[caption id="attachment_1637" align="alignnone" width="550"]The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension [/caption]

The next presentation of Kevin Smith’s SMoviola will take place during the upcoming New York Film Festival with a celebration of the cult hit THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION featuring the film’s star Peter Weller, John Lithgow and additional guests. The festival also released the lineup of filmmakers set for NYFF’s celebrated HBO Films® Directors Dialogues and the complete lineup of films for the 15th edition of the film festival’s Views From the Avant-Garde series.

Returning to the Film Society after a special screening of VALLEY GIRL during the launch of the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Kevin Smith’s SMoviola will now be a continuing series of appearances by the popular filmmaker and film personality during which he will take a look at a classic, and personally beloved film, with the filmmakers and stars of the film.

Directed by W.D. Richter, THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION (1984) stars Peter Weller as an adventurer/surgeon/rock star who leads a band of men known as the Hong Kong Cavaliers versus nefarious alien invaders from the 8th dimension. Featuring a formidable cast including Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd as well as Russian comic Yakov Smirnoff and musician Billy Vera, the film was a made-to-order cult hit from its debut onward. The film will screen at the Walter Reade Theater on Saturday, October 15 at 7:30PM with Smith leading a discussion about the film with Weller, Lithgow and others following the screening.

The popular HBO Films® Directors Dialogues returns to the New York Film Festival with a new home, the state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 West 65th Street). The Directors Dialogues pair a director with a journalist as they discuss the filmmaker’s career, views on their own approach to making movies as well as the current state of the art of filmmaking. This year’s lineup will feature an eclectic group of filmmaking visionaries including the documentary directing duo of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY), New York indie iconoclast Abel Ferrera (4:44 – LAST DAY ON EARTH), filmmaker and video artist Julia Loktev (THE LONELIEST PLANET) and German filmmaking auteur Wim Wenders (PINA).

Julia Loktev will be joined by Melissa Anderson (NYFF Selection Committee and contributor, The Village Voice) in conversation on Sunday, October 2 at 3:00PM.

Abel Ferrera will be joined by Dennis Lim (NYFF Selection Committee and Editor, Moving Image Source & Freelance Critic) in conversation on Tuesday, October 11 at 6:00PM.

Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky will be joined by Eugene Hernandez (FSLC Digital Strategies Director and former IndieWire Editor-in-Chief) in conversation on Thursday, October 13 at 6:00PM.

Wim Wenders will be joined by Scott Foundas (NYFF Selection Committee, FSLC Asociate Program Director and contributing editor, Film Comment) in conversation on Sunday, October 16 at 12:00PM.

For its 15th year, Views from the Avant-Garde returns with an expanded edition, presenting four nights of New York and world premieres from the frontiers of innovative moving-image making. Curated by Mark McElhatten and Gavin Smith, the program’s highlights include films by such notables of the experimental film world as James Benning, Kevin Jerome Everson, George Kuchar, and NYFF favorite Ben Rivers, as well as a first-time screening at NYFF of work by Daniel Eisenberg. The program also includes the return of the 3D film artists, OpenEndedGroup (following a screening of their work this summer during the launch of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center), as well as the anticipated screening of JOHN ZORN: A FILM IN 15 SCENES, which features four different film interpretations of a list of shots (or “score”) provided by Zorn.

Gavin Smith, editor-in-chief of Film Comment, said “In our 15th edition of Views From the Avant-Garde, we have seen the program double in size due to the continuing expansion of work being made by experimental film artists and the growing demand for this kind of cinema. What is particularly exciting about this lineup is that it literally includes the work of five generations of filmmakers.”

Screening Schedule for VIEWS FROM THE AVANT-GARDE

Friday, October 7
Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
12:30PM
Screening program: The Soul and the Stem
Total running time: 99min

SENORA CON FLORES (Woman with Flowers) (1995/2011) 15min
Director: Chick Strand
Country: U.S./Mexico
(preservation print from the Academy Film Archives)
JAN VILLA (2010) 20min
Director: Natasha Mendonca
Country: India/U.S.
THE SOLE OF THE FOOT (2011) 34min
Director: Robert Fenz
Country: U.S/Israel/Chile/France
CORRESPONDENCE (2011) 30min
Director: Robert Fenz
Country: U.S./India

3:15PM
Screening Program:  Ben Rivers
Total running time:  66min

SACK BARROW (2011) 21min
Country: U.K.
SLOW ACTION (2010) 45min
Country: U.K.


5:45PM
Screening Program:  Bitches Brew
Total running time:  107min

POSTHASTE PERENNIAL PATTERN (2010) 3min 39sec
Director: Jodie Mack
Country: U.S.
BABOBILICONS (1982) 16min
Director: Daina Krumins
Country: U.S.
(new 35mm preservation by the Academy Film Archive)
YOU ARE NOW RUNNING ON RESERVE BATTERY POWER (2011) 11min
Director: Jessie Stead
Country: U.S.
HULL (2011) 7min 32sec
Director: Tara Merenda Nelson
Country: U.S.

From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Telephone Call 1min 
Billy and the Magician 3min 18sec
Little Kitten 42sec
Zero Buoyancy 4min 53sec
Romance Novels 1min 4sec

A PARTY RECORD PACKED WITH SEX AND SADNESS (2011) 10min 11sec
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.
PRAXIS 8 – 12 SCENES (2010) 25min
Director: Dietmar Brehm
Country: Austria
TASTE TEST (2011) 2min 30sec
Director: Andrew Lampert
Country: U.S.
BITCH-BEAUTY (2011) 7min
Director: MM Serra
Country: U.S.


8:45PM
Screening Program:  Ladders and Tracks
Total running time:  104min

BERLIN TRACKS 18h00-20h00 (2011) 2min 7sec
Director: Shiloh Cinquemani
Country: U.S./Germany
(k)now (t)here (2011) 8min 50sec
Director: Hey–Yeun Jang
Country: U.S.
SUBWAY (2011) 7min 40sec
Director: Angela Ferraiolo
Country: U.S.
VILLAGE, SILENCED (2011) 4min 56min      
Director: Deborah Stratman
Country: U.S.
SNAKES AND LADDERS (2011) 3min
Director: Katherin McInnis
Country: U.S.
LONGHORN TREMOLO (2010) 16min
Director: Scott Stark
Country: U.S.
LAND FILLL (2011) 8min 52sec
Director: Jennifer Reeves
Country: U.S.
BARREN (2010) 2min
Director: Katherin McInnis
Country: U.S.
BACK VIEW (2011) 17min
Director: Vincent Grenier
Country: U.S.
THE TOY SUN (2011) 33min
Director: Ken Kobland
Country: U.S.


Location: WALTER READE THEATER
1:00PM
UPENDING (2011) 65min
Director: OpenendedGroup
Country: U.S.
(digital 3-D)

3:30PM
SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (2011) 40min
Director: Ken Jacobs
Country: U.S.


5:30PM
Screening Program:  Ernie Gehr
Total running time:  88min

CRYSTAL PALACE (2002-11) 28min
Country: U.S.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING (2010) 12min
Country: U.S.
MIST (2010) 9min
Country: U.S.
ABRACADABRA (2009) 39min
Country: U.S.

8:30PM
Screening Program:  George Kuchar
Total running time:  87min

LINGO OF THE LOST (2010) 37min 45sec
Country: U.S.
EMPIRE OF EVIL (2011) 50min
Country: U.S.


