The Best of the 2023 Telluride Film Festival

Folks, I’m back from the mountains of Colorado. Yes, I have returned from the Telluride Film Festival. In a few days, I’ll be off to Canada and the Toronto International Film Festival. At the moment, I’m home in New York City, already missing the box canyon of Telluride. You see, as much as I enjoy watching the movies there, and this year was a strong one, just being in that bucolic environment is something to look forward to. The views, as well as time spent with colleagues, always stands out when I look back on my time at the fest.

In a film festival first, I liked everything that I saw. Now, two titles were the cream of the crop for yours truly. They were Poor Things and Saltburn. The bravura filmmaking from Yorgos Lanthimos and Emerald Fennell, respectively, blew me away. Even the least of Telluride, which for my money was The Bikeriders, fell squarely into the “solid but should have been better” field. That’s pretty good when you’re seeing three movies a day for multiple days…

Here now are my picks for the best of Telluride, including some awards, as well as a ranking. It was quite the time, with Toronto and TIFF just around the corner!

2023 Telluride Film Festival Awards

Best Picture

Winner – Poor Things

Runner Ups- Rustin and Saltburn

Best Director

Winner – Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things

Runner Up – Emerald Fennell for Saltburn and Alexander Payne for The Holdovers

Best Actor

Winner – Barry Keoghan for Saltburn

Runner Up – Colman Domingo for Rustin and Andrew Scott for All of Us Strangers

Best Actress

Winner – Emma Stone for Poor Things

Runner Up – Annette Bening for Nyad and Jessie Buckley for Fingernails

Best Supporting Actor

Winner – Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things

Runner Up – Willem Dafoe for Poor Things and Richard E. Grant for Saltburn

Best Supporting Actress

Winner – Rosamund Pike for Saltburn

Runner Up – Jodie Foster for Nyad and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner – Tony McNamara for Poor Things

Runner Up – Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest and David Hemingson for The Holdovers

Best Original Screenplay

Winner – Emerald Fennell for Saltburn

Runner Up – Christos Nikou, Stavros Raptis, and Sam Steiner for Fingernails and Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black for Rustin

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This is how I would rank everything I saw at the Telluride Film Festival this year:

12. The Bikeriders

11. Kim’s Video

10. Cassandro

9. The Teacher’s Lounge

8. The Zone of Interest

7. All of Us Strangers

6. Nyad

5. The Holdovers

4. Fingernails

3. Rustin

2. Saltburn

1. Poor Things

That’s a wrap on Telluride for 2023!