The 55th New York Film Festival has named Richard Linklater‘s Last Flag Flying to serve as its opening night selection. The film – which stars Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne – will make its world premiere at the Alice Tully Hall on September 28th, ahead of its fall theatrical bow, courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Last Flag Flying is a road movie – part comedy, part drama – that centers around three Vietnam War vets who re-team for a solemn task: to bury one of their sons, who recently lost his life in the early goings of the Iraqi Invasion. The film grows as an examination of friendship, history and patriotism. Linklater penned the screenplay alongside Darryl Poinicsan, writer of Taps and Cinderella Liberty.

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones wrote of the film, “Last Flag Flying is many things at once—infectiously funny, quietly shattering, celebratory, mournful, meditative, intimate, expansive, vastly entertaining, and all-American in the very best sense. But to isolate its individual qualities is to set aside the most important and precious fact about this movie: that it all flows like a river. That’s only possible with remarkable artists like Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne, and Bryan Cranston, and a master like Richard Linklater behind the camera.”

Last Flag Flying will open in theaters on November 17th. The 55th New York Film Festival runs from September 28th – October 15th. Recent New York Film Festival openers have included the Oscar nominated documentary 13th from director Ava DuVernay, Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk and David Fincher’s Gone Girl.