Saturday October 8
Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
11:15AM
Screening Program:  Cabinet of Curiosities
Total running time:  82min

BETWEEN GOLD (2011) 10min 42sec
Director: Jonathan Schwartz
Country: U.S.
TIN PRESSED (2011) 6min 23sec
Director: Dani Leventhal
Country: U.S.
FIFTEEN AN HOUR (2011) 6min
Director: Kevin Jerome Everson
Country: U.S.
TABLEAUX VIVANTS (2011) 10min 20sec
Director: Vincent Grenier
Country: U.S.
CURIOUS LIGHT (2011) 4min 12sec
Director: Charlotte Pryce
Country: U.S.
FORMS ARE NOT SELF-SUBSISTENT SUBSTANCES (2010) 22min
Director: Samantha Rebello
Country: U.K.
THE MATTER PROPOUNDED, OF ITS POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY, TREATED IN FOUR PARTS (2011) 13min
Director: David Gatten
Country: U.S.

From JHAMA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Miniatures 2min    
Degas 58sec
The Eclipse 33sec

RANSOM NOTES (2011) 4min
Director: Kelly Egan
Country: Canada
CONJUROR’S BOX (2011) 4min
Director: Kerry Laitala
Country: U.S.

1:45PM
Screening Program:  Looking Through A Glass Onion
Total running time:  89min   

PASSAGE UPON THE PLUME (2011) 6min 46sec
Director: Fern Silva
Country: U.S.
SHAYNE’S RECTANGLE (2011) 5min 4sec 
Director: Dani Leventhal
Country: U.S.
LINE DESCRIBING YOUR MOM (2011) 5min 50sec
Director: Michael Robinson
Country: U.S.
GOSSIP ON THE WATER (2011) 8min 19sec
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.

From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Tatum’s Ghost 3min 45sec

THE DEATH OF THE GORILLA (1966) 16min
Director: Peter Mays
Country: U.S.
(new restoration by the Academy Film Archive)
BY FOOT-CANDLE LIGHT (2011) 9min
Director: Mary Helena Clark
Country: U.S.
A LAX RIDDLE UNIT (2011) 9min
Director: Laida Lertxundi
Country: Spain
SOUNDING GLASS (2011) 7min
Director: Sylvia Schedelbauer
Country: Germany
THE EVIL EYES (2010) 18min
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.


4:15PM
VOLUPTUOUS SLEEP (2011) 95min
Director: Betzy Bromberg
Country: U.S.

7:15PM
Screening Program:  Jerome Hiler & Nathaniel Dorsky
Total running time:  54min

WORDS OF MERCURY (2011) 25min
Director: Jerome Hiler
Country: U.S.
THE RETURN (2011) 27min
Director: Nathaniel Dorsky
Country: U.S.

9:30PM
Screening Program:  John Zorn: A Film in 15 Scenes
Total running time:  97min 

15 SCENES: 254 SHOTS (2011) 15min
Director: Gobolux
Country: U.S.
WELL THEN THERE NOW (2011) 19min 30sec
Director: Lewis Klahr
Country: U.S.
BARE ROOM (2011) 31min 33sec
Director: Joey Izzo
Country: U.S.
ARCANA (2011) 33min
Director: Henry Hills
Country: U.S./Austria

Location: WALTER READE THEATER
11:00AM
Screening Program:  Jean-Marie Straub
Total running time:  66min

LOTHRINGEN! (1994) 20min
(co-directed with Danièle Huillet)
Country: France
UN HÉRITIER (2011) 20min
Country: France/South Korea
L’INCONSOLABLE (2011) 15min
Country: France
SCHAKALE UND ARABER (2011) 11min
Country: Switzerland

1:15PM
STUDIES FOR THE DECAY OF THE WEST (2010) 80min
Director: Klaus Wyborny
Country: Germany


4:00PM
Screening Program:  Daniel Eisenberg: The Unstable Object
Total running time:  83min

LESS AND LESS/TOUJOURS MOINS (2010) 14min
Director: Luc Moullet
Country: France, 2010
THE UNSTABLE OBJECT (2011) 69min
Country: U.S./Germany/Turkey


6:45PM
Screening Program:  Kevin Jerome Everson
Total running time:  82min

QUALITY CONTROL (2011) 70min 42sec
Country: U.S.
THE PRICHARD (2011) 11min 18sec
Country: U.S.


9:45PM
Screening Program:  George Kuchar
Total running time:  87min

LINGO OF THE LOST (2010) 37min 45sec
Country: U.S.
EMPIRE OF EVIL (2011) 50min
Country: U.S.


Sunday October 9
Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
12:00PM
Screening program: The Soul and the Stem
Total running time: 99min

SENORA CON FLORES (Woman with Flowers) (1995/2011) 15min
Director: Chick Strand
Country: U.S./Mexico
(preservation print from the Academy Film Archives)
JAN VILLA (2010) 20min
Director: Natasha Mendonca
Country: India/U.S.
THE SOLE OF THE FOOT (2011) 34min
Director: Robert Fenz
Country: U.S/Israel/Chile/France
CORRESPONDENCE (2011) 30min
Director: Robert Fenz
Country: U.S./India


2:45PM
Screening Program:  Jerome Hiler & Nathaniel Dorsky
Total running time:  54min

WORDS OF MERCURY (2011) 25min
Director: Jerome Hiler
Country: U.S.
THE RETURN (2011) 27min
Director: Nathaniel Dorsky
Country: U.S.


5:30PM
Screening Program:  Ladders and Tracks
Total running time:  104min

BERLIN TRACKS 18h00-20h00 (2011) 2min 7sec
Director: Shiloh Cinquemani
Country: U.S./Germany
(k)now (t)here (2011) 8min 50sec
Director: Hey–Yeun Jang
Country: U.S.
SUBWAY (2011) 7min 40sec
Director: Angela Ferraiolo
Country: U.S.
VILLAGE, SILENCED (2011) 4min 56min      
Director: Deborah Stratman
Country: U.S.
SNAKES AND LADDERS (2011) 3min
Director: Katherin McInnis
Country: U.S.
LONGHORN TREMOLO (2010) 16min
Director: Scott Stark
Country: U.S.
LAND FILLL (2011) 8min 52sec
Director: Jennifer Reeves
Country: U.S.
BARREN (2010) 2min
Director: Katherin McInnis
Country: U.S.
BACK VIEW (2011) 17min
Director: Vincent Grenier
Country: U.S.
THE TOY SUN (2011) 33min
Director: Ken Kobland
Country: U.S.


8:15PM
Screening Program:  The Red and The Black
Total running time:  86min

RIVER RITES (2011) 11min 30sec
Director: Ben Russell
Country: U.S./Suriname
SHADOW, SEED, SPAGYRIC (2011) 5min 12sec
Director: David Baker
Country: U.S.
PERIL OF THE ANTILLES (2011) 5min 51sec
Director: Fern Silva
Country: U.S.
A PREFACE TO RED (2010) 6min
Director: Jonathan Schwartz
Country: U.S./Turkey
PROTOCOL (2011) 1min 15sec
Director: Lina Rodriguez
Country: Canada/Colombia
IMPERCEPTIHOLE (2011) 14min 37sec
Director: Lori Felker & Robert Todd
Country: U.S.
LIGHT LICKS: BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON: I WANT TO PAINT IT BLACK (2011) 12min
Director: Saul Levine
Country: U.S.
THIRD LAW: N KEDZIE BLVD. (2011) 7min 10sec
Director: Mike Gibisser
Country: U.S.
SLOW BURN (2011) 19min 46sec
Director: Jesse Cain
Country: U.S.


Location: WALTER READE THEATER
1:00PM
Screening Program:  Virgin Springs
Total running time:  86min

BAPTISMAL STICKS AND STONES (2011) 6min 50sec
Director: April Simmons
Country: U.S.
DEVILS GATE (2011) 20min
Director: Laura Kraning
Country: U.S.
TWICE REMOVED (2011) 11min
Director: Leslie Thornton
Country: U.S.
RICKY (2011) 11min
Director: Janie Geiser
Country: U.S.
SILENT SPRINGS (2011) 12min 57sec
Director: Erin Espelie
Country: U.S.
GAZETTE (2009) 4min 12sec
Director: Eliénore de Montesquiou
Country: Russia/Estonia
KUDZU VINE (2011) 19min 52sec
Director: Josh Gibson
Country: U.S.


