The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces filmmaker talks at the 54th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16). On Cinema and Directors Dialogues, the annual series of intimate filmmaker conversations that take place at the festival, are presented by HBO®.
The festival’s annual master class, On Cinema, will feature a conversation with legendary American independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and NYFF Director Kent Jones. Jarmusch, a NYFF veteran many times over, has two films in the festival this year: Paterson, starring Adam Driver, in the Main Slate section, and documentary Gimme Danger, about iconic punk rock band The Stooges, in the Special Events section. Supported by film clips, the in-depth discussion will explore Jarmusch’s indelible career, as well as works that have influenced him as an artist. On Cinema with Jim Jarmusch will take place Tuesday, October 4 at 8:30pm in the Howard Gilman Theater.
Directors Dialogues, presented free to the public each year, feature notable filmmakers from this year’s festival sitting down for a special Q&A with a NYFF selection committee member to discuss their craft and moviemaking approach, as well as the current state of film. This year’s participating directors include Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Paul Verhoeven (Elle), and Mike Mills (Centerpiece selection 20th Century Women). All four of these directors’ newest films are screening as part of the NYFF54 Main Slate. This year the Directors Dialogues will take place at both the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center’s Amphitheater and our new venue, the Bruno Walter Theater (see below for details).
Additionally, NYFF will present Meet the Makers, a series of talks with creators of projects in our boundary-pushing Convergence section. Highlights include Priya’s Mirror innovators Ram Devineni and Dan Goldman on fusing augmented reality and comic books to shatter taboos around the world—with UN Women’s Global Youth Champion Monica Singh in person to share her story, which inspired the project; a panel with filmmakers behind Global Lives Project’s large-scale installation Lives in Transit; Late Shift creators Baptiste Planche and Tobias Weber on choose-your-own-adventure interactive narrative films; Soundhunters app creators François Le Gall and Nicolas Blies on remixing the world of sounds around you into a transmedia experience; and a conversation with the collaborators of the popular returning project Sherlock Holmes & The Internet of Things. Meet the Makers conversations are free and open to the public.
Alongside On Cinema, Directors Dialogues, and Meet the Makers, the festival’s popular free NYFF Live series will return this year. NYFF Live talks, which are also sponsored by HBO®, will include a combination of clips, trailers, and extended conversations with festival filmmakers and special guests, with questions also taken from the audience. NYFF Live takes place daily in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater. The complete lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring works from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Florence Almozini, FSLC Associate Director of Programming; Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Artforum and Film Comment; and Gavin Smith, who serves as a consultant.
NYFF previously announced the world premieres of Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th as the Opening Night selection, Mike Mills’s20th Century Women as Centerpiece, and James Gray’s The Lost City of Z as Closing Night. The complete Main Slate lineup can be found here, along with the complete programs for Special Events, Convergence, Projections, Spotlight on Documentary, Revivals, and Retrospective.
NYFF Directors Dialogues and Meet the Makers talks are free and open to the public. On Cinema tickets are $15; $10 for Film Society Members and Students. Tickets for the 54th New York Film Festival, including the On Cinema talk, will go on sale September 11. Tickets are now on sale to Film Society members and patrons at select levels. To learn more about NYFF tickets, including a complete list of on-sale dates, prices, discount options, and our rush and standby policies, click here.
For even more access, VIP passes and subscription packages offer one of the earliest opportunities to purchase tickets and secure seats at some of the festival's biggest events including Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Nights. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events, including the invitation-only Opening Night party, “An Evening With…” dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. Benefits vary based on the pass or package type purchased. VIP passes and subscription packages are on sale now. Learn more atfilmlinc.org/NYFF.
ON CINEMA
On Cinema: Jim Jarmusch (Paterson, Gimme Danger)
In our annual master class, NYFF director Kent Jones sits down with world-renowned filmmakers for an in-depth conversation about films from other directors that have influenced and inspired them, their talk illustrated with film clips. For the 2016 edition, Jones sits down with legendary American independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who has two films featured in this year's festival.
