New York Film Festival Puts Tradition Into Turnaround To Meet The Drive-In Moment

Bruce Haring pmc-editorial-managerNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called Sunday for the shutdown of non-essential businesses, schools and restaurants in nine areas in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens starting Wednesday.The mayor cited a spike in the areas of COVID-19 infections.

Patrick Hipes Executive Managing EditorNewFest is hosting a reading of Ang Lee’s groundbreaking Brokeback Mountain at its New York LGBTQ Film Festival on October 18, employing an all-trans cast for the event that commemorates the film’s 15th anniversary.The cast features Leo Sheng (The L Word) as Ennis, Brian Michael Smith (911: Lone Star) as Jack, Jen Richards (Tales of the City) as Alma, Alexandra Grey (Empire) as Lurleen and Disclosure director Sam Feder as the narrator.The original film

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaThe 58th edition of the New York Film Festival is unlike any of the previous 57 iterations. Coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings forced the festival’s organizers to overhaul their usual approach to highlighting the best of cinema.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge in Florida agreed Thursday to transfer ex-prosecutor Linda Fairstein’s defamation lawsuit against Netflix to New York, finding that is a more appropriate venue for the case involving a TV series about the Central Park Five.Fairstein filed the suit in March, alleging that she was wrongfully depicted in “When They See Us” as a racist prosecutor who orchestrated the railroading of five innocent teenagers.

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.

Bad Bunny surprised the city of New York with a livestreaming concert from the flatbed of a truck. The concert was also done to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month as well as the anniversary of Hurricane Maria.

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.

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.

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.

Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick join some friends for dinner at Morandi in New York City’s West Village on Wednesday night (September 16).

coronavirus pandemic, the annual event will be broadcast virtually this year, a bummer for many fans but a boon for those who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to come to the Big Apple and experience it in person — a silver lining of being forced to go digital-only.“New York Comic Con’s Metaverse is the magical mix of celebs, exhibitors, comics, art, panels, cosplay and passionate fans you’d see in person — but with your own snacks and no lines,” proclaims the Comic Con website.The lineup of

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).