White Noise
Photo Courtesy Netflix

Film at Lincoln Center announces Noah Baumbach’s White Noise as Opening Night of the 60th New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall on September 30.

In one of the year’s most gratifyingly ambitious American films, Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) has adapted Don DeLillo’s epochal postmodern 1985 novel White Noise, long perceived as unfilmable, into a richly layered, entirely unexpected work of contemporary satire. Adam Driver heartily embodies Jack Gladney, an ostentatious “Hitler Studies” professor and father-of-four whose comfortable suburban college town life and marriage to the secretive Babette (Greta Gerwig, perfectly donning a blonde mop of “important hair”) are upended after a horrifying nearby accident creates an airborne toxic event of frightening and unknowable proportions. In a tightrope walk of comedy and horror, Baumbach captures the essence of DeLillo’s cacophonous pop-philosophical nightmare on unbounded consumerism, ecological catastrophe, and the American obsession with death. Impeccably matching DeLillo’s and Baumbach’s similarly percussive form of stylized dialogue, White Noise is wonderfully abrasive and awe-inspiring, a precisely mounted period piece entirely befitting our modern, through-the-looking-glass pandemic reality. A Netflix release.

“In 1985 my father and I drove from Brooklyn to see Kurosawa’s Ran open the 23rd NYFF, the same year that he brought home the hardback of Don DeLillo’s White Noise,” said Baumbach. “Opening the 60th NYFF with White Noise is truly special for me. This festival was part of my film education and has been a home for me and many of my movies over the years. I couldn’t be more excited and honored to return.”

“Opening the 60th edition of the New York Film Festival with Noah Baumbach’s ambitious, funny, and resonant White Noise underscores this festival’s history of introducing new filmmakers to New York audiences. A regular attendee of the festival as a kid, Noah Baumbach saw his indie filmmaking career take off after debuting Kicking and Screaming at NYFF in 1995,” said Eugene Hernandez, Executive Director of the New York Film Festival. “White Noise will usher in a 60th NYFF selection of films by established directors and vibrant new voices; we’re looking forward to sharing the communal experience of cinema with audiences at Lincoln Center and in other parts of the city this fall! Stay tuned!”

“Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of White Noise is an unequivocal triumph: a wildly entertaining and morbidly funny meditation on the way we live now that is also the director’s most ambitious and expansive film,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “Aided by a brilliant cast led by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, Baumbach has not only captured the essence of Don DeLillo’s beloved, era-defining book—he has turned it into a movie that speaks profoundly to our moment.”

Baumbach’s previous NYFF Main Slate selections include Kicking and Screaming (NYFF33), The Squid and the Whale (NYFF43), Margot at the Wedding (NYFF45), Frances Ha (NYFF50), The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (NYFF55), and Marriage Story (NYFF57 Centerpiece). While We’re Young was a secret screening at NYFF52. De Palma, co-directed with Jake Paltrow, was a special event at NYFF53.

Campari® is the exclusive spirits partner for the 60th New York Film Festival and the presenting partner of Opening Night, extending its longstanding commitment to the world of film and art.

The NYFF Main Slate selection committee, chaired by Dennis Lim, also includes Eugene Hernandez, Florence Almozini, K. Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen.

Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema and takes place September 30–October 16, 2022. An annual bellwether of the state of cinema that has shaped film culture since 1963, the festival continues an enduring tradition of introducing audiences to bold and remarkable works from celebrated filmmakers, as well as fresh new talent.

Please note: Masks are required for all staff, audiences, and filmmakers at all times in public spaces. Proof of full vaccination is not required for NYFF60 audiences, but full vaccination is strongly recommended. Visit filmlinc.org/safety for more information.

Secure your Opening Night tickets and more with Festival Passes, limited quantities on sale now. NYFF60 single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, September 19 at noon ET, with pre-sale access for FLC Members and Pass holders prior to this date. Save 50% on FLC Memberships through August 3 only with the code BAUMBACH––the biggest discount of the year! New, current, and lapsed Members are eligible to redeem. Support of NYFF benefits Film at Lincoln Center in its nonprofit mission to promote the art and craft of cinema. NYFF60 press and industry accreditation is now open and the application deadline is August 31.

New York Film Festival Opening Night Films
2021       The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, US)
2020       Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen, UK)
2019       The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, US)
2018       The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/US)
2017       Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater, US)
2016       13TH (Ava DuVernay, US)
2015       The Walk (Robert Zemeckis, US)
2014       Gone Girl (David Fincher, US)
2013       Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass, US)
2012       Life of Pi (Ang Lee, US)
2011       Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Poland)
2010       The Social Network (David Fincher, US)
2009       Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, France)
2008       The Class (Laurent Cantet, France)
2007       The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, US)
2006       The Queen (Stephen Frears, UK)
2005       Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, US)
2004       Look at Me (Agnès Jaoui, France)
2003       Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, US)
2002       About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, US)
2001       Va savoir (Jacques Rivette, France)
2000       Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
1999       All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
1998       Celebrity (Woody Allen, US)
1997       The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, US)
1996       Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, UK)
1995       Shanghai Triad (Zhang Yimou, China)
1994       Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, US)
1993       Short Cuts (Robert Altman, US)
1992       Olivier Olivier (Agnieszka Holland, France)
1991       The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland/France)
1990       Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen, US)
1989       Too Beautiful for You (Bertrand Blier, France)
1988       Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
1987       Dark Eyes (Nikita Mikhalkov, Soviet Union)
1986       Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, US)
1985       Ran (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)
1984       Country (Richard Pearce, US)
1983       The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, US)
1982       Veronika Voss (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany)
1981       Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, UK)
1980       Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme, US)
1979       Luna (Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy/US)
1978       A Wedding (Robert Altman, US)
1977       One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda, France)
1976       Small Change (François Truffaut, France)
1975       Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, Italy)
1974       Don’t Cry with Your Mouth Full (Pascal Thomas, France)
1973       Day for Night (François Truffaut, France)
1972       Chloe in the Afternoon (Eric Rohmer, France)
1971       The Debut (Gleb Panfilov, Soviet Union)
1970       The Wild Child (François Truffaut, France)
1969       Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, US)
1968       Capricious Summer (Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia)
1967       The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria)
1966       Loves of a Blonde (Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia)
1965       Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, France)
1964       Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev, Soviet Union)
1963       The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, Mexico)

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER

Film at Lincoln Center is dedicated to supporting the art and elevating the craft of cinema and enriching film culture.

Film at Lincoln Center fulfills its mission through the programming of festivals, series, retrospectives, and new releases; the publication of Film Comment; and the presentation of podcasts, talks, special events, and artist initiatives. Since its founding in 1969, this nonprofit organization has brought the celebration of American and international film to the world-renowned Lincoln Center arts complex, making the discussion and appreciation of cinema accessible to a broad audience and ensuring that it remains an essential art form for years to come.

Support for the New York Film Festival is generously provided by Official Partner Campari®; Benefactor Partners Netflix and Citi; Supporting partners Bloomberg Philanthropies, Topic Studios and Hearst, Contributing Partners Dolby, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), MUBI, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, and Manhattan Portage, and Media Partners Variety, The WNET Group, and Shutterstock. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Film at Lincoln Center.

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