The 64th New York Film Festival, one of the world's most prestigious cinema events, opens Friday with the first of more than 70 fiction features and documentaries making their world or U.S. premieres, starring such luminaries as Pedro Pascal, Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Godzilla.
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Festival → open → Pascal
This year's festival, which runs through October 12, showcases short film programs, revivals, and filmmaker talks, in screenings held in all five of the city's boroughs.
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which → run → boroughs
The following are some of the most notable and intriguing films making their bows before opening in theaters or streaming in the coming months.
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following → follow → months
This year's lineup includes non-fiction films with a lot of buzz.
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lineup → include → buzz
In "You Can See Everything," whose world premiere was a surprise at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this month, Nathan Fielder ("Nathan for You," "The Rehearsal") moved into the home of disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her partner in the days prior to the start of Holmes' 11-year .
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Fielder → see → year
With co-director Lance Oppenheim, Fielder engaged in conversations with Holmes aimed at revealing her motivations.
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Fielder → engage → motivations
Julia Loktev's "My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile," a sequel to her acclaimed 2024 fly-on-the-wall account of independent media in Moscow reporting on the Putin regime, follows journalists as they are forced into exile after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the Kremlin's ramped-up censorship and arrests over reporting on the war.
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they → fly → war
Among the most anticipated is "NAZA," (North American premiere; Sept. 26, 27) in which its directors said they spoke with dozens of sources inside the Israeli military and intelligence services who allege that the systematic use of AI-powered targeting contributed to potential human rights abuses against Palestinians in Gaza.
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use → anticipate → Gaza
"NAZA," whose title refers to collateral damage, was directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (whose previous film "No Other Land" won the Academy Award).
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film → refer → Award
The film, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, has been widely criticized by the Israeli government, which said in a statement that it "categorically rejects" the allegations and raised concerns about the film's use of anonymous sources.
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it → win → sources
The Israel Defense Forces has repeatedly denied allegations that it intentionally targets civilians in Palestinian territories.
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it → deny → territories
In response to "NAZA," Israel's culture minister has also for revoking the citizenship of the two Israeli directors.
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minister → have → directors
A follow-up to her 2016 documentary "13th" about the ramifications of the 13th Amendment on mass incarceration, "14th," by Ava DuVernay, examines how the 14th Amendment's protections of citizenship and due process, as well as safeguards against insurrection, are under attack today (World premiere; Oct. 9, 11).
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protections → examine → attack
"Making Marie Antoinette," a video diary shot by Eleanor Coppola during the making of daughter Sofia Coppola's 2006 period drama, was completed by Sofia after Eleanor died in 2024.
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Eleanor → make → 2024
It is narrated by Diane Lane.
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It → narrate → Lane
Paul Thomas Anderson (an Oscar winner for last year's "One Battle After Another") shot the music documentary "Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall" on 16mm and 35mm, in which the Brooklyn musician and frontman of Geese performed an acoustic set on the world's most famous concert stage.
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musician → shoot → stage
The film debuts Oct. 1, 2 and 9, before going "on tour" across the U.S.
Jonathan Glazer ("The Zone of Interest") enlisted London schoolchildren to shoot video of recording sessions at Abbey Road Studios for a charity album created to aid children in conflict zones.
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Glazer → debut → zones
"Joy of Joys" parallels the young documentarians' output with that of young people in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen who were similarly handed cameras to document their lives.
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who → parallel → lives
Other documentaries range in topics from student artists at the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris ("For the Moon," world premiere; Oct. 6, 7), to Tala Hadid's "Bardi" (world premiere; Oct. 1, 2, 4), which captures the lives of equestrians in central Morocco; to "Hanabi" (North American premiere; Oct. 8, 9), Ana Vaz's visual essay about ecological disasters – natural and manmade – affecting Japan.
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which → range → Japan
Profiles include "Edward Said: Between Worlds," about the late Palestinian American professor and writer (U.S. premiere; Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2); and Argentinean filmmaker Mariano Llinás' "Life of Jorge Luis Borges," which explores the Argentine writer and his impact on politics and culture (U.S. premiere; Sept. 26, 28).
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which → include → politics
In "Once Upon a Time in Harlem," David Greaves completes the film his father William had begun in 1972, to document the living practitioners of the Harlem Renaissance (N.Y. premiere; Sept. 29, 30, Oct. 4).
