The annual fall festival will roll out the red carpet for some old favorites, new talents, and some of Cannes' most talked-about features. The New York Film Festival has announced its main slate of programming, which features films from 22 different countries, including new titles from NYFF regulars and favorites from the international festival circuit as well as some newcomers. Standouts include Barry Jenkins’ much-anticipated “Moonlight” followup “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the Coen brothers’ Netflix-produced anthology Western “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” and Claire Denis’ first English-language feature, the sci-fi “High Life.” Five films in the festival were honored at this year’s Cannes, including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or–winner “Shoplifters”; Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Image Book,” awarded a Special Palme d’Or; “Cold War,” which took home the Best Director prize for Paweł Pawlikowski; and Alice Rohrwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro” and Jafar Panahi’s “3 Faces,” which shared the Best Screenplay award. Prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo is back at the festival with two new films, joined at the festival with other NYFF alumni like Olivier Assayas, Alex Ross Perry, Ulrich Köhler, Lee Chang-dong, Jia Zhangke, Christian Petzold, Jenkins, and Frederick Wiseman (making his tenth appearance at the festival with his latest documentary, “Monrovia, Indiana”). “Francis Ford Coppola said that the cinema would become a real art form only when the tools of moviemaking became as inexpensive as paints, brushes, and canvases,” said NYFF Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones in an official statement. “That has come to pass, but at the same time, it’s become increasingly tough to do serious work that is beholden to nothing but the filmmaker’s need to express these emotions in this form in moving images and sound. So if I were pressed to choose one word to describe the films in this year’s Main Slate, it would be: bravery.” Presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, this year’s festival will open with Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” celebrate its Centerpiece selection with Alfonso Cuarón’s “ROMA,” and close out with Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate.” NYFF Special Events, Spotlight on Documentary, Retrospective, Revivals, Convergence, Shorts, and Projections sections, as well as filmmaker conversations and panels, will be announced in the coming weeks. The 2018 New York Film Festival runs September 28 – October 14. Check out the main slate for the festival below. The 56th New York Film Festival Main Slate “The Favourite,” Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos Opening Night “ROMA,” Dir. Alfonso Cuarón Centerpiece “At Eternity’s Gate,” Dir. Julian Schnabel Closing Night Memento Films “3 Faces,” Dir. Jafar Panahi “Asako I & II,” Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi “Ash Is Purest White,” Dir. Jia Zhangke “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” Dir. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen “Burning,” Dir. Lee Chang-dong “Cold War,” Dir. Paweł Pawlikowski “A Faithful Man/L’Homme fidèle,” Dir. Louis Garrel “A Family Tour,” Dir. Ying Liang “La Flor,” Dir. Mariano Llinás “Grass,” Dir. Hong Sangsoo “Happy as Lazzaro/Lazzaro felice,” Dir. Alice Rohrwacher “Her Smell,” Dir. Alex Ross Perry “High Life,” Dir. Claire Denis “Hotel by the River,” Dir. Hong Sangsoo Sundance “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Dir. Barry Jenkins “The Image Book/Le Livre d’image,” Dir. Jean-Luc Godard “In My Room,” Dir. Ulrich Köhler “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Dir. Bi Gan “Monrovia, Indiana,” Dir. Frederick Wiseman “Non-Fiction,” Dir. Olivier Assayas “Private Life,” Dir. Tamara Jenkins “RAY & LIZ,” Dir. Richard Billingham “Shoplifters,” Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda “Sorry Angel,” Dir. Christophe Honoré “Too Late to Die Young,” Dir. Dominga Sotomayor “Transit,” Dir. Christian Petzold “Wildlife,” Dir. Paul Dano Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.<doc-sep>New work from Barry Jenkins, the Coen brothers, Claire Denis and Jean-Luc Godard will be a part of the 56th New York Film Festival lineup, organizers announced Tuesday. This year’s program, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will include 30 movies in its main slate, mixing movies from established international auteurs with directorial debuts. “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins’s follow-up to his best picture Oscar winner, “Moonlight,” adapts a James Baldwin novel and will have its American premiere at the festival. And “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” from Joel and Ethan Coen is a western anthology that will have its North American premiere after playing in Venice.<doc-sep>While other festivals in the crowded fall circuit proudly tout their world premiere titles, the New York Film Festival prefers to cherry-pick from what others have to offer. And between Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Telluride and Toronto, it has a particularly strong inventory to choose from this year. Highlighting new work from Barry Jenkins to Claire Denis, the 2018 lineup, announced Tuesday, seems to perfectly encapsulate the NYFF’s reputation for a purposefully curated boutique selection of arthouse faves laced with fresh names. Partly a point of superstition and tradition, where a film premieres, and where it goes next, has recently become a more important part of a film’s overall strategy, in particular for awards season. And with the complete lineups of Canada’s Toronto International Film Festival and Colorado’s secretive Telluride festival yet to be revealed, the NYFF announcement provides a few clues about certain films’ festival trajectory. For example, the hotly anticipated Coen brothers title “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” will apparently bypass Toronto and Telluride to make its North American premiere in New York, following a Venice bow. Advertisement It’s one of four prominent Netflix titles in New York’s lineup, also including Tamara Jenkins’ marital drama “Private Life,” which premiered at Sundance, and the previously announced centerpiece screening of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” which will premiere in Venice and then