The New York Film Festival begins today, September 25, and runs through October 12, with a new edition dedicated to bringing together some of the most relevant films in contemporary international cinema. Organized by Film at Lincoln Center, NYFF64 will unfold over nearly three weeks with a program that combines world and North American premieres, new works by established filmmakers, discoveries, and an important selection dedicated to the preservation and recovery of film history.
The film chosen to open the festival is Paper Tiger, the new feature by James Gray, which will have its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall. Starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson, the film is set in 1986, between Queens and Brooklyn, and follows two brothers involved in a criminal enterprise connected to the Russian mob. Shot on 35mm, the film also marks Gray’s return to the festival, where he has previously presented several of his works.
The Main Slate, the core of the festival’s program, consists of 34 films from 31 countries. The selection includes four world premieres, nine North American premieres, and twelve U.S. premieres, with a significant number of filmmakers making their first appearance in this section. Among the central names are Pedro Almodóvar, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Mike Leigh, Lee Chang-dong, Paweł Pawlikowski, Ira Sachs, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Angela Schanelec, Hong Sangsoo, and Luca Guadagnino.
Latin American cinema also has a prominent place in the lineup. Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso will present Double Freedom, a new film connected to Freedom, again starring Misael Saavedra. Also included in the selection is Everything Else Is Noise, by Nicolás Pereda.
One of the films generating particular anticipation in New York is NAZA, by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, a documentary that examines the workings of the Israeli military system and the use of criteria for acceptable civilian casualties in military operations. The film joins a selection that, as in previous editions, combines fiction, documentary, and hybrid forms.
The centerpiece of the edition will be Behemoth!, by Tony Gilroy, which will have its world premiere on October 2. Starring Pedro Pascal, the film follows a cellist whose life is thrown into a profound crisis. The festival will close with 14th, the new documentary by Ava DuVernay, which will also have its world premiere in New York. The director revisits some of the questions explored in 13th to examine the history and contemporary implications of the principles established by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Spotlight section expands the festival’s survey of contemporary cinema with films by Werner Herzog, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonathan Glazer, Paul Thomas Anderson, Albert Serra, and Chris Rock, among others. One of the highlights of the section is the world premiere of Godzilla Minus Zero, by Takashi Yamazaki. The program will also feature Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall, by Paul Thomas Anderson, while You Can See Everything, by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, presents a documentary made over four years and connected to Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos.
Currents once again serves as one of the festival’s central spaces for more experimental approaches to cinema. The section brings together works by filmmakers including Artavazd Pelechian, Morgan Fisher, Peggy Ahwesh, and Kevin Jerome Everson, alongside a new generation of filmmakers. The program includes films made in a range of formats, including 16mm, 35mm, 65mm, and 70mm, as well as 3D works and projects conceived for specific spaces.
Through Revivals, the festival will recover significant films from different periods through new restorations and preserved prints. Highlights include The Devils, by Ken Russell, in a new restoration incorporating previously censored material, as well as Gone to Earth, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
NYFF64 will also feature conversations and public appearances with several of the participating filmmakers. Pedro Almodóvar, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, James Gray, Mike Leigh, Lee Chang-dong, and Ava DuVernay are among the directors taking part in public events throughout the festival. Hamaguchi will also deliver the sixth Amos Vogel Lecture, one of the program’s major opportunities for cinematic reflection.
Most of the festival’s activities will take place at Lincoln Center, although this year’s edition will also extend its programming to other cultural institutions across New York, including BAM, the Museum of the Moving Image, and venues in all five boroughs.