Alexander Payne's eagerly awaited comedy "The Descendants" will serve as the closing-night attraction at the New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced on Wednesday. The film, featuring George Clooney as a father whose life is shaken when his wife is injured in a boating accident, is Payne's first since the Oscar winner "Sideways."
The festival also announced its main slate of 27 features, some of which had already been confirmed. The lineup includes Michel Hazanavicius silent comedy "The Artist," Lars von Trier's controversial "Melancholia," Martin Scorsese's documentary "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," and Steve McQueen's "Shame," the British director's follow-up to his acclaimed "Hunger."
The opening night attraction, Roman Polanski's "Carnage," was previously announced.
The festival will also feature an in-depth conversation with Payne as part of its "On Cinema" series.
The New York Film Festival, which is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, runs from September 30 through October 16.
From the NYFF press release:
The 49th New York Film Festival main-slate:
Opening Night Gala Selection
"Carnage"
Director: Roman Polanski
Country: France/Germany/Poland
Centerpiece Gala Selection
"My Week With Marilyn"
Director: Simon Curtis
Country: UK
Special Gala Presentations
"A Dangerous Method"
Director: David Cronenberg
Country: UK/Canada/Germany
"The Skin I Live In"
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain
Closing Night Gala Selection
"The Descendants"
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: USA
Main Slate
"4:44: Last Day on Earth"
Director: Abel Ferrara
Country: USA
"The Artist"
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Country: France
"Corpo Celeste"
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Country: Italy/Switzerland/France
"Footnote"
Director: Joseph Cedar
Country: Israel
"George Harrison: Living in the Material World"
Director: Martin Scorsese
Country: USA
"Goodbye First Love"
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
Country: France/Germany
"The Kid With a Bike"
Director: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Country: Belgium/France
"Le Havre"
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Country: Finland/France/Germany
"The Loneliest Planet"
Director: Julia Loktev
Country: USA/Germany
"Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Director: Sean Durkin
Country: USA
"Melancholia"
Director: Lars von Trier
Country: Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany/Italy
"Miss Bala"
Director: Gerardo Naranjo
Country: Mexico
"Once Upon a Time in Anatolia"
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey
"Pina"
Director: Wim Wenders
Country: Germany/France/UK
"Play"
Director: Ruben Östlund
Country: Sweden/France/Denmark
"Policeman"
Director: Nadav Lapid
Country: Israel/France
"A Separation"
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Country: Iran
"Shame"
Director: Steve McQueen
Country: UK
"Sleeping Sickness"
Director: Ulrich Köhler
Country: Germany/France/Netherlands
"The Student"
Director: Santiago Mitre
Country: Argentina
"This Is Not a Film"
Director: Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Country: Iran
"The Turin Horse"
Director: Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky
Country: Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA
