We’re excited to announce the next editions of FLC Luminaries, our video series presented by Netflix, which spotlights talent at all levels of the filmmaking process who uplift the art and craft of cinema. Following premieres at the 60th New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center had the chance to chat with a variety of filmmakers and dive into the writing and production processes, inspirations, collaboration on set, and more. Note the release schedule below and keep an eye out for upcoming FLC Luminaries videos!


FLC Luminaries Release Schedule

James Gray, Armageddon Time | November 10
Chris Smith, “Sr.” | November 17
Elegance Bratton, The Inspection | November 23
Joanna Hogg & Tilda Swinton, The Eternal Daughter | December 1
Mia Hansen-Løve, One Fine Morning | January 27


Mia Hansen-Løve, One Fine Morning

Director Mia Hansen-Løve discusses the making of One Fine Morning, collaborating with cinematographer Denis Lenoir throughout her career, working with actor Léa Seydoux, and more.

Few filmmakers are as adept at exploring the contours of modern love and grief as Mia Hansen-Løve (Bergman Island), whose intensely poignant and deeply personal latest drama stars Léa Seydoux as Sandra, a professional translator and single mother at a crossroads. Her father (Pascal Greggory), rapidly deteriorating from a neurological illness, will soon require facility care, and her new lover (Melvil Poupaud) is a married dad whose unavailability only seems to draw her nearer to him, despite—or because of—the fact that she’s going through an overwhelming time in her life. Hansen-Løve, so finely observant of the small nuances of human interaction, creates, in harmonious concert with a magnificent Seydoux, a complicated portrait of a woman torn between romantic desire and familial tragedy that is a marvel of emotional and formal economy. An NYFF60 Main Slate selection. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

One Fine Morning is now playing in our theaters. Get tickets here.

Joanna Hogg and Tilda Swinton, The Eternal Daughter

Director Joanna Hogg and actor Tilda Swinton dive into the making of The Eternal Daughter, the influence of Victorian ghost stories in literature and film, and exploring the relationship between mothers and daughters.

One gloomy night, a middle-aged filmmaker and her elderly mother arrive at a fog-enshrouded hotel in the English countryside. An ominously brusque clerk, an apparent lack of other guests, and disturbing sounds from the room above theirs bode a less-than-welcome arrival. Yet all is not what it seems on this increasingly emotional trip into the past for these two women, one of whom has definitely been here before. Joanna Hogg (The Souvenir), among today’s foremost filmmakers, uses this Victorian gothic scenario for an entirely surprising, impeccably crafted, and, finally, overwhelming excavation of a parent-child relationship and the impulse toward artistic creation. And Tilda Swinton, in a performance of rich, endless surprise, turns in one of the most remarkable acting feats in her astonishing career. An NYFF60 Main Slate selection.

The Eternal Daughter opens tomorrow in our theaters. Get tickets here.

Elegance Bratton, The Inspection

Director Elegance Bratton discusses adapting his personal experience, visual influences like Claire Denis’s Beau Travail and Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, and working with Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union.

Known for his affecting and dynamic documentary Pier Kids, about homeless queer and transgender youth in New York, and the Viceland series My House, on underground competitive ballroom dancing, filmmaker and photographer Elegance Bratton has made his ambitious narrative debut with The Inspection, a knockout drama based on his own experiences as a gay man in Marine Corps basic training following a decade of living on the streets. In a breathtaking first cinematic starring role, Tony– and Emmy–nominated actor Jeremy Pope is run through an emotional and physical gauntlet as a young man dealing with the intimidation of a sadistic sergeant (Bokeem Woodbine), his desire for a sympathetic superior (Raúl Castillo), and his complicated feelings toward the mother who rejected him (a revelatory Gabrielle Union). Bratton’s film is a nuanced portrait of American masculinity and evocation of the military during the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell era, as well as a forceful, electric work of autobiography.

The Inspection is now playing in theaters.

Chris Smith, “Sr.”

Director Chris Smith dives into the process of working with the Downeys on the intimate production of “Sr.”, paying homage to an iconic underground filmmaker, and capturing the true essence of documentary subjects.

Rarely do films about artists allow the kind of poignant intimacy seen in this tender yet fittingly irreverent portrait of the life and career of Robert Downey Sr., the fearless, visionary American director who set the standard for counterculture comedy in the sixties and seventies. An inspired collaboration between celebrated documentarian Chris Smith (American Movie); the subject’s son, Robert Downey Jr.; and the man himself, who’s occasionally shown working on his own version of the movie we’re watching, “Sr.” functions both as an elegy for the rule-flouting underground icon, who passed away at age 85 in July 2021, and as a testament to his tireless creative spirit. Capturing its subjects’ refreshing candor about aging, past struggles with addiction, and the ups and downs of working in Hollywood, Smith’s film is an emotional depiction of a father-son bond that remained strong, pragmatic, and deeply loving to the end. A Netflix release.

“Sr.” opens on November 18 in theaters and on Netflix on December 2.

James Gray, Armageddon Time

Director James Gray explores the making of Armageddon Time, including the process of pulling details from personal memories to inspirations from classic films like François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows.

The most personal film yet from James Gray (The Immigrant, The Lost City of Z) is also one of his greatest, an exquisitely detailed and deeply emotional etching of a time and place: Queens, 1980. Set against the backdrop of a country on the cusp of ominous sociopolitical change, Armageddon Time follows Paul Graff (Banks Repeta), a sixth grader who dreams of becoming an artist. At the same time that Paul builds a friendship with classmate Johnny (Jaylin Webb), who’s mercilessly targeted by their racist teacher, he finds himself increasingly at odds with his parents (Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway), for whom financial success and assimilation are key to the family’s Jewish-American identity. Paul feels on firmest ground with his kind grandfather (a marvelous Anthony Hopkins), whose life experiences have granted him a weathered compassion. Rejecting easy nostalgia for a more difficult, painful form of recall, Gray’s film—shot with intimate naturalism by Darius Khondji—is a perceptive and humane coming of age story that does what only cinema can do, elevating the smallest moments into the greatest drama. An NYFF60 Main Slate selection.

Armageddon Time is now playing in theaters.

Previous FLC Luminaries