There are still plenty of "to be announced" surprise films including Danny Boyle's 127 Hours that will be unveiled hours before they screen, but for the most part, this year's Telluride festival can claim the North American premiere status away from TIFF on a large number of Cannes items (this includes Michelangelo Frammartino's must see, still unsold, docu-essay Le Quattro Volte) and they can also claim first dibs on world preems for acquisition titles such as: Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal's Chico and Rita (see pic above), Justin Chadwick's audience tickler The First Grader, the Dmitry Vasyukov with Werner Herzog doc Happy People: A Year in the Tagia and Errol Morris' Tabloid.
Chris Smith has picked one hell of a subject to interview - the whistleblower of all whistleblowers. TIFF's Thom Powers says the style "recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray" and let me tell you, a one-on-one interview with an unpopular person as was the case with Morris' Fog of War resulted in one hell of a fascinating watch.