The 46th New York Film Festival

New York Film Festival

The New York Film Festival has been a major film festival since it began in 1963 in New York. The films are selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center...

ran from September 26 to October 12, 2008. In addition to screening the feature films listed below, which were often preceded by short films, the festival ran a sidebar retrospective of the films of controversial Japanese director Nagisa Oshima

Nagisa Oshima

is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....

. The festival also included its twelfth annual series Views from the Avant-Garde, showcasing a variety of experimental film

Experimental film

Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...

s.

Main slate

	English title	Original title	Director(s)	Country
Opening Night	The Class The Class (film) The Class is an Estonian film about school violence directed by Ilmar Raag. It was released on March 16, 2007.-Plot:The Estonian teenager Joosep is being bullied by his entire high school class...	Entre les murs	Laurent Cantet Laurent Cantet Laurent Cantet is a French director, born on June 15, 1961 at Melle . His parents were schoolteachers in Ardilleux.On 25 May 2008, he received the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes 2008, for the movie Entre les murs.- As director :...	Early Modern France
Centerpiece	Changeling Changeling A changeling is a creature found in Western European folklore and folk religion. It is typically described as being the offspring of a fairy, troll, elf or other legendary creature that has been secretly left in the place of a human child. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to the child who...		Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...	United States
Closing Night	The Wrestler		Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...	United States

