The 11th annual Telluride By the Sea Film Festival raises its curtains Friday night in Portsmouth at The Music Hall amid much excited whispering that this may be its best year yet.
"Top stars, real-life stories, master filmmakers – the best Telluride by the Sea I've seen," Patricia Lynch said, executive director of The Music Hall in Portsmouth.
Six films will be shown over three days, four of them based on real and larger-than-life, figures, including two literary giants.
"Coco Before Chanel", already a huge hit in France, stars Audrey Tautou (Amelie) in a study of the early life of the famous clothing designer who took French fashion from haughty corsets to "haute couture".
"The Last Station" stars James McAvoy, Paul Giamatti, Helen Mirren, and Christopher Plumber in a comic-dramatic account of Leo Tolstoy's final months.
"Vincere", written and directed by Marco Bellocchio, is the tragic story of Benito Mussolini's mistress Ida Dalser and her attempts to publicly acknowledge the dictator's illicit son.
"Bright Star", the much-awaited next project by The Piano's director Jane Campion, focuses on the passionate romance between poet John Keats and his neighbor, Fanny Brawne.
The fifth narrative film, "An Education", has received heavy attention with a young breakout star, Carey Mulligan, and a script by Nick Hornby, and also features Emma Thompson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Alfred Molina.
There are also two short documentary films showing Saturday: The Solitary Life of Cranes, a view of city life through the eyes of building-top crane drivers, and The Last Truck: The Closing of a GM plant.
After founding the original Telluride film festival 36 years ago, in Telluride, Colorado, where it is still held every Labor day weekend, Bill and Stella Pence moved to Portsmouth, where they began a smaller sister festival, Telluride By the Sea. Bill Pence remains the curator for the Portsmouth festival, choosing six of the best films from its Colorado counterpart each year.
Chris Curtis, of The Music Hall, said the festival has become a community-wide event in the coastal city.
"This is an amazing opportunity to see films before they go on release in New York and L.A.," Curtis said. "People love it."
The festival runs Friday through Sunday; tickets are $12.50 for a single movie, and $85 for a weekend pass or $200 for a patron pass, both of which include exclusive parties and a cruise.
Because the festival conflicts with Rosh Hashanah this year, there will be additional screenings Sunday night and Monday.
For more information (including times) visit themusichall.org.
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