NYC Film

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NYC Film is much more than a bunch of movie theaters. It is film festivals like the New York Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Neighboring Scenes Latin American film festival, DOC NYC, and more.

It is presenters like Film at Lincoln Center and MoMA Film. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) holds one of the world’s great film collections. The Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is in the historic Astoria Studios in Queens.

There are independent cinemas like IFC Center and Film Forum, and film screenings in parks, and even some drive-ins.

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The Year in NYC Film

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New York is a Film City

The first cinema was founded in Paris, France in 1895. 🇫🇷

American cinema began in NYC in 1896. Some of the very first American films were New York City street scenes. There was no radio, television or internet, so this was something very novel and new.

The film industry moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey. Movie studios used to make westerns up on the Palisades rock formations that line the Hudson River. The industry then jumped to Hollywood for California sunshine. New York remains America’s second film city because it is the world media capital.

NYC’s film industry used to be in the Upper West Side, but has moved to Tribeca and Brooklyn now.

The New York Film Festival is the mother of New York film festivals. The Tribeca Film Festival is the popular, young upstart. It was founded in 2002 to bring people back downtown after 9/11. Downtown was a ghost town, but Tribeca helped bring it back and make Tribeca a film industry center.

There has been a lot of change in the industry. The Paris Theater (1948) was the last of NYC’s single-screen movie houses. It closed in 2019, but in a sign of the times, Netflix reopened it as a screen for Netflix movies. Walking into the Paris Theater feels like walking back in time to the 1940s.

New York is a film city. It’s been the subject of many great movies. Most of the great movie palaces of the 1920s-30s have been repurposed as theaters. They are a beautiful legacy of once upon a time in New York City.

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The Types of Films a Country Makes Reveal the State of the Nation

Hollywood wastes its creativity on shoot-em-ups and superheroes. Independent filmmakers produce much more interesting work. The Latin world is more diverse and more connected to family and community, so Latin films reflect that.

The Colonial Period and then Cold War communist-hunting unleashed mayhem on Latin America that led to instability and civil wars from which we are still recovering.

As filmmaking gear has gotten better and cheaper, filmmakers across the Latin world have been energized.

The types of films a country makes, say a lot about that country. Countries that are very violent make Hollywood style shoot-em-up films. Countries that have been taken over by narcotics traffickers make drug films. Countries that have gone through civil war, make war movies.

But when countries begin to heal, they begin to make films about reconciliation, diversity and love. That is the great beauty of Latin film. It’s not Hollywood, it’s real life.

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Previously in NYC Film

Parallel Mothers, Pedro Almodóvar’s story of two women who meet in a maternity ward and find themselves linked by a historical secret opened at Film at Lincoln Center on Dec 24. 🇪🇸

New Directors / New Films 2022 film festival is at MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown, Mon, Apr 25 – May 1. 🇲🇽

Memoria, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s tale of a Scottish woman who starts hallucinating in the Colombian jungle, returns for one week to IFC Center in the West Village Fri, Apr 1-7. $13. ifccenter.com 🇨🇴

The Art of the Real documentary film festival is at Film at Lincoln Center, Mar 31 – Apr 7. $15 (All-access $79, Students $25).

March 2022

Atlantide, Italian filmmaker Yuri Ancarani’s Venetion coming of age movie, is at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Midtown, Mon-Wed, Mar 21-23. moma.org 🇨🇮

Intregalde, by Radu Muntean, a tale of humanitarians stuck in the mountains, relying on a grizzled local for help, or maybe something else, opens at Film Forum in Hudson Square, Fri Mar 18. $11. 🇷🇴

The New York International Children’s Film Festival 2022 (NYICFF) screens Oscar-qualifying children’s films for a variety of ages at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea, Manhattan, Fri-Sun, Mar 4-19, 2022. From $17. 🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇦🇫🇷🇮🇱🇲🇽🇵🇸🇺🇬🇺🇸

The Rendez-Vous with French Cinema film festival is at Film at Lincoln Center, Mar 3-13. $15. 🇫🇷

Doc Fortnight 2022, MoMA’s documentary film festival, is online to members and in-person at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown, Wed, Feb 23 – Mar 10. 🇧🇷🇫🇷🇲🇽🇵🇭🇪🇸

Lingui, The Sacred Bonds, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s story of a Chadian mother’s determination to help her daughter end a pregnancy against all odds, was at Film Forum in Hudson Square, Feb 4 – Mar 3. 🇹🇩

February 2022

Cyrano, Joe Wright’s take on the Cyrano de Bergerac love triangle, opened in NYC on Fri, Feb 25. 🇫🇷

The 7th Neighboring Scenes Latin American film festival is in person at Film at Lincoln Center, Feb 24-28. $15 per film or $80 All-Access Pass ($20 students). 🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇲🇽🇵🇪🇺🇾🇻🇪

Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven’s story of a nun’s forbidden passion, ran in NYC from Dec 3, 2021 – Feb 24, 2022. 🇫🇷

Tributo a Bebo Valdés, the world premiere screening of Ricardo Bacallao’s documentary of the 2019 tribute concert by grandson Emilio Valdés, is streaming at the Cuban Cultural Center on Sat, Feb 19 at 7pm. Free. 🇨🇺

Marry Me, the hilarious new romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez Maluma and Owen Wilson, opened Valentines Weekend, Fri, Feb 11. 🇵🇷🇨🇴

In The Contenders 2021, MoMA Film screens this year’s Oscar contenders at MoMA in Midtown through Jan 22. moma.org 🇪🇹🇵🇷🇪🇸

December 2021

The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhall’s directorial debut based on Elena Ferrante’s Italian novel, opened in NYC on Fri, Dec 17. 🇮🇹

West Side Story Spielberg’s remake with Executive Producer Rita Moreno, opened Dec 10. 🇵🇷

France, Bruno Dumont’s tragicomedy about a journalist whose life is upended by driving into a delivery man on the street, opened at Film at Lincoln Center on Fri, Dec 10. $15. 🇫🇷

“Passing” by Rebecca Hall, a thoughtful film about passing as White, is at IFC Center in the West Village to Thu, Dec 4.

