New York Film Festival 2020 - what's going to happen?
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FRANCES MCDORMAND IN CHLOE (THE RIDER) ZHAO'S NOMADLAND; IT OPENS @ VENICE AND IS THE ANNOUNCED CENTERPIECE @ NYFF
New York Film Festival 2020 - What's going to happen?
FESTIVAL COVERAGE THREAD
I thought there would not be one, a "not" one, like Telluride.. But they seem to be planning some kind of pandemic compromise, as with Venice and Toronto. I don't know how much of an actual festival there will be, frankly. The announcement is, that it will take a "hybrid shape with a 'focus on outdoor and virtual screenings with indoor screenings as possible and directed by state and health officials" (-IndieWire).
The Centeriece film was announced last week: Chloe (The Rider)'s Nomadland starring Frances McDormond.
Now "The 2020 edition of the New York Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Steve McQueen's 'Lovers Rock,' it was announced today." This is part of a sequence entitled "Small Axe" about Black West Indians in England and their struggle against racism, which will be shown later on BBC One and Amazon Prime. Two other films in the "Small Axe" series will also be shown as part of the 20200 NYFF Main Slate.
NYFF (Sept. 25-Oct. 11, 2020)
NYFF 2020 calendar. Opening night film.
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STILL FROM MCQUEEN'S LOVER'S ROCK
NYFF calendar: Friday, September 25, 2020 to Sunday, October 11, 2020.
OPENING NIGHT FILM.
Film at Lincoln Center has announced NYFF 58's opening night film. It will be the first segment of Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" anthology, Lover's Rock. In fact this is not a feature film but one piece of an anthology-style mini-series of different-length films made for television.
McQueen’s "Small Axe" anthology is set to premiere on BBC One later this year and air on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. According to series' official summary, it's set between the late 1960's and mid-1980's, with each film following a different story involving London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been "shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination." As mentioned, two other films in the "Small Axe" series, the 124-minute Mangrove and 80-minute Red, White and Blue, will play later in the 2020 NYFF Main Slate.
"Small Axe" consists of five different films, Mangrove, Lovers Rock, Alex Wheatle, Education, and Red, White and Blue. Film at Lincoln Center expects to debut the full series later in the year. It focuses on stories of Black pride and resilience in London's West Indian population, cases where ordinary people in the community stood up to police brutality and racial injustice effectively.
NYFF 2020 - Closing Night Film
NYFF 2020 Closing Night Film:
Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit.
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MICHELLE PFEIFFER AND LUCAS HEDGES AND A BLACK CAT IN FRENCH EXIT
Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit has been chosen to close the festival. It stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges.
Four of his five previous features have won festival awards, Terri, a lot of them. He is one of those New York directors who grew up with treasured viewings at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater . "NYFF is the film festival I grew up attending," Jacobs says. "I remember seeing Night On Earth for the first time, and waiting afterwards to hand Jim Jarmusch a fan letter. I remember that same year seeing Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho and having my aim to become a filmmaker only more solidified. I'm grateful to the NYFF for allowing French Exit to premiere in the city I was raised in, and love, and to all who are undoubtedly working tirelessly to make this event happen."
In French Exit Michelle Pfeiffer plays widowed, formerly uber-rich NYC socialite Frances Price. Now in diminished circumstances, she escapes to a friend's empty Paris flat via cruise ship with her dyspeptic son Malcolm (Hedges) and their temperamental black feline Small Frank (who speaks, voiced by Tracy Letts). In Paris Frances and Malcolm confront dubious pasts and uncertain futures while experiencing an enriched social life. Adapted from a novel by Patrick deWitt. To be released by Sony Pictures Classics.