3:30PM
THE PETTIFOGGER (2011) 65min
Director: Lewis Klahr
Country: U.S.

6:00PM
Screening Program:  John Zorn: A Film in 15 Scenes
Total running time:  97min 

15 SCENES: 254 SHOTS (2011) 15min
Director: Gobolux
Country: U.S.
WELL THEN THERE NOW (2011) 19min 30sec
Director: Lewis Klahr
Country: U.S.
BARE ROOM (2011) 31min 33sec
Director: Joey Izzo
Country: U.S.
ARCANA (2011) 33min
Director: Henry Hills
Country: U.S./Austria

9:00PM
TWENTY CIGARETTES (2011) 99min
Director: James Benning
Country: U.S.

Monday October 10
Location: FRANCESCA BEALE THEATER
11:00AM
Screening Program:  Cabinet of Curiosities
Total running time:  82min

BETWEEN GOLD (2011) 10min 42sec
Director: Jonathan Schwartz
Country: U.S.
TIN PRESSED (2011) 6min 23sec
Director: Dani Leventhal
Country: U.S.
FIFTEEN AN HOUR (2011) 6min
Director: Kevin Jerome Everson
Country: U.S.
TABLEAUX VIVANTS (2011) 10min 20sec
Director: Vincent Grenier
Country: U.S.
CURIOUS LIGHT (2011) 4min 12sec
Director: Charlotte Pryce
Country: U.S.
FORMS ARE NOT SELF-SUBSISTENT SUBSTANCES (2010) 22min
Director: Samantha Rebello
Country: U.K.
THE MATTER PROPOUNDED, OF ITS POSSIBILITY OR IMPOSSIBILITY, TREATED IN FOUR PARTS (2011) 13min
Director: David Gatten
Country: U.S.

From JHAMA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Miniatures 2min    
Degas 58sec
The Eclipse 33sec

RANSOM NOTES (2011) 4min
Director: Kelly Egan
Country: Canada
CONJUROR’S BOX (2011) 4min
Director: Kerry Laitala
Country: U.S.

1:30PM
Screening Program:  Aurand/Muñoz/Sami
Total running time:  76min

VILLATALLA (2011) 21min 59sec
Director: Jeannette Muñoz
Country: Switzerland/Chile/Italy
A YEAR/EIN JAHR (2011) 12min
Director: Renate Sami
Country: Germany
YOUNG PINES/JUNGE TIEFERN (2011) 43min
Director: Ute Aurand
Country: Germany/Japan


3:45PM
Screening Program:  Looking Through A Glass Onion
Total running time:  89min   

PASSAGE UPON THE PLUME (2011) 6min 46sec
Director: Fern Silva
Country: U.S.
SHAYNE’S RECTANGLE (2011) 5min 4sec 
Director: Dani Leventhal
Country: U.S.
LINE DESCRIBING YOUR MOM (2011) 5min 50sec
Director: Michael Robinson
Country: U.S.
GOSSIP ON THE WATER (2011) 8min 19sec
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.

From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Tatum’s Ghost 3min 45sec

THE DEATH OF THE GORILLA (1966) 16min
Director: Peter Mays
Country: U.S.
(new restoration by the Academy Film Archive)
BY FOOT-CANDLE LIGHT (2011) 9min
Director: Mary Helena Clark
Country: U.S.
A LAX RIDDLE UNIT (2011) 9min
Director: Laida Lertxundi
Country: Spain
SOUNDING GLASS (2011) 7min
Director: Sylvia Schedelbauer
Country: Germany
THE EVIL EYES (2010) 18min
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.

6:30PM
Screening Program:  Paul Clipson Super 8 performance
Total running time:  70min   
CHORUS (2009/2011) 8min
Country: U.S.
COMPOUND EYES NO. 1-5 (2011) 27min
Country: U.S.
LIGHT FROM THE MESA (2010) 7min
Country: U.S.
CHORUS (2009/2011) 8min
Country: U.S.
(16mm version)
MORPHOLOGIES (2011) 20min
Country: U.S.

8:45PM
Screening Program:  Bitches Brew
Total running time:  107min

POSTHASTE PERENNIAL PATTERN (2010) 3min 39sec
Director: Jodie Mack
Country: U.S.
BABOBILICONS (1982) 16min
Director: Daina Krumins
Country: U.S.
(new 35mm preservation by the Academy Film Archive)
YOU ARE NOW RUNNING ON RESERVE BATTERY POWER (2011) 11min
Director: Jessie Stead
Country: U.S.
HULL (2011) 7min 32sec
Director: Tara Merenda Nelson
Country: U.S.

From JHANA AND THE RATS OF JAMES OLDS (2011):
Director: Stephanie Barber
Country: U.S.
Telephone Call 1min 
Billy and the Magician 3min 18sec
Little Kitten 42sec
Zero Buoyancy 4min 53sec
Romance Novels 1min 4sec

A PARTY RECORD PACKED WITH SEX AND SADNESS (2011) 10min 11sec
Director: Bobby Abate
Country: U.S.
PRAXIS 8 – 12 SCENES (2010) 25min
Director: Dietmar Brehm
Country: Austria
TASTE TEST (2011) 2min 30sec
Director: Andrew Lampert
Country: U.S.
BITCH-BEAUTY (2011) 7min
Director: MM Serra
Country: U.S.

Location: WALTER READE THEATER
11:30PM
Screening Program:  Jean-Marie Straub
Total running time:  66min

LOTHRINGEN! (1994) 20min
(co-directed with Danièle Huillet)
Country: France
UN HÉRITIER (2011) 20min
Country: France/South Korea
L’INCONSOLABLE (2011) 15min
Country: France
SCHAKALE UND ARABER (2011) 11min
Country: Switzerland


1:45PM
SEEKING THE MONKEY KING (2011) 40min
Director: Ken Jacobs
Country: U.S.

3:00PM
THE PETTIFOGGER (2011) 65min
Director: Lewis Klahr
Country: U.S.


5:00PM
Screening Program:  Virgin Springs
Total running time:  86min

BAPTISMAL STICKS AND STONES (2011) 6min 50sec
Director: April Simmons
Country: U.S.
DEVILS GATE (2011) 20min
Director: Laura Kraning
Country: U.S.
TWICE REMOVED (2011) 11min
Director: Leslie Thornton
Country: U.S.
RICKY (2011) 11min
Director: Janie Geiser
Country: U.S.
SILENT SPRINGS (2011) 12min 57sec
Director: Erin Espelie
Country: U.S.
GAZETTE (2009) 4min 12sec
Director: Eliénore de Montesquiou
Country: Russia/Estonia
KUDZU VINE (2011) 19min 52sec
Director: Josh Gibson
Country: U.S.

7:30PM
TWO DAYS AT SEA (2011) 86min
Director: Ben Rivers
Country: U.K.

Location: ELINORE BUNIN MUNROE AMPHITHEATRE
Daily Friday October 7-10
Open to the general public, with no admission charge. Each film will be repeated across the four days in groupings and individual rotations several times a day.

