The 62nd New York Film Festival returns to Lincoln Center on Sept. 27, with individual tickets on sale to the public Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.
With more than 70 films that run the gamut from shorts to documentaries, including high-profile features from household names like Pedro Almodóvar and David Cronenberg and debut features from rising talents like Payal Kapadia, the schedule for the two-week festival can be overwhelming to navigate.
“The New York Film Festival is probably my favorite film festival in the world,” said New York Film Critics Circle member Siddhant Adlakha, citing the sheer variety of the programming, from big buzzy names to esoteric fare and revivals of restored films from decades past.
“The Room Next Door,” from director Pedro Almodóvar, stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Screenings of highly-anticipated features like Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which won the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, are already standby-only, as festival members and pass holders received early access.
Other movies with big-name directors and stars, like Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” or Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” had a few tickets remaining as of Monday morning.
But remember: these bigger movies will be shown widely in theaters across the New York area soon.
Saoirse Ronan stars in “Blitz,” the closing film of the New York Film Festival.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of Apple TV+
Instead, the festival can be a great chance to check out other options that may not get equally wide release, and to see them in a packed theater full of other film fans who are interested in exploring the vanguard of cinema.
“There will be stuff that you have never heard of, from countries from which you’ve perhaps never seen a movie before,” Adlakha said. “That’s all the more reason to go, because the programmers of the New York film festival are honestly some of the best in the world.”
We’re here to help. We talked to Adlakha and pored through reviews of earlier film festivals to suss out how to spend your limited time and money in pursuit of New York Film Festival tickets.
Below you’ll find top selections from the films that still have tickets available as of Monday afternoon.
“The Brutalist” stars Adrien Brody.
Courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center
“The Brutalist”
Starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian-Jewish architect who rebuilds his life in America after World War II, this thee-and-a-half-hour Brady Corbet epic was picked up for distribution by indie powerhouse A24 at the Venice Film Festival, but doesn’t yet have a release date.
Screenings of “The Brutalist” are almost all full, but Adlakha recommends giving it a shot as the film will be presented on 70mm celluloid at the festival, which makes for a warmer and richer viewing experience – think of an analog photo print vs. a digital camera photo.
“Emilia Perez” plays Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at the New York Film Festival.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of “Netflix”
“Emilia Pérez”
This comic crime drama will be in theaters this fall before hitting Netflix on Nov. 13. It stars Karla Sofía Gascón as the closeted leader of a Mexican cartel who goes through gender-affirming surgery. Also featuring Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, the genre-bending film is also a musical, which Adlakha describes as “shot like a straight-to-DVD mid-2000s Hollywood thriller.”
“April” is the latest film from Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili.
Film at Lincoln Center
“April”
Another selection that doesn’t currently have a U.S. release date is this drama that follows a doctor who performs illegal abortions to help women in rural communities in the country of Georgia.
Adlakha cautions that “April” is visceral and disturbing “not only for what it depicts on screen, but for what lingers just out of the frame,” and highlights the sound design in particular.
“Oscilloscope” plays Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 at the NYFF.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of Oscilloscope
“Universal Language”
A more abstract and surrealist movie that’s somehow also accessible, this Canadian comic drama is a direct homage to the Iranian New Wave films of directors like Abbas Kiarostami, mixing Farsi with concrete landscapes in wintry Winnipeg.
“Universal Language” won the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award at Cannes this year. Adlakha called it “fascinating and very strangely funny,” and recommends seeking it out as it’s the kind of film that won’t play at your local Regal or AMC multiplex.
“Dahomey” plays Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 at the NYFF.
Film at Lincoln Center / MUBI
“Dahomey”
This Mati Diop documentary about a French museum returning stolen African artifacts to Benin, won the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. Coming in at a tight 67 minutes, “Dahomey” shows the process of packing and shipping the artifacts, as well as weaving in monologues told from the voice of the statues and art pieces themselves. Adlakha called it “one of the most powerful cinematic devices I’ve seen in anything this year.”
Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars in Mike Leigh’s latest film.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of Bleeker Street
“Hard Truths”
Film fans know director Mike Leigh from his seven-decade career that’s included highlights like “Secrets & Lies” and “Topsy-Turvy.” The British director’s new film, “Hard Truths” follows Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a 50-something wife and mother who lashes out comically against anyone and everyone about her disappointments with life.
Adlakha recommended the film for its immense lead performance alone. He said it’s funny at first but reveals a lingering sadness as it progresses.
“Oh, Canada” stars Richard Gere and Uma Thurman.
Courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center / Copyright Oh Canada LLC
“Oh, Canada”
Paul Schrader, who wrote or directed films including “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” and “First Reformed,” returns with this adaptation of a Russell Banks novel. “Oh, Canada” stars Richard Gere as a documentarian who reflects on his life after a cancer diagnosis. Also featuring Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, and Jacob Elordi, the film will hit theaters on Dec. 6.
“Caught by the Tides” makes its U.S. premiere at the NYFF.
Film at Lincoln Center / Courtesy of Sideshow / Janus Films
“Caught by the Tides”
This narrative feature was shot over 23 years, mixing fact and fiction as it follows a Chinese woman traveling her rapidly-changing country in search of a former lover. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich wrote that the filmmaker “distills more than two decades of imperceptible flux into 111 minutes of fleeting human drama.” “Caught by the Tides” makes its U.S. premiere at the festival.
Three more films that Adlakha highlighted as among his favorites from this year’s festival circuit do not currently have tickets available.
Those selections are “Seed of the Sacred Fig,” an Iranian drama made in secret, whose director was facing arrest when he fled the country to bring the film to Cannes; “Anora,” the new film from the director of “The Florida Project” and “Tangerine,” about a Brooklyn sex worker who falls in with the son of a Russian oligarch; and Payal Kapadia’s narrative feature “All We Imagine is Light,” about three working-class women in Mumbai dealing with romance and the grind of daily life.
But the long-time NYFF attendee speculated that the festival may add screenings in its final weekend due to high demand; festival organizers said any such announcements would be made publicly if that happens. Here’s hoping.
The New York Film Festival runs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 14 at Lincoln Center, with satellite screenings at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and other venues. Individual tickets start at $15, with more details about pricing tiers available here.