Foreign flavour of the festival
The New York Film Festival opens Friday with the US premiere of the Cannes Palm d'Or winner The Class -- but the strongest films of the programme are from abroad.
Clint Eastwood's Changeling, which stars Angelina Jolie, will make its US premiere, as will Steven Soderbergh's 4-hour epic Che, the festival's centrepiece.
Closing the festival will be Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, which features an already much acclaimed performance from Mickey Rourke.
Throughout 2008, much of the dialogue in the art film community has been about the declining state of independent film as indie and boutique studios have closed down. This year's slate of American films at the NYFF is down to six (at least one of which was financed outside of the country) out of 28 films in total.
In its nearly five decades of existence (this is the 46th NYFF), the festival has specialised in introducing audiences to new filmmaking talent from around the globe.
The NYFF, which will run from Friday until October 12, doesn't give awards like most festivals but simply exhibits a curated batch of highly selective movies -- many of which have played at earlier festivals.
