NYFF
-
NYFF 2015 Announces Special Events and Revivals Screenings
This morning, the New York Film Festival announced a characteristically impressive supplement to their Main Slate line-up, with their Special Events and Revivals screenings. Included in the Special Events sections are Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Chevalier and Laszlo Nemes’ Son of Saul, which were somewhat conspicuously absent from the Main Slate, along the world premiere of Paul Thomas Anderson’s documentary Junun on his collaborator Jonny Greenwood; Venice documentaries De Palma and Heart of a Dog; and an anniversary screening of O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Revivals are stacked with Lubistch, de Oliviera, Kurosawa, Hou, Ford, Ophüls and much more. View the full lineup, which includes a tribute […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 21, 2015 -
“Is This Line to See the Avant-Garde Show?”: NYFF 2014 Projections
There was an inauspicious start to the New York Film Festival’s inaugural Projections sidebar, a weekend showcase of experimental film and video, which, for 17 years prior as “Views from the Avant-Garde,” had been curated by Mark McElhatten and Gavin Smith. Nearly an hour before the first screening, a long line extended along the exterior glass wall of the Eleanor Bunin Film Center. Having successfully secured my tickets, I scuttled around looking for familiar faces in the crowd. As I began chatting with a friend, an elderly gentleman with a confused expression approached us. “Excuse me. Is this line to […]
by James Hansen on Nov 7, 2014 -
“Nothing is Simple, Nothing is Easy”: Two Shots Fired Director Martín Rejtman
Its title threatens a sudden loud blast, but Two Shots Fired wrongfoots viewers when its first sound isn’t from a gun but the jolting bass in a club where young Mariano (Rafael Federman) is dancing. He leaves, goes home, mows the lawn, finds a gun in the shed and fires twice — once at his head, once at his stomach, an action taken with the same blankfaced lack of passion as all the ones preceding it. “It was an impulse,” he non-explains. “It was very hot.” Mother Susana (Susana Pampin) removes all knives and other potential implements of self-harm from the house and has Mariano move in with […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 17, 2014 -
Watch: P.T. Anderson and Inherent Vice Cast’s NYFF Press Conference
Stoking the fires of anticipation for P.T. Anderson’s Pynchon adaptation Inherent Vice, here’s the press conference from Saturday morning’s NYFF press screening. The questions may not always be on point, but you’ll probably want to stick with it for P.T. Anderson quoting Crazy People to explain why he shot in 1.85 rather than widescreen (it’s like a Volvo: “they’re boxy but they’re good”), Owen Wilson explaining that “I had one shirt that I really wanted to wear, and I guess it wasn’t ’70s enough” and that his look was equally modeled on Dennis Wilson and Zoot the sax player from […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 6, 2014 -
NYFF ’14: Hill of Freedom and La Sapienza
The same trajectory through similar way stations has served Hong Sang-soo equally well from 2004’s Woman is the Future of Man onwards: ill-fated romantic and sexual encounters between men and women fueled and derailed by epic soju consumption, meetings which repeat with a disconcertingly slight degree of difference across the same locations. From such modest materials, the tone has swerved from potentially inconsequential farce (Like You Know It All, In Another Country) to the recent dourness and cyclical/purgatorial futility of The Day He Arrives, Nobody’s Daughter Haewon and Our Sunhi. For detractors, this reliance upon nearly interchangeable plots is an […]
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 26, 2014 -
NYFF ’14: The Wonders, ’71, Goodbye to Language
Now entering its 52nd year, the New York Film Festival tends to benefit and suffer from its fixed position as last stop on the fall festival circuit. The obvious pro would be that the discerning selection committee, headed up by Kent Jones, is allowed to cherry pick whatever they deem to be the best of the year; the con, at least for those keeping up with film criticism, is that the majority of these titles arrive pre-packaged with their own neat and tidy media narratives. (A year later, I’m still overhearing men debating the virtues of Blue Is The Warmest Color’s sex scenes.) As such, it’s nearly […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 26, 2014 -
Down in the Boondocs: The NYFF’s Go-To Films (I)
The expansive New York Film Festival is no longer the greatest-hits affair of three decades back when it was built around 20-25 titles, a majority of which were what had been on display at the previous Cannes. The arrangement was a gift and a curse: manageable, for both journalists and completists, but limited. I remember what a production it was when the fest dared to add a lowbrow Hong Kong movie by one Jackie Chan. Now there are lots and lots of strands, which cover a variety of genres and niche audiences — followers of the avant-garde and new technologies, […]
by Howard Feinstein on Sep 26, 2014 -
The 52nd New York Film Festival: An Overview
Starting tomorrow and continuing through October 12, the 52nd edition of the New York Film Festival offers residents the chance to get a leg up on some of the year’s most anticipated festival titles. As usual, the main slate is claiming much of the attention, sporting as it does the technical world premiere of Gone Girl — screened for a small branch of the press corps but not for the public yet; no less than eight screenings have been scheduled — and, nearly two months before release, P.T. Anderson’s equally wildly anticipated Inherent Vice. There is, as always, more to […]
by Vadim Rizov on Sep 25, 2014 -
Laboratory, Theater, Classroom: Matt Bolish on NYFF’s Convergence
A typically storied showcase, the New York Film Festival embraced the future of film in its 50th edition with the creation of Convergence, a sidebar dedicated to transmedia and interactive storytelling. Last week, the program announced its sophomore slate, which will examine the intersections of technology, content, and audience collaboration across its three categories: Experiences, Panels and Keystone Presentations. Experiences selections The Cosmonaut and Charlie Victor Romeo immerse the viewer alongside Russian cosmonauts in the 1960’s space race and mid-tailspin airline pilots, respectively. “25 New Face” Elaine McMillion will also present her documentary Hollow, which utilizes web-based HTML5 storytelling to […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 5, 2013 -
ANG LEE’S “LIFE OF PI” TO OPEN 50TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
The world premiere of Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s epic 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s highly acclaimed Booker Prize-winning novel, will open the New York Film Festival, which starts September 28 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Lee is no stranger to the NYFF: this will be the second time one of his movies has opened the fest (The Ice Storm kicked off the 1997 edition), while in 2009 Lee was the subject of a career retrospective at FSLC’s annual celebration of cinema. “Life of Pi is a perfect combination of technological innovation and a strong artistic vision,” said […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 13, 2012
