Festival Closing Night Gala Saturday, October 14---The 44th edition of the New York Film Festival is drawing to a close, but not without one more weekend of film excitement and diversity. Saturday sees repeat screenings of two of the Festival's most anticipated and debated films, Sofia Coppola's post-modern take on the French Revolution, MARIE ANTOINETTE, and Emmanuel Bordieu's homo-erotic POISON FRIENDS. Another film having its final screening on Saturday is the Turkish drama CLIMATES by d...

Thursday, October 12----New Yorkers have long had a love affair with French cinema. Each year for the past 44, the New York Film Festival has peppered its program with intriguing films from French talents, old and new. This year, the love affair continues with four films in the main section, as well as seven film classics in the 50 YEARS OF JANUS FILMS retrospective sidebar. As the Festival enters its final weekend, lovers of French cinema still have an opportunity to sample some tasty hors d...

Tuesday, October 10----If it had not been for the success of THE LADY VANISHES, David O. Selznick perhaps would not have imported its director, Alfred Hitchcock, to Hollywood. If Hitchcock did not have his astonishly long and prolific career in Hollywood, who knows what the landscape of film art would look like. Yes, he was (and is) that influential. Hitchcock was not only the most popular director in Hollywood history because of his films, although their continued shelf life remains an indus...

Woody Allen's MANHATTAN Monday, October 9----The New York Film Festival is presenting two provocative and highly entertaining special programs this week....the first a paen to New York filmmaking, filmmakers and New York as a magical shooting location. The second looks at the 70 year history of jazz, as captured on film. The New York film program, with the splashy title of SCENES FROM THE CITY: 40 YEARS OF FILMMAKING IN NEW YORK, is a kind of tribute to the city's film and television commissi...

Scene from Almodovar's VOLVER As the New York Film Festival moves into its second weekend, a diverse and tantalizing plate of cinematic offerings is on tap, catered to every kind of viewer. The Festival has created a mix of hotly anticipated films, some unknown gems and new works from some cinematic masters, all of which have their initial premieres this weekend. Three filmmakers who have showcased their past work at the event are presenting their newest films this weekend. Veteran French dire...

Thursday, October 5----Certainly one of the most unique film series of all time has been the "UP" series of documentaries that have chronicled the lives of 12 protagonists at age 7 through to their current age of 49. The series, which began with the landmark television documentary 7 UP, made by Granada Television in 1964, and continues with the newest entry 49 UP, has been the on-going obsession of UK director Michael Apted. He worked on the first film as a researcher, but starting with 7 PLU...

Helen Mirren On The Red Carpet James Cromwell On The Red Carpet Jeremy Irons On Red Carpet Inside Alice Tully Hall LITTLE CHILDREN Press Conference: Director Todd Field, Actors Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson Warren Beatty Intros REDS ...

Wednesday, October 4---Warren Beatty would be the first to admit it. When he talks, he tends to ramble and to answer an interview question at such great length that both he and the questioner have forgotten the original query. At the press conference held on Tuesday afternoon at Alice Tully Hall, following the press screening of his masterpiece REDS, Beatty covered a lot of territory in a wise, witty and rambling style that had the audience eating out of his hand. Such is the power of the mo...

Alice Tully Hall Tuesday, October 3----Audiences attending the NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL screenings cannot help but notice that there is massive construction going on in and around Lincoln Center these days. The front of the Festival's main screening venue, Alice Tully Hall, is being remodeled, and the overpass on West 65th Street has been torn down to create a more airy environment. Missing is the escalator entrance from Broadway and the colonaded walkway that took adventurous filmgoers past the...

Monday, October 2----Has there ever been a film as transgressive, as outrageous, as experimental as the classic WR: MYSTERIES OF THE ORGANISM, directed by the iconoclastic Yugoslav pioneer Dusan Makavejev? The film, a mind-bending cult hit when first released in 1971, mixes Stalinism, sexual freedom and Freudian analysis in an intoxicating mix that leaves the viewer guessing, or simply asking out loud "Did I really see that?". The film screens this week as part of the 50 Years of Janus Films ...

Sunday, October 1----It would be hard to find a more entertaining guest for afternoon tea than the director Stephen Frears. His self-deprecating humor, off-kilter sensibility and ingratiating personality were in rousing form on Saturday afternoon, with the director participating in the first of three HBO Films Directors Dialogues at the New York Film Festival. For almost 90 minutes, Frears regaled his audience in a mix of interview and question and answer, moderated by New York Film Festival ...

Saturday, September 30---The first full day of screenings and events at the New York Film Festival, following last evening's gala premiere of THE QUEEN, was a full program of diverse delights, with something for every cinematic taste. Following its enthusiastic reception last evening, and amidst glowing reviews upon its theatrical release today, THE QUEEN director Stephen Frears was in high spirits at the HBO Films Directors Dialogue , held this afternoon at the Kaplan Penthouse, high atop th...

Helen Mirren Saturday, September 30----The stars were out last evening, both in the night sky and on the red carpet at Avery Fisher Hall, as the New York Film Festival held its Gala Opening Night with the premiere screening of THE QUEEN. Spotted on the red carpet were luminaries from the world of film, music and Broadway, including directors Brian De Palma and Taylor Hackford, musician Phil Collins, indie filmmakers Mira Nair, Mike White and Lodge Kerrigan, and Broadway luminaries Frances Ster...