Michael Haneke's Amour

A whopping 32 films comprise the Main Slate lineup for the 50th New York Film Festival. The bursting roster includes Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner Amour starring veteran French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva. The film is just one of a group of the most buzzed about films from Cannes heading to the New York Film Festival this fall.

Other films making their way to New York from the South of France include Romanian Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills (După Dealuri), Noemie Lvovsky's French film Camille Rewinds (Camille redouble), Critics Week Grand Prize winner Here and There by Spanish director Antonio Mendez Esparza (Aquí y Allá), famed French filmmaker Leos Carax' Holy Motors, Iranian Abbas Kiarostami's Like Someone In Love, Chilean Pablo Larrain's Director's Fortnight prizewinner No, and Alain Resnais' You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

Resnais, the ninety year old French auteur, is an NYFF notable because he is the only filmmaker with films that bookend the festival's fifty years. His Muriel, Or The Time Of Return screened at the very first New York Film Festival in 1963 and he's back this year with his acclaimed new feature.


Christian Petzold's Barbara

Films from other top European festivals will be at NYFF. Among them are Berlinale Golden Bear winner Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire) directed by Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani as well as Miguel Gomes' Tabu from Berlin, a film that many have said is one of the best of this year. Christian Petzold's Barbara, also from Berlin where the filmmaker won the Best Director prize is on tap as well. Song Fang's Memories Look At Me, winner of the best first feature prize at the recent Locarno Film Festival, as well as acclaimed Locarno entries The Last Time I Saw Macao, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues & João Rui Guerra da Mata, and Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel's documentary Leviathan.

In addition to being the landmark 50th edition of the New York Film Festival, this Main Slate marks the final roster shaped by the Film Society's Program Director Richard Peña. The head of the selection committee for the 25h time in 2012, he'll be leaving his programming post at the end of the year.

“The films making up the main slate of this year's NYFF have in common a general quality of fearlessness that unites otherwise very disparate works,” Peña said in a statement today. “These are films that go all the way, works willing to take the risk or chance that by doing so they may be bringing audiences to places they might rather not go.”

Peña was joined on the selection committee this year by Village Voice contributor Melissa Anderson, Film Society Associate Program Director Scott Foundas, The Hollywood Reporter Chief Film Critic Todd McCarthy, and the newly-appointed Amy Taubin, a contributing editor at Film Comment and Sight and Sound magazines.


Sally Potter's Ginger and Rosa

In addition to bringing films from past fests to New York, the committee has selected a number of movies that are new to the fall festival circuit.

World premieres set for this year's New York Film Festival include Alan Berliner's new essay film First Cousin, Once Removed, as well as the three previously-announced gala titles. Ang Lee's Life of Pi will open the festival on Friday, September 28 while David Chase's Not Fade Away is in the Centerpiece slot on Saturday, October 6 and Robert Zemeckis' Flight will close the 50th NYFF on Sunday, October 14.

Other new films that will debut at various festivals this season—from Telluride and Toronto to Venice—before making the trip to Manhattan include Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha starring Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script; Dror Moreh's remarkable documentary The Gatekeepers in which six former heads of Israel’s Secret Service discuss their nation’s past; Sally Potter's Ginger and Rosa starring Christina Hendricks, Elle Fanning, and Annette Bening; Roger Michell's Hyde Park on Hudson starring Bill Murray as FDR as seen through the eyes of his distant cousin Daisy, played by Laura Linney; and Brian DePalma's Passion, his first fiction feature since Femme Fatale, which stars Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams; among others.

The complete screening schedule for this year's festival will be announced soon. Additionally, in the coming days and weeks Film Society will round out the festival roster with the lineup for the NYFF’s Masterwork programs, a number of sidebar screenings, as well as tributes, talks, our new Convergence program and more. Also on tap is the highly-anticipated 15th Views from the Avant-Garde—a sort of festival within the festival devoted to experimental filmmaking, which take place annually at the midpoint of NYFF. This year, Main Slate filmmakers João Pedro Rodrigues and Raul Ruiz will be among the filmmakers on that lineup when it is announced.

