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    Movies, movies, movies that cover the spectrum from world and New York premieres of top-drawer cinema, documentaries, classics of the silver screen, restored classics seen again on the wide screen, the avant-garde, witching hour movies that'll have you cringing and shrieking, and star-studded galas are what you can expect as the milestone 50th New York Film Festival begins unreeling Friday, September 28, and having its final credit crawl on October 14.
            The much-lauded Film Society of Lincoln Center's 17-day Festival continues its missions of screening the best in world cinema not only from celebrated directors but also emerging filmmakers. The 50th Anniversary is a special occasion and this year's lineup is the biggest ever.  
            Richard Peña, FSLC Program Director and NYFF Selection Committee chair, says, "This year's films have a quality of fearlessness uniting otherwise disparate works - films that take the risk of taking audiences places they might rather not go    ."
           Big ticket Main Slate atttractions include works by directors that include Noah Baumbach, David Chase, Brian De Palma, Ang Lee, Sally Potter, and Robert Zemeckis.
           Opening night premieres Life of Pi [Fox 2000] from Lee [Brokeback Mountain]. It's based on Yann Martel's best-selling novel, a magical adventure of an Indian zookeeper's son who finds himself in the company of motley animals, including a 450-pound Bengal tiger, after a shipwreck - legendary French actor Gérard Depardieu co-stars. 
          Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Don Cheadel, and Melissa Leo star in the Closing Night gala, the thriller Flight (Paramount) from director Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), loosely-based on 2001's incident of a pilot, following a fueled one-nighter, guiding a     fuel-less superliner from certain crash and becoming a hero until     the subsequent  investigation reveals troubling details.
          Among the eagerly-anticipated hot tickets are director Roger Michell and writer Richard Nelson's Hyde Park on Hudson [Focus Features], a look behind the scenes into the secret life of FDR on the occasion of King George VI and wife Queen Elizabeth to the president's New York retreat, starring Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Samuel West as King George VI, and, as Mama Roosevelt, stage and screen veteran Elizabeth Wilson; the semi-autobiographical Not Fade Away [Paramount Vantage], the Festival's  Centerpiece, from director/writer Chase (The Sopranos, Northern Exposure), starring James Gandolfini, newcomer John Magaro, and Brad Garrett as 60s New Jersey friends forming a rock band they hope is destined for the big time.
          Additional galas honor Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman and FSLC's program director Richard Peña, a Festival guiding force for 25 years.  Kidman will take part in an onstage conversation at the screening of director Lee Daniels's raw, pulp The Paperboy (Millenium Entertainment), one of the most talked about entries at this year's Cannes, with Kidman as the sultry fiancée of a death row inmate (John Cusack). Matthew McConaughey, as a journalist, and Zac Efron, in a departure from his his PG image, as his brother.
         Award winners having New York premieres include După Dealuri (Beyond the Hills) (Romania), director Cristian Mungiu's gripping modern exorcism tale     of two former orphans, starring newcomers Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan, who shared Cannes Best Actress prize.  Men of Cinema and Masterwork documentaries include films on the work of Busby Berkeley,Luis Buneul, George Cuckor, Fritz Lang, Jerry Lewis, Max Ophuls, Otto Preminger, Martin Scorsese, and Raoul Walsh.  
        A Festival special event will be Oliver Stone's controversial three-hour Showtime miniseries, Untold History of the United States.  
         The Film Society and NYFF receive support from American Airlines, Royal Bank of Canada, The New York Times, Stella Artois, National Endowment for the Arts, and New York State Council on the Arts.
         Galas are sold out. Remaining individual tickets are $20 for Main Slate showings. Purchase at the NYFF box office or NYFF Tickets section of     www.filmlinc.com/nyff2012, where you'll find information on the full line-up, schedules, special events, and panels. Follow #filmlinc on Twitter.     
             Films to watch for in theatres post New York Film Festival:
         Director Roger Michell and writer Richard Nelson's Hyde Park on Hudson [Focus Features], a look behind the scenes into the secret life of FDR on the occasion of King George VI and wife Queen Elizabeth to the president's New York retreat. Shot in various Roosevelt homes, the film is based on diaries kept by a cousin who was one of the president's mistresses. It boasts award-worthy performances from Bill Murray [a revelation], Laura Linney, Samuel West as King George VI, and, as Mama Roosevelt, stage and screen veteran Elizabeth Wilson, who darn well knows how to steal a movie. In some opinions, it far exceeds The King's Speech and should definitely be up for award nominations. 
        The semi-autobiographical Not Fade Away [Paramount Vantage], the Festival's  Centerpiece, from director/writer Chase (The Sopranos, Northern Exposure) co-stars James Gandolfini, newcomer John Magaro, and Brad Garrett as 60s New Jersey friends forming a rock band they hope is destined for the big time.
            Cannes Palme d'Or winner Amour (Austria/France/Germany - Sony Classics), Michael Haneke's poignant portrait, co-starring France's acclaimed Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert, of a couple dealing with the ravages of old age.
        The affectionate but much too long [with at least six endings!] memoir from acclaimed actress, Liv and Ingmar: Painfully Connected, in which she recounts her longtime affair and partnership with and insecurities of late Swedish master director.      
        Sir Laurence Oliver in a meticulously-restored print of 1955's Richard III.
        Peter O'Toole's career high in David Lean's 1962 masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia (Sony Pictures Repertory), also restored.
        The U.S.' first animated feature, Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

     

     

        

    Ellis Nassour is an international media journalist, and author of Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline, which he has adapted into a musical for the stage. Visit www.patsyclinehta.com.

    He can be reached at [email protected]





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