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Wow! Another major competition with almost no Asian rep.

Opening
La La Land, Damien Chazelle (in competition)

Closing
The Magnificent Seven, Antoine Fuqua (out of competition)

Competition
The Bad Batch, Ana Lily Amirpour (U.S.)
Une Vie, Stephan Brizé (France, Belgium)
The Light Between Oceans, Derek Cianfrance (U.S., Australia, New Zealand)
El ciudadano ilustre, Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat (Argentina, Spain)
Spira Mirabilis, Massimo D’Anolfi, Martina Parenti (Italy, Switzerland)
The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz (Philippines)
La region salvaje, Amat Escalante (Mexico)
Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford (U.S.)
Piuma, Roan Johnson (Italy)
Paradise, Andrei Konchalovsky (Russia, Germany)
Brimstone, Martin Koolhoven (Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, U.K. Sweden)
On the Milky Road, Emir Kusturica (Serbia, U.K., U.S.)
Jackie, Pablo Larrain (U.S., Chile)
Voyage of Time, Terrence Malick (U.S., Germany)
El Cristo ciego, Christopher Murray (Chile, France)
Frantz, Francois Ozon (France)
Questi Giorni, Giuseppe Piccioni (Italy)
Arrival, Denis Villenueve (U.S.)
The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez, Wim Wenders (France, Germany)

Out of Competition
The Young Pope (episodes 1, 2), Paolo Sorrentino (Italy, France, Spain, U.S.)
The Bleeder, Philippe Falardeau (U.S., Canada)
Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson (U.S.)
The Journey, Nick Hamm (U.K.)
A jamais, Benoit Jacquot (France, Portugal)
Gantz:O, Yasushi Kawamura (Japan)
The Age of Shadows, Kim Jee woon (South Korea)
Monte, Amir Naderi (Italy, U.S., France)
Tommaso, Kim Rossi Stewart (Italy)
Dark Night, Tim Sutton (U.S.)
Planetarium, Rebecca Zlotowski (France, Belgium)

Non-Fiction
Our War, Bruno Chiaravallotti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri (Italy, U.S.)
I Called Him Morgan, Kasper Collin (Sweden, U.S.)
One More Time with Feeling, Andrew Dominik (U.K.)
Austerlitz, Sergei Loznitsa (Germany)
Assalto al cielo, Francesco Munzi (Italy)
Safari, Ulrich Seidl (Austria, Denmark)
American Anarchist, Charlie Siskel (U.S.)

Horizons
Tarde para la ira, Raul Arevalo (Spain)
King of the Belgians, Peter Brosens, Jessica Woolworth (Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria)
Through the Wall, Rama Burshtein (Israel)
Liberami, Federica Di Giacomo (Italy, France)
Big Big World, Reha Erdem (Turkey)
Gukuroku, Ishikawa Kei (Japan)
Maudit Poutine, Karl Lemieux, (Canada)
Sao Jorge, Marco Martins (Portugal, France)
Dawson City: Frozen Time, Bill Morrison (U.S., France)
Reparer les vivants, Katell Quillevere (France, Belgium)
White Sun, Deepak Rauniyar (Nepal, U.S., Qatar, Netherlands)
Malaria, Parviz Shahbazi (Iran)
Kekszakallu, Gaston Solnicky (Argentina)
Home, Fien Troch (Belgium)
Die Einsiedler, Fien Troch (Germany, Austria)
Il più grande sogno, Michele Vannucci (Italy)
Boys in the Trees, Nicholas Verso (Australia)
Bitter Money, Wang Bing (China)

That's a great lineup. Can't wait to see the Lav Diaz and Loznitsa!

hearthesilence wrote:Main slate for the New York Film Festival has been announced.

I've seen about half of these, so here are my recommendations:

Must See:

Son of Joseph
Sireanevada
Certain Women
Fire at Sea
Julieta
Personal Shopper * (it's a weird one, and definitely not for every taste, but I liked it)

All of these made my top ten (or also rans) for the year to date and there are write ups for them in the Dynamic Top Tens thread.

