In September 1963, the first-ever New York Film Festival was held at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, and it was considered something of an experiment, an early test case to see if the kind of serious, artistically inclined festival that soon became based in Europe could find a real buy. in the United States. The opening lineup included Luis Buñuel’s “Exterminating Angel,” Roman Polanski’s debut, “Knife in the Water,” and Yasujirō Ozu’s swan song “An Autumn Af Night.” According to a Film Comment report at the time, the inaugural festival sold more than 20,000 tickets before one movie fell apart. Not bad for the first time.
As the New York Film Festival approaches its 60th annual session, taking place from September 30 to October 30. 16, a lot has changed, but the basic elements of the foundation have remained in place six decades later.
The festival still calls Lincoln Center its centerpiece, although it has recently expanded to pop-up shows in the city’s four remaining boroughs. It still consists primarily of a carefully curated selection of past highlights that debuted in New York, although it is also studded with several world premieres – Maria Schrader’s “She Said” (starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as New York Times reporters who Downed Harvey Weinstein) and Chinonye Chukwu’s “Till” (in which Danielle Didweiler appears as Emmett Till’s mother) will both take their first ride in front of audiences.
The festival’s artistic director, Dennis Lim, says he often looks back at New York Film Festival programming from years and decades past, to take into account “what we’ve shown, as well as what we’ve missed, to be honest”, and to remind himself of the festival’s philosophical underpinnings.
“With a festival like this—even more so than most, because we paint the whole year in cinema—I think of each year’s program as a statement, an argument,” Lim says. “It is a summary of the very latest in technology. We really ask ourselves every year, if our mission is to make a case for cinema as a permanent, important and exciting art form, what films do we choose? What films do we present as evidence? And I think that question was at the heart of my process Programming this festival from the beginning.”
Eugene Hernandez, the NYFF director recently chosen to lead the Sundance Film Festival, reflects many of Lim’s sentiments.
“New York is the capital of film culture in our country, and one of the greatest communities of film culture in the world,” Hernandez says. “And what ties into the history of the festival is that the city’s affluence predates our festival. One of the founders of the festival, Amos Vogel, began [film society] Cinema 16 in the 1940s. So having this specific audience for the film as part of the broader arts culture in New York has been a factor for decades, since the 1940s. There has always been this strong bond between artists and audiences; Both predate our festival and were actually part of the festival’s founding.”
After the 58th New York Festival has been forced into virtual shows and drive-throughs thanks to the pandemic — and the 59th has been forced to tread lightly due to unexpected developments in 2021 — this year’s release can be seen as the festival’s first full return to normal,” although Survival of elements from these two previous editions.In particular, the New York Festival of Fine Arts will be holding satellite performances across the city, expanding the festival’s scope beyond the confines of Lincoln Center.
This move brings with it a number of benefits, chief among them strengthening the identity of the New York Film Festival as Lim calls it a “local festival”. Noting that all of the festival’s screenings are either by filmmakers in New York or take place in the city, Lim stresses the importance of maintaining the same earnest and enterprising spirit that underpinned the early days of the festival.
“There is a huge presence in the press and industry in New York, and obviously we see that as an important part of the audience — it’s not like we’re an audience-only festival,” he says. “We have a strong P&I presence because we are specifically in New York. But the local aspect is important. I think these are audiences that are not only the most knowledgeable and passionate about movies, but also the most open to discovering new experiences. And we program with that audience in mind.”
The festival’s main roster has no shortage of wave-making films from previous 2022 festivals, including Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” (Ruben Östlund) and Grand Prix winner “Stars at Noon” (Claire Dennis); Winner of the Berlin Golden Bear “Alcarràs” (Carla Simon); and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “All That Breathes” from Shaunak Sen. As usual, the program is also heavy on filmmakers who are NYFF veterans, with Todd Field (“Tár”), Pietro Marcello (“Scarlet”), Mia Hansen-Love (“Good Morning”), and Christian Mungiu (“RMN”) Joanna Hogg (“Immortal Daughter”) and Jafar Panahi (“Don’t Bear”) are among those returning.
“It would be disingenuous to say we don’t have favourites,” Lim says, laughing. “I think we do, and I think the programmers and audiences are doing that too. But I’m particularly excited this year for the numbers of newcomers to the festival. Whether it’s first-time filmmakers or first-time folks here, I think there’s a higher percentage than most years” .
Among these, Hernandez cites the likes of Devi Chu (“Back to Seoul”), Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Charlotte Wells (“Afterson”), Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka (“stall”) as particular newcomers. note. “There are so many filmmakers who might be new to New York audiences, who have made one, two or three films in their careers, and we’re really excited to be able to give them that kind of platform with their films,” he says.
Going back to the festival’s early days in the 1960s, it’s hard to imagine its founders anticipating the opportuneness of its timing. NYFF’s position as the early fall festival, which falls right after the Toronto-Telluride-Venice trifecta, means it’s long been seen as a strategic Oscar momentum maker, and this year there’s no shortage of Oscar-tied films, from opening night to “White Noise” (Noah Baumbach) is closer to “The Time of Armageddon” (James Gray). However, the festival rarely seems too eager to present itself as a mere stop for the awards season campaign, and its heavy focus on international and independent film – as well as more experimental fare in its current section – helps maintain the festival’s bona fide artistic intent.
The same applies to her perception of history. Appropriately for a festival that can boast of its early support of emerging filmmakers of the time such as Jean-Luc Godard, John Cassavetes, Martin Scorsese, Hsiao Hsien, and Krzysztof Kielofsky throughout its history, NYFF takes its revival screenings more seriously than most. The 2022 festival includes rarely shown films such as “Black God, White Devil” by Glauber Rocha, “Mother and Whore” by Jan Eustache, and “Drylongso” by Colin Smith, all presented in new restorations.
“I think it’s important for all festivals to not just be summarizing the moment, but also looking at the history of cinema,” Hernandez says. “And this is a section we’ve thought about a lot in the past few years: not just to celebrate and replicate Sharia, but to challenge and expand it.”
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