The Telluride 2025 Lineup
Telluride Film Festival starts today!
The scenic festival tucked away inside Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, and running for only four days, has a beautiful lineup.
We’ve gone through and broken down all the features in the main section and separated them into categories:
15 world premieres not playing at other festivals
2x Narrative
13x Docs (4 of them Music Docs)
4 world premieres playing at TIFF next week
2 world premieres headed to NYFF
9 films that premiered at Cannes
4 films that just premiered at Venice
1 film that premiered at Berlin
1 film that premiered at Sundance
Here’s a breakdown of each category:
PREMIERES
(NARRATIVE):
Starring: Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin, In Bruges)
Starring: Claire Foy (The Crown, Women Talking)
Dir: Philippa Lowthorpe
Production companies: Film 4 and Plan B
Sales rep: Protagonist Pictures
Official synopsis of the book on which the film is based:
When Helen Macdonald’s (Foy) father (Gleeson) dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of training her own goshawk… Macdonald's struggle with grief during the difficult process of taming the hawk and her own untaming. It is a story about memory, nature, and nation, and how it might be possible to try to reconcile death with life and love.
The Reserve
Dir: Pablo Pérez Lombardini
Synopsis:
An obstinate park ranger convinces her community to expel a group of invaders from their natural reserve, thus provoking a far greater threat.
PREMIERES (MUSIC DOCS):
Dir: Ethan Hawke
Synopsis:
An exploration of pioneering country singer Merle Haggard.
The last film that Hawke directed in this vein was Blaze (2018), a narrative feature on country artist Blaze Foley.
Dir: Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor?)
Beatles doc
Synopsis:
Paul forms new band Wings after Beatles breakup. Archival home footage shows Paul's life with Linda, who influenced his music. Film follows Wings from formation through 1970s during which Paul wrote hit songs.
Karl
Dir: Nick Hooker
Karl Lagerfeld doc
Synopsis:
One of the most famous people on the planet, Karl Lagerfeld’s unforgettable career spanned an extraordinary seven decades. An unrivalled force of nature, known for his acute mind and equally sharp tongue, Lagerfeld reversed and reinvented the fortunes of Chanel, Fendi and Chloe.
Everywhere Man: The Lives and Times of Peter Asher
Dir: Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller
The film centers on music legend Peter Asher, who, after serving as head of A&R at The Beatles' Apple Records, went on to foster the careers of artists such as James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt as a record producer and manager. First look poster.
Dir: Mischa Richter
PREMIERES (DOCS):
Dir: Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, (Free Solo, Nyad), Juan Camilo Cruz
Studio: Nat Geo
Real-life story:
In June 2023, four children—Lesly, Soleiny, Tien, and Crispin—were found alive in the Colombian Amazon, forty days after the aircraft they were traveling in had crashed and killed the three adults on board
This may sound familiar as Netflix released a documentary, The Lost Children (2024, trailer), based on the same harrowing true story. It’s one of the craziest survival stories of all time, so this should be an interesting one.
Dir: Ivy Meeropol
Synopsis:
The thrilling and adventurous life of beloved advice columnist and gonzo journalist E. Jean Carroll, the only woman to beat Trump in court. Twice.
Dir: Thierry Frémaux (Dir: Cannes Film Festival)
Synopsis:
Collection of Lumière Brother films with another set of rare, restored prints.
Dir: Adam Curtis
Studio: BBC
Synopsis:
When power begins to shift in society, everything becomes unstable, exciting and frightening. Living in Britain at the end of the 20th century.
Dir: Ken Burns
Studio: PBS
Synopsis:
Chronicles how 13 British colonies fought for independence and formed a new nation, through the experiences of soldiers, leaders, Loyalists, Native Americans, and African Americans.
Dir: Robb Moss
EP: Frances McDormand and Joel Coen
Synopsis:
Filmmaker Robb Moss has filmed his close friends for over forty years. The Bend in the River is an exploration of life and love, choice and chance, youth and age.
This first look still really captures how we are all obliterated by time.
Dir: Academy Award-winner Marshall Curry (The Neighbor’s Window, A Night at the Garden)
Distributor: Netflix
Synopsis:
As the magazine celebrates its 100th anniversary, a new documentary offers an exclusive look into the world of this iconic publication.
Dir: Oren Jacoby (Dir: Academy Nominated short doc, HBO’s Sister Rose’s Passion)
Synopsis:
Three leaders from communities already suffering the impacts of climate change are doing something about it.
A nice romantic Doc:
Orlando von Einsiedel (Netflix’s Evelyn)
EP: Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Synopsis:
Documents the romantic journey of PK Mahanandia, a Delhi street artist who trekked 6,000 miles by bicycle in 1977, venturing across continents to reunite with the woman he loved.
PREMIERES HEADING TO TIFF:
Dir: Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave)
Cast: Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton
Studio: Netflix
Synopsis:
When his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler (Farrell) laying low in Macau encounters a kindred spirit (Swinton) who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Post Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front’s Oscar reign (4 wins), Berger is becoming prolific.