Films will include the following (in alphabetical order):

ARMOIRE (Four Parts) (2007-2011) 9min 5sec
Director: Vincent Grenier
Country: U.S.
JOHN KRIEG EXITING THE FALK CORPORATION IN 1971 (2011) 71min
Director: James Benning
Country: U.S
PICTURE TAKING (2011) 9min 30sec
Director: Ernie Gehr
Country: U.S.
SOFT PALATE (2010) 3min 10sec
Director: Martin Arnold
Country: Austria
SELF CONTROL (2011) 1min 56sec
Director: Martin Arnold
Country: Austria
TRADERS LEAVING THE EXCHANGE, A GUARD AND THE STREET (2011) 15min
Director: Les Leveque
Country: U.S.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_1635" align="alignnone" width="550"]Oliver Stone[/caption]

The 2011 New York Film Festival announced two short films programs as well as late-breaking updates for the Oliver Stone presentation and the Masterworks screening of BEN HUR.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Oliver Stone’s “Untold History of the United States” will no longer screen at the 2011 New York Film Festival. However, Oliver Stone will still be appearing at NYFF to present a 25th Anniversary screening of SALVADOR, a film that burst onto the American film scene with a force that immediately established Stone as an artist to be reckoned with.

The Masterworks screening of BEN-HUR at Alice Tully Halll on Saturday, October 1 at 10:30AM will now be a family affair, with the attendance of Fraser Heston (the son of Charlton Heston), Catherine Wyler (the daughter of director William Wyler) and Toby Wyler, (the director’s great-grandson). The trio will take part in introductions of the film with FSLC’s Richard Pena and will also be available for interviews to discuss the careers of Heston and Wyler as well as the restoration of the cinema classic.

BEH-HUR has been given a meticulous frame-by-frame restoration from the original 65mm camera negative, completed from an 8K scan of the original 65mm camera negative, making this the highest-resolution restoration ever completed by Warner Bros. studio. The innumerable qualities of the William Wyler’s film will be on display on the giant screen in the original 2.76 aspect ratio, and this theatrical premiere of the restored version provides audiences of all ages the rare opportunity to marvel at Hollywood maximally lavish, stirring and exciting epic entertainment.

NYFF 2011 also announced the lineup for two shorts programs set to screen at FSLC’s new Film Center. Both programs feature original short films by exciting new talents on the world cinema stage.



SHORTS PROGRAM #1

Total running time: 92 minutes

Tuesday, October 4 at 1:30PM – Howard Gilman Theater

Saturday, October 15 at 2:30PM – Francesca Beale Theater



THE BIRD SPIDER (La Migala) (2011) 14min

Director: Jaime Dezcallar

Country: Spain

A lovelorn man enters into a deadly game of chance when he intentionally sets a poisonous arachnid loose in his apartment.



BLUE (2011) 14min

Director: Stephen Kang

Country: New Zealand

The life and hard times of a human-sized plush toy, formerly a children’s TV star, now a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. Winner, Grand Prix, Cannes Critics Week.



THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF (2011) 11min

Director: Jessica Brickman

Country: USA

Death is both an aid and an impediment to romantic bliss in this wry comedy about the mourning after, co-starring Fran Kranz and Jason Ritter.



GRAFFITIGER (2010) 10min

Director: Libor Pixa

Country: Czech Republic

A lonely graffiti-drawn tiger wanders the walls and sidewalks of Prague looking for companionship.



THE RUNNER (2011) 15min

Director: Ana Lazarevic

Country: Serbia and Montenegro/USA

In the lush and weedy Serbian countryside, a first time human trafficker becomes stranded with the Roma boy he is assigned to deliver.



THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THE JOHNSONS (2011) 28min

Director: Ari Aster

Country: USA

In the picture-perfect Johnson family, a scandalous secret bubbles to the surface with outrageous, darkly comic complications.



SHORTS PROGRAM #2

Total running time: 88 minutes

Wednesday, October 5 at 1:30PM – Howard Gilman Theater

Saturday, October 15 at 4:30PM – Francesca Beale Theater



AARON BURR, PART 2 (2011) 8min

Director: Dana O’Keefe

Country: USA

You only thought you knew all there was to know about the much-maligned third Vice President of the United States.



THE GREAT GATSBY IN FIVE MINUTES (2011) 10min

Director: Michael Almereyda

Country: USA

The Fitzgerald classic as you’ve never seen it, transposed to a Los Angeles of sleek modern architecture and strip-mall foot clinics.



MEMORY BY DESIGN (2011) 5min

Director: Nathan Punwar

Country: USA

A dazzling love letter to all things analog, as they recede into the horizon of the digital age.



MY BOW BREATHING (Il respiro dell’arco) (2011) 10min

Director: E.M. Artale

Country: Italy

Revenge has the sting of a perfectly aimed arrow as a young archer gets in touch with her primal instincts.



GRANDMOTHERS (Abuelas) (2011) 9min

Director: Afarin Eghbal

Country: UK

A lyrical animated documentary about the search by Argentinian grandmothers for the orphaned children of the “disappeared.”



FIRST MATCH (2011) 15min

Director: Olivia Newman

Country: USA

No amount of practice on the mat can prepare Mo for the challenge she faces at her first high school wrestling match.



TRAITORS (2011) 31min

Director: Sean Gullette

Country: Morocco/USA

A night in the lives of an all-girl punk band as they illicitly shoot their first music video on the streets of Tangier.

Read more

[caption id="attachment_1633" align="alignnone"]PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY[/caption]

The 49th New York Film Festival will offer an ‘unprecedented’ selection of programs, led by the first-ever premiere screening of a new ending to Joe Berlinger’s and Bruce Sinofsky’s PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY including footage from the events surrounding the recent celebrated release of the West Memphis Three. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY is an HBO Documentary Films production set to premiere on the network in 2012.

Oliver Stone will offer a special sneak preview of his new documentary project, The Untold History of the United States. Produced as a 10-part miniseries for Showtime (where it will premiere in 2012), NYFF will present this special sneak preview of Untold History’s first three chapters, which focus on the events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II, the war itself, and the unjustly forgotten figure of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY and Stone’s The Untold History of the United States project headline an impressive slate of documentary offerings at NYFF this year with such diverse and fascinating subjects as independent film legend Roger Corman, musician Andrew Bird, The Rings of Saturn author W.G. Sebald, “The Girl From Ipanema” composer/performer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim, influential British rock group Mott The Hoople, film critic and gay activist Vito Russo, and Frederick Wiseman’s latest, CRAZY HORSE, where the filmmaker turns his camera toward another Paris cultural institution – the Crazy Horse erotic cabaret (following 2009’s LA DANSE which delved into the Paris Opera Ballet).

Additional highlights include anniversary screenings of THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, SPIRITED AWAY and THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL; musical accompaniment by members of the NY Philharmonic to the classic Charlie Chaplin film THE GOLD RUSH; as well as live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra to the silent film FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT; a screening of the animated feature film THE 99 which follows super-powered heroes based on derivatives of the 99 attributes of Allah; and a recently rediscovered masterwork of the post-punk cinema, YOU ARE NOT I, directed by Sara Driver and shot by Jim Jarmusch. NYFF will also feature a panel on Pauline Kael followed by a screening of James Toback’s FINGERS, and a screening of Rin Tin Tin starrer CLASH OF THE WOLVES with film discussion focusing on the four-legged film legend by The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean.

Views from the Avant Garde will make its fifteenth experimental journey to the screen this year and the New York Film Festival will once again partner with HBO in hosting four HBO Directors Dialogues – details for both of these special programs will be announced shortly.

MASTERWORKS AND SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY SCREENINGS

Masterworks: THE GOLD RUSH

Chaplin’s personal favorite among his own films, THE GOLD RUSH (1925), is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. Re-released by Chaplin in 1942 in a recut version missing some scenes, and with added narration and musical score, THE GOLD RUSH will be presented in a new restoration of the original, silent 1925 version. In this frequently terrifying and always unpredictable universe of natural and human savagery packed with avalanches, wild bears, predatory dance hall girls and murderous claim-jumpers, the incomparable Gentleman-Tramp arrives, seeking his fortune and facing every imaginable threat to life and limb. The film contains one of Chaplin’s classic comic set pieces in which he elegantly cooks and eats his boot to fend off starvation. THE GOLD RUSH blends action, slapstick comedy and sentiment seamlessly, making it one of the most beloved of Charles Chaplin’s works. The screening features a new score restoration by Timothy Brock (his ninth, commissioned by the Chaplin Estate) live musical accompaniment conducted by Brock and performed by musicians from the NY Philharmonic.

