Hello from the Rocky Mountains in colorado. Im Tom Brook. Welcome to our talking Movies Award Season lookahead. We have travelled to the key Film Festivals of recent days, where this years Oscars Race have been taking shape. It is a risky film, and for them to validate it means so much to me. From the Venice Film Festival, We Hearfrom maggie gyllenhaal, who took home the prize for her screenplay for her directorial debut. And the new Zealand Director Jane Campion Win in venice for her psychological study and western, the power of the dog. It showed off the talents of its star benedict cumberbatch. I was terrified of meeting jane. You know. She was coming with all the respect i have for her iconic work. And we report from the Telluride And Toronto Film Festivals, where an animated documentary, flee, chronicling the plight of an afghan refugee from kabul from 25 years ago was a very solid hit. What this story does is it shows what it can do to Human Beings to be On The Run, to flee, and how you can move on. The telluride Film Festival, which took place earlier this month here, is a real movie lovers event. Now in its 48th year. Over the last decade or so it has begun to play a very important role in the Award Season, in that it showcases oscar worthy work. Whenever people ask me what is your favourite Film Festival, i always say telluride because it is a real Film Makers� festival. Dame helen was among the stars drawn to telluride this year, notjust because she was there with her much liked british true crime caper, the duke, but because telluride is quite special. A festival that shows Great Movies Amid A Landscape of incredible beauty, interconnected by ski lifts. It is very easy, it is very unpretentious. You can walk to every venue. Itjust has a wonderful feel about it. So it is great to have this film here. This one time Colorado Mining Town turned very affluent ski resort, has definitely become a key Point Of Entry for likely contenders in the Oscars Race. There is a Laundry List of movies that broke out here 12 years a slave, slumdog millionaire. It has a patina, a Tiffany Understanding of what good movies are. Im venus. Im serena. So, what do you think . King richard, a real crowd pleaser, was one Telluride Film that generated oscars buzz this year for its star Will Smith for his portrait of richard williams, coach to his two daughters, top tennis Players Serena and venus williams. Smith could bejoined in the best Actor Race by peter dinklage. The game of Thrones Star was very impressive in telluride with a musicalfilm, cyrano. You are from belfast, where everybody knows you. Belfast, a black and white Film Memoirfrom Kenneth branagh, also generated oscars talk at telluride. It is a very personal story of his experiences as a young boy in belfast, as life for his protestant family was thrown into turmoil by the troubles in the late 1960s, before they relocated to england. Will we really have to leave belfast . Why did you want to tell or put together a film about this part of your life at this moment in time . I think the lockdown provoked a sense that the story of the film, which has its own lockdown, a street that has a barricade erected at either end of it, at which you have to register to get in and out of, had, for me, some resonance with the kind of life that we have had to live over the last 18 months, where old certainties are gone, and families have to make quite big decisions about where they live or how they live or how they work, may change quite profoundly. So, all of those things came into my mind as i was working on this. The Hand Of God was another autobiographical tale from a top director creating Oscars Heat at telluride. It is a coming of Age Story from the Academy Award winning italian director, paolo sorrentino, set in 19805 naples. It touches on the tragic death of the directors parents. For the Film Maker it marks a new chapter in his career, in terms of intimate storytelling. I was tired, after 20 years, to make always movies in the same way. It was starting to become less fun for me to make movies. So i decided to change completely the way to make a movie, and facing a different style, facing different kind of stories, yes, it was a different movie, because it was about me, and so the involvement was different. Although Awards Season has taken flight, it is doing so in the midst of a pandemic. At least one Telluride Film held a mirror to our Covid I9 times. He is in critical condition, maam. A quarantine drama, the same storm, featuring several well known actors, told us a series of life under lockdown, vignettes that appeared on a zoom like layout. All of the actors were taught by the Director Peter hedges to work remotely, to shoot themselves. Why i wanted to get involved was the challenge of it, the risk of it, the audacity that peter had, going lets try and make some Story Telling of what we have all experienced, but lets do it in a way that has been the only way we could do at that time because we couldnt meet Each Other. So what peter did say was, im going to send you the equipment, we have got the director of photography here, we have got costume here, we have got make up, talking to Each Other on the zoom thing, and then the fellow actors, and then you go, ok, letsjust do it. Lets see this experiment. What is so interesting about the film is we were making it while all of this