‘September 5’ Telluride’s Hottest Sales Title, Top Awards Contender

Many Telluride Movie Competition attendees prioritized, within the first days of this 12 months’s fest, screenings of high-profile titles that have already got distributors. However by Monday, extra of them — us — had been capable of department out a bit bit and atone for lesser-known titles that don’t but have a backer. One such movie, the fest’s second screening of which simply let loose on the Werner Herzog Theatre, is known as September 5. (It had its world premiere on the Venice Movie Competition final Thursday and its North American premiere right here final Saturday, shortly after which its relevance and timeliness was strengthened by tragic real-world occasions.) And right here’s the kicker: it may be the strongest narrative movie of all the fest! It actually left many festivalgoers — trade insiders and civilians — completely buzzing as they left the venue.

If/when this 94-minute flick — the story of ABC Sports activities’ protection of the 1972 Munich Olympics terrorist assault on Israeli athletes — lands a top-tier distributor, it may critically contend in quite a few Oscar classes. I’m speaking about finest image (it’s laborious to seek out 10 worthy nominees this 12 months, however this movie, which counts Sean Penn as a producer, would definitely be one), finest director (Tim Fehlbaum, a younger Swiss filmmaker who I had by no means heard of earlier than), finest actor (Peter Sarsgaard, who performs the legendary ABC Sports activities chief Roone Arledge, and has fairly criminally by no means been nominated earlier than), finest supporting actor (John Magaro, who performs the community’s younger coordinating producer for Olympics protection, Geoff Mason), finest authentic screenplay (Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder) and finest manufacturing design, not less than.

Distributors have, of late, disappointingly prevented many worthy gross sales titles that contact on politically-sensitive subjects like abortion, Ukraine and Donald Trump, and so some could also be hesitant to go anyhwere close to the Israeli-Palestinian battle. However I’m assured that not less than considered one of them goes to be sensible sufficient to nab this movie, through which there is no such thing as a argument about who wronged who — and through which one can be supplied an enchanting, thrilling, haunting take a look at journalists, journalism and journalistic ethics. It is going to be remembered alongside All of the President’s Males, Shattered Glass (through which Sarsgaard had an incredible early position), Good Evening, and Good Luck and Highlight.