On today’s episode of our daily NYFF59 podcasts, NYFF Director Eugene Hernandez speaks with director Rebecca Hall and cast members Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, and André Holland about Passing, a Main Slate selection of the 59th New York Film Festival.
Passing screens again on Saturday, October 9th at 1pm. Tickets are now on sale.
A cornerstone work of Harlem Renaissance literature, Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel Passing is adapted to the screen with exquisite craft and skill by writer-director Rebecca Hall, who envelops the viewer in a bygone period that remains tragically present. The film’s extraordinary anchors are Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, meticulous as middle-class Irene and Clare, reacquainted childhood friends whose lives have taken divergent paths. Clare has decided to “pass” as white to maintain her social standing, even hiding her identity from her racist white husband, John (Alexander Skarsgård); Irene, on the other hand, is married to a prominent Black doctor, Brian (André Holland), who is initially horrified at Clare’s choices. As the film progresses, and resentments and latent attractions bristle, Hall creates an increasingly claustrophobic world both constructed and destabilized by racism, identity performance, and sexual frustration, leading to a shocking conclusion. A Netflix release.
Explore what’s playing at NYFF59 and get tickets here.
Watch/listen to the discussion on the film below and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher for more filmmaker conversations.