was happening. I do think for some people it is too soon. And to revisit. Although i have to tell you i have had three people after the movie come up and say i didnt want to see this movie. I thought i wasnt ready for it. I had no idea that it would be so cathartic and so healing for me. Being in telluride was a very positive experience, not only did it demonstrate that this Award Season is going to be packed with some great cinema, it also proved to me that a well curated in person Film Festival can function and indeed flourish in pandemic times. Although telluride does play a role in the early Oscars Race it is really the Venice Film Festival that gets the ball rolling with more spectacle. This year it opened one day before telluride. Emma jones was there for talking Movies Looking For Those Venice Films that had Oscars Heat. Venice enjoyed its american dream again, with The Return Of Hollywood Stars after a year and a half of a nightmare for the film industry. The Red Carpet was crammed with famous faces and the competition with Award Season hopefuls. Its just a myth. One of them was the Palm Dor winning directorJane Campion� s the power of the dog, which was filmed in campion� s native New Zealand by netflix as the pandemic raged. Benedict cumberbatch was our first male protagonist playing phil, Rancheria Viciously believes his brothers new wife, rose, played by kirsten dunst. I was terrified of meeting jane. She was coming with all of the respect i have for her iconic Work And Presence in cinema so i didnt know her, i just completely fell for her, and she has this portfolio, this look book, of what she, you imagine the Delicacy And Rawness of it was really unexpected. The Venice Lido always makes a beautiful setting for hollywood to launch its Award Season hopefuls and this year the festival has backed some heavyweight hitters that have been delayed since the pandemic. Demi villeneuves dean, the latest adaptation of A 19605 Popular Novel Groans under the weight of its famous cast and a huge budget of 165 million. The truth does not matter. The last duel, directed by ridley scott, was delayed for months during the pandemic. It is co written by Matt Damon and ben affleck, who also Star In The Historical Tale Of A Married Woman who accuses a knight, played by adam driver, of raping her. For its director the Venice Premiere was a vital moment for the movie. I think its the most important festival. From our point of view, we, to sell an intelligent, extremely well acted and well made film, to the audience that we need to go for, we need some approval of the best critics, to say, to give their nod, and therefore that helps me in the process of marketing. Other Oscar Hopefuls include Kristen Stuart as Princess Diana struggling with her Mental Health, as she spends christmas with the british royal family. Jackie was also oscar nominated for its portrayal of jackie kennedy. I think you have the wrong idea about me. The card counter, directed by paul schrader, the writer of raging Bull And Taxi driver is the story of a gambler and former soldier haunted by experiences in iraq. Its leading actor, oscar isaac, is being tipped for awards nominations. As venice has launched best picture winners in the shape of water to nomad land, the Festival Director says that he would have turned down this Years Invitation to attend. Lucky because we are at the opening of the new season, and everybody is willing to come back, to start again promoting them, to travel abroad, to make the promotion, so, it was not difficult to convince everybody to come to the festival. But celebration of cinema rather than the hope of reward is still a driving force. Mona lisa and the blood moon, which is in the competition, is directed by and Iranian American director and stars Kate Hudson as a stripper who befriends a girl with super powers. At The End of the day we do it because when you sit there and it all sort of comes to life, you are collectively watching something together. Its magic. And i think festivals, especially this festival to me, just like, this is my third time, i love it much. You feel the love at venice. When it came to venices own awards, happening, a french drama about an illegal abortion a film from maggie gyllenhaal, won best screenplay. You feel the love at venice. When it came to venices own awards, happening, a french drama about an illegal abortion a film from maggie gyllenhaal, won best screenplay. It is an unusual film, my film. It is a risky film. And for them to validate it means so much to me. I am completely over the moon. Penelope cruz took Best Actress for another collaboration with pedro almodovar, parallel mothers. And Jane Campion won the best directorfor the power of the dog. As in previous years, this event will probably determine the films that critics will reward in the months to come. Back in colorado at the telluride Film Festival, we found that documentaries this year featured prominently in the line up. There are more than usual, and flee was creating a lot of Oscars Heat. This unusual portrait of an afghan refugee who Fled Kabul in 1996 relies on animation, Pop Music and archive footage. The main Character Amin is a real person and it is a pseudonym to protect his identity. Flees copenhagen based director has known amin personally as a close friend for a long time. There is a mess right now in afghanistan. It