NYFF 2010: Cannes, Venice and Clint Eastwood Pack Impressive Slate

It’s another “Cannes heavy” selection this year for the 48th edition of the NYFF. With the majority of the titles coming from the Croisette (look out for some personal faves in Cristi Puiu’s Aurora and Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte) and the Lido (Abdellatif Kechiche’s Black Venus, Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, Hong Sang-soo’s Oki’s Movie, Pablo Larrain’s Post Mortem, Patrick Keiller’s Robinson in Ruins, Alexei Fedorchenko’s Silent Souls, plus Raul Ruiz’s miniseries Mysteries of Lisbon), I figure it be fun to take a closer look at the non-Cannes/Venice offerings.

Not sure if this constitutes the film’s world premiere, but with a date closer to its theatrical release than what TIFF’s dates could provide, Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter will be closing the festival. Before it preems on PBS in November, Michael Epstein’s Lennon NYC will show — the doc comes with never before scene concert and private footage of The Beatles frontman. The NYFF will be the lieu for the world premiere (unless TIFF nabs it) of Sebastian Silva’s Old Cats – for those who need a refresher’s course: Silva directed the excellent film, The Maid. Finally, a pair of films that began their festival life in Berlin will make what appears to be their North American debuts: Benjamin Heisenberg’s The Robber and Revolucion via helmers Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Embecke, Amat Escalante, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas and Patricia Riggen. Here’s the complete listing below.

Opening Night: “The Social Network,” David Fincher, 2010, USA, 120 min
Centerpiece: “The Tempest,” Julie Taymor, 2010, USA, 110 min
Closing Night: “Hereafter,” Clint Eastwood, 2010, USA, 126 min

Official Lineup
“Another Year,” Mike Leigh, 2010, UK, 129 min
“Aurora,” Cristi Puiu, 2010, Romania, 181 min
“Black Venus” (Venus noire), Abdellatif Kechiche, France, 166 min
“Carlos,” Olivier Assayas, 2010, France, 319 min
“Certified Copy” (Copie conformé), Abbas Kiarostami, 2010, France/Italy, 106 min
“Film Socialisme,” Jean-Luc Godard, 2010, Switzerland, 101 min
“Inside Job,” Charles Ferguson, 2010, USA, 120 min
“Le Quattro Volte,” Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010, Italy, 88 min
“Lennon NYC,” Michael Epstein, 2010, USA, 115 min
“Meek’s Cutoff,” Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA, 104 min
“My Joy” (Schastye moe), Sergei Loznitsa, 2010, Ukraine/Germany, 127 min
“Mysteries of Lisbon” (Misterios de Lisboa), Raul Ruiz, Portugal/France, 272 min
“Of Gods and Men” (Des homes et des dieux), Xavier Beauvois, 2010, France, 120 min
“Oki’s Movie” (Ok hui ui yeonghwa), Hong Sang-soo, 2010, South Korea, 80 min
“Old Cats” (Gatos viejos), Sebastian Silva, 2010, Chile, 88 min
“Poetry” (Shi), Lee Chang-dong, 2010, South Korea, 139 min
“Post Mortem,” Pablo Larrain, 2010, Chile/Mexico/Germany, 98 min
“Revolucion,” Mariana Chenillo, Fernando Embecke, Amat Escalante, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo Garcia, Diego Luna, Gerardo Naranjo, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Reygadas, Patricia Riggen, 2010, Mexico, 110 min
“The Robber” (Der Räuber), Benjamin Heisenberg, Austria/Germany, 90 min
“Robinson in Ruins,” Patrick Keiller, 2010, UK, 101 min
“Silent Souls” (Ovsyanki), Alexei Fedorchenko, Russia, 75 min
“The Strange Case of Angelica” (O estranho caso de Angélica), Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, 97 min
“Tuesday After Christmas” (Marti, dupa craciun), Radu Muntean, Romania, 99 min
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives” (Lung Boonmee raluek chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2010, UK/Thailand, 113 min
“We Are What We Are” (Somos lo que hay), Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico, 90 min