Film at Lincoln Center Announces Spotlight for New York Film Festival

Film at Lincoln Center announces Spotlight for the 59th New York Film Festival (September 24 - October 10, 2021). The Spotlight section is NYFF's showcase of the season's most anticipated and significant films. Early ticket access to Spotlight selections and more are available with a NYFF59 Festival Pass, available through this Sunday, August 22 only.

"Our Spotlight section is a new part of our reshaped New York Film Festival, a place that this year encompasses a range of cinema, new and old," said Eugene Hernandez, Director of the New York Film Festival. "Of the new work, we're showcasing a selection of anticipated films (and talent) from recent festivals (Wes & company! Olivia! Timmy! Jane & Charlotte! Joaquin! and more), while also looking back at our roots, celebrating the history of NYFF and New York City's film culture by shining a special light on Amos Vogel. We hope that our Spotlight section, in year two, will again engage, enlighten, and entertain!"

Among the highlights are Denis Villeneuve's highly anticipated adaptation of Dune; Academy Award-nominated director Mamoru Hosoda's Belle, a visually extraordinary tale about a shy teenager who becomes an online sensation as a pop star; Mike Mills's C'mon C'mon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a warmhearted radio journalist; Wes Anderson's latest, The French Dispatch, showcasing his unmistakable cinematic style with a cast of familiar collaborators; directorial debuts from Charlotte Gainsbourg, profiling her legendary mother Jane Birkin in Jane By Charlotte, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, adapting Elena Ferrante's novel The Lost Daughter, with a brilliant performance by Oscar-winner Olivia Colman; veteran Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio's Marx Can Wait, a heart-wrenching examination of the legacy of his twin brother's suicide, on the occasion of a family reunion in his hometown of Piacenza; and Red Rocket, Sean Baker's newest depiction of contemporary America as a playground for hustlers and con men, set against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election.

NYFF59 also pays tribute to the centenary of late film programmer and festival co-founder Amos Vogel-who offered the city "films you cannot see elsewhere," and whose uncompromising dedication to the medium's radical possibilities inspired NYC film culture as it exists today-with a special Spotlight sidebar. Vogel's wide-ranging curatorial career spanned his many years running Cinema 16, America's most influential film society; his foundational work at Lincoln Center; his time at Grove Press; and his classic study Film as a Subversive Art, which will soon be reissued by The Film Desk. FLC's tribute focuses on the NYFF period, bookended by screenings devoted to his work before and after his involvement with the festival, including films from Glauber Rocha, John Huston, and trailblazers of the Czech New Wave; a program from NYFF5 sidebar The Social Cinema in America, featuring Lebert Bethune's Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom, Santiago Álvarez's dispatch from postrevolutionary Cuba, Now, and David Neuman and Ed Pincus's snapshot of Civil Rights-era Mississippi, Black Natchez; and works from the era's burgeoning avant-garde scene, such as Tony Conrad's The Flicker and a world premiere restoration of Robert Frerck's Nebula II.

The NYFF59 Spotlight retrospective will be followed by tributes at repertory cinemas across New York City-Anthology Film Archives, Film Forum, Light Industry, Metrograph, MoMA, and the Museum of the Moving Image-in an unprecedented collaboration.

The Spotlight section is programmed by Eugene Hernandez and Dennis Lim. NYFF's Amos Vogel centenary celebration is organized by Thomas Beard, Dennis Lim, and Tyler Wilson.

NYFF59 will feature in-person screenings, as well as select outdoor and virtual events. In response to distributor and filmmaker partners and in light of festivals returning and theaters reopening across the country, NYFF will not offer virtual screenings for this year's edition.

Proof of vaccination will be required for all staff, audiences, and filmmakers at NYFF59 venues. Additionally, NYFF59 will adhere to a comprehensive series of health and safety policies in coordination with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and state and city medical experts, while adapting as necessary to the current health crisis. Visit filmlinc.org for more information.

Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema and takes place September 24 - October 10, 2021. An annual bellwether of the state of cinema that has shaped film culture since 1963, the festival continues an enduring tradition of introducing audiences to bold and remarkable works from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent.

Festival Passes are now on sale through this Sunday, August 22 only. NYFF59 tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, September 7 at noon ET, with early-access opportunities for FLC members and pass holders prior to this date. Learn more here. Support of the New York Film Festival benefits Film at Lincoln Center in its nonprofit mission to promote the art and craft of cinema. NYFF59 press and industry accreditation applications remain open through August 27.

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