Digital and drive-in, film festivals try to salvage a season

Andrew Barker Senior Features WriterJust judging by the slate, last year’s New York Film Festival offered a testament to the nearly six-decade-old fest’s place in the fall awards circuit firmament, and in New York filmgoing culture.

Also Read: New York Comic Con 2020 Schedule: Here Are All the Must-See 'Metaverse' Virtual PanelsGames were first partially included in the Tribeca awards roughly a decade years ago, the organization said, when Rockstar Games’ detective thriller “L.A. Noir” was the first video game to be an official selection in the festival.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorTribeca Film Festival is expanding its focus on video games at next year’s planned fest in New York City: For the first time, Tribeca will open submissions for games to join the 2021 festival as official selections — and will bestow the inaugural Tribeca Games Award from the entries.The festival also announced a new advisory board for Tribeca Games comprising luminaries from the games and film worlds.

Janet W. Lee NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ film and media organization, has announced its program for the 32nd New York LGBTQ Film Festival.

Patrick Hipes Executive Managing EditorThe hybrid in-person/virtual New York LGBTQ Film Festival will kick off October 16 with the Kate Winslet-Saoirse Ronan movie Ammonite as its opening-night film.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: Keeping intact its long relationship with filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired The Human Voice, the 30 minute short film that stars Tilda Swinton and will be unveiled during the New York Film Festival.

Since its founding, the New York Film Festival has been intertwined with Lincoln Center. But, as with the entertainment industry at large, the coronavirus pandemic has shaken up long-standing traditions.

BTS ARMY absolutely adores Jimmy Fallon and how welcoming he is of their idols whenever they grace their presence on The Tonight Show. During Map of the Soul: 7's promotions, in particular, an entire episode was dedicated to BTS with the septet even joining Fallon for an interview inside the New York subway.

Earlier in the week, the 2020 incarnation of the New York Film Festival got underway officially, with one part of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, Lovers Rock, serving as the Opening Night Selection. Having seen it, the movie serves as both a strong start for NYFF this year, as well as a smaller and far less awards friendly selection.

Jimmy Fallon has been loving life with his family of four since becoming a father in 2013.The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon host and his wife, Nancy Juvonen, first welcomed daughter Winnie, and she became a big sister the following year when Frances arrived.After their eldest child’s arrival, the New York native opened up to Savannah Guthrie about why he and Juvonen opted to use a surrogate for both baby girls.“My wife and I had been trying a while to have a baby,” the Saturday Night Live

Dade Hayes Finance EditorApplause is often the soundtrack of film festival screenings, especially on opening night.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn the most transporting scene of Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock,” we’re at a London house party that has just hit its smoky seductive dirty-dancing groove. It’s 1980, and most of the revelers have West Indian roots.

Todd McCarthy Watching Lovers Rock is akin to going to see Romeo and Juliet and only staying through the first act, to departing a basketball game after the first quarter, to sipping the soup and skipping the rest of the meal. A mere wisp of a thing, Steve McQueen’s 68-minute feature, the only fictional section of a five-film anthology called Small Axe about London’s West Indian community between the late 1960s and 1980, steeps you in the atmosphere and music of the latter date.

Chris Rock recently revealed that he wasn't offended by Jimmy Fallon's 2000 sketch in which the then-Saturday Night Live star wore blackface to impersonate the Black actor. Back in May, Fallon, 45, apologized for a resurfaced clip of a 20-year-old SNL skit where he did an impression of Rock while wearing race-changing makeup.

canceled altogether, while this month’s New York Film Festival will mix mostly online viewing with a few outdoor screenings in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx. Only Venice has been totally brick-and-mortar.The pandemic has taught us a few things: For starters, more straight-to-digital releases from major studios will come in the future and many of us will work from home indefinitely.

The New York Times.“Hey, man, I’m friends with Jimmy. Jimmy’s a great guy.

Dade Hayes Finance EditorThe New York Film Festival exudes tradition. Since 1963, its Lincoln Center commingling of culturati, Oscar hopefuls and cinephiliacs has been a mainstay of the city’s fall calendar and the global festival circuit.This year, though, COVID-19 has thrown tradition to the wind and New York movie theaters and arts venues remain stuck in a lengthy, agonizing suspension.

The 58th New York Film Festival is right around the corner. Early next week, the virtual press screenings begin, while the fest officially starts up on September 17th (running from then all the way until October 11th).

Dade Hayes Finance EditorEXCLUSIVE: The New York Film Festival’s unorthodox 58th edition, which starts next week, has added a drive-in at the Bronx Zoo to its roster of screening sites.Three films have been confirmed to screen at the location, which has been built in the zoo’s south parking lot. Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock, which is the opening selection at the festival next Thursday at a drive-in in Queens, will be shown in the Bronx on September 23.