One of the best festivals during the first half of the year is The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films, which kicks off its 46th year this March, running from the 15th to the 26th. With last year’s line-up including some of the year’s best films, including Cameraperson, The Fits, Kaili Blues, Neon Bull, Weiner, and more, we can expect many more discoveries this year.
Opening with Patti Cake$ and closing with Person to Person, in between will be one of our favorite films from Sundance as the centerpiece, Beach Rats. Also among the line-up is a handful of other festival favorites, including The Dreamed Path, The Giant, Menashe, and Lady Macbeth.
“Authenticity is an elusive thing these days, and without it we risk ruin. This is particularly true in cinema,” says Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at The Museum of Modern Art. “The filmmakers selected for this year’s festival share a common commitment to honest personal vision and integrity in storytelling. We’re honored that these artists will share their true optimism for film with our audiences this March.”
Film Society Director of Programming Dennis Lim added, “At this point in its long history, it goes without saying that New Directors/New Films is very much about discovery and revelation, but I think this year’s lineup, full of fresh takes on established genres and subtly new forms of expression, is an especially invigorating and timely illustration of the uses of imagination—as acts of resistance and renewal. These are distinctive voices you will be hearing a lot from in the years to come.”
Check out the line-up below, and click links for our full reviews where available.
New Directors/New Films 2017
Patti Cake$ / Geremy Jasper, USA
Beach Rats / Eliza Hittman, USA
Person to Person / Dustin Guy Defa, USA
4 Days in France / Jours de France, Jérôme Reybaud, France
Albüm / Mehmet Can Mertoglu, Turkey/France/Romania
Arábia / João Dumans & Affonso Uchoa, Brazil
Autumn, Autumn / Chuncheon, chuncheon, Jang Woo-jin, South Korea
Boundaries / Pays, Chloé Robichaud, Canada
By the Time It Gets Dark / Dao Khanong, Anocha Suwichakornpong, France/Netherlands/Qatar/Thailand
The Challenge / Yuri Ancarani, Italy/France/Switzerland
Diamond Island / Davy Chou, Cambodia/France/Germany/Qatar/Thailand
The Dreamed Path / Der traumhafte weg, Angela Schanelec, Germany
The Future Perfect / El Futuro perfecto, Nele Wohlatz, Argentina
Three Sentences About Argentina / Tres oraciones sobre la Argentina
The Giant / Jätten, Johannes Nyholm, Sweden/Denmark
Happiness Academy / Bonheur Academie, Kaori Kinoshita & Alain Della Negra, France
Happy Times Will Come Soon / I Tempi felici verranno presto, Alessandro Comodin, Italy/France
Lady Macbeth /William Oldroyd, UK
The Last Family / Ostatnia rodzina, Jan P. Matuszynski, Poland
The Last of Us / Akher Wahed Fina, Ala Eddine Slim, Tunisia/Qatar/UAE/Lebanon
Menashe / Joshua Z. Weinstein, USA
My Happy Family / Chemi bednieri ojakhi, Nana Ekvtimishvili & Simon Gross, Georgia/France
Pendular / Julia Murat, Brazil/Argentina/France
Quest / Jonathan Olshefski, USA
Sexy Durga / Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, India
Strong Island Yance Ford, USA/Denmark
The Summer Is Gone / Ba yue, Dalei Zhang, China
White Sun / Seto Surya, Deepak Rauniyar, Nepal/USA/Qatar/Netherlands
The Wound /John Trengove, South Africa/Germany/Netherlands/France
Wùlu / Daouda Coulibaly, France/Mali/Senegal