The Hand of God, Paulo Sorrentino’s (The Great Beauty) 1980s Neapolitan coming of age story that involves Maradona, opened at IFC Center in the West Village on Fri Dec 3. $13. 🇮🇹

November 2021

29th African Diaspora International Film Festival was live and online Nov 26 – Dec 12, 2021. nyadiff.org

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Berlin Golden Bear), Rada Jude’s comedy about a teacher whose husband accidentally puts their personal sex tape online, opens at Film at Lincoln Center on Fri, Nov 19. $15. 🇷🇴

Encanto, Disney’s Colombian musical comedy with music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, opened Nov 17. 🇨🇴🇵🇷

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane by Julia Ducournau at IFC Center in the West Village keeps getting extended to Tue, Nov 16. 🇫🇷

Tick, Tick…Boom!, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut about the creator of Broadway’s “Rent,” opened Nov 12. 🇵🇷

Spencer, Pablo Larrain’s Princess Diana story, opened Nov 5. 🇨🇱

El Planeta by Amalia Ulman is at IFC Center in the West Village to Thu, Oct 21. $13 🇪🇸

Illustrious Corpses (1976), by Francesco Rosi, screens at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Oct 21. $15 🇮🇹

BRONX RISING!
Edwin Pagán’s Bronx horror movie Wolfen (1980) screens with live music by Bobby Sanabria & Project X and director Q&As at the Bronx Music Heritage Center Laboratory in Foxhurst, The Bronx on Fri, Oct 29 at 7pm. $10 with reservation to (917) 557-2354. Facebook @bxmusic 🇵🇷

Dune, by French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, opened citywide on Fri, Oct 22. 🇨🇦

Son of Monarchs by Alexis Gambis is at Cinema Village and Cobble Hill Cinemas to Thu, Oct 21. sonofmonarchs.com 🇲🇽

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It is streaming on American Masters on PBS Thirteen to Wed, Oct 20. FREE 🇵🇷

Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Oct 14. 🇫🇷

The Kicking and Screening soccer film festival screens Rayados 75, Fernando Kalife’s film about 2019 Mexican champions CF Monterrey at Scandinavia House in Murray Hill, Manhattan on Thu, Oct 14 at 7pm. $20. 🇲🇽

The Kicking and Screening soccer film festival screens Big-Time Soccer: The Remarkable Rise & Fall of the NASL (featuring Pelé at the NY Cosmos) at Upper 90 in Astoria, Queens on Wed, Oct 13 at 7pm. $20. 🇧🇷

Arrebato (1979) by Iván Zulueta, Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite horror film, is at IFC Center in the West Village Fri-Sat, Oct 8-9. $17. 🇪🇸

GoodFellas (1990), the Scorsese masterpiece, is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Thu, Oct 7. 🇮🇹

Veinte por veinte (20 for 20), MoMA Film’s tribute to Cinema Tropical, the leading Latin American film presenter in the U.S., is streaming for MoMA members to Oct 5. moma.org
🇦🇷🇧🇷🇨🇱🇨🇴🇨🇷🇨🇺🇩🇴🇲🇽🇺🇾

Titane, by Julia Ducournau (Cannes Palme d’Or winner), opened at IFC Center in the West Village Oct 1. $13. 🇫🇷

Little Girl (2020) by Sébastien Lifshitz, a gentle story of how a 3-year old boy deals with the world after declaring herself a girl, is at Film Forum in Hudson Square to Sep 30. 🇫🇷🏳️‍🌈

Annette by Leos Carax, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver at IFC Center in the West Village to Sep 30. 🇫🇷

Tango Shalom is a cute Jewish Argentine tango movie. ✡️🇦🇷

Azor (2021) by Andreas Fontana, a Swiss film about Argentine finance in the 1970s, at Lincoln Center ends Thu, Sep 23. 🇦🇷

Faya Dayi by Jessica Beshir, a dreamy Ethiopian film at Lincoln Center, ends Thu, Sep 23. filmlinc.org 🇪🇹

Annette by Leos Carax, starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver at Lincoln Center ends Sun, Sep 19. 🇫🇷

Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), by Questlove, is about the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, the Black Woodstock. Ends Sep 16 at cinemavillage.com 🇺🇸

The Lost Leonardo by Andreas Koefoed (2021), is about the world record $450 million “Salvator Mundi” painting. Includes Jerry Saltz. Ended Sep 16, 2021 at filmforum.org 🇫🇷

La Piscine by Jacques Deray (1969), is a sleeper romantic hit in NYC. It ended Sep 16, 2021 at filmforum.org 🇫🇷

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