NYFF Convergence opening keynot speaker Tommy Pallotta
After its historic 50th Opening Night, this year's New York Film Festival hits the ground running. Today's selections include close to a dozen excursions into the diverse, exciting world of transmedia, our first two NYFF Live events, and the New York debut of Little Shop of Horrors in its newly-restored director's cut.
Today we kick off a two-day marathon of Convergence programming—a sort of mini-festival in itself. The first ten selections testify to the range of new platforms and approaches available to storytellers thanks to as many new, cutting-edge technologies. Among the many highlights: an opening keynote conversation with transmedia storyteller and rotoscope animator Tommy Pallotta (Collapsus, Waking Life); Adult Swim and the Power of Music Partnerships, in which Adult Swim's Jason DeMarco will join writer/blogger Laura Sterritt to discuss the intersection of music and transmedia; and Multiple Producers, Multiple Platforms, a chance for members of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) to discuss the ins and outs of multiplatform producing. Plus, not one but two in-depth analyses of hipster-dinosaur tensions in the modern city.
Barry Levinson's The Bay
Remember Rick Moranis? Before he was shrinking kids, and way before, in the words of a trailer that came before every VHS tape I saw as a kid, “he promised his shrinking days were over,” he starred in Frank Oz's delerious sci-fi-infused musical Little Shop of Horrors. Save for a blink-and-you-missed-it DVD release, now long out of print, it's been impossible to see the film shorn of its happy ending, in all its apocalyptic glory—until now! Tonight, Oz and star Ellen Greene will present Little Shop of Horrors in its long-awaited, restored director's cut.
Today also sees the first of our NYFF Live events. At 6pm Barry Levinson, the man behind the classic coming-of-age tale Diner, the brilliant political satire Wag the Dog, and this year's radical left-turn The Bay (an eco-horror excursion screening tonight at midnight with Levinson in person!), will be fielding questions at the Soho Apple Store. If you've been looking for a chance to be able to tell your friends that you shopped for iPhone covers inches away from the man who made Rain Man and Good Morning Vietnam, this is probably it. An hour later, here at the Film Society Amphitheater, past and present members of the NYFF selection committee will be discussing the festival's history, the various ways it's both shaped and been shaped by contemporary film culture, this year's impossibly rich lineup, and what the future might look like—moderated by film scholar, screenwriter, and CEO of Focus Features James Schamus.
Can't make it to Lincoln Center? We'll be live streaming the NYFF selection committee panel discussion via YouTube, so set a reminder for 7pm and check back here to watch the whole thing:
Below is the full schedule of today's events, along with the latest Rush and Standby info!
Convergence:
10:00am: Keynote Converstion: Tommy Pallotta
11:00am: Adult Swim and the Power of Music Partnerships
11:30am: Location, Location, Location: The Future of Film in a Geotagged World
12:30pm: Transmedia on $8.00 a Day
1:00pm: Multiple Producers, Multiple Platforms
2:00pm: McCarren Park Part I: Hipster Dinos, Transmedia, and Producing Something for Nothing
2:30pm: Modding Minecraft: The Voxel Box and the Art of Immersion
3:00pm: Writing Transmedia
4:00pm: McCarren Park Part II: Hipster Dinos, Transmedia, and How to Get Noticed Without Paying For It
4:30pm: Bridging the Tech Divide
Masterworks:
10:00am: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Standby Only)
6:00pm: Liebelei – Men of Cinema: Pierre Rissient and the Cinema Mac-Mahon (Rush Tickets Available!)
7:00pm: The Rolling Stones – Charlie is My Darling – Ireland '65 (Standby Only)
9:00pm: Little Shop of Horrors (The Director's Cut) (Standby Only)
Main Slate:
12:45pm: Here and There (Rush Tickets Available!)
3:30pm: Camille Rewinds
6:30pm: Caesar Must Die (Rush Tickets Available!)
9:00pm: Passion (Standby Only)
Special Events:
12:00pm: The Savoy King: Chick Webb and the Music that Changed America – On the Arts
2:30pm: HBO Directors Dialogues: Ang Lee (Standby Only)
4:15pm: Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out – Cinema Reflected
6:30pm: Ingrid Caven: Music and Voice – On the Arts
8:30pm: Becoming Traviata – On the Arts (Rush Tickets Available!)
9:15pm: The War of the Volcanoes – On the Arts (Standby Only)
11:59pm: The Bay – Midnight Movies (Rush Tickets Available!)
Want to receive daily NYFF updates via email? Sign up for our NYFF newsletter! Please note that NYFF tickets are not available for online purchase as of four hours prior to showtime. Please visit the corresponding theater's box office for any available tickets.
