
NYFF50: Main Slate
Founded in 1963, as the auteur theory and European cinematic modernism were crashing upon the shores of American film culture, the New York Film Festival continues to introduce audiences to the most exciting, innovative and accomplished works of world cinema. Join us as North America’s second oldest film festival celebrates the half-century mark with 17 days of exciting world premieres, prizewinners from Cannes and Berlin, special retrospective screenings, live performances, panel discussions and much more!
Ang Lee
2012|
USA|
126 minutes|
English
Opening Night! World Premiere!
Ang Lee’s superb 3D adaptation of the great bestseller resembles no other film. A 20th Century Fox release.
Robert Zemeckis
2012|
USA|
138 minutes
Closing Night, World Premiere! Robert Zemeckis and members of the cast in person at Alice Tully Hall screenings!
Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis team on this tense dramatic thriller about an airline pilot who pulls off a miraculous crash landing… while flying under the influence. A Paramount Pictures release.
David Chase
2012|
USA|
112 minutes|
English
Centerpiece! World Premiere!
The debut feature from The Sopranos creator David Chase is a wise, tender and richly atmospheric portrait of a group of friends trying to start a rock band in 1960s suburban New Jersey. A Paramount Vantage release.
Lee Daniels
2012|
USA|
107 minutes
This film is screening as part of the Gala Tribute to Nicole Kidman!
Nicole Kidman, director Lee Daniels, and star Macy Gray in person!
Nicole Kidman gives one of her best performances in this steamy southern gothic directed by Lee Daniels (Precious) and co-starring Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey. A Millennium Entertainment release.
At the 49th New York Film Festival it was Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, at the most recent New Directors/New Films it was Beasts of the Southern Wild, what film will be surprising our audiences this time around?
2012|
France / Austria / Germany|
127 minutes|
French with English subtitles
Director Michael Haneke in person at both screenings!
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner of Cannes 2012 is a merciless and compassionate masterpiece about an elderly couple dealing with the ravages of old age. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Yeşim Ustaoğlu
2012|
Turkey / France / Germany|
124 minutes|
Turkish with English subtitles
North American Premiere!
Director Yeşim Ustaoğlu depicts with empathy and uncompromising honesty the fate of a teenaged girl when she becomes sexually obsessed with a long-distance trucker and the promise of freedom that he embodies.
Christian Petzold
2012|
Germany|
105 minutes|
German with English subtitles
Set in 1980, the first chapter of Christian Petzold’s “Love in Times of Oppressive Systems” trilogy centers around a doctor (Nina Hoss) exiled to a small town from East Berlin as punishment for applying for an exit visa.
Cristian Mungiu
2012|
Romania|
150 minutes|
Romanian with English subtitles
Director Cristian Mungiu in person at 10/7 screening!
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days director Cristian Mungiu returns with a harrowing, visually stunning drama set in a remote Romanian monastery. Winner, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, 2012 Cannes Film Festival. A Sundance Selects release.
Jun Robles Lana
2012|
Philippines|
110 minutes|
Tagalog with English subtitles
Director Jun Robles Lana in person at all screenings!
A moving and funny surprise from the Philippines starring the great Eddie Garcia—and a truly unforgettable dog—in the story of an elderly loner going where he’s never dared venture before.
Paolo Taviani
2012|
Italy|
76 minutes|
Italian with English subtitles
North American Premiere! Directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani in person at 9/29, 9/30 and 10/1 screenings!
Convicted felons stage a production of Julius Caesar in this surprising new triumph for the Taviani Brothers, winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. An Adopt Films release.
Noémie Lvovsky
2012|
France|
110 minutes|
French with English subtitles
North American Premiere! Director and star Noémie Lvovsky in person at 9/29 and 10/1 screenings!
Noémie Lvovsky directs and stars in an ebullient comedy of remarriage that gives Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married a sophisticated, personal, and decidedly French twist.
Javier Rebollo
2012|
Spain / Argentina / France|
94 minutes|
Spanish with English subtitles
North American Premiere!
A dying hitman and a mysterious femme fatale set off on an oddball journey through Argentina’s interior in this playful and unexpectedly moving reverie on love, death and the open road.
Rama Burshtein
2012|
Israel|
90 minutes|
Hebrew with English subtitles
With her first dramatic feature, writer-director Rama Burshtein has made a compelling, disconcerting view of Israel’s orthodox Hassidic community from the inside.
Alan Berliner
2012|
USA|
78 minutes
World Premiere!
Alan Berliner creates a compelling, heartfelt chronicle of poet and translator Edwin Honig’s loss of memory, language and his past due to the onslaught of Alzheimer’s.
Noah Baumbach
2012|
USA|
86 minutes
Lightning-in-a-bottle, Noah Baumbach’s love poem to his star and screenwriter Greta Gerwig recalls Godard’s early celebrations of Anna Karina, but, as a New York movie, it’s beautiful in a brand new way.
Dror Moreh
2012|
Israel / France / Germany / Belgium|
97 minutes|
Hebrew and English with English subtitles
Director Dror Moreh in person for both screenings!
Six former heads of Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, discuss their nation’s past, present and future, in what will surely be one of the most hotly discussed films of the year. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Sally Potter
2012|
UK|
89 minutes
Director Sally Potter in person for all screenings!