Masterworks: INVASIÓN

A little-known classic of Latin American cinema, INVASIÓN (1969) was the first work conceived specifically for the cinema by the great Jorge Luis Borges, in collaboration with his friend Adolfo Bioy Casares. A kind of updating of The Illiad that breathlessly morphs from police thriller to dream-like fantasy, the film is set in Aquiléa, a city that looks a lot like Buenos Aires currently under siege by sinister forces.  A group of middle-aged men, led by a somewhat older man, resolve to mount resistance to the invaders. Meetings are held, maps are studied, strategies are proposed—but can the invasion really be overcome?  A former assistant to Bresson here making his feature film debut, Hugo Santiago with INVASIÓN created a work that is lyrical, unsettling and infinitely suggestive.

Masterworks: YOU ARE NOT I

A haunting adaptation of a 1948 short story by Paul Bowles about a woman who escapes from an asylum, YOU ARE NOT I (1981) played widely in the international film festival circuit in the early Eighties. Then, a leak in a New Jersey warehouse destroyed the negative, leaving director Sara Driver with only a battered, copy that could not be projected. Miraculously, a print was found among the holdings of Paul Bowles just three years ago, and now the film has been restored and is available once again. Undoubtedly one of the most impressive works to emerge from the post-punk downtown scene, the film was beautifully shot by Jim Jarmusch (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and features Suzanne Fletcher, Nan Goldin and Luc Sante. The screening will mark the world premiere of the rediscovered and restored version of the film.

50 Years of the New York Film Festival: THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL

In anticipation of the New York Film Festival’s historic 50th edition in the fall of 2012, the Film Society is proud to inaugurate a year-long retrospective of highlights from the festival’s past 49 editions, curated by current and former members of the NYFF selection committee. We begin with the opening night film of the very first NYFF, Luis Buñuel’s THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, described by festival director Richard Roud thusly: “For ninety hypnotic minutes Buñuel shatters all conventional notions of social logic and ethics. Never before has he been able to give such free reign to his vitality, wit and iconoclasm, his power to surprise and shock. Buñuel has been a great name in world cinema for over thirty years now, and we are proud to open the first New York Film Festival with his most remarkable film.”

New Wave presents THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS 10th Anniversary Screening

The Film Society’s young patrons group, New Wave, presents a special screening of Wes Anderson’s beloved contemporary classic—a world premiere at the 2001 NYFF—on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. A true American original, Anderson mingles romance, tragedy, social observation and unforgettable characters in his buoyant third feature, about a family of eccentric geniuses living in a parallel New York (where Helvetica is the only typeface and all cabs are Gypsies). Gene Hackman is perfection as Royal Tenenbaum, the erratic, unscrupulous paterfamilias, long banished by his orderly wife (Anjelica Huston). Now, faking an illness, he returns home to settle accounts with his estranged children: a financial whiz (Ben Stiller), a failed playwright (Gwyneth Paltrow), and a retired tennis champion (Luke Wilson). The screening will be followed by an on-stage reunion of Anderson and other members of the cast and crew.

Anniversary Screenings Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki

25th Anniversary Screening of CASTLE IN THE SKY

The third feature film directed by Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki—and the first produced under the aegis of his Studio Ghibli—takes place in a world where vast flying cities and castles once filled the skies, but now only one, named Laputa, remains. Sinister army officers and mercenary sky pirates variously seek the floating isle for their own purposes, but as usual in Miyazaki, a plucky young girl, Sheeta, reliably stays one step ahead of them all. Loosely inspired by Gulliver’s Travels, with an arresting visual design based in part on a visit Miyazaki once paid to a Welsh mining town, this exuberant, one-of-a-kind adventure fantasy, presented here in a new 35mm print, is certain to delight kids and kids-at-heart of all ages.

10th Anniversary Screening of SPIRITED AWAY

Miiyazaki’s Oscar-winning triumph follows the whimsical and occasionally terrifying adventures of 10-year-old Chihiro, who becomes trapped in a strange spirit world after an evil witch transforms her parents into pigs. Taking a job as an attendant in the witch’s sprawling bathhouse, Chihiro, now known as Sen, must find a way to rescue her parents—and herself—before she forgets her real name and stays trapped forever. A beautifully drawn coming-of-age story, with sharp observations on Japanese societal change, SPIRITED AWAY surpassed TITANIC as the biggest domestic box-office hit in Japanese history before becoming Miyazaki’s breakthrough film in the United States.

20 Years of Art Cinema: A Tribute to Sony Pictures Classics and screening of James Ivory’s HOWARDS END

Twenty years ago this December, former Orion Classics co-presidents Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom launched Sony Pictures Classics, instantly setting a new gold standard for the distribution of independent and foreign-language cinema in America. Their inaugural release, HOWARDS END, grossed more than $25 million at the U.S. box office and earned nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. In the two decades since, the hits have kept on coming, including three additional Best Picture nominees (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; CAPOTE; and AN EDUCATION), 10 winners of the Foreign Language Film Oscar, and eight New York Film Festival opening nights, including this year’s CARNAGE. On the occasion of their 20th anniversary, we salute the Sony Classics team with a look back at their remarkable career, including film clips and an in-depth conversation with Barker and Bernard moderated by NYFF selection committee chairman Richard Peña. The discussion will be followed by a screening of James Ivory’s HOWARDS END (1992).



SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS: DOCUMENTARIES



ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR

With his stirring, soulful vocals, eccentric violin plucking and whistling, and music that ranges from blues to calypso to rock, electronic and just about everything in between, Andrew Bird has built on the basis of live performances and 20 albums an impressive international fan base. Yet now, moving into his late thirties, he wonders how much longer he can keep up the pace of 150+ concert dates a year, as well as what slowing down might mean to his career. Chock full of concert and private Bird performances, Xan Aranda’s ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR offers a look into the life of a remarkable contemporary musician and composer for whom each day, despite all his success, is still a struggle.

THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE

Storming out of Hereford, England in the late Sixties, Mott the Hoople became one of British rock’s most popular live acts. Yet, their records failed to reach audiences, and the band was on the verge of breaking up when one of their fans, a certain David Bowie, wrote “All the Young Dudes” for them; reborn, they zoomed to the top of the charts—and that’s really when the trouble started. A record of the rise, fall, rise and eventual disintegration of one of the era’s iconic bands, THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE also recounts the story of Guy Stevens, the band’s explosively brilliant manager. Accurate, insightful and full of never-before seen interviews and concert footage, Mike Kerry and Chris Hall’s terrific film is simply rock history at its best. Rock legend Ian Hunter will attend the festival and participate in a Q&A following the film’s screenings.

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL

Mention the name Roger Corman and you conjure up a whole world of movie-making: screaming young women in tight sweaters, lumbering monsters creeping out of shadows, shock movie posters. Yet beyond that somewhat sentimentalized image of the “King of the Bs” was a producer who prospered at a time when so much of Hollywood was collapsing, all the while nurturing talents ranging from Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich and Jonathan Demme to Jack Nicholson, Pam Grier and Robert De Niro; eventually, even Ingmar Bergman and Akira Kurosawa would be associated with him. Alex Stapleton’s engaging and well-informed study offers a rich context for assessing Corman’s importance for cinema, with insightful and often hilarious testimony from friends and disciples. USA, 2011, 95 min. We will also present a rare screening of Roger Corman’s THE INTRUDER (1962, 84 min.), starring William Shatner as a mysterious man who arrives in a small Southern town on the eve of integration.

