54TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL OPENS WITH SEARING PORTRAIT OF AMERICAN PRISONS

Charlie Hunnam as Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett in “The Lost City of Z”.

By Nancy Novick

German screwball comedy, the story of refugees in Lampedusa, and a South Korean rom-com with a mysterious twist. There’s a film for just about every viewer looking for something new and unexpected at the 54^th New York Film Festival, which starts Friday night on a sober note with the world premiere of the The 13^th. Directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma, and the soon-to-be released A Wrinkle in Time), the documentary’s title refers to the 13^th amendment of the Constitution, which abolished slavery. Focusing on the inequities and cruelty inherent in the criminal justice system, The 13^th, which has already garnered considerable buzz, includes interviews with historians, politicians and activists, along with first-hand accounts of prison life from formerly incarcerated women and men.

Activist Angela Davis being interviewed in “The 13th”.

Additional films from the festival’s main slate that promise to generate excitement include the world premieres of 20^th Century Women, a comedy set in 1979 from Mike Mills that stars Annette Bening as a single mother raising her son in Southern California; The Lost City of Z directed by James Gray, which tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Percy Fawcett, an Englishman determined to find a lost city in the Amazon; and A Quiet Passion, a film about Emily Dickinson starring ex-UWS-er, Cynthia Nixon.

Younger viewers—from precocious 12-year-olds on up, as well as adults whose high school experiences are still painfully vivid, might enjoy the animated film, My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea. Rendered in a style reminiscent of Squigglevision (the technique used in the 1990s Comedy Central series Ben Katz, Professional Therapist), My Entire High School combines the excitement of a disaster movie with a coming-of-age story about friendship and first love. The young people are voiced by Lena Dunham, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, and Reggie Watts, while Susan Sarandon shows up as an unlikely superhero. Created by graphic novelist Dash Shaw, the film contains some gruesome scenes of dead bodies along with a group of menacing uber-jocks with a Lord of the Flies-like response to the end of authority as they have known it.

Complementing the selection of 25 new feature films are a retrospective, documentaries, a video installation, conversations with filmmakers, and more. Individual tickets to festival screenings range from $10-25 depending on the film. The NYFF and HBO are also offering free talks throughout the festival, with tickets offered on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information go to https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2016/