New York Film Festival 2009

Tickets for this year’s NYFF went on sale to the public yesterday, Sunday, September 13. For a list of this year’s films visit http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff/nyff.html. You can also purchase tickets at the aforementioned website. The description of each film also indicates, at the end of the paragraph, whether the work currently has a US distributor or not. (FYI some films shown at the NYFF never get distributed, which means that the NYFF screening may be a once-in-lifetime theatrical event. Others pick up distributors a year or so down the line, or later. Alexander Sokurov’s The Sun, which I saw at the NYFF in 2005 will have its first theatrical run at Film Forum this fall – four years later!) This year’s selection includes new films by Pedro Costa, Claire Denis, Bruno Dumont, Harmony Korine, Manoel de Oliveira (who recently celebrated his 100th birthday!!!), Todd Solondz, and Lars von Trier, as well as the two top prize winners at this year’s Cannes Film Festival: Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (which won the top prize, the Palme d’Or) and Corneliu Porumboiu’s Police, Adjective (which won the Prix Un Certain Regard).

The tickets for the NYFF are not cheap ($20) but the prints they show are typically pristine and the audio quality is exceptional (as it should be, since the auditorium where the films are screened is also a concert hall). The filmmaker and actors often, but not always, appear to do post-screening Q&A sessions. Note: even if a film is listed as sold out you will have a very good chance of getting into a screening if you show up early that day and either 1) buy a ticket off a person on the street trying to unload tickets or 2) queue up in the standby line. There are also sidebar events that you might look into, including the “Views from the Avant-Garde” program. These works are shown at another venue at Lincoln Center, and the ticket prices are more reasonable ($11).

Everyone should attend a screening at the NYFF at least once in their life.