CRAZY HORSE

A sequel of sorts to LA DANSE, his 2009 portrait of the Paris Opera Ballet, the 39th feature by documentary master Frederick Wiseman takes us behind and in front of the scenes at another storied Paris cultural institution: the Crazy Horse erotic cabaret, now in its 60th year of continuous operation. In his signature observational style, Wiseman makes us a fly on the wall as the Crazy Horse team prepares a new revue, taking us from auditions and costume fittings to rehearsals and finally the highly seductive numbers themselves, filmed in shimmering close-up. Along the way, Wiseman steals remarkable glances at performers getting into character and directors and technicians battling management as they strive to perfect the aesthetics of desire. The result is an exuberant, one-of-a-kind musical valentine to the City of Light and the art of making art.

DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH

In this feature-length companion piece to (the previously announced) Nicholas Ray’s WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN, Ray’s widow, Susan, examines her late husband’s stormy romance with Hollywood, his self-imposed exile in Europe, and his eventual return to America, where he began work on the wildly experimental magnum opus that would become his final cinematic testament. Incorporating never-before-seen archival picture and sound from the Nicholas Ray Archive, and new interviews with directors Victor Erice and Jim Jarmusch and many of the original cast and crew of WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN, DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH offers a revealing portrait of a great director’s life, work and lasting influence. North American premiere.

MUSIC ACCORDING TO TOM JOBIM

Composer/performer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim introduced Brazil and bossa nova to the world with “The Girl from Ipanema.” He went on to write literally dozens of classics songs recorded by the international royalty of pop music. Legendary Brazilian director Nelson Pereira dos Santos has now created this loving, tuneful tribute to Jobim, featuring extraordinary renditions of Jobim standards by artists ranging from Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald to Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Chico Buarque and Lisa Ono. A veritable carnival of musical styles and approaches, all celebrating the unique artistry of Tom Jobim.

PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY

Don’t worry if you missed the first two parts of Emmy-winning documentarians Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s epic chronicle of the “West Memphis Three,” Arkansas teens convicted of the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys. The third film in a trilogy, PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY features never-before seen footage and quickly catches you up on this lightning-rod case, initially tried without a shred of physical evidence and amidst hysterical claims of satanic cultism. We then flash forward to the present, where the accused await their final appeal and staggering new revelations further point to a gross miscarriage of justice. A remarkable journey filmed over 18 years, the film follows an American tragedy, and capped by an extraordinary reversal of fortune. PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY (which will air on HBO in 2012) is also a profound meditation on the passage of time, lives interrupted, and salvation too long in coming.

PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD)

A multi-layered, highly original essay on landscape, history, art, life and loss, PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD) offers a unique exploration of the work of W.G. Sebald. Structured as a journey through the coastal Suffolk landscapes described in Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn—one of the most highly praised and hotly discussed literary works of recent years—the film avoids typical art documentary strategies, weaving commentaries by artists and critics such as  Robert McFarlane, Rick Moody, Adam Phillips, Tacita Dean and Chris Petit into a rich aural tapestry that offers a revealing counterpoint to images of places and things described in the book.  The result is not an adaptation or explanation of Sebald, but a kind of aesthetic response to his work.

TAHRIR

Soon after the first reports came about the occupation of Tahrir Square, filmmaker Stefano Savona headed for Cairo, where he stayed, amidst the ever-growing masses in the Square, for weeks. His film introduces us to young Egyptians such as Elsayed, Noha and Ahmed, spending all day and night talking, shouting, singing, and finally expressing everything they were forbidden to say out loud until now. As the protests grow in intensity, the regime’s repression becomes more violent, with the terrifying potential for massacre never far away.  TAHRIR is a film written in the faces, hands, and voices of those who experienced this period in the Square. It is a day-to-day account of the revolution, capturing the anger, fear, resolve and finally elation of those who made it happen.

VITO

For over two decades, Vito Russo was a ubiquitous presence in New York, a ravenous, tireless cinephile and critic who became one of the earliest, most important voices in the struggle for gay rights. His two passions came together in an extraordinary book, The Celluloid Closet, a groundbreaking study of gay and lesbian imagery and themes in movies that remains a landmark in the field. Now Jeffrey Schwarz, using some incredible period footage as well as the testimonies of those who knew him best, has created this heartfelt, insightful portrait of Vito that serves simultaneously as a revealing chronicle of the birth of contemporary gay culture and of later AIDS activism. VITO is an HBO Documentary Film that will premiere on the network in 2012.



SPECIAL EVENTS



THE 99 – UNBOUND

Kuwaiti clinical psychologist—and comic book fan—Naif A. Al-Mutawa wondered what a set of comic heroes based on Islamic archetypes might look like. The result? THE 99, a posse of super-powered heroes based on derivatives of the 99 attributes of Allah; there’s Bari the Healer, Darr the Afflicter, Hadya the Guide, and Jabbar the Powerful—an international selection of young people each given their powers by the mysterious Noor Stones. Currently published in nine languages and having recently joined forces with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in a special series published by DC Comics, THE 99 can now be seen here in its first animated feature film, directed by Dave Osborne. Bring the kids! Afterwards, Dr. Al-Mutawa will be on hand to discuss the ideas behind the project and some of his plans for introducing THE 99 to America.

A Conversation with Susan Orlean: “Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend” with Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES

Writer Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief) has turned a childhood fascination with the greatest of canine movie heroes into a wonderful new book that chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of the Rin Tin Tin dynasty.  Orlean will offer a talk on Rin Tin Tin in the movies, as well as introduce and discuss Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES (1925), the movie that made Rinny a box office sensation.  Copies of Ms. Orleans’ Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend will be available for purchase.

Dreileben: Three Films

NYFF audiences who feasted on such epic, multi-part television projects as the Red Riding Trilogy, Carlos and Mysteries of Lisbon are sure to enjoy this remarkable meeting of three of the brightest talents at work in contemporary German cinema. For Dreileben, directors Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), Dominik Graf (A Map of the Heart) and Christoph Hochhäusler (The City Below) have each made a feature-length film on the same general subject—the escape of a convicted criminal in a small central German town—but told from completely different points of view and in radically contrasting filmmaking styles: one as an offbeat youth romance, one as a Big Chill-style relationship drama, and one as a tense police procedural. Taken together, these compulsively watchable films make for generous entertainment and a fascinating exercise in the polymorphous possibilities of storytelling.

Dreileben Part 1: Beats Being Dead

A convicted killer, released under police custody to pay his last respects to his late mother, escapes from a country hospital at the start of director Christian Petzold’s genre-bending, wonderfully unpredictable Beats Being Dead. But the film soon comes to center on the story of two star-crossed lovers: Johannes (Jacob Matschenz), a shy young hospital orderly, and Bosnian refugee Ana (Luna Mijovic), whom Johannes nobly rescues from the clutches of her abusive biker boyfriend. In the background, a police manhunt proceeds apace, while in the foreground Petzold reminds us there is sometimes nothing as dangerous as first love.

Dreileben Part 2: Don’t Follow Me Around

In the trilogy’s second chapter, Jo (Jeanette Hain), a big-city police psychologist, arrives in Dreileben to aid in the ongoing investigation, whereupon she finds herself greeted cooly by the local authorities but welcomed with open arms by Vera (Susanne Wolff), a college friend who lives nearby with her husband, a pretentious author. As the girlfriends reminisce about bygone days and discover they were both once in love with the same man, director Dominik Graf deftly juxtaposes their personal drama against the search for a killer, a police corruption scandal, and a possible case of interspecies transmutation—all underlining the trilogy’s recurring themes of false appearances and deeply hidden truths.