Tuesday, Oct 4, 8:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street)
DIRECTORS DIALOGUES
Directors Dialogues: Maren Ade
One of the most vivid, electrifying talents in cinema today, German director Maren Ade makes breathtakingly intimate films keyed in to the subtle interactions and sometimes inexplicable grand gestures that make us human. A major highlight of this year’s NYFF, her latest film, Toni Erdmann, is an emotional and hilarious dazzler, unlike anything else you’ve seen.
Sunday, Oct 2, 7pm (Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater, 144 West 65th Street)
Directors Dialogues: Kenneth Lonergan
Refusing to shy away from nearly unutterable emotions, the forceful new film from Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea, follows a troubled Massachusetts handyman (an unforgettable Casey Affleck) who travels to his North Shore hometown after the death of his brother and must confront memories of an earlier tragedy. As proven in You Can Count on Me and Margaret, few American filmmakers today are better at making movies that express how difficult it is to move on from the past.
Sunday, Oct 2, 3pm (Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue between 64th and 65th Streets)
Directors Dialogues: Mike Mills
Following his Oscar-winning Beginners, Mike Mills has fashioned a moving, funny film, 20th Century Women, starring Annette Bening as a single mother raising a teenage son in a bohemian house in 1979 Santa Barbara. All of the details are just right in this culturally specific yet widely accessible American comedy, which is the Centerpiece film of this year’s NYFF.
Sunday, Oct 9, 3pm (Bruno Walter Auditorium)
Directors Dialogues: Paul Verhoeven
At first blush, it’s hard to believe the same director responsible for the ultraviolent action masterpiece RoboCop and the blockbuster thrillerBasic Instinct is also responsible for Elle, the new film starring the great Isabelle Huppert as a video-game designer who has a surprising and complex response after she is raped by a home invader. But all his provocative films are of a piece: wry, satirical, and knowing takes on culture, movies, and personal fantasy.
Thursday, Oct 13, 7pm (Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center Amphitheater)
CONVERGENCE: MEET THE MAKERS SESSIONS
MEET THE MAKERS: PRIYA’S MIRROR
Ram Devineni, Dan Goldman, Monica Singh
Ram Devineni and Dan Goldman, co-creators of the hugely popular augmented reality comic book series Priya, present the next installment, titled Priya’s Mirror, which concerns acid attacks. Joining Devineni and Goldman is Monica Singh, who shares her resilient story about surviving a brutal acid attack and later becoming UN Women’s Global Youth Champion.
Sunday, Oct 2, 1pm (Howard Gilman Theater in the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street)
MEET THE MAKERS: LIVES IN TRANSIT
Global Lives Project
Lives in Transit chronicles 24 hours in the lives of transportation workers from around the world. Join us for a screening of shorts about drivers of boats, buses, trains, motorcycles, cars and horse carts; a traveling circus performer; and a collector of a rare aphrodisiac fungus. A panel of the films’ directors will speak about their experiences collaborating to make this series possible.
Saturday, Oct 1, 5:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)
MEET THE MAKERS: SOUNDHUNTERS
François Le Gall and Nicolas Blies
Join the creators of the Soundhunters App—a tool that allows people to record and tag sounds via their mobile devices, sample, and remix them into their own unique musical compositions—for an in-depth look at this multifaceted, international transmedia experience.
Saturday, Oct 1, 1pm (Howard Gilman Theater)
MEET THE MAKERS: LATE SHIFT
Baptiste Planche and Tobias Weber
Is the future of feature filmmaking fully interactive, choose-your-own-adventure style storytelling? The creators of Late Shift andCtrlMovie, the interactive film format powering the project, will explore the challenges inherent in creating audience-directed interactive films.
Sunday, Oct 2, 4:30pm (Howard Gilman Theater)
MEET THE MAKERS: SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Lance Weiler and Nick Fortugno
Two years in development, Sherlock Holmes & The Internet of Things spans the globe with events in dozens of cities powered by over two thousand collaborators actively contributing to this “copyleft” experiment. Lead collaborators Weiler and Fortugno will comment on the state of the project and reflect on what their experiences tell us about the future of shared stories.
Sunday, Oct 2, 1pm (Howard Gilman Theater)
