NYFF 2020 Spotlight Section Includes New Films From Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar, Orson Welles & More

Yep, festival season is a little weird this year, but if the currently-ongoing Venice Film Festival and just-started Toronto International Film Festival are any indication, the 58th New York Film Festival is going to be just as good, albeit enjoyed from a safe distance.

Spike Lee and David Byrne aren’t an obvious pairing. While the former’s oeuvre, for the most part, features unflinching stories about Black life in America, the latter became a hero to white college-educated teens everywhere.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticWhen you watch the filmed version of a show like “Hamilton” or “Springsteen on Broadway,” it can feel like the next best thing to being there. But Spike Lee’s playful and entrancing big-screen version of David Byrne’s “American Utopia” is better than the next best thing — it feels more like a whole new thing.Byrne’s spiky and exuberant 21st-century rock-concert-on-Broadway jamboree, which opened at New York’s Hudson Theatre on Oct.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticDennis Hopper meets Orson Welles: That sounds like an oil-and-water match-up of legendary filmmakers. Welles, for all his renegade gusto, was a defrocked classicist — maybe (or maybe not) the greatest film director who ever lived, and one who became the ultimate high-toned Hollywood dropout.

If there ever was a year for the Toronto Film Festival to open with a musical pep talk for Americans, surely 2020 is it. American Utopia, the concert film of David Byrne’s 2019 Broadway show, directed by Spike Lee, provides a spark of optimism in the era of COVID-19 and civil unrest.

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar isn’t waiting for theaters to go back to normal before he resumes blowing us away with cinematic explorations of the human condition. Shortly after his first English-language film, “The Human Voice,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the legendary Oscar-winning reporter told reporters that he’s already chosen his next projects which includes a western and a dystopian set in a world where all the theaters and cultural spaces shut down.

Pedro Almodovar wants to get people back into movie theaters.

Guy Lodge Film Critic“These are the rules of the game, the law of desire,” Tilda Swinton sighs, playing an unnamed woman — who, let it be said, looks and speaks and dresses an awful lot like Tilda Swinton — whose lover has left her, and can only be bothered to say goodbye over the phone.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorPedro Almodovar and Tilda Swinton heated things up at the Venice Film Festival this afternoon, speaking to the press after the screening of the Spanish maestro’s first English-langauge project, The Human Voice. “Freely” based on the 1930 Jean Cocteau play, the 30-minute movie was shot after the coronavirus lockdown was lifted.

Manori Ravindran International EditorDirector Pedro Almodóvar has warned that remaining “imprisoned” at home after lockdown is a “dangerous habit,” for which the only antidote is cinema.The iconic “Pain and Glory” and “Volver” director is in Venice for his short film and first English-language effort “The Human Voice,” starring Golden Lion recipient Tilda Swinton.

Star Wars, Harry Potter, LEGO City and LEGO Friends.The calendars are packed with characters and and little builds, providing daily LEGO moments throughout December.Amazingly, the calendars are available to buy now, except for the City Advent Calendar which goes on sale on Wednesday, September 16th.If you want to get your hands on one in time for the festive season don't hang about as they're all bound to sell out quickly.Here's everything you need to know about the new Advent calendars.The

Regardless of your thoughts about Michael Jackson’s legacy in light of the accusations of sexual abuse and assault with underage children, it appears his music is still striking a chord with a generation that is finding themselves surrounded by racism and violence, seemingly on a daily basis. And one of Jackson’s music videos is being re-edited to reflect the modern times by the original director, Spike Lee.

Spike Lee has shared a new version of the video for Michael Jackson’s ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ to mark what would be the star’s 62nd birthday.The acclaimed director was behind the camera for the two original videos for the track – one shot in Brazil and another set in a prison.The new visuals for the ‘HIStory: Past, Present and Future’ track incorporate footage from 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests from locations around the world, including Rio De Janeiro, Helsinki, Atlanta, Cape Town, and

Spike Lee and Christopher Nolan would seemingly be examples of two filmmakers that are very different in their styles and yet have both become iconic enough that one name is all you need to describe them, with “Spike” and “Nolan” adequate enough. And yet, according to one actor that has worked on high-profile films with both, there are some major similarities that make them great at their jobs.

Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton appears in Pedro Almodóvar’s upcoming short film, “The Human Voice”, and fans finally have a first look at footage from the flick after a break in filming due to the pandemic.

are open and you make the decision to go, please follow all precautions and . Mark your calendars—and happy moviegoing. Below, the best fall 2020 movies coming to some sort of screen near you. Megan Fox plays a mercenary who leads a team of soldiers on an escape mission in this action-packed thriller.

Moments ago, the New York Film Festival announced their new Spotlight section. For this 58th incarnation of the festival, a very unique one already, which will focus largely on outdoor and virtual screenings, NYFF is opening to try this approach, which will include sneak previews, gala events, screenings with live elements, and other more.

Lisa Cortés and Liz Garbus, USA, 2020, 102mAll In: The Fight for Democracy is an invigorating and rigorous primer on the history of voter suppression in the United States, an insidious and still persistent reality in our nation.

Two years ago, Orson Welles’ unfinished film, “The Other Side of the Wind,” made its debut during the fall film festival circuit. The feature was accompanied by an entire documentary about the making of the film.