The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today six official selections for the 2011 New Directors/New Films Film Festival (March 23 – April 3). The venerable film festival, dedicated to the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent celebrates a landmark 40th Anniversary this year.
Representing six countries from around the world, the initial six selections are Pia Marais’ AT ELLEN’S AGE (Germany), Denis Côté’s CURLING (Canada), Denis Villeneuve’s INCENDIES (Canada/France), Bogdan George Apetri’s OUTBOUND (Periferic) (Romania), Nicolás Pereda’s SUMMER OF GOLIATH (Verano de Goliat) (Mexico) and Hongqi Li’s WINTER VACATION (Han jia) (China).
Villeneuve’s INCENDIES is the anticipated follow-up to his multiple Genie Award-winning POLYTECHNIQUE; Marais’ AT ELLEN’S AGE comes on the heels of her film THE UNPOLISHED, which won Rotterdam’s Tiger Award, among other prizes; and Hongqi Li’s WINTER VACATION is the director’s third feature, following ROUTINE HOLIDAY, and SO MUCH RICE, which won the Locarno International Film Festival’s Netpac Award.
Côté’s CURLING is the latest from a director very familiar to those on the film festival scene (ALL THAT SHE WANTS and DRFTING STATES were both past award winners at the Locarno Film Festival), and Pereda’s SUMMER OF GOLIATH is the latest from the critically acclaimed Mexican director with four titles under his belt prior to reaching his 30th birthday.
Making his feature film debut with OUTBOUND, Apetri was assisted on the screenplay by Tudor Voican (CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’), Cristian Mungiu (4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS) and Ioana Uricaru (TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE).
New Directors/New Films has been a beacon for emerging directors eager to make their mark on the film scene, as the film festival for four decades has introduced or cemented the status of some of the most familiar and critically acclaimed directors (Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Darren Aronofsky, Ken Burns, Agnieszka Holland, Wong Kar Wai, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, among them).
“These first six selections are indicative of the great variety of films and the worldwide scope for which New Directors/New Films has long been known and respected. Each of these filmmakers has demonstrated a remarkable gift for storytelling and we are thrilled to bring their work to New York audiences,” said Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.
Film Society of Lincoln Center Program Director Richard Pena added, “While New Directors/New Films continues to be dedicated to emerging talents, the filmmakers of those films already selected exhibit astonishing maturity as well as fresh approaches to these often challenging works.”
The six official selections include:
AT ELLEN’S AGE Director: Pia Marais Country: Germany
Marais’ AT ELLEN’S AGE is a character study of a woman at a crossroads following her husband’s confession of having an affair and the loss of her job due to a subsequent panic attack. The film follows the woman’s awakening after she joins forces with a group of animal activists.
CURLING Director: Denis Côté Country: Canada
Set in the dead of winter, Côté’s CURLING tense and darkly comic drama is a portrait of an estranged family in a rural Quebec village. The film follows a single father as he seeks to isolate his adolescent daughter from the outside world for fear that it will scar her as much as it has him.
INCENDIES Director: Denis Villeneuve Country: Canada/France
Villeneuve’s film, INCENDIES focuses on twins grieving their mother’s death who have their world shaken further when the reading of her will reveals that their father, presumed to be deceased, is actually still alive and that they also have a brother. The film follows the twins as they seek to fulfill their mother’s final wish – for them to find their father and brother and deliver to each of them a sealed letter. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
OUTBOUND (Periferic) Director: Bogdan George Apetri Country: Romania
Apetri’s OUTBOUND is a tense race against time as a young woman, serving a five-year prison sentence for a crime she didn’t commit, attempts to right the wrongs done to her, collect on debts and cleanse herself from her past life after she receives a day pass so that she can attend her mother’s funeral.
SUMMER OF GOLIATH (Verano de Goliat) Director: Nicolás Pereda Country: Mexico
Pereda’s SUMMER OF GOLIATH combines documentary and fiction as it intertwines the stories of people living in a small town in rural Mexico. Those people include: a woman who believes her husband has left her for another woman; her soldier son, who hopes that one day he and his soldier partner will be issued machine guns so that they may intimidate the people passing motorists; and three brothers whose father left them many years ago in the care of their mother, who can barely support them.
WINTER VACATION (Han jia) Director: Hongqi Li Country: China
Hongqi’s WINTER VACATION is a deadpan comedy about four teenagers during the last day of their winter vacation as they face the prospects of having to return to school and their studies. The kids argue, debate and fight as the clock ticks away on their holiday and they deal with their love lives and question school’s value and relevance to real life.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sunday, March 13, 2011.
New Directors/New Films tickets can be purchased online at newdirectors.org, or at the box offices at The Film Society of Lincoln Center (Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th St., near Amsterdam Avenue) and The Museum of Modern Art (11 W. 53rd Street).
There are two advance ticketing opportunities:
1. Film Society Patrons and MoMA FilmPlus Members may purchase tickets starting Tuesday, March 1.
2. Film Society and MoMA Members may purchase tickets starting Tuesday, March 8.
To become a Member of the Film Society and MoMA please visit: www.filmlinc.com and www.moma.org
About New Directors/New Films
Dedicated to the discovery and support of emerging artists, New Directors/New Films has earned an international reputation as the premier festival for works that break or re-cast the cinematic mold. The New Directors/New Films selection committee is made up of members from both presenting organizations: from The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Marian Masone, Richard Peña, and, the newest committee member, Gavin Smith; and from The Museum of Modern Art, Jytte Jensen, Laurence Kardish, and Rajendra Roy.
About The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art
Under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic, and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, now in its 49th year, and New Directors/New Films, which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award—now named “The Chaplin Award”—to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com.
The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film was established as the Film Library in 1935, and presented its first series as circulating exhibitions in 1936. The Film Department organizes over 50 film exhibitions every year, including annual programs such as Premiere Brazil, To Save and Project and The Contenders. The Department also organizes exhibitions in MoMA’s galleries, including Tim Burton (2009-10) and Pixar: 20 Years of Animation (2005–06). The department also has an extensive archive of over 27,000 film and video works, including the world’s largest institutional collections of the works of D. W. Griffith, Andy Warhol, and Stan Brakhage. Rajendra Roy is the current Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, appointed in May 2007.
Sponsorship
New Directors/New Films is presented by The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center and is supported by Kenneth Kuchin and by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley. Media sponsorship provided by indieWIRE. The Film Society of Lincoln Center receives major, year-round support from: 42BELOW; American Airlines; GRAFF; Stella Artois; The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts.
