New York Film Festival – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

New York Film Festival 2025 Roundup – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

October 15, 2025October 24, 2025 Margaret Barton-Fumo A House Full of Dynamite, A Private Life, After the Hunt, claire denis, Duse, Geeta Gandbhir, Jodi Foster, kathryn bigelow, Miroirs No. 3, New York Film Festival, nina hoss, NYFF 2025, Rebecca Zlotowski, Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value', the fence, The Perfect Neighbor, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

This year, the 63rd annual New York Film Festival boasted an impressive roster of women-produced and women-prominent features, spanning across a variety of different genres. In general, this year’s more anticipated, big-ticket films turned out to be less remarkable than some of the quieter releases, as we’ll address in this roundup. The festival opener, for example, Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, while an apt showcase for Julia Roberts, was a coolly received treatise on cancel culture told from within the confines of the ivory tower of academia. Other films in the Main Slate, like Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, while more understated features, received greater praise from audiences and critics alike.

Festivals

New York Film Festival (NYFF 2024) Overview – Diane Carson reports

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 Diane Carson A Royal Pain, athina rachel tsangari, Grand Tour, Happyend, Harvest, jesse eisenberg, Misericordia, Mohammad Rasoulof’, Neo Sora, New York Film Festival, No Other Land, NYFF 2024, Stranger Eyes, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Yeo Siew Hua

The 62nd New York Film Festival offers a diverse range of film styles and issues, a delightful world cinema snapshot. With entries from Singapore and Georgia, China and Japan, France and Palestine, South Korea and Portugal, any attempt to synthesize the myriad issues and themes is futile, albeit tempting, for all touched on weighty issues, even the more amusing ones.

Festivals Reviews

SUBURBAN FURY (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 Margaret Barton-Fumo Bert Worthington, documentary, Gerald Ford, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2024, Patty Hearst kidnapping, Robinson Devor, Sara Jane Moore, Suburban Fury

Seattle based filmmaker Robinson Devor’s latest documentary, Suburban Fury offers unprecedented access to Sara Jane Moore, the former accountant and FBI informant who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford in 1975. Relying almost entirely on Moore’s personal narrative (with the addition of archival footage), Devor’s film is both historical and subjective, leaving much up to interpretation. It’s quite the task for the viewer, given that the facts of Moore’s life are often stranger than fiction

Festivals Reviews

TRANSAMAZONIA (NYFF 2024) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 Margaret Barton-Fumo Assurini, brazilian films, helena zengel, Jeremy Xido, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2024, Pia Marais, Transamazonia, Trocará Indigenous Territory, Willem Droste

Set deep within the Brazilian rainforest where lush vegetation runs into endless dirt roads, Pia Marais’ fourth feature Transamazonia is a measured portrayal of a conflicted landscape, produced in collaboration with the Assurini people of the Trocará Indigenous Territory. The film focuses on two Westerners, the evangelist Lawrence Byrne and his teenage daughter, the sole survivor of a plane crash nine years prior. Byrne is capitalizing on his daughter’s supposedly miraculous survival, promoting her as a faith healer for the local population.

Festivals

New York Film Festival 62 (NYFF 2024) Wrap Up – Margaret Barton-Fumo Reports

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024 Margaret Barton-Fumo All We Imagine As Light, Anora, April, dahomey, fernanda torres, Hard Truths, mati diop, Neo Sora, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2024, Payal Kapadia, Petra Costa, Transamazonia, Yeo Siew Hua

This year’s New York Film Festival boasted an impressive roster of features, with an array of talented women both behind and in front of the camera. The coveted Main Slate was stacked, with eight films directed by women and nearly as many women-centric titles directed by men. Several women directors went out on a limb, performing bold experimentations in style and genre. It is difficult to establish a theme within such a varied international festival, but in general I was taken with several women’s performances in male-directed films and by the bold choices made by many of the women directors. In either case, women are occupying center stage in a still male-dominated festival, in which the majority of the films are directed by men. It’s a promising step forward, to see so many inspiring women both in front of and behind the scenes, and one can only hope that next year will bring even more to the forefront.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Sofia Coppola’s PRISCILLA is NYFF Centerpiece – Brandy McDonnell reports

