NYFF Spotlight selections announced

New Sofia Coppola and Pedro Almodóvar films among choices

by Anne-Katrin Titze

Tilda Swinton in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Human Voice
Tilda Swinton in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Human Voice Photo: El Deseo / Iglesias Más

Film at Lincoln Center has announced the six Spotlight selections of the 58th New York Film Festival. They are Sofia Coppola’s On The Rocks, starring Rashida Jones, Marlon Wayans and Bill Murray; David Dufresne’s title The Monopoly Of Violence which quotes Max Weber; Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film The Human Voice, his adaptation of the Jean Cocteau play, which centres on Tilda Swinton’s performance, is shot by José Luis Alcaine and is scored by Alberto Iglesias; Hopper/Welles, Orson Welles’ conversation with Dennis Hopper, resurrected by producer Filip Jan Rymsza and editor Bob Murawski; All In: The Fight For Democracy, directed by Lisa Cortés and Liz Garbus, and Spike Lee’s David Byrne’s American Utopia.

David Byrne’s Broadway hit, American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee is a Spotlight selection
David Byrne’s Broadway hit, American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee is a Spotlight selection Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

“Prior to the pandemic, Dennis Lim and I spent time talking with each other and the Film at Lincoln Center staff about how we might reshape and focus the New York Film Festival,” said Eugene Hernandez, Director of NYFF. “We agreed that among the annual highlights are those special, one-of-a-kind events that unveil an anticipated new film by a well-known filmmaker, dig deeper into a topic or theme with a substantive conversation, showcase something new or unexpected, and even have some fun! This is what we’re aiming to do with our new Spotlight section, which this year features cinema’s brightest names (Spike! Pedro! Sofia! Tilda! Orson!), but also explores big topics and important ideas that our society is grappling with today: voter suppression and police brutality. Even though we’ll gather digitally and at drive-ins this year, rather than en masse at Lincoln Center, we hope our first Spotlight section will engage, enlighten, and entertain.”

The 2020 New York Film Festival runs from September 17 through October 11, 2020

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