Filmgoers who've already paid $780 for passes for this weekend's Telluride Film Festival finally know what they've spent their money to see: Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," Werner Herzog's "Into the Abyss," David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" and Martin Scorsese's three-and-a-half hour music documentary about George Harrison, "Living in the Material World," for starters.
The Colorado festival doesn't announce its lineup until the day before the fest begins; the stealth approach allows them to book films without angering other festivals (say, Venice and Toronto) that might think they're getting world premieres.
The majority of the films announced today are also booked for other fall festivals.
Also read: Watch Out, Oscar: Here Come the Film Festivals
"The Descendants," which stars George Clooney, is one of a few best-picture hopefuls in the lineup, along with the silent film "The Artist" and Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method," which stars Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud and Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung.
Other films will be added in TBA slots. Last year, both "The King's Speech" and "Black Swan" premiered at Telluride.
The lineup so far:
"Albert Nobbs," Glenn Close
"The Artist," Michel Hazavanicius
"Becoming Bert Stern," Shannah Laumeister
"Bitter Seeds," Micha X. Peled
"Bonsai," Cristian Jimenez
"A Dangerous Method," David Cronenberg
"The Descendants," Alexander Payne
"Diane Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel," Lisa Immordino-Vreeland
"Footnote," Joseph Cedar
"The Forgiveness of Blood," Joshua Marston
"Goodbye First Love," Mia Hansen-Love
"Le Havre," Aki Kaurismaki
"Hollywood Don't Surf," Greg Macgillivray
"In Darkness," Agnieszka Holland
"Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, a Tale of Life," Werner Herzog
"The Island President," Jon Shenk
"The Kid With a Bike," Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
"Living in the Material World," Martin Scorsese
"Passerby," Eryk Rocha
"Perdida," Viviana Garcia Besne
"Pina," Wim Wenders
"A Separation," Asghar Farhadi
"Shame," Steve McQueen
"The Story of Film: An Obyssey," Mark Cousins
"Target," Alexander Zeldovich
"The Turin Horse," Bela Tarr
"The Way Home," Dr. Biju
"We Need to Talk About Kevin," Lynne Ramsey