The festival season approaches

Autumn has always been my favorite season. For many years, the most significant changes in my life (both good and bad) would come in the fall, and as a believer in the idea that “change is good”, I always welcome such changes with open arms. Since moving out to NYC, another aspect of autumn has made it my favorite. For it is in the fall that the most welcome environmental shift occurs, with the change of the leaves and the wonderful onset of cooler weather relieving the oppression of summer humidity.

Since getting into the film biz, something else has emerged to further cement my love of autumn—the onset of the film festival season. Coinciding more or less with Labor Day weekend, three world-class film festivals take place pretty much at the same time: Telluride, Venice and Toronto. Then about a month later, the New York Film Festival arrives as a climax—showcasing what could be looked at as a cross-section of the best international cinema of the year.

Sadly I’ve never been to Telluride, Venice nor Toronto, and I won’t be going this year either. On three occasions, films that I edited were on the verge of playing Toronto but then didn’t for various reasons. I’ve had colleagues with films in Venice, and I’ve heard from a few friends about how Telluride is truly the “Shangri-La” of film festivals. Someday I hope to attend all three.

But I’ve attended the New York Film Festival for the past 4 years, and look forward to it more each time. It’s a festival I had a hard time getting a handle on at first, with it’s reserved seating and elitist air. But after seeing some of the best and most challenging films of the past few years at recent editions, I’ve come to appreciate it’s unique place in the festival spectrum. It’s like the fine arts museum of film festivals—curating films you may have already heard or read about, and showcasing them as a representation of “the state of the art”.

Toronto has been trickling out it’s schedule for weeks now, with the flow picking up dramatically over the past few days. And then this past Tuesday, NYFF released their schedule for their 2008 edition. As is often the case, a large part of NYFF slate has been culled from Cannes, with a fair number of those same films also making it to Toronto. Having been at Cannes this year, I can vouch that many of the most interesting films I saw, and indeed many of my favorites, are on tap at NYFF. There are also many on the slate from Cannes that I was sad to have missed, so I’m thankful to have a second chance to catch them at NYFF.

I’ve pasted some selections from NYFF lineup below (via IndieWIRE—see the full lineup there) with a few notes about what I recommend and what I’m looking forward to:

“The Class” (Entre les murs)
Laurent Cantet, France, 2008; 128m
The Cannes Palme d’Or winner. This is one of several NYFF films that’s getting a theatrical release, and given it’s the opening night film (and will no doubt be a tough ticket) I’ll likely hold off at NYFF and check it out when it’s in theaters.

“24 City” (Er shi si cheng ji)
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m
I found it disappointing overall, but nonetheless it’s well worth seeing if for no other reason then for the gorgeous HD footage of the destruction/construction of the “24 city” itself.

“Afterschool”
Antonio Campos, USA, 2008; 122m
A hot ticket in Cannes after some good word-of-mouth following its premiere in the “Un Certain Regard” section. Should be worth a look.

“Che”
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m
I’ll probably try to check this out for no other reason that it may not see the light of day (in it’s full 4 hour version at least) except on the festival circuit.

“A Christmas Tale” (Un conte de Noel)
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2008; 150m
One of the most lauded films at Cannes, and another that I missed while there. I won’t miss it this time.

“Four Nights with Anna” (Cztery noce z Anna)
Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008; 87m
One of the few “Director’s Fortnight” films in NYFF. This was the first film I saw at Cannes, and while it’s rather heavy to say the least, there’s a darkly humorous undercurrent that makes it worth seeing for the adventurous viewer.

“Gomorrah” (Gomorra)
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2008; 137m
Another heavily-lauded film that I missed at Cannes (and the eventual Grand Prize winner). It’s on my must-see list.

“The Headless Woman” (La mujer sin cabeza)
Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2008; 87m
My top-pick from the 20 films I saw at Cannes. Martel is one of my favorite filmmakers (who I first found out about when I saw THE HOLY GIRL at NYFF 04). Since this new film has no domestic distribution yet to the best of my knowledge, I’ll be seeing it again at NYFF 08.

“Hunger”
Steve McQueen, UK, 2008; 96m
The first 45 minutes or so justify this film winning the Camera d’Or at Cannes. Highly recommended.

“I’m Going to Explode” (Voy a explotar)
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2008; 103m
Another intriguing sounding pick that I’m not familiar with. We’ll see how the word is after it premieres at Venice in a few weeks.

“Night and Day” (Bam guan nat)
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008; 144m
Hong had a film in NYFF in 04, 05 and 06, so his return this year is hardly a surprise. Thankfully in the past he’s always lived up to expectations, so this one’s definitely on my list this year.

“Serbis”
Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France, 2008; 90m
A highly divisive film at Cannes. It was on my list to see there but I pushed it off after the pans it got. However, upon reading some reviews and analyses later, I may put it back on my list for NYFF.

“Tokyo Sonata”
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands, 2008; 85m
Probably the film I had most wished I’d caught at Cannes. Needless to say, I’ll be seeing it this time.

“Tony Manero”
Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil, 2008; 98m
This got pretty heavily panned at Cannes and I’m a bit surprised to see it on the NYFF schedule. As odd and intriguing as it sounds, it’s fairly low on my to-see list.

“Tulpan”
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland, 2008; 100m
I heard virtually nothing about this while at Cannes, but then it turned around and won the Un Certain Regard Prize. Guess that means it’s worth a look.

“Waltz with Bashir” (Vals in Bashir)
Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France, 2008; 90m
This played before I arrived at Cannes and got a lot of buzz in the first few days. I definitely want to check it out, but will likely wait for it’s planned theatrical release.

“Wendy and Lucy”
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008; 80m
On my list for Cannes but played after I left. Another that I will probably hold off to see until it’s December theatrical run at Film Forum.