Play
Lulu Wang’s Road to Expats
February 13 - 15, 2024
Ruben Östlund’s unabashedly impolite feature is a controversial record, inspired by actual court cases, of five Black teenagers harassing white and Asian youths through scams and role-playing. An NYFF49 selection.
“I want to make the audience active and reflective,” Ruben Östlund has stated. He does just that with this controversial record, inspired by actual court cases, of five Black teenagers harassing white and Asian youths through scams and role-playing. All violence is implied, but the graver implication (which inflamed critics on the home front) is that political correctness debilitates society, as “good people” stand by and do nothing for fear of being thought racist. The two-time Palme d’Or winning director (Triangle of Sadness, The Square), who also won a Swedish Oscar for best director and the Coup de coeur prize at Cannes for this film, imprisons his actors within a frame, not unlike our social mores freezing us in place. Unabashedly impolite, Play offers food for thought and fuel for fury. An NYFF49 selection.
“An acute and layered observation of class and race told through long takes, with a static frame loaded with details.” —Lulu Wang
Read More
Kamal Aljafari on With Hasan in Gaza and ‘The Camera of the Dispossessed’
Our 63rd New York Film Festival Talks featured a special conversation with With Hasan in Gaza director Kamal Aljafari, moderated by Film Comment editor Devika Girish.
Lucrecia Martel on Our Land (Nuestra Tierra), the Filmmaker’s First Feature Documentary
On the latest episode of FLC Luminaries, our video series that spotlights talent at all levels of the filmmaking process who uplift the art and craft of cinema, Our Land (Nuestra Tierra) director Lucrecia Martel discusses her expansive and enlightening first feature documentary.
Carla Simón on Her Poignantly Autobiographical Romería
This week we’re excited to present a conversation from the 63rd New York Film Festival with Romería director Carla Simón, moderated by NYFF Main Slate selection committee member Florence Almozini.
