotlighting classic films and filmmakers. Peter Bogdanovich presents an updated version of his documentary DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood. Following a screening of THE GOLDEN AGE OF ALEXANDER KORDA, world – renowned editor, raconteur and author of Charmed Lives Michael Korda takes to the stage to discuss his legendary uncle’s impact on filmmaking. Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and Turner Classic Movies’ Robert Osborne examine the often overlooked masterpiece DODSWORTH following a screening of the Oscar nominated William Wyler film. Plus, audiences will be treated to two unique presentations of recently restored silent films; THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE, the Australian classic accompanied by an in-person performance of the country music-score by Jen Anderson and the Larrikins and a Telluride encore performance of LONESOME with live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra.

The French director-theorist J.P. Gorin joins the Festival as the 33rd Guest Director. Gorin collaborated with Nouvelle Vague luminary Jean-Luc Godard to found the collective Dziga Vertov Group in 1968, and together they produced a series of political films including VENT D'EST. In the mid-1970’s, Gorin came to the U.S. to continue his solo film work and embark on a career as an esteemed academic. Gorin will present a restored version of Jacques Tati’s PLAYTIME, the neglected Japanese documentary THE EMPEROR’S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON and three films by director Jean Gremillon.

Festival attendees also have the opportunity to attend MADE ON A MAC, a series of programs that go behind the scenes as filmmakers describe how they used the latest technology to create the films they have brought to the Festival.

Rounding out this year’s offerings are:

a SHOWcase of shorts preceding selected feature films and a special presentation by Scott Foundas of short form films.
Six conversations
Filmmakers of Tomorrow – three programs of works by emerging filmmakes.
Student Symposium and City Lights – two educational seminars for students.
Free outdoor films.

Each year the Directors of the Festival present the Special Medallion in recognition of dedication to the continuance of film as art. The 2006 Special Medallion will be presented to film historian and columnist David Thomson. Author of The Biographical Dictionary of Film as well as several novels and biographies of cinema luminaries such as Orson Welles, Thomson also contributes a weekly column to The Independent.

The 33rd Festival poster was designed by Academy Award winning animator John Canemaker. Director of the animation program at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, author of ten books on animation history and a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Canemaker presented his Oscar winning THE MOON AND THE SON at last year’s Telluride Festival.

Major sponsors for the 2006 Telluride Film Festival include Apple (presenting sponsor), Telluride Mountain Village, Starz, Cisco Systems, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Microsoft, Heineken, Lucky Star Foundation, Panasonic, Level, Kodak, Turner Classic Movies, Dolby, Entertainment Weekly, NBC Universal, Spout, Cornerstone Colorado, Variety, National Endowment for the Arts, Wright Group, Boston Light & Sound, Telluride Foundation, Subaru, Omaha Steaks, Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, FileMaker, SagIndie, Directors Guild of America.

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