New York Film Festival Takes Manhattan

Unlike other festivals of its size and stature, when attending The New York Film Festival, you are guaranteed a chance to see movies that have never before been screened within the United States. “Over the past 45 years I believe people have come to see the NYFF as a great platform for releasing a film, so most producers are happy to work with us if our interests coincide,” explains Richard Peña, Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the organization that hosts the annual event. “We have great, intelligent audiences, the core of the film press and the major distributors of foreign language and independent cinema here in New York.”

This year, from September 28-October 14, audiences can catch the premieres of such films as Sidney Lumet’s Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead starring Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman; The Darjeeling Limited, written and directed by Wes Anderson and starring his staple of Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and “newcomer” Adrien Brody; the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There by Todd Haynes, which recently won star Cate Blanchett an acting award from the Venice Film Festival; and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. More than the premieres however, NYFF and HBO Films are hosting Directors Dialogues with each of these accomplished moviemakers with tickets available to the general public — if you can find any left to purchase. If not, you can still look for seats at the other 24 premiere films being screened this year.

Throughout NYFF’s two weeks, New Yorkers and visiting cineastes can look forward to the festival’s centerpiece selection, the Coen brothers’ big-screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. Or the big finale: Animated film Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. There are no final award ceremonies at this non-competitive fest; it’s all about the moviemaking. And no wonder — with such talented big names attending, how can you choose? “The competition is getting in,” Peña says. “Once you’re in, we’re actually rather democratic.”

For more information on this year’s New York Film Festival, visit www.filmlinc.com.