Jerzy Skolimowski's Moonlighting (NYFF '82)

Since the 49th New York Film Festival wrapped in October, Film Society has been counting down to NYFF's landmark 50th anniversary by showing highlights from the lineups of yesteryear. Up this week are Jerzy Skolimowski's Moonlighting and Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostalghiafrom the 20th and 21st editions of the festival in 1982 and 1983—screening back-to-back tomorrow night at 6:00pm and 8:15pm, respectively

Skolimowski's film is a perfect compliment to our last NYFF retrospective screening of Andrzej Wajda's Man of Iron, which dealt with the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland. Moonlighting offers another look at Solidarity, this time from the point of view of Polish builders working illegally in London. Leading the cast is a young Jeremey Irons, who manages to inject a bit of humor into a tough subject. The film won Best Screenplay at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. Both Siskel and Ebert named it one of their favorite films of 1982. In his 4-star review, Ebert said, “Moonlighting is a wickedly pointed movie that takes a simple little story, tells it with humor and truth, and turns it into a knife in the side of the Polish government.”


Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostalghia (NYFF '83)

Nostalghia marked Tarkovsky's second appearance at NYFF, the first coming 17 years earlier with Andrei Rublev. Combining a brilliant lead performance by Oleg Yankovskiy, a beautiful and functional score, and elements of the director's signature visual style, it's no wonder the film won Tarkovsky Best Director at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. A program note from NYFF '83 sang the film's praise: “As other-worldly as Solaris, more hypnotic than Stalker, Nostalghia is a work of sumptuous physical beauty that inexorably builds to an awesomely emotional climax.”

With these wonderful representatives from the 20th and 21st editions of NFF we are approaching the halfway point in our celebration of the festival's history. To see what's coming up in “50 Years of the New York Film Festival,” including new additions to the lineup by Clint Eastwood, Andrei Tarkovsky, Raul Ruiz and Michael Moore, head to the series page.

Below is a list of the films that played alongside Moonlighting at NYFF '82:
Veronica Voss (Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany, 1982
Shown with Pianissimo, Carmen D’Avino, USA

The Stationmaster’s Wife
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany, 1977

The Burning Brazier (Le brasier ardent)
Ivan Mozhukhin, France, 1923 ( NYFF Restrospective).

Another Way (Egymásra nézve)
Károly Makk, Hungary, 1982

Eating Raoul
Paul Bartel, USA, 1982
Shown with Louis Smells a Rat, Anne Flournoy, USA

Moonlighting
Jerzy Skolimowski, Great Britain, 1982
Shown with Swiss Army Knife With Rats and Pigeons, Robert Breer, USA

Madam Satan
Cecil B. DeMille, USA, 1930 (NYFF Retrospective).

Letter From Siberia (Lettre de Sibérie)
Chris Marker, France, 1957
Shown with Description of a Struggle (Descrition d’un combat), Chris Marker, Israel/France.  

Tex
Tim Hunter, USA, 1982
Shown with Zea, André Leduc and Jean-Jacques Leduc, Canada

The Night of the Shooting Stars (La Notte de San Lorenzo)
Paulo and Vittorio Taviani, Italy, 1982

City Lovers
Barney Simon, South Africa, 1982

Coming of Age
Josh Hanig, USA, 1982

Identification of a Woman (Identificazione de una donna)
Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy, 1982

Votrex
Scott B and Beth B, USA, 1982
Shown with Wild Night in El Reno, George Kuchar, USA
Also, Harmful or Fatal If Swallowed, Manual De Landa, USA

The Trout (La Truite)
Joseph Losey, France, 1982
Shown with Delivery Man, Emily Hubley, USA

Little Wars (Al Houroub al Saghira)
Maroun Baghdadi, Lebanon, 1982

The Draughtman’s Contract
Peter Greenaway, Great Britain, 1982
Shown with Shift, Ernie Gehr, USA

The Tyrant’s Heart or Boccaccio in Hungary (A Zsarnok Szive Avagy Boccaccio Magyarorszagon)
Miklós Janscó, Hungary, 1981