play Toronto and, presumably, Telluride. But Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk,” adapted from the work of James Baldwin, will have its U.S. premiere in New York, following a world premiere in Toronto. That means the “Moonlight” filmmaker appears to be passing over his old stomping ground in Telluride this year (unless festivals are redefining the meaning of “premiere,” which would not be unprecedented). Gong Minjeung and Ahn Jaehong in “Grass,” directed by Hong Sangsoo (Cinema Guild) The 56th edition of the New York Film Festival is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and this year runs Sept. 28–Oct. 14. Previously announced titles include the opening night selection Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” (which may play Telluride and Toronto) and the closing night pick Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate” (which seems bound directly from Venice). The NYFF lineup also includes a number of award winning titles from Cannes earlier this year, including the Palme d’Or recipient “Shoplifters” from Hirokazu Kore-eda, and the Netflix acquisition “Happy as Lazzaro” from Alice Rohrwacher, which will have its North American premiere in New York. Jean-Luc Godard’s “The Image Book,” Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” and Jafar Panahi’s “Three Faces” also head to New York with Cannes prizes to their name. In addition to Barry Jenkins and the Coens, other filmmakers returning to the festival include Denis with “High Life,” Olivier Assayas with “Non-Fiction,” Hong Sangsoo with “Grass” and “Hotel by the River,” Frederick Wiseman with “Monrovia, Indiana,” Alex Ross Perry with “Her Smell,” Ulrich Kohler with “In My Room,” Lee Chang-dong with “Burning,” Jia Zhangke with “Ash is Purest White” and Christian Petzold with “Transit.” Tamara Jenkins is set for her first NYFF, as are Paul Dano with “Wildlife,” Richard Billingham with “RAY & LIZ,” Louis Garrel with “A Faithful Man,” Dominga Sotomayor with “Too Late to Die Young,” Chrisophe Honoré with “Sorry Angel,” Mariano Llinas with “La Flor,” Ying Liang with “A Family Tour,” Bi Gan with “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi with “Asaki I & II.” Louis Garrel, who also directs, and Laetitia Casta in “A Faithful Man.” (Film Society of Lincoln Center) Advertisement In a statement, NYFF director and selection committee chair Kent Jones said, “If I were pressed to choose one word to describe the films in this year’s Main Slate, it would be: bravery. These films were made all over the globe, by young filmmakers like Dominga Sotomayor and masters like Fred Wiseman, by artists of vastly different sensibilities from Claire Denis to the Coen Brothers, Jafar Panahi to Jean-Luc Godard. And the unifying thread is their bravery, the bravery needed to fight past the urge to commercialized smoothness and mediocrity that is always assuming new forms. That’s what makes every single title in this year’s Main Slate so precious, and so vital.” SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter » Mark.Olsen@latimes.com Twitter: @IndieFocus<doc-sep>
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Jean-Luc Godard, Barry Jenkins, Joel and Ethan Coen and Claire Denis are just a few of the directors who’ll be presenting work at the 56th New York Film Festival, beginning next month. They are among the filmmakers on the festival’s Main Slate, announced today by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The New York Film Festival, which runs September 28-October 14, had previously announced its opening -night film (Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite), the Centerpiece (Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA) and closing-night film (Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate). The main slate lineup includes The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (pictured above). Other filmmakers new to the festival include Dominga Sotomayor, Christophe Honoré, Tamara Jenkins, Mariano Llinás, Ying Liang, Bi Gan and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Related Story Alfonso Cuarón's 'ROMA' Set As New York Film Festival Centerpiece NYFF director and selection committee chair Kent Jones said about the lineup that “if I were pressed to choose one word to describe the films in this year’s Main Slate, it would be: bravery. “These films were made all over the globe, by young filmmakers like Dominga Sotomayor and masters like Fred Wiseman, by artists of vastly different sensibilities from Claire Denis to the Coen Brothers, Jafar Panahi to Jean-Luc Godard. And the unifying thread is their bravery, the bravery needed to fight past the urge to commercialized smoothness and mediocrity that is always assuming new forms. That’s what makes every single title in this year’s Main Slate so precious, and so vital.” The Main Slate includes films from 22 countries; five films took prizes at Cannes, including Palme d’Or–winner Shoplifters. NYFF Special Events, Spotlight on Documentary, Retrospective, Revivals, Convergence, Shorts, and Projections sections, as well as filmmaker conversations and panels, will be announced in the coming weeks. The 56th New York Film Festival Main Slate Opening Night The Favourite Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos Centerpiece ROMA Dir. Alfonso Cuarón Closing Night At Eternity’s Gate Dir. Julian Schnabel Main Slate 3 Faces Dir. Jafar Panahi Asako I & II Dir. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi Ash Is Purest White Dir. Jia Zhangke The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Dir. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen Burning Dir. Lee Chang-dong Cold War Dir. Paweł Pawlikowski A Faithful Man/L’Homme fidèle Dir. Louis Garrel A Family Tour Dir. Ying Liang La Flor Dir. Mariano Llinás Grass Dir. Hong Sangsoo Happy as Lazzaro/Lazzaro felice Dir. Alice Rohrwacher Her Smell Dir. Alex Ross Perry High Life Dir. Claire Denis Hotel by the River Dir. Hong Sangsoo If Beale Street Could Talk Dir. Barry Jenkins The Image Book/Le Livre d’image Dir. Jean-Luc Godard In My Room Dir. Ulrich Köhler Long Day’s Journey Into Night Dir. Bi Gan Monrovia, Indiana Dir. Frederick Wiseman Non-Fiction Dir. Olivier Assayas Private Life Dir. Tamara Jenkins RAY & LIZ Dir. Richard Billingham Shoplifters Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda Sorry Angel Dir. Christophe Honoré Too Late to Die Young Dir. Dominga Sotomayor Transit Dir. Christian Petzold Wildlife Dir. Paul Dano