Dir: Chloé Zhao (dir: Nomadland, Eternals)
Prod: Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal
Studio: Focus Features
Release: Nov 27 (limited) and Dec 12 (wide)
Synopsis:
The story of Agnes - the wife of William Shakespeare - as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet. A human and heart-stopping story as the backdrop to the creation of Shakespeare's most famous play, Hamlet.
This is shouting provocative period piece vibes. Slow orchestral music. Gorgeous landscapes. Aching performances.
Synopsis:
A talented piano tuner's meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.
It’s always great to see a prolific doc director hit their first narrative film in such a big way. Black Bear serves as the prod co/financier.
Cast: Riz Ahmed
Distributor: Focus Features
This re-invention of Hamlet is set in modern-day London’s South Asian community.
I couldn’t think of better casting. Robert McKee (author: Story) described Hamlet as the most complex character ever written:
“Hamlet isn't three-dimensional, but ten, twelve, virtually uncountably dimensional. He seems spiritual until he's blasphemous. To Ophelia he's first loving and tender, then callous, even sadistic.”
McKee continued:
“He's courageous, then cowardly. At times he's cool and cautious, then impulsive and rash, as he stabs someone hiding behind a curtain without knowing who's there. Hamlet is ruthless and compassionate, proud and self-pitying, witty and sad, weary and dynamic, lucid and confused, sane and mad. His is an innocent worldliness, a worldly innocence, a living contradiction of almost any human qualities we could imagine.”
Ahmed has all these dimensions inside him from his performance in Relay to Sound of Metal to The Night Of.
Ahmed isn’t the only one playing Hamlet at Telluride. In the BTS doc, King Hamlet, Oscar Isaac preps to play Hamlet in a theater production. The trailer is wonderfully lively.
PREMIERES HEADING TO NYFF
Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce Springsteen in the biopic, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. Read our full cover story breakdown with trailer here.
Laura Poitras (dir: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, the 2nd doc ever to win the top prize at Venice) co-directs the doc Cover-Up. It follows political journalist Seymour Hersh, who brought to the public's attention many of the most damning constitutional wrongdoings.
NYFF stated:
“Cover-Up couldn’t have come at a more crucial moment, when freedom of the U.S. press is increasingly under fire by those in power.”
CANNES PREMIERES:
Nouvelle Vague (Official Selection)
Dir: Richard Linklater
Cast: Zoey Deutch (Jean Seberg)
Distributor: Netflix
Synopsis:
After writing for Cahiers du cinéma, young Godard decides making films is the best film criticism. He gets Beauregard to fund a low-budget feature, creating a treatment with Truffaut about a gangster couple.
Vie Privée (Out of Competition)
Cast: Jodie Foster
Dir: Rebecca Zlotowski (Grand Central)
Premiere: Cannes
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Synopsis:
The renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered.
The French murder mystery was shot in Paris and Normandy,
Pillon (Un Certain Regard)
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Harry Melling
Distributor: A24
Synopsis:
A directionless man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.
Urchin (Un Certain Regard)
Dir: Harris Dickinson
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Synopsis:
Mike, a homeless person in London is struggling to break free from a cycle of self-destruction while trying to turn his life around.
Cannes winners playing at Telluride:
It Was Just an Accident (Palme d’Or)
Sentimental Value (Grand Prix)
The Secret Agent (Best Director/Best Performance by an Actor)
All are distributed by Neon in the US and Mubi internationally.
Two more Cannes Official Selections from Mubi starring Josh O’Connor:
The History of Sound
Dir: Oliver Hermanus
The Mastermind
Dir: Kelly Reichardt
VENICE PREMIERES
Focus Features’ Bugonia
Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons
Release: Oct 24
Synopsis:
Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
Dir: Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story)
Cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, Patrick Wilson, Greta Gerwig, Emily Mortimer
Producers: David Heyman and Amy Pascal
Distributor: Netflix
In theaters: Nov 14
On Netflix: Dec 5
Synopsis:
A famous movie actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) and his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as they embark on a whirlwind and unexpectedly profound journey through Europe. Both men are forced to confront the choices they've made, the relationships with their loved ones, and the legacies they’ll leave behind.
This is the type of soul-searching film that Baumbach excels at. And transforming Clooney into a listless protagonist seems like a surefire hit.
Paolo Sorrentino's new film, La Grazia, was Venice’s opening film. Sorrentino is a master of mesmerizing, ethereal, and thoughtful cinema.
Razor-thin plot details:
A love story set somewhere in Italy.
That’s most of his films:
The Great Beauty (2013)
Academy Awards, Best International Feature
Youth (2015)
Official selection, Cannes
Parthenope (2025)
Official selection, Cannes
Toni Servillo will star in La Grazia. He played the poetically self-indulgent yet eternally lost soul who starred in The Great Beauty.
Werner Herzog’s anti-nature documentary, Ghost Elephants (out of competition):
Follows a mysterious herd of ghost elephants in the jungles of Angola.
You can see him editing the film and describing the project like Moby Dick in this 30-second 60 Minutes BTS video.
BERLIN PREMIERES:
Dir: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
SUNDANCE PREMIERES
Dir: Mary Bronstein
Cast: Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien
Distributor: A24
Telluride Film Festival runs August 29th - September 1st. Check out more details, including cinema classics and special screenings here.
Written and edited by Gabriel Miller.