Since its cacophonously received premiere at Cannes in May, Steven Soderbergh's four-hour epic Che has been mostly off the radar as, presumably, behind-the-scenes moneymen are trying to find a buyer and distributor for the film. Spout's Karina Longworth goes digging to try and learn what's next for the film, and hears some rumors about a deal at HBO, contingent on finding a way to get the movie into theaters — even briefly — before the end of the year to compete in the awards derby. More intriguingly, though, Longworth finds hints that Che's future might lie in a headlining slot in this year's New York Film Festival — weeks before the festival's lineup is officially announced.

It turns out that for a short time, the online table of contents for this month's Film Comment magazine included a teaser for the September/October issue, with a "special New York Film Festival preview." Included in the preview? A cover-story profile of Che's Benicio Del Toro. (Also likely in the festival: Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky and Oliver Assayas's Summer Days.) By yesterday morning, Film Comment's Webmaster had erased the preview, but it lives on in the page's Google cache, and in a screen-cap in Longworth's post.

What does this mean for Che? A new cut? A chance for Stateside critics to declare it a masterpiece? Some kind of upcoming commercial run, so the rest of us can check it out? Here's hoping — we don't know whether we'll love Che or hate Che, but we really want to see Che.

Che: What’s Up With It? [SpoutBlog]

Earlier: Is ‘Che’ This Year's ‘Southland Tales’?