Sally Potter’s riveting coming-of-age story, set in London in 1962, centers on two teenage best friends (played by the revelatory Elle Fanning and talented newcomer Alice Englert) who are driven apart by a scandalous betrayal.
Antonio Méndez Esparza
2012|
Mexico / Spain / USA|
110 minutes|
Spanish with English subtitles
North American Premiere!
After years in the U.S., Pedro returns home to his family in Mexico, but the lure of the north remains as strong as ever. A most impressive feature debut by Antonio Méndez Esparza.
Leos Carax
2012|
France|
115 minutes|
French with English subtitles
This unclassifiable, expansive movie from Leos Carax operates on the exhilarating logic of dreams and emotions.
Roger Michell
2012|
UK|
95 minutes
Director Roger Michell and writer Richard Nelson in person for 10/13 screening!
Bill Murray caps his career with a wily turn as FDR in this captivating comedy-drama about the President’s relationship with his cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney). A Focus Features release.
Marc-Henri Wajnberg
2012|
Belgium / France|
85 minutes|
Lingala and French with English Subtitles
Perhaps the most ebullient “musical” you’ll see this year, Marc-Henri Wajnberg’s singular documentary/fiction hybrid follows a group of street children in the Congolese capital.
João Pedro Rodrigues
2012|
Portugal / France|
85 minutes|
Portuguese with English Subtitles
Directors João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata in person at both screenings!
This stunning amalgam of film noir and Chris Marker–like cine-essay poetically explores the psychic pull of the titular former Portuguese colony.
Lucien Castaing-Taylor
2012|
France / UK / USA|
87 minutes|
English
Directors Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel in person!
NYFF alumni Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass) and Véréna Paravel (Foreign Parts) team for another singular anthropological excavation, this time set inside the commercial fishing industry.
Abbas Kiarostami
2012|
Japan / France|
109 minutes|
Japanese with English Subtitles
Director Abbas Kiarostmi in person at 10/4 screening!
Master Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostmi ventures to Japan for this mysterious beautiful romantic drama about the brief encounter between an elderly professor and a young student. A Sundance Selects release.
Valeria Sarmiento
2012|
Portugal / France|
151 minutes|
English, Portuguese, and French with English subtitles
Prepared by Ruiz from a screenplay by Carlos Saboga (Mysteries of Lisbon), Lines of Wellington was completed by Sarmiento—Ruiz’s longtime editor as well as his widow—who has created a revealing portrait of life during the Peninsular War. An NYFF50 Selection.
Song Fang
2012|
China|
91 minutes|
Chinese with English Subtitles
Director Song Fang in person!
Song Fang’s remarkable first feature, in which she travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family, perfectly captures the rhythms of brief sojourns home.
Raul Ruiz
2012|
Chile / France|
107 minutes|
Spanish, French with English Subtitles
A final masterpiece from one of the cinema’s most magical artists, this chronicle of the final months of one Don Celso allows the late Raul Ruiz the chance to explore the thin line between fact and fiction, the living and the dead. A Cinema Guild release.
Pablo Larraín
2012|
Chile / USA|
110 minutes|
Spanish with English subtitles
Pablo Larraín in person at both screenings!
Gael García Bernal stars as a Chilean adman trying to organize a campaign to unseat Pinochet in Pablo Larrain’s smart, engrossing political thriller. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
Joachim Lafosse
2012|
Belgium / Luxembourg / France / Switzerland|
111 minutes|
French with English Subtitles
North American Premiere! Director Joachim LaFosse in person at both screenings!
Belgian director Joachim LaFosse turns a lurid European news story about a mad housewife into a classical tragedy. Émilie Dequenne more than fulfills the promise of her award-winning performance in Rosetta.
Brian De Palma
2012|
France / Germany|
100 minutes|
English
Brian De Palma in person at October 6 screening!
Brian De Palma brings great panache and a diabolical mastery of surprise to a classic tale of female competition and revenge. Noomi Rapace and Rachel McAdams are super-cool and oh so mean.
Olivier Assayas
2012|
France|
122 minutes|
French with English Subtitles
Director Olivier Assayas in person at 10/5 screening!
Too young to have been on the May ’68 barricades, a group of young people explore their options for continuing the political struggle in Olivier Assayas’ incisive portrait of a generation. A Sundance Selects release.
Alain Resnais
2012|
France|
115 minutes|
French with English Subtitles
North American Premiere!
The latest from 90-year-old Alain Resnais is a wry, wistful and always surprising valentine to actors and the art of performance starring a who’s-who of French acting royalty
September 28 – October 14
Ticket Info | NYFF Brochure (PDF) | Follow the Film Society
Founded in 1963, as the auteur theory and European cinematic modernism were crashing upon the shores of American film culture, the New York Film Festival continues to introduce audiences to the most exciting, innovative and accomplished works of world cinema. Join us as North America’s second oldest film festival celebrates the half-century mark with 17 days of exciting world premieres, prizewinners from Cannes and Berlin, special retrospective screenings, live performances, panel discussions and much more!
































