Custodians of the Colorado-based Telluride film festival secured the event's maverick status for another year as they revealed that new work by Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman, Todd Haynes, and Werner Herzog would screen over the weekend.
Until recently the powers that be preferred to keep their selections private, however what has never been secret is the four-day jamboree's tendency to steal the thunder from two of its more glamorous counterparts on the festival circuit.
Over the next several days many of Hollywood's great and good will descend on this former mining town nestled in the Rocky mountains to watch films that have already been confirmed as official world premieres at Venice and Toronto.
Telluride's ability to scoop its more po-faced peers has made it a major thorn in the side of the late summer festival circuit, but that doesn't stop filmmakers and actors from dropping in to take the mountain air and catch a few advance screenings.
This year's instalment features such high-profile fare as Penn's true-life adventure Into The Wild and Haynes' wildly experimental Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.
Also on the schedule are Noah Baumbach's The Squid And The Whale follow-up Margot at the Wedding with Kidman and Jack Black, Werner Herzog's Antarctica documentary Encounters At The End Of The World, and Sarah Gavron's UK adaptation of Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane.
The full list of films will be announced later today. For more details visit the official website.
The Venice film festival got under way on Wednesday with the world premiere of Joe Wright's acclaimed Ian McEwan adaptation Atonement. Toronto kicks off next week.
