Simon Curtis’ MY WEEK WITH MARILYN will make its World Premiere as the Centerpiece Gala selection, screening at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday, October 9 for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16).

Based on Colin Clark’s diaries, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, is set in the early summer of 1956, when a 23 year-old Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), just down from Oxford and determined to make his way in the film business, worked as a lowly assistant on the set of THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL. It was the film that famously united Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), who was also on honeymoon with her new husband, the playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott).

Nearly 40 years on, Clark’s diary account The Prince, the Showgirl and Me was published, but one week was missing – which was published some years later as My Week with Marilyn. This is the story of that week. When Arthur Miller leaves England, the coast is clear for Clark to introduce Monroe to some of the pleasures of British life; an idyllic week in which he escorted a Monroe who was desperate to get away from her retinue of Hollywood hangers-on and the pressures of work.   

Produced by David Parfitt, the Weinstein Company release also stars Dominic Cooper, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Zoe Wanamaker, Emma Watson, Toby Jones, Philip Jackson, Geraldine Somerville, Derek Jacobi and Simon Russell Beale. The film is set for a November 4 release.

NYFF will also feature an exciting lineup of Masterworks presentations including a special screening of an 8K Digital restored version of William Wyler’s sword and sandals epic BEN-HUR (1959), Nicholas Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN (1973) and an ambitious celebration of the upcoming 100th Anniversary of Japan’s Nikkatsu Films featuring screenings of 36 films including classics such as Kon Ichikawa’s THE BURMESE HARP (1956), Masahiro Makino’s SINGING LOVE BIRDS (1936), Ko Nakahira’s CRAZED FRUIT (1956), Shohei Imamura’s PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (1961) and Seijun Suzuki’s TOKYO DRIFTER (1966).

The screening of the recently restored version of Wyler’s classic BEN-HUR will show off the epic starring Charlton Heston and arguably the greatest chariot race put on film via an 8K Digital print which returns the film back to its original aspect ratio. Ray’s seldom seen experimental film WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN was originally made in collaboration with the late director’s film students and was the subject of subsequent editing by Ray before his death in 1979. Ray’s widow supervised the restoration of the “multi-narrative” film, bordering between film and visual arts, which was conceived as a teaching tool – instructing filmmaking through practice versus theory.

Founded upon the consolidation of several production companies and theater chains, Nikkatsu Corporation has enjoyed a rich history of film production and distribution since 1912. Since that time, notable directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa, Shozo Makino and his son Masahiro Makino, Ko Nakahira, Shohei Imamura and Seijun Suzuki have made films under the Nikkatsu banner.  During World War 2, Nikkatsu was forcibly combined with several other Japanese studios to form a large, government-influenced studio, but in 1954 the company resumed production under its own control.

Searching for its own niche in the booming postwar Japanese film industry, Nikkatsu moved into the youth market with its stirring screen adaptation of Shintaro Ishihara’s SEASON OF THE SUN. An enormous success, Nikkatsu quickly followed up with a wave of similar works oriented for the youth market. As the vogue for these youth films began to wane in the early 60s, Nikkatsu launched a series of hard-boiled action films that remain perhaps the company’s best known period internationally. Led by such action stars as Shishedo Joe, Yujiro Ishihara and Hideaki Nitani, Nikkatsu action introduced a new kind of protagonist, often cynical and at odds with a society revealed to be totally corrupt. Influenced by American B movies, Nikkatsu action would itself be a key influence on the Hong Kong gunplay films years later.

With aging action stars and a public looking for something new, Nikkatsu in the 70s created “Roman Porno,” romantic pornography, a series of soft-core erotic films that featured real (if often bizarre) plots and actors. The constant shift in production enabled Nikkatsu to stay profitable while other Japanese studios were either closing or switching to television. Yet by the 90s, Nikkkatsu was itself forced to declare bankruptcy and re-organize. Despite changes in ownership since then, Nikkatsu has remained continuously in production, branching out into new genre such as horror, martial arts and even family drama. As it approaches its centenary, Nikkatsu’s motto “We Make Fun Films” remains as true today as it was in its golden era. A new generation of filmgoers are discovering its classic films and filmmakers, inspiring not only the re-release of films from their catalogue but the production of remakes as well. Organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center with Nikkatsu Corporation, the Japan Foundation and the National Film Center of Japan, this Centenary Celebration of Nikkatsu will be screened later this year at the Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France, as well as at the Cinematheque Française.