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the New York Film Festival, you can become a Film Society Member for just $50! So don't wait… join now!

General Public tickets for the 50th New York Film Festival go on sale September 9. There will be a pre-sale ticketing period for Film Society Patrons and Members prior to that date. Join Film Society by August 29 to take advantage of this priority period. For more info on attending the 50th NYFF, please visit the NYFF Tickets section of the website.

Without further ado, the Main Slate of the 50th New York Film Festival:
Amour (Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany)
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner of Cannes 2012 is a merciless and compassionate masterpiece about an elderly couple dealing with the ravages of old age. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Araf—Somewhere In Between (Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Turkey/France/Germany)
Director Yesim Ustaoglu depicts with empathy and uncompromising honesty the fate of a teenaged girl when she becomes sexually obsessed with a long-distance trucker and the promise of freedom that he embodies.

Barbara (Christian Petzold, Germany)
Christian Petzold’s perfectly calibrated Cold War thriller features the incomparable Nina Hoss as a physician planning to defect while exiled to a small town in East Germany. An Adopt Films release.

Beyond the Hills/După dealuri (Cristian Mungiu, Romania)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days director Cristian Mungiu returns with a harrowing, visually stunning drama set in a remote Romanian monastery. Winner, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A Sundance Selects release.

Bwakaw (Jun Robles Lana, The Philippines)
A moving and funny surprise from the Philippines starring the great Eddie Garcia—and a truly unforgettable dog—in the story of an elderly loner going where he’s never dared venture before.

Camille Rewinds/Camille Redouble (Noémie Lvovsky, France)
Noemie Lvovsky directs and stars in an ebullient comedy of remarriage that gives Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married a sophisticated, personal, and decidedly French twist.

Caesar Must Die/Cesare deve morire (Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, Italy)
Convicted felons stage a production of Julius Caesar in this surprising new triumph for the Taviani Brothers, winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. An Adopt Films release.

The Dead Man and Being Happy/El muerto y ser feliz (Javier Rebollo, Spain/Argentina)
A dying hitman and a mysterious femme fatale set off on an oddball journey through Argentina’s interior in this playful and unexpectedly moving reverie on love, death and the open road.

Fill the Void/Lemale et ha'chalal (Rama Burshtein, Israel)
With her first dramatic feature, writer-director Rama Burshtein has made a compelling, disconcerting view of Israel's orthodox Hassidic community from the inside.

First Cousin Once Removed (Alan Berliner, USA)
Alan Berliner creates a compelling, heartfelt chronicle of poet and translator Edwin Honig’s loss of memory, language and his past due to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. An HBO Documentary Films release. World Premiere.

Flight (Robert Zemeckis, USA)
Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis team on this tense dramatic thriller about an airline pilot who pulls off a miraculous crash landing…while flying under the influence. A Paramount Pictures release. Closing Night. World Premiere.

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach, USA)
Lightning-in-a-bottle, Noah Baumbach’s love poem to his star and screenwriter Greta Gerwig recalls Godard’s early celebrations of Anna Karina, but, as a New York movie, it’s beautiful in a brand new way.

The Gatekeepers/Shomerei Ha’saf (Dror Moreh, Israel/France/Germany/Belgium)
Six former heads of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, discuss their nation’s past, present and future, in what will surely be one of the most hotly discussed films of the year. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Ginger and Rosa (Sally Potter, UK)
Sally Potter’s riveting coming-of-age story, set in London in 1962, centers on two teenage best friends (played by the revelatory Elle Fanning and talented newcomer Alice Englert) who are driven apart by a scandalous betrayal.

