Shane Salerno’s documentary “Salinger” has reportedly grabbed a “surprise late entry” to the lineup. If true, it’s an interesting turn of events, given how things were apparently supposed to shake out originally.

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In 1975, filmmaker Werner Herzog had films such as “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser,” “Even Dwarfs Started Small” and “Signs of Life” under his belt. Tom Luddy went to his fellow Telluride Film Festival co-founders Bill and Stella Pence with the idea to honor him with one of the festival’s tributes at the second annual edition. And so the stage was set for a long-lasting relationship.

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My immediate takeaway from Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day,” which kicks off the Telluride Film Festival this afternoon at the annual patrons screening, was that it was an unexpected mature step for the filmmaker who has offered up such self-aware films as “Thank You For Smoking,” “Juno,” “Up in the Air” and “Young Adult.” There isn’t a whiff of that tone here whatsoever. The edge that has defined Reitman’s work has been set aside while a more refined, lived-in aesthetic has taken hold.

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Nearly half a century ago Marilyn Monroe confided in a young Bruce Dern an opinion of the actor passed to her by Actors Studio founder Elia Kazan, or “Gadge” as they all knew him. “He’s not going to be a leading man,” the famed director said, “because he’ll be into his 60s before anyone knows what he’s capable of.”

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It’s fair to say filmmaker Jason Reitman has a bit of a history with the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. In 2005 his feature debut, “Thank You for Smoking,” sold at Toronto. Since then, three of his last four films, including this year’s “Labor Day,” have debuted at Telluride (2007’s “Juno” and 2009’s “Up in the Air” in the form of “sneak previews” secret screenings) before heading north to Toronto. It’s become a notable tradition, so we asked Reitman about his thoughts on the two environments and whether he’s superstitious enough to consider them a good luck charm at the start of the fall.

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The multi-hyphenate has been the year’s most ubiquitous festival presence.

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The lineup for the 40th annual Telluride Film Festival has been unveiled, and with it, the announcement of this year’s tributees: T Bone Burnett and the Coen brothers, Mohammad Rasoulof, Robert Redford and Alejandro Ramirez. Here’s a look back at the history of the honor.

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The Coen brothers, T Bone Burnett and Robert Redford are among those to be feted at the 40th annual Telluride Film Festival, which will feature the world premieres of Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day” and Ralph Fiennes’ “The Invisible Woman.” Prestige titles from the 2013 festival circuit so far have been curated for the weekend as well, including Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska,” J.C. Chandor’s “All is Lost” and the Coens’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

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The best Oscar pundits in the business – collectively – set the field for the 2013-2014 awards season as the Gurus of Gold return.

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As we move closer to the 2013 film awards season, a number of films are still looking for a distributor. If picked up, any of these 15 could figure into the race in a number of ways.

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The new film from Denis Villeneuve is going to the Toronto Film Festival. Today a poster for the film has arrived.

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HitFix’s Kristopher Tapley puts a finger to the air and makes a few educated guesses on what we might see at the 2013 Telluride Film Festival.

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This year Telluride will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in style with an extra day of screenings (though not an expanded slate, just more opportunity to see everything) as well as a new venue, “The Werner Herzog Theatre.” Things are just gearing up, and it all started today with the release of this year’s poster art for the fest.

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Excitement will be as high as ever for the Telluride Film Festival this year as it celebrates its 40th anniversary with an extra day added to the long Labor Day weekend festivities. Not only that, but a new venue has been announced bearing the name of the fest’s most famous regular, director Werner Herzog.

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The season is here. “Argo” has sounded the starting gun in the mountains of Telluride while “The Master” has made a strong case on the Lido of Venice. Where will we go from here?

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Things are pretty much wrapping up at the 39th annual. Monday is generally a great time for catch-up, as the schedule is filled in with repeat showings. Unfortunately, I tend to leave on Monday afternoon each year, so I don’t get to use the day productively. But nine-and-a-half movies over the three-day spread is good enough for me. (I won’t knock the movie I walked out of. I’ll come back to it at some point, as it’s generated interesting split reactions.)

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I’ve recognized over the last few years that sometime Sunday afternoon at the Telluride fest, I find myself yearning for a break, something different, something I don’t feel compelled to write about. Of course, I’ll often find myself wanting to write about it anyway, but the lack of obligation going in is the real gift. Last year is was the presentation of a restored version of Georges Méliès’s “A Trip to the Moon.” This year it was a 70mm presentation of Ron Fricke’s “Baraka.”

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Charisma on two levels in Telluride.

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