is important to get some perspective on it. Amin� s happened 25 years ago, and with this story, we can see what it does to a Human Being to be On The Run, to flee, and how you can learn, and move on, so if anything i hope my film give some perspective on what is going on right now. Amin� s journey from Afghanistan To Denmark Via Moscow is told in sometimes harrowing detail. It is upsetting but moving and inspiring. The director was keen to use animation. Because it is a story about trauma and memories, and the animation allows us to be more expressive and show things in a way that feels more true to the emotion, than being realistic. Flee, which premiered at the sundance Film Festival injanuary, really impressed those who saw it at the telluride Film Festival, particularly its use of animation. There were some moments that were playful in terms of animation and some moments that were really serious in terms of the animation, some moments that had these layers of disturbing textures, especially in the sort of refugee travels on the water, and the fear of drowning was visible, the entire screen became kind of a texture of water, which i think was only really possible through animations. Flee arrives at North American Film Festivals after Television News have been saturating the world with images of lives in distress in kabul in contemporary times. Do you think in a way because of what is happening in afghanistan, and lots of people trying to flee the country, it gives the Film Topical Relevance here at telluride . I think it is usually relevant. It is chock full of relevance, and you are re contextualised. In the conflict, you are immediately thinking of the people that are either left behind or are finding new lives in europe and the us. Flee also has a gay theme. Amin is gay, closeted in afghanistan it was an issue he had to struggle with and it is a key part of the film. The gay story is a mirror on his Refugee Story because in his youth and his family, he had to flee his sexuality, so in a way he has always been On The Run and in his youth it was from his sexuality and afterwards it was from his past, from his story that he couldnt tell, so those two stories really go Hand In hand. The directorsjewish ancestors had to flee russia more than 100 years ago to escape persecution, so he says that amin� s story was especially important to him. Now, his film, already a prize winner, looks set to at least get nominated for some of the biggest accolades the North American Movie Community can bestow. Welcome to toronto, where its Film Festival got under way last week. Normally, it is a bustling Showcase Overflowing with movie riches, but this year because of Covid 19 it was somewhat more subdued. It was a combination of both in person and virtual events. Altogether, some 130 features were shown at the festival, and it opens with dear Evan Hansen, an adaptation of the hit broadway musical. It is everywhere. The film is a coming of Age Story and has a depressed, and anxious high School Student played by ben platt, who was in the original broadway musical. It was nice to go in with lots of knowledge of a character from my performance on stage as the foundation and i had my own struggles much like every other Human Being on the planet, thinking about my own Mental Health and i try to make him as human and as connected to me as i could, without playing myself. Toronto endured a tough lockdown, one of the longest in north america, for the staff of the festival, getting their annual extravaganza off the Ground Hasnt been easy. For the artistic director cameron bailey, dear Evan Hansen was a perfect choice for the opening night film. We were going through hard times, we had a bad Third Wave in canada. As we were watching the films we were looking for something that offered hope, that offered some inspiration, but that wasnt simply light, and dear Evan Hansen looks at some serious subjects about the life of a young man going through some personal issues, some Mental Health issues, dealing with social isolation, as so many of us were, but it is a musical. It has gorgeous songs. It is ultimately very uplifting. And that combination of being serious and yet inspiring and uplifting was i think exactly the right tone for opening. Those attending the festival found it a little different from normal pre covid times. In 2019 there was a lot more people, a lot more excitement. It is easier to get tickets. It is a nice layout, youre not as scrunched, youre not waiting in line. The princess of Wales Theatre hosted the World Premiere of one of the talked about films, the eyes of Tammy Faye, starring jessica chastain, a performance that is all but guaranteed to bring her an oscar nomination. Her portrait of the late us televangelist who with her husband Jim Baker co founded a christian tv programme, the ptl club, in the 19705, is me5merising. Jim baker was convicted on counts of fraud in connection with their ministry activities and sent to jail. To many americans, Tammy Faye baker, loved by herfollowers, stayed in the public consciousness as a figure of ridicule. This film takes her seriously. That was my goal. It came from first watching the documentary, i watched it about ten years ago, and i was shocked with how little i actually knew about tammy and how full of Compassion And Love she was. And i didnt know much about her beyond the Drama