Here and There/Aquí y Allá (Antonio Méndez Esparza, Spain/US/Mexico)
After years in the U.S., Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico, but the lure of the north remains as strong as ever. A most impressive feature debut by Antonio Mendez Esparza.

Holy Motors (Léos Carax, France)
Leos Carax’s unclassifiable, breathtaking, expansive movie—his first in 13 years—stars the great Denis Lavant as a man named Oscar who inhabits 11 different identities over a single day in Paris. An Indomina Releasing release.

Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, USA/UK)
Bill Murray caps his career with a wily turn as FDR in this captivating comedy-drama about the President’s relationship with his cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney). A Focus Features release.

Kinshasa Kids (Marc-Henri Wajnberg, Belgium/France)
Perhaps the most ebullient “musical” you’ll see this year, Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s singular documentary/fiction hybrid follows a group of street children in the Congolese capital.

The Last Time I Saw Macao/A Última Vez Que Vi Macau (João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata
This stunning amalgam of film noir and Chris Marker cine-essay poetically explores the psychic pull of the titular former Portuguese colony.

Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, USA)
NYFF alumni Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Véréna Paravel (Foreign Parts) team for another singular anthropological excavation, this time set inside the commercial fishing industry.

Life of Pi (Ang Lee, USA)
Ang Lee's superb 3D adaptation of the great bestseller resembles no other film. A 20th Century Fox release. Opening Night. World Premiere.

Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami, Japan/Iran/France)
Master Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostmi ventures to Japan for this mysterious beautiful romantic drama about the brief encounter between an elderly professor and a young student. A Sundance Selects release.

Lines of Wellington/Linhas de Wellington (Valeria Sarmiento, France/Portugal)
Passionate romance, brutal treachery, and selfless nobility are set against the background of Napoleon’s 1810 invasion of Portugal in Valeria Sarmiento’s intimate epic.

Memories Look at Me/Ji Yi Wang Zhe Wo (Song Fang, China)
Song Fang’s remarkable first feature, in which she travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family, perfectly captures the rhythms of brief sojourns home.

Night Across the Street/La Noche de enfrente (Raul Ruiz, Chile/France)
A final masterpiece from one of the cinema’s most magical artists, this chronicle of the final months of one Don Celso allows the late Raul Ruiz the chance to explore the thin line between fact and fiction, the living and the dead. A Cinema Guild release.

No (Pablo Larrain, Chile/USA)
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a Chilean adman trying to organize a campaign to unseat Pinochet in Pablo Larrain’s smart, engrossing political thriller. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

Not Fade Away (David Chase, USA)
The debut feature from The Sopranos creator David Chase is a wise, tender and richly atmospheric portrait of a group of friends trying to start a rock band in 1960s suburban New Jersey. A Paramount Vantage release. Centerpiece. World premiere.

Our Children/À perdre la raison (Joachim Lafosse, Belgium)
Belgian director Joachim LaFosse turns a lurid European news story about a mad housewife into a classical tragedy. Émilie Dequenne more than fulfills the promise of her award-winning performance in Rosetta.

Passion (Brian de Palma, France/Germany)
Brian De Palma brings great panache and a diabolical mastery of surprise to a classic tale of female competition and revenge. Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams are super-cool and oh so mean.

Something in the Air/Après Mai (Olivier Assayas, France)
Too young to have been on the May ’68 barricades, a group of young people explore their options for continuing the political struggle in Olivier Assayas’ incisive portrait of a generation. A Sundance Selects release.

Tabu (Miguel Gomes, Portugal)
An exquisite, absurdist entry in the canon of surrealist cinema, Tabu is movie-as-dream—an evocation of irrational desires, extravagant coincidences, and cheesy nostalgia grounded in serious feeling and beliefs. An Adopt Films release.

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet/Vous n'avez encore rien vu (Alain Resnais, France)
The latest from 90-year-old Alain Resnais is a wry, wistful and always surprising valentine to actors and the art of performance starring a who’s-who of French acting royalty.