Koyaanisqatsi
Godfrey Reggio, USA, 1982

Say Amen, Somebody
George T. Nierenberg, USA, 1982
Show with Remembering Thelma, Kathe Sandler, USA

The Light Ahead (Fishke der krumer)
Edgar G. Ulmer, USA, 1939 (NYFF Retrospective)
Shown with Ted Baryluk’s Grocery,  John Paskievich, Mike Mirus, Canada

The Way (Yol)
Serif Gören and Yilmaz Güney, Turkey/Switzerland, 1982

Time Stands Still (Megáll az idö)
Péter Gothár, Hungary, 1981
Shown with Miami is OK, Steven S. Weiss, USA

Dark Circle
Judy Irving, Chris Beaver and Ruth Landy, USA, 1982
Shown with For the Next Sixty Seconds, John Penhall, USA
Also, Science Fiction, J.J. Murphy, USA

One Man’s War (La guerre d’un seul homme)
Edgardo Cozarinsky, France, 1981
Shown with Three Postcards from Saigon, Edgardo Cozarinsky, France

Arshile Gorky
Charlotte Zwerin, USA, 1982
Shown with Letter to Freddy Buache, Jean-Lud Godard, Switzerland

Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin Porter
Charles Musser, USA, 1982

Little People
Jan Krawitz and Thomas Ott, USA, 1982
Shown with UP, Robert Kukes, USA

Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog, West Germany, 1982

And here's a list of the films that played alongside <em>Nostalghia at NYFF '83:
The Big Chill
Lawrence Kasdan, USA, 1983

Money (L’argent)
Robert Bresson, France/Switzerland, 1983
Shown with Trial Balloon, Robert Breer, USA
Also En racháchat, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.

The Story Of Piera (Storia di Piera)
Marco Ferreri, Italy/France/West Germany, 1983

The Wind (Finye)
Souleymane Cissé, Mali, 1982
Shown with Reassemblage, Trinh T. Minh-ha, USA

La Signora Di Tutti
Max Ophuls , Italy, 1934 (NYFF Retrospective)

Forbidden Relations (Visszaesök)
Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács, Hungary, 1982
Shown with Lady Tree, Howard Danelowitz, USA

In The White City (Dans la ville blanche)
Alain Tanner, Portugal/Switzerland, 1982 

Boat People
Ann Hui, Hong Kong, 1982

Danton
Andrzej Wajda, France/Poland, 1983

Life Is A Bed Of Roses (La vie est un roman)
Alain Resnais , France, 1983

Rear Window
Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1954 (NYFF Retrospective)

Erendira
Ruy Guerra, France/Mexico/West Germany, 1983

Lost Illusions (Elveszett illuziók)
Gyula Gazdag, Hungary, 1982.  
Shown with Sundae in New York, James Picker, USA

Last Night At The Alamo
Eagle Pennell, USA, 1983  
Shown with Sifted Evidence, Patricia Gruben, Canada

The Golden Eighties (Les années 80)
Chantal Akerman, Belgium, 1983 
Shown with Camilla Horn Watching Herself Play Gretchen In Murnau’s Silent Film “Faust,” Hans Sachs, Hedda Rinneberg, West Germany

Seeing Red
Julia Reichert and James Klein, USA, 1983

Red Love (Rote Liebe)
Rosa von Praunheim, West Germany, 1981
Shown with The Woman and the Dress, George Kuchar, USA

The New Babylon (Novii Vafilon)
Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg, U.S.S.R., 1929  

So Far From India
Mira Nair, India/USA, 1982

Dhrupad
Mani Kaul, India, 1982

Passion
Jean-Luc Godard, France/Switzerland, 1982  
Shown with You The Better, Ericka Beckman, USA

Nostalghia
Andrei Tarkovsky, Italy/U.S.S.R, 1983

Heart Like A Wheel
Jonathan Kaplan, USA, 1983

Rumble Fish
Francis Coppola, USA, 1983

Entre Nous (Coup de foudre)
Diane Kurys, France, 1983

Secret Agent
Jacki Ochs , USA, 1983
Shown with Burroughs, Howard Brookner, USA

Streamers
Robert Altman, USA, 1983