And Media sensationalism, so it was really important for me to kind of right that wrong, not only for her family, her legacy, but also for the Lgbtq Audience5 that she wrapped her arms around in a time when the conservative evangelical community was turning their backs on them. How much work was involved for you every day when shooting the film in transforming yourself to play the part . Because you really do become Tammy Faye baker in the most wondrou5 way. It was a lot of prep. For ten years, in the back of my head i knew that i was going to play her. I knew that it was a huge pardon the pun, leap of faith, for me because there are so many aspects of her, the way that her voice is, the preaching, the singing, the 5illine55, 5he presents herself to the world very differently than i do, so i was always afraid of it. So much so that towards The End, when it became real, i almost tried to sabotage it. Five, four, three. Jessica cha5tain� 5 performance is much better than the film itself, which is a disappointment. It lack5 originality. The Bakers Appeal was to the christian right as it was a growing force. The film misses the opportunity to help us understand the rise of that movement that went on to have such a powerful impact on modern american political life. Toronto was packed with good films. A favourite of mine being the power of the dog a great study of power in relationships and repre55ed live5, but because of being hampered by Covid 19, it was not an Award Season where toronto could capture the limelight. That distinction belongs to venice and telluride. That brings the Special Awards 5eason Look Ahead Edition of talking movies to a close. We hope you enjoyed the programme. You can reach us online. And you can find us on facebook and twitter. So, from me, Tom Brook and the rest of the talking Movies Production Team here in toronto, it is goodbye as we leave you with a clip from becoming led zeppelin a Documentary Portrait of the band that was shown at the Venice Film Festival. In the days of my youth i was told what it means to be a man now ive reached that age i tried to do all those things the best i can no matter how i try i find my way to the same old Jam Hello there. We start this new week off on a fine note thanks to high Pre55ure Efficiency quite a bit of sunshine around and do feel quite warm in the afternoon. Both today and into tuesday. Then towards The End of the week, we will see an active Jet5 Spin up deep areas of low pressure which could bring more autumnal to our shores. Gales and outbreaks of rain will feel cooler too. For today, Scotts Mother from pushing to the northwest of scotland, Yesterdays Weather Front 5till straddling, East Anglia in the southeast with quite a bit of cloudy time5, some showers around, the Odd Heavy One too. And it starts a bit wetter for Northwest Scotland through the day with a few showers for Northern Ireland. The best of the sunshine, slightly to central portion5 of the uk but well see highs of 21 degrees. Generally into the high teen5 the way we have more cloud. As we head through monday night, the Weather Front5 in the northwest Sink Southea5t words, fizzling out leaving no more than a band of cloud and maybe the odd shower. Eventually, we lose that Weather Front Acro55 East Anglia in the southeast. Where skies clear will be quite cool, 5ingle digits butjust holding onto the cloud around ten to maybe 12 degrees. So, we start tuesday off of our area of high pressure dominating the scene, but we have a deep low spinning up to the north of the uk. Lots of isobars here, but it will be quite windy across the northern half of the uk, cloud coming and going for the northwest of scotland and maybe just a few shower5, particularly by The End of the day with the rest of the country. England and wales, england scotland a Lovely Day with temperatures reaching 20 degrees aberdeen 21 or 22 further south. We start to see some changes after tuesday. Our area of high pressure begins to pull away and allows this deep low in the north to influence our weather and indeed wednesday is the autumn equinox. It will be feeling more autonomy mental across the uk. A band of Rain Spreading into scotland and Northern Ireland followed by Sunshine And Blu5tery shadows of the gale5 developing in the north. A breezy day as well to the south of this rain band. For much of england but another fine one getting the sunshine out, temperatures 20 to 22 degrees feeling quite warm for that wednesday it looks like being the last day because behind his mother fronted to Thursday Temperatures drop a deep blow, 5pins up across the north of the uk we think that will bring wide5pread gale5. Its turning cooler across all areas. Thursday and friday will be windy particularly across the north of the uk with Gale5 And Outbrea ks of rain. Welcome to bbc news. Our top stories. Stuffed ballot5, covered up cameras. Evidence of fraud in russias elections, as president Putins Party heads for a majority in parliament. A major Volcanic Eruption on La Palma in spains Canary Islands for the first time in 50 years Forces Villager5 from their homes. The noise coming from the volcano, it sounds like 20 fighterjets taking off and it is extremely loud. Hundreds of migrants stuck on the us Mexico Border are flown back home to haiti. And rolling out the Red Carpet in La A5 televi5ions biggest 5tar5 arrive for the emmy awards