Telluride Film Fest adds Benicio del Toro‘s “Escobar: Paradise Lost”

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Telluride Film Festival has added Andrea Di Stefano’s “Escobar: Paradise Lost” and Errol Morris project “The Clarity of Peace” to Saturday’s schedule.

“Escobar” stars Benicio del Toro as the notorious drug trafficker alongside “Hunger Games” thesp Josh Hutcherson and Brady Corbet in the new thriller. Stefano, who makes his directing debut, will be on hand for a Q&A.

Morris’ three-part humanitarian film, created for the New York Times’ Op-Doc Series, focuses on efforts from Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, rocker Bob Geldof and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa.

The four-day festival, which started Friday, already includes the first showings of Reese Witherspoon’s “Wild,” Benedict Cumberbatch’s “The Imitation Game,” Jon Stewart’s “Rosewater” and Mia Wasikowska’s “Madame Bovary.”

Several Cannes titles are also coming to the 41st edition of Telluride — Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” and Tommy Lee Jones’ frontier drama “The Homesman” — along with Venice Film Festival opener “Birdman,” which has vaulted Michael Keaton into awards contention, will also screen at Telluride

Telluride faced complaints last year with the chiefs of the Toronto and Venice festivals complaining about the Telluride lineup taking away their thunder for world premieres elsewhere — even though Telluride doesn’t use the word “premiere.” Toronto premiere titles shown this year during the first four days cannot be shown first at Telluride.

Telluride exec director Julie Huntsinger has responded by saying Telluride would continue to pursue the top tier of titles.