NYFF Announces 2018 Main Slate, Including ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,’ ‘High Life,’ and More
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
“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
