The Film Society of Lincoln Center Announces Main Selections For 2012 New York Film Festival

AMOUR

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today the main slate of selections for the 50th New York Film Festival (September 28-October 14) including such notable directors as Olivier Assayas, Noah Baumbach, Leos Carax, Brian De Palma, Michael Haneke, Abbas Kiarostami, Ang Lee, Cristian Mungiu, Sally Potter, Alain Resnais, Raul Ruiz and Robert Zemeckis.

Regarding the line up of 32 films comprising the main slate for the 50th anniversary of NYFF Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, said, “The films making up the main slate of this year’s NYFF, have in common a general quality of fearlessness” that unites otherwise very disparate works. These are films that go all the way, works willing to take the risk or chance that by doing so they may be bringing audiences to places they might rather not go.”

Award winners that will be presented for the first time for New York audiences include; the universally acclaimed winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, AMOUR, Michael Haneke’s portrait of a couple dealing with the ravages of old age, with Haneke returning to NYFF following the presentation of THE WHITE RIBBON in 2009; Christian Petzold’s Cold War thriller, BARBARA, a winner of the SIlver Bear for Best Director at this year’s Berlin Film Festival; Cristian Mungiu’s BEYOND THE HILLS, a portrait of dogma at odds with personal liberty in a society still emerging from the shadow of Communism, featuring screen newcomers Flutur and Stratan who shared the Best Actress prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Mungiu also received the Best Screenplay award. The presentation will also mark a return to the film festival by Mungiu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS, NYFF 2007).

Two debut features include Antonio Mendez Esparza’s film about the US/Mexican border experience, HERE AND THERE, the winner of the Grand Prize at this year’s Critics Week in Cannes, and Song Fang’s film about a woman that travels from Beijing to Nanjing for a visit with her family, MEMORIES LOOK AT ME, the winner of the Best First Feature prize at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. Pablo Larrain’s engrossing political thriller NO, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, was the winner of the top prize in this year’s Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and Miguel Gomes’s surrealist drama TABU was the winner of the Alfred Bauer Prize (for a work of particular innovation) and FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Additional returning NYFF filmmakers are; João Pedro Rodrigues (TO DIE LIKE A MAN, NYFF 2009) with THE LAST TIME I SAW MACAO; Olivier Assayas (CARLOS, NYFF 2010), with SOMETHING IN THE AIR; Lucien Castaing-Taylor (SWEETGRASS, NYFF 2009) and Véréna Paravel (FOREIGN PARTS, NYFF 2010), with LEVIATHAN; Abbas Kiarostami (CERTIFIED COPY, NYFF 2010), with LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE; and the 90-year-old Alain Resnais, whose MURIEL, OR THE TIME OF RETURN screened at the very first New York Film Festival, returns with YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET.

NOT FADE AWAY

A quartet of World Premieres among the main slate lineup include Alan Berliner’s unflinching essay on the fragility of being human, FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED, joining the previously announced Opening Night, Centerpiece and Closing Night Gala trio of Ang Lee’s LIFE OF PI, David Chase’s NOT FADE AWAY and Robert Zemeckis’s FLIGHT.

Founded in 1963, the New York Film Festival is North America’s second oldest film festival, launching just as the auteur theory and European cinematic modernism were crashing upon the shores of American film culture. 50 years later, NYFF continues to introduce audiences to the most exciting, innovative and accomplished works of world cinema.

Additional special events, sidebars, panels and first–time programs will be announced in subsequent weeks as well as additional programming to complement the main-slate of films, including NYFF’s Masterworks programs and Views from the Avant-Garde, which will include additional works by Main Slate filmmakers João Pedro Rodrigues and Raul Ruiz.

FLIGHT

The 50th New York Film Festival main-slate:

Opening Night Gala Selection
LIFE OF PI
Director: Ang Lee

Centerpiece Gala Selection
NOT FADE AWAY
Director: David Chase

Closing Night Gala Selection
FLIGHT
Director: Robert Zemeckis

AMOUR
Director: Michael Haneke

ARAF – SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN
Director: Yeşim Ustaoğlu

BARBARA
Director: Christian Petzold

BEYOND THE HILLS (După dealuri)
Director: Cristian Mungiu

BWAKAW
Director: Jun Robles Lana

CAESAR MUST DIE (Cesare deve morire)
Directors: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

CAMILLE REWINDS (Camille redouble)
Director: Noémie Lvovsky

THE DEAD MAN AND BEING HAPPY (El muerto y ser feliz)
Director: Javier Rebello

FILL THE VOID (Lemale et ha’halal)
Director: Rama Burshtein

FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED
Director: Alan Berliner

FRANCES HA
Director: Noah Baumbach

THE GATEKEEPERS (Shomerei Ha’saf)
Director: Dror Moreh

GINGER AND ROSA
Director: Sally Potter

HERE AND THERE (Aquí y Allá)
Director: Antonio Mendez Esparza

HOLY MOTORS
Director: Leos Carax

HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
Director: Roger Michell

KINSHASA KIDS
Director: Marc-Henri Wajnberg

THE LAST TIME I SAW MACAO (A Última Vez Que Vi Macau)
Director: João Pedro Rodrigues

LEVIATHAN
Directors: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel

LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
Director: Abbas Kiarostami

LINES OF WELLINGTON (Linhas de Wellington)
Director: Valeria Sarmiento

MEMORIES LOOK AT ME (Ji Yi Wang Zhe Wo)
Director: Song Fang

NIGHT ACROSS THE STREET (La Noche de enfrente)
Director: Raul Ruiz

NO
Director: Pablo Larrain

OUR CHILDREN (À perdre la raison)
Director: Joachim Lafosse

PASSION
Director: Brian De Palma

SOMETHING IN THE AIR (Après Mai)
Director: Olivier Assayas

TABU
Director: Miguel Gomes

YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET (Vous n’avez encore rien vu)
Director: Alain Resnais

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Peña also includes: Melissa Anderson, Contributor, Village Voice; Scott Foundas, Associate Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center; Todd McCarthy, Chief Film Critic, The Hollywood Reporter; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight and Sound.