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Festival coverage

New York Film Festival

2011

Festival opener Carnage
Festival opener Carnage

Now celebrating its 49th edition, New York Film Festival aims not to be a marketplace but rather a celebration of talent, bringing together the cream of the crop from other festivals around the globe.

The festival, which runs from September 30 to October 16, opened with Roman Polanski's Carnage. It closed with Alexander Payne's The Descendants.

In addition to the strands outlined below, the festival also celebrates Views From The Avant-Garde and is celebrating the centennial of the film production and distribution company Nikkatsu Corporation with a slate of 37 films under the banner Velvet Bullets And Steel Kisses. Films showing, include Cold Fish and Woman With Red Hair.

Other years (18)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Ben-Hur
    Review preview for Ben-Hur

    The film uses an unusually wide aspect ratio: 2.76:1, which accentuates the stillness of the fleets approaching before the screen erupts in the chaos of battle.

    Donald Munro · 2.5 out of 5
    A Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, but it's not long before he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.
  • We Can't Go Home Again
    Review preview for We Can't Go Home Again

    Truth be told, it is annoying as hell and becomes very tired, very quickly.

    Robert Munro · 1.5 out of 5
    A companion piece to Don't Expect Too Much, We Can't Go Home Again is an experimental vision of disillusioned American youth in the Seventies.
  • Le Havre
    Review preview for Le Havre

    Director Aki Kaurismäki's latest is a humanist hug of a fable, which concludes that while big miracles may happen, it's the everyday 'miracles' people create for one another that really count.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    A middle-aged shoe-shiner helps a young migrant.
  • Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel
    Review preview for Corman's World: Exploits Of A Hollywood Rebel

    Captivating and informative.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
    Tracks the triumphant rise of Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director-producer, the godfather of independent filmmaking.
  • Sleeping Sickness
    Review preview for Sleeping Sickness

    A lurching and uneven film, Sleeping Sickness resembles a dream.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Absorbing and boldly original drama revolving around a German doctor in present-day Cameroon.
  • A Separation
    Review preview for A Separation

    There is a sense that we are glimpsing a society in flux.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    An Iranian couple's trial separation is complicated by their interactions with another troubled family.
  • Dreileben 3: One Minute of Darkness
    Review preview for Dreileben 3: One Minute of Darkness

    After seeing three films in and around the small town of Dreileben, the landscape has become familiar and inescapable.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
    A suspenseful cat-and-mouse search between police and an escaped convict.
  • Dreileben 2: Don't Follow Me Around
    Review preview for Dreileben 2: Don't Follow Me Around

    The fantastic interrupts the profane.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 3.5 out of 5
    A police psychologist renews old acquaintances when she is drafted in to help small town police find an escaped convict.
  • Dreileben 1: Beats Being Dead
    Review preview for Dreileben 1: Beats Being Dead

    Petzold exposes the social machinations behind the seemingly simple love stories.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 3 out of 5
    A young couple's passionate relationship plays out against the backdrop of a manhunt.
  • Shame
    Review preview for Shame

    Fassbender and Mulligan burn white hot in the central pairing, their emotional maelstrom magnetic even when no dialogue is used.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A thirtysomething finds his life spiral out of control after his sister moves into his apartment.

A–Z of New York Film Festival 2011 reviews

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