In a sign that the Sundance Film Festival has some influence over film repertory series, the trend continues to develop in shaping the programming selections at this year’s New Directors/New Films series. The 40th anniversary lineup of this annual cinematic discovery showcase was announced today, with programming curated by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Film selections also include picks from the Cannes Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.
Nine films from this year’s Sundance make up most of the ND/NF slate, opening with J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call, then closing with Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance. The latter film was honored with the Sundance Audience Award. Other highlights include Happy, Happy, a bittersweet Danish film about infidelity, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, a documentary from Sweden chronicling the rise of the racial movement, Incendies, Canada’s Oscar Foreign Film nominee about twins searching for their wrongly-deceased father and brother and Pariah, Dee Rees’ debut about a black lesbian teenager living a secret life from her parents.
Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Darren Aronofsky, Christopher Nolan and Pedro Almodovar are some of the important filmmaking talents that showcased early work by the ND/NF during its 40 years to New York audiences. The 2011 series will run from March 23-April 3 at MOMA and the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. General ticket sales begin March 13. Full film details and ND/NF information can be found at www.newdirectors.org.
Categories: Film
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