Dreileben Part 3: One Minute of Darkness

The Dreileben trilogy comes to a nail-biting close with director Christoph Hochhäusler’s expert thriller, which also brings escaped felon Molosch—a peripheral character in the first two parts—into sharp focus. Hot on the killer’s trail, grizzled police inspector Marcus (Eberhard Kirchberg) tries to put himself inside the mind of the criminal, even as he begins to wonder if the condemned man really is guilty as charged. Meanwhile, as Molosch (brilliantly played by Stefan Kurt) flees deeper into Dreileben’s possibly enchanted forest, he has an unexpectedly tender encounter with a young runaway girl—scenes that echo the Frankenstein story and transform One Minute of Darkness into a dark, memorably strange fairy tale.

FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT (with The Alloy Orchestra) and A TRIP TO THE MOON

FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT

This stunning adaptation of Georg Kaiser’s play pushed the Expressionist stylization of sets, costumes and gestures introduced by THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (made a few months earlier) to such a radical point that German movie theaters refused to show it; long thought lost, a print was found and preserved by the National Film Center of Japan in the 1980s. Bored with his provincial, humdrum middle-class life as a bank teller, “the Cashier,” (a great performance by Ernst Deutsch) embezzles a considerable sum of money and heads to the city, where in no time he’s on a downward spiral. Of special note is the bicycle race, surely one of the most amazing sequences in silent cinema. The Alloy Orchestra has created a new score for this legendary work, which it will perform live at both shows. Thanks to the National Film Center of Japan for making this screening possible.

A TRIP TO THE MOON (La voyage dans la lune)

More than a century after its first release—and on the 150th anniversary of its creator’s birth—a fully restored color version of cinematic pioneer George Méliès’ 1902 science-fiction classic A Trip to the Moon is once again visible on screen. Long considered lost, a heavily damaged copy of the hand-painted film was anonymously donated in the 1990s to the Barcelona Cinematheque, and in 2010 an ambitious restoration project was launched by Lobster Films, Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage. Thanks to state-of-the-art digital technology, the fragments of the 13, 375 frames have been reassembled and restored one by one. The stunning result screens here with a new original soundtrack by the French band Air.

Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States

For much of his remarkable career, three-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has set about exposing errors and omissions in the official record of such key moments in American history as the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, and the Nixon administration. In his hugely ambitious new project, The Untold History of the United States, Stone puts nothing less than the entire 20th century under a microscope, with results that are sobering, surprising and sure to be controversial. Produced as a 10-part miniseries for Showtime (where it will premiere in 2012), we are thrilled to present this special sneak preview of Untold History’s first three chapters, which focus on the events leading up to America’s entrance into World War II, the war itself, and the unjustly forgotten figure of former U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Stone, co-writer Peter Kuznick, historian Douglas Brinkley (Rice University) and journalist Jonathan Schell (The Nation).

“Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” with James Toback’s FINGERS

Confirmed panelists: David Edelstein (Film Critic, New York magazine), Brian Kellow, Geoffrey O’Brien (Editor in Chief, Library of America), film director James Toback, Camille Paglia (University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts)

A decade after her death, Pauline Kael remains a pivotal figure in American film criticism, thanks to her inimitable style, the sharpness of her observations, and the influence she exerted over subsequent generations of writers. On the occasion of two new books—Brian Kellow’s biography Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark and the Library of America anthology The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael—a panel of noted critics and filmmakers will discuss Kael’s life, work and legacy. The discussion will be followed by a screening of James Toback’s FINGERS, of which Kael wrote: “In FINGERS, the first film he has directed, James Toback is trying to be Orson Welles and Carol Reed, Dostoevsky, Conrad, and Kafka…Insanity, violent bouts of sex, Jacobean revenge killings—nothing is too much for Toback in his exhilarated state…Yet the film never seems ridiculous, because he’s got true moviemaking fever.”

Sodankylä Forever Parts 1-4

Surely the most singular of events in the annual calendar of film culture, the Midnight Sun Film Festival is held every June in the Finnish village of Sodankylä beyond the arctic circle—where the sun never sets. Founded by Aki and Mika Kaurismäki along with Anssi Mänttäri and Peter Von Bagh in 1985, the festival has played host to an international who’s who of directors and each day begins with a two-hour discussion. To mark the festival’s silver anniversary, festival director Peter Von Bagh edited together highlights from these dialogues to create an epic four-part choral history of cinema drawn from the anecdotes, insights, and wisdom of his all-star cast: Coppola, Fuller, Forman, Chabrol, Corman, Demy, Kieslowski, Kiarostami, Varda, Oliveira, Erice, Rouch, Gilliam, Jancso—and 64 more! Ranging across innumerable topics (war, censorship, movie stars, formative influences, America, neorealism) these voices, many now passed away, engage in a personal dialogue across the years that’s by turns charming, profound, hilarious and moving. Call it Finland’s idiosyncratic and playful answer to Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinema.

Peter Von Bagh will present the program over the course of two evenings:

Part 1: History of a Century & Part 2: The Yearning for the First Cinema Experience (149m)

Part 3: Eternal Time & Part 4: Drama of Light (112m)



FILMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS (WITH DIRECTORS AND ADDITIONAL REFERENCE INFORMATION

Masterworks Screenings:

THE GOLD RUSH, directed by Charlie Chaplin (restored)

INVASIÓN, directed by Hugo Santiago (restored)

YOU ARE NOT I, directed by Sara Driver (restored)



Special Anniversary Screenings:

CASTLE IN THE SKY, directed by Hayao Miyazaki. 25th Anniversary Screening (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki).

THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL, directed by Luis Buñuel (Mexico): 50 Years of the New York Film Festival

HOWARDS END, directed by James Ivory. (20 Years of Art Cinema: A Tribute to Sony Pictures Classics)

THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, directed by Wes Anderson (USA). 10th Anniversary Screening. Presented by New Wave

SPIRITED AWAY (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi), directed by Hayao Miyazaki (Japan). 10th Anniversary Screening (Celebrating Animation Legend Hayao Miyazaki).



Special Presentations: Documentaries:

ANDREW BIRD: FEVER YEAR, directed by Xan Aranda (USA)

THE BALLAD OF MOTT THE HOOPLE, directed by Mike Kerry and Chris Hall (UK)

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL, directed by Alex Stapleton and screening of THE INTRUDER, directed by Roger Corman

CRAZY HORSE, directed by Frederick Wiseman (USA, France)

DON’T EXPECT TOO MUCH, directed by Susan Ray (USA)

MUSIC ACCORDING TO TOM JOBIM, directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos (Brazil)

PARADISE 3: PURGATORY, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (USA)

PATIENCE (AFTER SEBALD), directed by Grant Gee (UK)

TAHRIR, directed by Stefano Savona (France/Italy)

VITO, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (USA)



Special Events:

THE 99 – UNBOUND, directed by Dave Osborne

A Conversation with Susan Orlean: “Rin Tin Tin, the Life and the Legend” with Noel Smith’s CLASH OF THE WOLVES screening.

Dreileben part 1 – 3: Beats Being Dead, directed by Christian Petzold; Don’t Follow Me Around, directed by Dominik Graf; One Minute of Darkness, directed by Christoph Hochhäusler (Germany)

FROM MORNING TILL MIDNIGHT (Von morgens bis Mitternacht), directed by Karl Heinz Martin (Germany) with Alloy Orchestra and A TRIP TO THE MOON, directed by George Melies.

Oliver Stone’s The Untold History of the United States. Screening of the first 3 chapters of TV series with panel discussion featuring Oliver Stone, co-writer Peter Kuznick, historian Douglas Brinkley (Rice University) and journalist Jonathan Schell (The Nation).

“Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” with James Toback’s FINGERS, directed by James Toback. Panel discussion with David Edelstein (Film Critic, New York magazine), Brian Kellow, Geoffrey O’Brien (Editor in Chief, Library of America), James Toback, Camille Paglia (University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, University of the Arts), plus screening of Fingers, directed by James Toback

Sodankylä Forever Parts 1-4, directed by Peter Von Bagh (Finland)

Read more

[caption id="attachment_1629" align="alignnone" width="550"]David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method[/caption]

Two Galas will join the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Night Galas for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16) with David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD set to screen on Wednesday, October 5 and Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN on Wednesday, October 12.

