Looking to TFF #53 / BAFTA Nominees Announced / Behind the Scenes: Hamnet and H Is for Hawk / Visitations: The Secret Agent

 LOOKING TO TFF #53

Every year about this time MTFB moves into a transition phase as Oscar season closes in on completion (with nominees announced and Oscar winners set to be announced in about six weeks).  We begin to cast our eyes toward Labor Day weekend and what films may flicker to life in the San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado.

One way to begin that transition is to look at lists of films named to "most anticipated" lists.  We start that today with The Film Stage's 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2026.  I have parsed the list and have come up with 16 titles that seem most possible for TFF #53.  Here those are in the order that The film Stage has ranked them (with director's name included in parentheses):

100) Digger (Inarritu)

78) At the Sea (Mundruczo)

71) Artificial (Guadagnino)

53) Ink (Boyle)

48) Untitled Eisenberg (Eisenberg)

42) Bucking Fastard (Herzog)

36) Parallel Tales (Farhadi)

33) Butterfly (Bagalov)

31) The Unknown (Haradi)

25) Jack of Spades (J. Coen)

15) Ancient History (Baker)

13) A Long Winter (Haigh)

7) Paper tiger (Gray)

6) Untitled Mike Leigh (Leigh)

2) The Way of the Wind (Malick)

Historically 6-8 of these films will actually make it to Telluride.  Last year's stab at this yielded six films hat made it to TFF #52.  The year before...also six.

The complete listing from The Film Stage is linked here.

BAFTA NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts named its nominees for film excellence this week.  TFF films actually earned more BAFTA noms than Oscar noms with 43.  Here's how TFF #52 films did:

Hamnet (11): Best Film, Direction, Best British Film, Actress (Buckley), Supporting Actor (Mescal), Supporting Actress (Watson), Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Score.

Sentimental Value (8): Best Film, Direction, Film Not in the English Language, Actress (Reinsve), Supporting Actress (Lilleaas), Supporting Actor (Skarsgard), Original Screenplay and Casting.

Frankenstein (8): Best Supporting Actor (Elordi), Cinematography, Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects, Costumes, Makeup/Hair and Score.

Bugonia (5): Best Direction, Actor (Plemons), Actress (Stone), Adapted Screenplay and Score.

Pillion (3): Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay and Best British Debut.

The Secret Agent (2): Best Film Not in the English Language, Original Screenplay.

Single nominations for:

Blue Moon: Best Actor (Hawke).

If I had Legs I'd Kick You: Best Actress (Byrne).

H Is for Hawk: Outstanding British Film.

It Was Just an Accident: Best Film Not in the English Language.

Cover-Up: Best Documentary.

Apocalypse in the Tropics: Best Documentary.

The complete list of BAFTA nominees is linked here.

BEHIND THE SCENES

*HAMNET

https://x.com/hamnetmovie/status/2015133832140501226?s=20

*H IS FOR HAWK

https://x.com/roadsidetweets/status/2014763864575844662?s=20

VISITATIONS: THE SECRET AGENT

Director Kleber Mendonca Filho for The Secret Agent from The Contending.