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father → complete → Renaissance
Among the festival's fiction films making their world premieres is "Behemoth!" starring Pedro Pascal as a former child prodigy and orchestral cellist trying to resolve his fractured life while working as a session player recording Hollywood film scores.
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Behemoth → make → scores
In "Artificial," director Luca Guadagnino ("Call Me By Your Name") presents a comic-drama about the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, from Soviet-born computer scientist Ilya Sutskever's studies in Canada under Geoffrey Hinton, to his encounter a decade later with Sam Altman, who would co-found OpenAI.
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who → call → OpenAI
Tom McCarthy, director of the Oscar-winning "Spotlight," presents "A Statement," which recreates a 1980 meeting of environmental activists, policy makers and scientists trying to reach a consensus on the increasingly alarming data about climate change.
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which → win → change
The cast includes Paul Giamatti, Evan Peters, Paul Rudd, Amy Ryan and John Turturro.
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cast → include → Giamatti
And the gargantuan "Godzilla Minus Zero," from director Takashi Yamazaki, stomps into Alice Tully Hall on Sept. 26.
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Zero → stomp → Sept.
U.S. and N.Y. premieres
The festival's gala opening night feature is James Gray's thriller "Paper Tiger," a potent familiar drama (and one that is semi-autobiographical) starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson, about a former NYPD street cop who has hooked up with the Russian mob, and a brother who brings the unhelpful trait of naïveté to Russian gangsters (North American premiere; Sept. 25).
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who → star → gangsters
Sandra Hüller, an Oscar nominee for "Anatomy of a Fall," stars in two New York premieres: "Rose," for which she won best actress at the Berlin International Film Festival, playing a woman who garnered independence for herself in 17th-century Germany by disguising herself as a man – a ruse that took her from the battlefield to an arranged marriage (Sept. 26, 27, Oct. 1, 4); and "Fatherland," as the daughter of famed German novelist Thomas Mann, who accompanies her father on a return to Germany after World War II, where the acrimony about questionable allegiances is still fresh.
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acrimony → star → allegiances
Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski ("Cold War," "Ida"), who earned the best director prize at Cannes (Oct. 4, 5, 6, 7).
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who → direct → Cannes
Cristian Mungiu ("4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days") won the top prize at Cannes this year with his film "Fjord," starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Pentecostal Romanian immigrants in Norway who fall under suspicion of abusing their children (U.S. premiere; Oct. 4, 5, 7).
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who → win → children
Directed by comedian Chris Rock, "Misty Green" (U.S. premiere; Sept. 26, 27, 30, Oct. 2, 4) stars Rosalind Eleazar ("Slow Horses") as an actress trying to regain both employment and dignity in a hostile Hollywood.
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Green → direct → Hollywood
The cast also includes Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Anthony Anderson, and Rock as a director who may be the key to Misty's way back.
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who → include → way
Many international filmmakers are bringing their latest works to New York.
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filmmakers → bring → York
Werner Herzog, whose "Fitzcarraldo" closed the 1982 festival, bows "Bucking Fastard," starring Kate and Rooney Mara as sisters whose individual lives are so intertwined they speak (and do pretty much everything else) in unison.
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they → close → unison
In a matryoshka doll of a film, Pedro Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas" stars Barbara Lennie as an actress and director writing a screenplay inspired by her friends – and who herself is a fictional creation by another filmmaker (U.S. premiere; Oct. 6, 7, 8, 10, 12).
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who → star → filmmaker
Mike Leigh's "Tender Loving Care" is an emotional and humorous portrait of Brits navigating their lives post-Brexit (Sept. 28, 29, Oct. 6, 8, 12).
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Care → love → lives
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, director of the Oscar-winning "Drive My Car," returns with "All of a Sudden," in which the new director of a facility for the elderly in Paris teams up with a theater director from Japan to introduce a new program of care.
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director → win → care
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the best actress award at Cannes (U.S. premiere; Oct. 1, 2, 4, 9).
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Efira → share → Cannes
Nicolás Pereda's absurdist comedy "Everything Else Is Noise" (U.S. premiere; Sept. 26, 27, Oct. 4, 5), is about a family of musicians who open their home to a TV camera crew.
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who → open → crew
From Pixar veteran Louis Clichy comes "Iron Boy" (Sept. 26, 28), an animated coming-of-age tale set in rural France, which won the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at Cannes.
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which → come → Cannes
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
