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This morning at Film Society of Lincoln Center's Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, an invited group of press got the scoop on the forthcoming lineup for the 54th New York Film Festival, which will run from September 30 through October 16. Today's 22 "main slate" titles come in addition to the fest's three gala world premieres already announced. Those are Ava DuVernay's race-related incarceration documentary The 13th, the opening-night selection; Mike Mills's centerpiece title 20th Century Women, a 1979 period drama starring Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig; and The Lost City of Z, the closing-night film from NYFF favorite James Gray (The Immigrant).
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The new titles paint in an extremely strong edition, with stellar picks from earlier festivals. Sundance's Manchester by the Sea, one of the most emotionally shattering films in years, makes the cut, predictably and deservedly. May's Cannes Film Festival has offered up its highlights, including the droll German father-daughter comedy Toni Erdmann, Jim Jarmusch's poetic-bus-driver curiosity Paterson (starring Adam Driver) and Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner I, Daniel Blake. Major foreign directors like Pedro Almodóvar (Julieta), Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper) and Hong Sang-soo (Yourself and Yours) add their prestige.
Lending me a little private insight, NYFF Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones said he was "delighted" that Alison Maclean has returned to making movies. He compared The Rehearsal (Maclean's first fiction movie since 1999's Jesus' Son) to Before Sunset. James Gray's The Lost City of Z is "so beautiful" and a labor of love (Jones reminded me that the director tried to make it unsuccessfully with Brad Pitt for years). And lastly, a little nostalgia for Jones: "I felt like I was back there," he said of Mike Mills's Carter-era 20th Century Women. "It was uncanny to me. And I can't even tell you how good Annette Bening is in it. She's just frightening."
Here's a list of the full lineup:
Opening Night The 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay
Centerpiece 20th Century Women, directed by Mike Mills
Closing Night The Lost City of Z, directed by James Gray
Aquarius, directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Certain Women, directed by Kelly Reichardt
Elle, directed by Paul Verhoeven
Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi
Graduation, directed by Cristian Mungiu
Hermia and Helena, directed by Matías Piñeiro
I, Daniel Blake, directed by Ken Loach
Julieta, directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Manchester by the Sea, directed by Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea, directed by Dash Shaw
Neruda, directed by Pablo Larraín
Paterson, directed by Jim Jarmusch
Personal Shopper, directed by Olivier Assayas
The Rehearsal, directed by Alison Maclean
Sieranevada, directed by Cristi Puiu
Son of Joseph, directed by Eugène Green
Staying Vertical, directed by Alain Guiraudie
Things to Come, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve
Toni Erdmann, directed by Maren Ade
The Unknown Girl, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Yourself and Yours, directed by Hong Sang-soo