Scheduled at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday, October 5 will be David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD.  Adapted by Christopher Hampton from his play The Talking Cure, the film chronicles the ever-shifting relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Basking at first in Freud’s approval and encouragement, Jung increasingly questions his theories and methods. At the heart of their dispute is their rival approaches to the beautiful yet deeply unbalanced Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightly), who eventually draws each man under her spell. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the Sony Pictures Classics release also stars Vincent Cassel and Sarah Gordon. The film is set for a November 23 release. Presented the following Wednesday, on October 12, will be Pedro Almodóvar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN. Reuniting the director with Antonio Banderas, the star of several of his early films, this dramatic thriller was written by Almodovar in collaboration with brother and producer, Agustin, based on Thierry Jonquet’s novel Mygale. Dr. Robert Ledgard (Banderas) is a world famous plastic surgeon who argues for the development of new, tougher human skin; unbeknownst to others, Dr. Ledgard has been trying to put his theory into practice, keeping a young woman, Vera (Elena Anaya), imprisoned in his mansion while subjecting her to an increasingly bizarre regime of treatments. Fascinated by the thin layer of appearance that stands between our perception of someone and that person’s inner essence, Almodóvar here addresses that continuing theme in his work in a bold, unsettling exploration of identity. Almodóvar regular Marisa Paredes offers another winning performance as Marilia, Ledgard’s faithful assistant. A Sony Pictures Classics release is scheduled to open October 14.

Read more

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

Read more

A critical fave at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Julia Loktev’s follow-up to her 2006 “Day Night Day Night,” “Lonliest Planet” starts hunky Mexican star Gael Garcia Bernal as Alex and the fresh faced, confident Nica (Hani Furstenberg)- a couple playfully back-packing through the Caucasus mountains together in Georgia (formerly part of Russia) , led by their wary guide Dato (local, hired guide Bidzina Gujabidze.)

Young, sexy and in love, these two appear to be cozying into a very happy, hipster future together. Until the middle of their trek, when the trio is casually ambushed by two peasants. No t to give the story away, this seemingly quiet yet very impactful event stretches the limits of their relationship, as it comes apart as gently as a tissue thrown away after a good cry before our very eyes.

Hani Furstenberg is a truly great find-she’s a dynamic actress. Her hair as red as flame, she exudes an almost beguiling confidence, realizing without fully realizing, in the end,  who her lover really is. Bernal is also terrific at portraying her boyfriend who seems to know before Nica does that he is out of his depth altogether, in terms of her strength and courage.

Supposedly, the title is poking fun at those “Lonely Planet” guides for the young and carefree traveler. Loktev doesn’t seem as much to be commenting about a generation, the state of the world itself, or the blithely Western ignorance of what it means to have your country fall apart after a war. It seems she just wants to show us how our perceptions, if we are fortunate enough, can change on a dime. She seems to be encouraging us not to wait for a life-threatening moment to occur before analyzing who and what it is we really love.

The film is overall pretty slow moving, but the terrific score keeps us moving right along with vast long shots of the trio pilgrimming through the sharp terrain. The dialogue is sparse but overall the film is sharp, enjoyable, and really stays with you-the Lonliest Planet is a vivid character portrait of a relationship unraveling. Check it out next week at the New York Film Festival.

Read more

Lars von Trier was banned from Cannes this year, after a ridiculously off-handed remark about “understanding Hitler” blew up to epic proportions.

“Melancholia,” the latest film in the bratty bad boy’s ever-expanding oeuvre, is truly epic in its own right.

The film opens with a bolt of sound that is Wagner and a truly mesmerizing and lush montage of gorgeous set pieces, which play themselves out later in the film. From there, we dive jumpily right into the wedding day of Kristin Dunst’s Justine, who is marrying an aw-shucks guy who still can’t believe his great luck (Alexander Skarsgard) and is contending with simmering guests and relatives -sharky but cordial boss Stellan Skarsgard, hilariously pissed off wedding planner Udo Kier, truly viperous mom Charlotte Rampling, exasperatingly careless and adorable dad John Hurt, had-it-up-to-here brother-in-law John played by Kiefer Sutherland, (neatly carrying the film on his back at one point,) and ready to explode, and weary, martyrish sis Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. Justine is also battling, we see as the day wares thin to evening, severe manic depression.

Claire and John are throwing this wedding for Justine on their estate which could be in England, (Denmark) could be somewhere in the US, we have no idea- one thing we learn right away- that there is a mysterious, new planet called Melancholia is due to pass right by Earth, and the entire wedding party seems entirely disconnected from what could be the end of the world.

Seeing as John and Claire have no discernable occupation and are simply “filthy rich,” and seeing that weeks after the wedding, which melted down to ashes by the end of the night, Justine can barely make it into a cab to go and visit her sister, she is so entrenched in her own sadness, it is easy to see this film as some sort of statement on the vapidness and futility of our time spent on earth, or depth of the human condition as we know it now. It is said that von Trier has and was battling his own depression when making this film. It really doesn’t matter hat his bad boy antics or state of mind is- he has made an honest to goodness masterpiece, both visually and emotionally, and one which relies heavily on American narrative filmmaking-without the morality injected into practically all of it today.

Because as the inhabitants of this tiny family come together, in their own way, we are to ponder not “what we do, and how would we do it?” How would we survive knowing, as Claire’s young son says at one point, “there is nowhere to hide?” But rather, we are allowed to bear witness to the strange voluptuousness of giving entirely into one’s own emotions, rather than being tousled by the gridlock of despair itself.

Justine, even near paralyzed with what looks like grief, has the upper hand when the end of days grows near. Why? Well, it is curious that her nephew calls her “Auntie Steel-Breaker,” but it is really the fact that she is able to languish, and languish so beautifully (there is even a scene, shot long, with a nude Dunst prostrate on the bank of a small river, as she looks at the approaching, gloriously CGI-ed Melancholia approaching Earth, that looks like a far-out, breath-taking version of an Old Master portrait) that draws even her fed-up, patient sister into muttering “You have it so easy, don’t you?” Because Claire is only and always in a general state of anxiety and mild despair. The type most of us are in point or another. The kind that takes energy, that takes willpower to overcome, that takes an earnest desire to change. All traits which are vividly anti-death. All traits which are, as well, rather exhausting, after awhile. Even at the the end of the film, as Justine not only is able to face death with a calm serenity, but soothes her nephew over her hysterical sister’s ultimately useless cries of anguish, she is the strong one. She “knows,” ultimately, that we are alone, and we must deal with our imminent demise alone.

It is the very voluptuousness of both Justine’s “sickness” and Dunst’s performance, which one simply cannot say enough about, which gives the film a strange vitality I can never recall experiencing before when watching a film. Actually, the closest thing would be the last half of “2001, A Space Odyssey”- when image, narrative (and in this case truly beguilingly perfect and spot-on performances by Dunst, Gainsbourgh and Sutherland) combine to allow the viewer to feel something is being fed into the head and soul by entirely different channels. As Justine says at the end of the film, “I know things.” Well, I’m not quite what von Trier really knows, but there is nothing of the fable, parable or moral to this film. It’s a meticulously orchestrated slate to appear clean, although it’s quite loaded at the same time. As Justine is able to do, von Trier seems to be encouraging us to give in to whatever feelings we may too frightened of releasing. But not for any particular reason, of course. Just because, as Dunst’s Justine inflicts her own sorry state on everyone who knows her, he can.Go and see this film, which plays at this week’s upcoming New York Film Festival. It’s a marvel of image, idea and performance.

-Francesca McCaffery

Read more