Nikkatsu 100th Anniversary Retrospective Lineup

AKANISHI KAKITA (1936) 77min
Director: Mansaku Itami

THE BURMESE HARP (Biruma no Tategoto) (1956) 115min
Director: Kon Ichikawa

CHARISMA (Karisuma) (1999) 103min
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

COLD FISH (Tsumetai Nettaigyo) (2010) 144min
Director: Sion Sono

A COLT IS MY PASSPORT (Colt ha Oreno Passport) (1967) 85min
Director: Takashi Nomura

CRAZED FRUIT (Kurutta Kajitsu) (1956) 86min
Director: Ko Nakahira

DANCER IN IZU (Izo no Odoriko) (1963) 87min
Director: Katsumi Nisikawa

A DIARY OF CHUJI’S TRAVELS (Chiji Tabi Nikki: Part 1 and Part 2) (1927) 107min
Director: Daisuke Ito

EARTH (1939) 92min
Director: Tomu Uchida

GATE OF FLESH (Nikutai no Mon) (1964) 90min
Director: Seijun Suzuki

THE HELL-FATED COURTESAN (Maruhi: Joro Seme Jigoku) (1973) 77min
Director: Noboru Tanaka

HOMETOWN (1930) 86min
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

I LOOK UP WHEN I WALK (aka KEEP YOUR CHIN UP) (Uewo Muite Arukou) (1962) 91min
Director: Toshio Masuda

INTENTIONS OF MURDER (Akai Satsui) (1964) 150min
Director: Shohei Imamura

INTIMIDATION (Aru Kyohaku) (1960) 65min
Director: Koreyosji Kurahara

LOVE HOTEL (1985) 88min
Director: Shinji Somae

MADE TO ORDER CLOTH (aka JIROKICHI THE RAT) (Oatsurae Jirokichi Koshi) (1931) 70min
Director: Daisuke Ito
**Screening with:
JIRAIYA THE NINJA (Goketsu Jiraiya) (1921) 30min
Director: Shozo Makino

MUD AND SOLDIERS (Tsuchi to Heitai) (1936) 120min
Director: Tomotaka Tasaka

THE OLDEST PROFESSION (Maruhi: Shikiyo Mesu Ichiba) (1974) 83min
Director: Noboru Tanaka

PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS (Buta to Gunkan) (1961) 108min
Director: Shohei Imamura

A POT WORTH A MILLION RYO (Tange Sazen Hyakuman Ryou no Tsubo) (1935) 92min
Director: Sadao Yamanaka

RETALIATION (Shima ha Moratta) (1967) 94min
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe

RUSTY KNIFE (Sabita Knife) (1958) 90min
Director: Toshio Masuda

SEASON OF THE SUN (Taiyo no Kisetsu) (1956) 89min
Director: Takumi Furukawa

SINGING LOVE BIRDS (Oshidori Uta Gassen) (1936) 69min
Director: Masahiro Makino

STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER (Noraneko Rock: Sex Hunter) (1970) 86min
Director: Yasuharu Hasebe

SUN IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SHOGUNATE (aka Shinagawa Path) (Bakumatsu Taiyoden) (1957) 110min
Director: Yuzo Kawashima

SUZUKI PARADISE: RED LIGHT (Suzuki Paradise: Aka Shingo) (1956) 81min
Director: Yuzo Kawashima

TAKE AIM AT THE POLICE VAN (Jusango Taihisen Yori: Sono Gososha wo Nerae) (1960) 79min
Director: Seijun Suzuki

THE TATTOOED FLOWER VASE (Kashinno Irezumi: Ureta Tsubo) (1979) 74min
Director: Masaru Konuma

TEN NIGHTS OF DREAMS (Yume Juya) (2007) 110min
Director: Various

TILL WE MEET AGAIN (Ashita Kuru Hito) (1955) 115min
Director: Yuzo Kawashima

TOKYO DRIFTER (Tokyo Nagaremono) (1966) 83min
Director: Seijun Suzuki

THE WARPED ONES (1960) 108min
Director: Koreyoshi Kurahara

THE WOMAN WITH RED HAIR (Akai Kami no Onna) (1979) 73min
Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro

A WORLD OF GEISHA (Yojyohan Fusuma no Urabari) (1973) 77min
Director: Tatsumi Kumashiro