58th New York Film Festival (NYFF) Main Slate Announced

Film at Lincoln Center announces the 25 films that comprise the Main Slate of the 58th New York Film Festival, which will run September 17 – October 11

The Main Slate of the 58th New York Film Festival showcases films from 19 different countries, including new titles from renowned auteurs, exceptional work from directors making their NYFF debuts, and an especially strong slate of documentary features: Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, an unflinchingly immersive look at the war-ravaged borderlands of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, and Lebanon; Frederick Wiseman’s thoughtful exploration behind the scenes of Boston city government in City Hall; indictments of America’s racist past and present in Sam Pollard’s MLK/FBI and Garrett Bradley’s Time; and varied and intimate portraits of rural life in Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, Jia Zhangke’s Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, and Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s The Truffle Hunters. Hong Sangsoo makes his 15th festival appearance with The Woman Who Ran, while other returning NYFF filmmakers include Rosi, Jia, Pollard, Christian Petzold, Song Fang, Eugène Green, Cristi Puiu, Matías Piñeiro, Tsai Ming-liang, Philippe Garrel, and Centerpiece director Chloé Zhao. Appearing in the Main Slate for the first time are New Directors/New Films alumni Bradley, Kossakovsky, Chaitanya Tamhane, and Dea Kulumbegashvili; as well as Heidi Ewing, Yulene Olaizola, Closing Night director Azazel Jacobs, and New York African Film Festival alum Philippe Lacôte. 

“The disorientation and uncertainty of this tough year had the effect of returning us to core principles,” said Dennis Lim, Director of Programming for NYFF. “To put it simply, the Main Slate is our collective response to one central question: which films matter to us right now? Movies are neither made nor experienced in a vacuum, and while the works in our program predate the current moment of crisis, it’s striking to me just how many of them resonate with our unsettled present, or represent a means of transcending it. It has been a joy and a privilege to work with a brilliant, tireless programming team—the newly composed selection committee and our new team of advisors—and we are truly excited for audiences to discover and discuss these films.”

As previously announced, the NYFF58 Opening Night selection is Steve M^cQueen’s Lovers Rock, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is Centerpiece, and Azazel Jacobs’s French Exit will close the festival. Two other films from M^cQueen’s Small Axe anthology—Mangrove and Red, White and Blue—also screen in the Main Slate.

The Main Slate selection committee, chaired by Dennis Lim, also includes Eugene Hernandez, Florence Almozini, K. Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen. Sofia Tate is the NYFF Programming Coordinator, and Violeta Bava, Michelle Carey, Leo Goldsmith, Rachael Rakes, and Gina Telaroli serve as festival advisors. Matt Bolish is the Producer of NYFF.

NYFF58 will run September 17 – October 11, beginning one week earlier than usual in order to expand access to the festival via drive-in screenings. Opening Night is September 17, the Centerpiece screening is September 26, and the Closing Night selection will screen October 10.

In May, organizers unveiled a reimagined festival structure under the leadership of new NYFF Director Eugene Hernandez and NYFF Director of Programming Dennis Lim. The festival’s offerings have been streamlined into five sections, with the Main Slate remaining the heart and historic core of the program. Currents, Spotlight, Revivals, and Talks will be announced in the coming weeks.

The 58th New York Film Festival Main Slate

Opening Night
Lovers Rock
Dir. Steve M^cQueen

Centerpiece
Nomadland
Dir. Chloé Zhao

Closing Night
French Exit
Dir. Azazel Jacobs

Atarrabi and Mikelats
Dir. Eugène Green

Beginning
Dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili

The Calming
Dir. Song Fang

City Hall
Dir. Frederick Wiseman

Days
Dir. Tsai Ming-liang

The Disciple
Dir. Chaitanya Tamhane

Gunda
Dir. Victor Kossakovsky

I Carry You with Me (Te Llevo Conmigo)
Dir. Heidi Ewing

Isabella
Dir. Matías Piñeiro

Malmkrog
Dir. Cristi Puiu

Mangrove
Dir. Steve M^cQueen

MLK/FBI
Dir. Sam Pollard

Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois)
Dir. Philippe Lacôte

Notturno
Dir. Gianfranco Rosi

Red, White and Blue
Dir. Steve M^cQueen

The Salt of Tears (Le sel des larmes)
Dir. Philippe Garrel

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue
Dir. Jia Zhangke

Time
Dir. Garrett Bradley

Tragic Jungle (Selva Trágica)
Dir. Yulene Olaizola

The Truffle Hunters
Dir. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

Undine
Dir. Christian Petzold

The Woman Who Ran
Dir. Hong Sangsoo

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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