September 21, 2023September 28, 2023 Brandy McDonnell biopics, Cailee Spaeny, Elvis and Me, Jacob Elordi, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2023, Priscilla Presley, sofia coppola, the week in women, twiw

Writer-director Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla will screen as the Centerpiece selection for the 61st New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere Oct. 6 at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center. Adapted from Priscilla Presley’s best-selling 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, the biopic stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis. Priscilla is a culminating triumph for Sofia Coppola, a filmmaker with a singular gift for illuminating the interior lives of her characters,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director of the New York Film Festival.

Festivals

New York Film Festival 2023: Female Filmmakers in Focus – Margaret Barton-Fumo reports

September 15, 2023September 16, 2023 Margaret Barton-Fumo Agnieszka Holland, Alice Rohrwacher, Annie Baker, Catherine Breillat, Deborah Stratman, female filmmakers, Joanna Arnow, justine triet, New York Film Festival, Niki de Saint Phalle, NYFF 2023, sofia coppola

The New York Film Festival is set to return to the city with a packed schedule of international films. A little over one-fifth of the features this year are directed by women, with several standouts in the coveted Main Slate. Sofia Coppola’s highly anticipated Priscilla is one such feature, scheduled to be the festival’s “Centerpiece” screening. Many critics are eagerly situating Coppola’s film, which is based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, as the femme-centric antidote to Baz Luhrmann’s bombastic rock ‘n’ roll biopic. All assumed comparisons aside, the subject matter is certainly well-suited to its director, given Coppola’s accomplished history of directing moody tales of alienated women.

Festivals Reviews

CORSAGE (NYFF 2022) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

October 13, 2022October 16, 2022 Margaret Barton-Fumo Corsage, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Marie Kreutzer, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2022, Vicky Krieps

The luminous Vicky Krieps, dressed to the nines in period clothing, middle finger defiantly raised—it’s a knockout poster image, but what of the actual film? Corsage is a measured, decidedly feminist feature—hardly blockbuster entertainment but a sturdy festival release, as well as an excellent showcase for Krieps’ formidable talent. Following in the footsteps of the great Romy Schneider, who starred in three Sissi films during the 1950s, Krieps has taken on the role of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, an incredibly popular royal of the late 19th century. Heavily scrutinized for her keen fashion sense and compelling public persona, Krieps’ Sissi is a real firecracker, often to the dismay of her more traditionally-minded husband.

Festivals Reviews

SAINT OMER (NYFF 2022) – Review by Margaret Barton-Fumo

October 4, 2022October 4, 2022 Margaret Barton-Fumo alice diop, Claire Mathon, Fabienne Kabou, Guslagie Malanga, Kayije Kagame, New York Film Festival, NYFF 2022, Saint Omer

Alice Diop has stated that all of her films “exist at the frontier where [fiction and documentary] meet,” and Saint Omer is no different. In conjunction with her co-writers, Amrita David and Marie Ndiaye, Diop reworked dialogue from the actual court case of Fabienne Kabou and allowed her actresses to perform under minimal direction. She also recreated the space of the criminal court in an adjacent room, adorning the walls with wood paneling in a measure of authenticity. With a cast that includes professional, amateur and non-actors, all of the courtroom scenes ring true to life, with an added drama that ties the film together.

News

WEEK IN WOMEN: Laura Poitras’ ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED is NYFF’s Centerpiece – Brandy McDonnell reports

September 28, 2022October 6, 2022 Brandy McDonnell all the beauty and the bloodshed, documentaries, laura poitras, nan goldin, New York Film Festival, the week in women, twiw

In her new film, Laura Poitras weaves two narratives: the fabled life and career of era-defining artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty Goldin personally took on in her fight to hold accountable those responsible for the deadly opioid epidemic.

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