The 2016 New York Film Festival (NYFF) begins next month, and anticipation is already high after the announcement of the opening (The 13th), closing (The Lost City of Z) and centerpiece (20th Century Women) films. Today, the Film Society of Lincoln Center released the full main slate line-up for the festival, which included some of the biggest films hitting indie circuits this year.
NYFF Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones announced the group this morning, revealing that these choices are “vital and important works.” Still to be announced are NYFF Special Events, Spotlight on Documentary, Convergence and Projections sections, filmmaker conversation and panels and Retrospective.
See the full list of the movies and their descriptions below. Tickets for the 2016 NYFF go on sale on Sept. 11, and the festival itself goes from Sept. 30 to Oct. 16.
Aquarius
Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Aquarius previously debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, and follows a 65-year-old widow and retired music critic in Brazil who resides in Aquarius, an original two-story building. All the neighboring apartments in the building have been bought by a company that wants to tear it down. Clara refuses to leave and engages in a battle of will with the company, which causes her to think deeply about her past and her future.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Bacalaureat (Graduation)
Directed by Cristian Mungiu, Bacalaureat also debuted at the Cannes Film Festival where Mungiu shared the Best Director Award with Olivier Assayas for Personal Shopper. Mungiu was inspired to create the film from his own experiences as a parent, and Bacalaureat‘s description states that it is “about compromises and the implications of the parent’s role.”
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Certain Women
Directed by Kelly Reichardt, Certain Women previously screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and follows the lives of three women (Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern) who intersect in a rural town in the United States. Williams stars as a recently married woman struggling to fix new marital problems when she and her husband try to persuade an elderly man to sell his sandstone. Stewart stars as a young lawyer, who inadvertently finds herself teaching a bi-weekly adult education class in her home. Dern stars as another lawyer who attempts to fix a hostage situation and calm her unhappy client.
Read Variety’s review here. Certain Women will be released on Oct. 14.
Elle
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Elle follows a successful businesswoman (Isabelle Huppert) as she attempts to track down the man who raped her. The French psychological thriller also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above. Elle will be released on Nov. 11 in limited theaters.
Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea)
Directed by Gianfranco Rosi, Fuocoammare is a documentary about life on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is at the forefront of the European migrant criss. Rosi spent months living on the island and capturing footage, focusing on 12-year-old Samuele, a local boy who loves to hunt with his slingshot. The film first premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Hermia and Helena
Directed by Matías Piñeiro, Hermia and Helena follows a young Argentine theater director as she travels from Buenos Aires to New York. Upon arriving she begins to develop a Spanish translation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and starts to receive mysterious postcards from an unknown sender. The movie recently premiered at the Locarno Film Festival on Aug. 6.
Read Indiewire’s review here.
I, Daniel Blake
Directed by Ken Loach, I, Daniel Black just won the esteemed Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It follows 59-year-old artisan who gets heart disease and applies for benefits. As he attempts to overcome the mountains of red tape involved in getting assistance, he meets single mother Katie and her two children, Dylan and Daisy, who are in a similar situation.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Julieta
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Julieta was screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and is based on three short stories from the book Runaway by Nobel Prize-winner Alice Munro. Julieta follows the titular heroine who, after a casual encounter, attempts to confront her life and find her estranged daughter.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above. Julieta will hit theaters on Dec. 21.
L’Avenir (Things to Come)
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, L’Avenir competed at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival for the Golden Bear. Although it did not win, Hansen-Løve won the Silver Bear for Best Director. Isabelle Huppert stars in another NYFF title as Nathalie, a philosophy teacher who must deal with three tragic events at the same time: the death of her mother, getting fired from her job and a husband who is cheating on her.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Le fils de Joseph (Son of Joseph)
Directed by Eugène Green, Le fils de Joseph follows a 15-year-old Vincent in Paris, who attempts to discover who his father is and finds a famous publisher with an obnoxious character. When he meets the publisher’s brother, Joseph, it changes his entire life. Le fils de Joseph previously premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
Manchester by the Sea
Directed by Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea has received a lot of awards hype at the Sundance Film Festival. The family drama follows Lee (Casey Affleck) as he returns to him hometown after his brother died (Kyle Chandler). He discovers that he is made the legal guardian of his brother’s son, Patrick, and must deal with his separated wife Randi (Michelle Williams).
Read Variety’s review here. Manchester by the Sea will be released on Nov. 18.
Moonlight
Directed by Barry Jenkins, Moonlight is set in the 1980s Miami during the height of the War on Drugs, and stars Naomie Harris (Spectre, Skyfall) and Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, House of Cards). The drama focuses on three different time periods of a man named Chiron, as he struggles with a rough home life and his newfound sexuality.
Moonlight will be released in theaters on Oct. 21.
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
Directed by Dash Shaw, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea previously screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Not much is known about the film except it stars Maya Rudolph (Bridesmaids) and Jason Schwartzman (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and is an animated feature.
Neruda
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Neruda stars Gael García Bernal as the inspector hunting down the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his own country after joining the Communist Party in the 1940s. Neruda previously debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened in the Directors’ Fortnight section.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above. Neruda will be released in theaters on Dec. 16.
Paterson
Directed by Jim Jarmusch, Paterson is the highly-anticipated dramedy starring Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as a bus driver and poet in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson (also his name) follows the same routine every day, whereas his wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani, Body of Lies) tries to experience life to the fullest each day. The film previously premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Palm Dog Award in the former.
Read Variety’s review here and watch a clip above. Paterson will be released in theaters on Dec. 28.
Personal Shopper
Directed by Olivier Assayas, Personal Shopper is the controversial Cannes Film Festival debut that received boos at the screening, despite Olivier Assayas winning the Best Director Award. Starring Kristen Stewart, Personal Shopper follows Maureen, a young personal shopper for media celebrities in Paris. After her twin brother’s death, she begins to experience supernatural occurrences.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above.
The Rehearsal
Directed by Alison Maclean, The Rehearsal follows first-year theater student Stanley, who uses his girlfriend’s family scandal as material for the end-of-year show. As you probably expect, the results are disastrous.
Watch the trailer above.
Rester vertical (Staying Vertical)
Directed by Alain Guiraudie, Rester vertical sees a filmmaker raising a child by himself while looking for an inspiration for his new film. The light-hearted drama previously screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
Read Variety’s review here and watch a clip above.
Sieranevada
Directed by Cristi Puiu, Sieranevada centers around a family reunion on the anniversary of the patriarch’s recent death, and recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Sieranevada notably takes place three days after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015.
Read Variety’s review here and watch a clip above.
Toni Erdmann
Directed by Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann follows a father trying to reconnect with his daughter in her adult life, and tries to do so by playing good-hearted pranks on her. The German comedy previously screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Read Variety’s review here and watch the trailer above. Toni Erdmann will be released in theaters on Dec. 25.
The Unknown Girl
Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, The Unknown Girl premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and follows a young medical doctor who attempts to discover the identity of an unknown woman who died after she refused surgery.
Read Variety’s review here and watch a clip above.
Yourself and Yours
Directed by Hong Sangsoo, Yourself and Yours follows a painter who hears that his girlfriend was flirting with an unknown man, which leads to the end of their relationship. The next day, the painter goes out in search of her at the same time that her doppelgänger has a series of encounters with strange men who claim they met her before.
Yourself and Yours will receive its premiere at the 2016 NYFF. Watch the trailer above.
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