Latest in New York Film Festival

Organizers of the New York Film Festival, whose 58th edition faced a welter of complications due to COVID-19, said attendance across virtual and drive-in screenings rose more than 9% over 2019 levels. With drive-in theaters set up in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens and state health restrictions idling the Film at Lincol…

The New York Film Festival wrapped tonight, and its closing-night film, French Exit, is a winner that firmly places Michelle Pfeiffer, a three-time past nominee, back in the heart of the Best Actress Oscar race. She tops an aces cast that is sublime in every way in an absurdist comedy that is surreal, dark, witty…

Red, White and Blue, the third and final installment of Steve McQueen's Small Axe quintet of films about racial issues specific to Great Britain being world premiered at the New York Film Festival, zeroes in on the ordeal of a young black Londoner set on helping to definitively break the color barrier at London's…

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit. No sooner had the Emmys ended with a disappointing night Sunday for Netflix after a record-breaking 160 nominations (and 21 wins), the streamer is turning its sights bigly to Oscar season. If the launch of their series of daily new Netflix Screening…

The New York Film Festival may have opened last week with the first part of Steve McQueen’s new series of films for Amazon, but with tonight’s world premiere of Sofia Coppola’s dazzling new comedy On the Rocks, it feels like the fest really has something to shout about. Maybe it has been because 2020 is such a…

Applause is often the soundtrack of film festival screenings, especially on opening night. The New York Film Festival’s annual Lincoln Center bow features cascades of clapping as fest personnel, filmmakers and cast members take the stage and muse about the film before the lights go down. At Thursday night’s start to…

Watching Lovers Rock is akin to going to see Romeo and Juliet and only staying through the first act, to departing a basketball game after the first quarter, to sipping the soup and skipping the rest of the meal. A mere wisp of a thing, Steve McQueen's 68-minute feature, the only fictional section of a five-film…

The New York Film Festival exudes tradition. Since 1963, its Lincoln Center commingling of culturati, Oscar hopefuls and cinephiliacs has been a mainstay of the city’s fall calendar and the global festival circuit. This year, though, COVID-19 has thrown tradition to the wind and New York movie theaters and arts venues…

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a slow burn but striking first clip for Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian and New York entry Beginning, the in-demand debut film from Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili. Kulumbegashvili wrote the script with Rati Oneli. Starring are Ia sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli and Kakha Kintsurashvili. Producers…

EXCLUSIVE: The New York Film Festival’s unorthodox 58th edition, which starts next week, has added a drive-in at the Bronx Zoo to its roster of screening sites. Three films have been confirmed to screen at the location, which has been built in the zoo’s south parking lot. Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock, which is the…

Filmmaker and Baltimore’s favorite son John Waters has never had a movie of his shown at the New York Film Festival, but his non-film contribution to this year’s fest might just outshine some of the actual entrants: The Hairspray creator designed the official poster for the 58th annual event. (See it below.) Paying…

The New York Film Festival, whose longer-than-usual 2020 edition will run from September 17 to October 11, has announced the lineup for its new Spotlight section. On the Rocks, director Sofia Coppola’s re-teaming for Apple and A24 with Lost in Translation star Bill Murray, will have its world premiere in the Spotlight…