Really Good:

Aquarius - a step back from Neighbouring Sounds in terms of ambition, but this is just beautifully directed, with lots of unobtrusive technical touches and interesting directorial decisions for the alert. It had the disadvantage of being seen immediately after Sieranevada, so all of its very good party / social gathering scenes paled in comparison.

Graduation - more bad stuff happening regardless of intentions for Mungiu. This is really solid work from director and cast, a good script, and I liked it more than Beyond the Hills, but there wasn't enough new or unique enough to put it in the top rank.

Paterson - Marvellous low-key character stuff from Jarmusch. I suppose this is very unusual territory for an American film (no villains, no major conflicts, takes poetry seriously), but it shouldn't be.

Toni Erdmann - More effective as a wacky comedy than as a character study for me, but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Elle - A high-class giallo that Huppert sells the hell out of, or Personal Shopper with rape taking the place of ghosts as the reigning plot device. Slick and ostentatiously unpleasant.

zedz wrote:Slick and ostentatiously unpleasant.

In other words, a Paul Verhoeven movie. Glad to see him back.

Strange that the Hong Sangsoo film isn't listed as a U.S. premiere. What, is Telluride showing it?

Werewolf by Night wrote:

zedz wrote:Slick and ostentatiously unpleasant.

In other words, a Paul Verhoeven movie. Glad to see him back.

I think it's basically all you could hope for in a Paul Verhoeven film.

Lav Diaz won the Golden Lion for The Woman Who Left.

GOLDEN LION - The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)
SILVER LION BEST DIRECTOR (TIE) - Andre Konchalovsky (Paradise) / Amat Escalante, (The Untamed)
JURY GRAND PRIZE - Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE - The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)
ACTOR - Oscar Martinez (The Distinguished Citizen Argentina)
ACTRESS - Emma Stone (La La Land)
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI PRIZE FOR YOUNG PERFORMER – Paula Beer (Frantz)
BEST SCREENPLAY - Noah Oppenheim (Jackie)
LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS LION OF THE FUTURE - The Last of Us (Ala Eddine Slim)

The schedule for the 25th Philadelphia Film Festival is out, tickets on sale to the general public tomorrow - opening with La La Land (for badge holders only *smug face*), closing with Arrival (a $40-50 ticket for a film that opens wide two weeks later is a tough ask, though), and some great centerpieces throughout. Still a second or even third tier festival, but it seems to be getting bigger films and more attention each year, especially since the changeover to the Philadelphia Film Society and October as opposed to April a few years ago. Hope to see at least one other CF.org member at the opening night screening/party!

I wrote copy for that festival for several years while working at TLA, and I did just about everything imaginable for that company. I haven't attended much of Cinefest, Gay Film Festival or PFF much, but I'd say it's been an improvement since I moved on in 2009. Have you tried to volunteer? I know they always love that, and you'd get to see most things quite easily.

I don't have time with my day job gobbling up around 50-60 hours a week - I volunteered in 2007 and still feel sort of guilty about not being able to spend as much time with it as I think they wanted me to.

zedz wrote: Must See:
Fire at Sea

This is also opening at IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema in NYC and Laemmle Fine Arts and Laemmle Playhouse 7 in L.A. in just a few weeks on October 21.

Certain Women has won best film at the NYFF.

FrauBlucher wrote:Certain Women has won best film at the NYFF.

I thought the NYFF doesn't give out awards.

EDIT: It was the London Film Festival.

tavernier wrote:

FrauBlucher wrote:Certain Women has won best film at the NYFF.

I thought the NYFF doesn't give out awards.

EDIT: It was the London Film Festival.

Sorry bout that. Indeed, the BFI LFF. Didn't realize they were happening at the same time.

hearthesilence wrote:

zedz wrote:Must See:
Fire at Sea

This is also opening at IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinema in NYC and Laemmle Fine Arts and Laemmle Playhouse 7 in L.A. in just a few weeks on October 21.

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