Cannes, Telluride, and Sundance: Festival News Bits

A lot of information came out today about three different film festivals along the circuit this year.

• First, the Cannes Film Festival has announced that this year's President for its jury which votes on the awards including the Palme D'Or. He started out at Cannes in 1974 with his film The Sugarland Express. The festival will be held May 15 till May 25, and is sure to be a lauching pad for many Oscar contenders this year.
• The second has less to do the festival, and more to do with the films that premiered at it. One of the biggest films to come out of The Sundance Film Festival was The Spectacular Now featuring apparently stunning performances from its leads Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller has had its date set for August 2nd. This could be a smart move as August tends to be dead at the box office, so if it does well on the limited release circuit it could carry a lot of press, and do so without as much competition.
• One of the most frequent filmmakers to appear at the Telluride Film Festival over its 40 years is Werner Herzog. This year, in honor of his many years of participation, they are naming a new theatre after him, which will hold a total of 650 viewers. This year, the festival, will be held from August 29th to September 2nd. Last year, the film Argo surprisingly premiered before its Toronto debut, and launched itself all the way to a Best Picture Oscar.