The executive director of Telluride celebrates 20 years in the Colorado mountains and reveals how she builds one of the most coveted lineups in the world.
Julie Huntsinger has spent two decades as the guardian of the Telluride Film Festival — a jewel box of off-duty movie stars and power players relaxing in the mountains and a consequential launchpad for the fall awards season.
As festival director, Huntsinger has her hallmarks. She doesn’t reveal the lineup until the eve of opening day. She has also punted competition categories and splashy red-carpet theatrics to keep the vibe mellow and the attention on what’s on-screen.
This year, the fall festivals kick off on shifting ground. Venice has a decidedly less starry lineup than in recent editions. The New York Film Festival is reasserting itself as a destination for top projects. But Telluride’s secret weapon is its treasured filmmaker and studio relationships. Stakeholders know that a Telluride debut means a carefully curated introduction to cinephiles.
Huntsinger sits down with Variety to discuss secret negotiations, the ones that got away and why she calls herself a “midwife.”
In some ways it’s changed a lot, and in others I recognize it completely. We’re in this old, pretty dilapidated building — maybe I shouldn’t use that word — and we joke that we hold it together with bubble gum and rubber bands. Marlow Stern called us “small but mighty” some years ago, and that’s right. We put it together with a huge amount of goodwill. That’s part of the miracle business. But the traditions — the secrecy of the program, the little rituals — are so beloved that when I came back I felt it was important to safeguard all of that.
People imagine we watch movies and go, “OK, we’ll take that one.” It starts out that way, and sometimes distributors and producers want a sense of what we think. I’ve had people say outright, “We’re not sure what we want to do with this movie, but we’d love your input.” Other times we really [want] something, and they say, “We know you like it, but we still want to go next year.”
As the stakes have gotten higher for everyone to even make back their nut, they want to focus everything on each film. One I love that we didn’t get this year was James Gray’s “Paper Tiger.” Most of the people involved felt New York’s opening night was key, and I had to accept that’s true. We have a long-standing gentleman’s agreement that we don’t poach New York’s opening night, even though I may have tried.
First, we have to love the film; then we negotiate.
There will be a few. And know [does jazz hands] one is going to be a true TBA — you won’t know what it is until you walk into the cinema.
Both. Noisy, sensationalist films attract more initial buzz, and they can play anywhere. But the quieter films benefit here. I’d never say the reception is softer — the critics are just as brutal — but people’s hearts and minds can be a little more open to something less bombastic. I also love that we can amplify what’s come out of Cannes. We always show six to eight North American premieres from there. For many years we showed the world premiere of “Ida,” and it went to Toronto and got this massive additional push. Telluride to New York or Telluride to Toronto is fantastic. And don’t sleep on London.
With these relationships, everyone’s super honest. Years ago, Searchlight had a film they told me flat out shouldn’t play here, and for many reasons they were right, even though I loved it. They do a lot of self-selections.
I also asked Alejandro G. Iñárritu [regarding “Digger”] whether the studio was afraid of the festival, and he said, “Absolutely not.” The decision is his, and he wants the audience to discover the film at the same time.
The trepidation studios feel is legitimate, but they’re plowing ahead with what should work. Our ecosystem is fragile. Everybody has to buy into it: studios and filmmakers. If it doesn’t happen, we’re all fucked.
The imprimatur of a specific festival tells people a lot. For a while we all bemoaned the proliferation of festivals, 800 of them, but that was an uninformed reaction. The regional festivals, like Mill Valley, are invaluable.
When a film carries Telluride, Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto or New York, it tells the audience they can probably trust it. We have credibility, and that’s important.
Our relationships are with places like Focus, A24, Searchlight, etc. But there are bigger movies I’d like a crack at, which means making inroads with their parent companies.
Word on the street is that two studios aren’t into festivals, and I’d like them to reconsider. I always tell my team we’re midwives. We’re handling people’s babies, and they’re allowed to be nervous about us helping bring them into the world.
When you’re talking about a $100 million-plus budget, I get it. But we’ve shown “Prisoners” and “Gravity.” I want studios to take big swings again, not just sequels.
I love “Dune: Part Two,” though. Denis Villeneuve can make as many sequels as he wants.
In a roundabout way. I was hoping he could come, but like Iñárritu, he’s still in post-production.