English title	Original title	Director(s)	Country
24 City 24 City 24 City is a 2008 film directed and co-written by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. The film follows three generations of characters in Chengdu as a state-owned factory gives way to a modern apartment complex...	二十四城记/二十四城記 Er shi si cheng ji	Jia Zhangke Jia Zhangke Jia Zhangke is a Chinese film director. He is generally regarded as a leading figure of the "Sixth Generation" movement of Chinese cinema, a group that also includes such figures as Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Yuan....	Mainland China
Afterschool		Antonio Campos	United States
Ashes of Time Redux	Dung che sai duk redux	Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...	Hong Kong
Bullet in the Head	Tiro en la cabeza	Jaime Rosales Jaime Rosales (director) Jaime Rosales is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and film producer.He spent three years in Cuba studying cinema at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión in San Antonio de los Baños in La Habana, and later at Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney, .He did several...	Spain
Che Che (film) Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...  (Part I: The Argentine and Part II: Guerilla)		Steven Soderbergh Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...	United States
Chouga	Shuga	Darezhan Omirbaev	Kazakhstan
A Christmas Tale A Christmas Tale A Christmas Tale is a 2008 French comedy-drama film by Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny, Melvil Poupaud, Emmanuelle Devos and Chiara Mastroianni. It tells the story of a family with strained relationships which gathers at the...	Un conte de Noël	Arnaud Desplechin Arnaud Desplechin Arnaud Desplechin is a French film director.-Biography:Arnaud Desplechin is the son of Robert and Mado Desplechin, and grew up in the Nord department...	Early Modern France
Four Nights With Anna	Cztery noce z Anna	Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski is a Polish film director, screenwriter, dramatist and actor. A graduate of the prestigious National Film School in Łódź, Skolimowski has directed more than twenty films since his 1960 début Oko wykol...	Poland
Gomorrah Gomorra (film) Gomorrah is a 2008 Italian film directed by Matteo Garrone, based on the book by Roberto Saviano. It deals with the Casalesi clan, a crime syndicate within the Camorra — a traditional criminal organization based in Naples and Caserta, in the southern Italian region of Campania.-Plot summary:The...	Gomorra	Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone is an Italian film maker.Born in Rome, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, in 1996 Garrone won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette, that became one of the three episodes that are on his first long film ...	Italy
Happy-Go-Lucky Happy-Go-Lucky Happy-Go-Lucky is a 2008 British Comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. The screenplay focuses on a cheerful and optimistic primary-school teacher and her relationships with those around her...		Mike Leigh Mike Leigh Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
The Headless Woman	La mujer sin cabeza	Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel is a film director, screenplay writer, and producer.According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for Mabuse, a cinema magazine, Lucrecia Martel is one of the members of the so-called "New Argentina Cinema" which began c...	Argentina
Hunger Hunger (2008 film) Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was written by Enda Walsh and Steve R. McQueen, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for...		Steve McQueen Steve McQueen (artist) Steve Rodney McQueen CBE is a British artist and filmmaker. He is a winner of the Golden Camera at the Cannes Film Festival, a Turner Prize and BAFTA.-Early years:...
I'm Gonna Explode	Voy a explotar	Gerardo Naranjo	Mexico
Let It Rain	Parlez-moi de la pluie	Agnès Jaoui Agnès Jaoui Agnès Jaoui is a French screenwriter, film director, actress and singer of Tunisian Jewish descent. She frequently works in collaboration with her husband Jean-Pierre Bacri.-Actress:* Le Faucon...	Early Modern France
Night and Day Night and Day (2008 film) Night and Day is a 2008 South Korean film directed by Hong Sang-soo.- Plot :Seong-nam, a painter in his forties, travels to Paris to escape arrest for smoking marijuana, leaving his wife behind in Korea. While there he meets an old girlfriend, Min-seon, and is introduced to a small community of...	Bam guan nat	Hong Sang-soo Hong Sang-soo Hong Sang-soo is a South Korean film director. Hong's directorial debut, The Day a Pig Fell into the Well , was praised by South Korean critics for its originality and won international film prizes...	South Korea
The Northern Land	A Corte do Norte	João Botelho João Botelho João Botelho is a Portuguese film director.He has directed and written the screenplays of numerous films. His films have won several awards...	Portugal
Service	Serbis	Brillante Mendoza Brillante Mendoza Brillante Mendoza is a Filipino film director. He has directed nine films since 2005. He won the award for Best Director for his film Kinatay at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival...	Philippines
Summer Hours	L'heure d'été	Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas is a French film director and screenwriter.He made his debut in 1986, after directing some short films and writing for the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma.-Career:...	Early Modern France
Tokyo Sonata Tokyo Sonata is a 2008 film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. It won the award for Best Film at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and received 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominations for Achievement in Directing and Best Screenplay...	Tôkyô sonata	Kiyoshi Kurosawa Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...	Japan
Tony Manero Tony Manero Anthony T. Manero was an American golfer. He won eight times on the PGA Tour including one major championship, the 1936 U.S. Open. He played on the 1937 Ryder Cup team. He was born in New York, New York and died in Greenwich, Connecticut. Manero was originally spelled Mainiero...		Pablo Larrain	Chile
Tulpan Tulpan Tulpan is a 2008 Kazakh drama film. The film is directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy and distributed by . Tulpan is Kazakhstan's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category...		Sergey Dvortsevoy Sergey Dvortsevoy Sergey Dvortsevoy is a filmmaker from Kazakhstan. His 2008 feature film Tulpan was Kazakhstan's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category....	Kazakhstan
Waltz with Bashir Waltz with Bashir Waltz with Bashir is a 2008 Israeli animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman. It depicts Folman in search of his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War....	ואלס עם באשיר Vals Im Bashir	Ari Folman Ari Folman Ari Folman is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer.-Biography:Ari Folman was born in Haifa to Holocaust survivors. His wife is also a film director...	Israel
Wendy and Lucy Wendy and Lucy Wendy and Lucy is a 2008 American drama film directed by Kelly Reichardt. Reichardt and Jon Raymond adapted the screenplay from his short story "Train Choir". The film stars Michelle Williams and Will Patton...		Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt is a screenwriter and film director working within American indie cinema. Her debut film River of Grass was released in 1994. It was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, as well as the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. In 1999, she completed her sophomore...	United States
The Windmill Movie		Alexander Olch	United States

Selection committee

• Richard Peña
  Richard Peña
  Richard Peña is the American film program director of the prestigious Film Society of Lincoln Center noted for his organization of the New York Film Festival, New Directors/New Films series and Scanners .-Early life:Interested in film at a very young age, when Richard was just 12 years old, he was...
  
  , programming director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center
  Film Society of Lincoln Center
  The Film Society of Lincoln Center based in New York City, United States, is one of the world's most prominent film presentation organizations. Founded in 1969 by three Lincoln Center executives - William F. May, Martin E. Segal and Schuyler G...
  
  
• Kent Jones, editor-at-large of Film Comment
  Film Comment
  Film Comment is an arts and culture magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, of which it is the official publication. Film Comment features critical reviews and in-depth analysis of mainstream, art-house, and avant-garde filmmaking from around the world...
  
   and former associate programming director of the Film Society
• Scott Foundas, chief film critic for L.A. Weekly
• J. Hoberman
  J. Hoberman
  James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
  
  , senior film critic at The Village Voice
  The Village Voice
  The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
  
  
• Lisa Schwarzbaum, film critic at Entertainment Weekly
  Entertainment Weekly
  Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...