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| The Sleepwalker, one of the films in competition this year. |
This year's First Time Fest (subtitled Second Time Around) will open in New York on Thursday, with Eye For Film's Anne-Katrin Titze joining the jury. Celebrating some of the best new international films, the festival will also look back at debut films by directors who have gone on to become big names, with the likes of Peter Bogdanovich, Lake Bell, Albert Maysles, Michael Moore and Julie Taymor scheduled to attend.
The festival will open with a rare screening of Jennie Livingston's Paris Is Burning, which chronicles the New York drag scene in the Eighties and the early days of the struggle for trans rights. It will feature panels and conversations with guests including Brooke Shields and Guns n' Roses guitarist-turned-composer Slash. It will be based in new venue NeueHouse, which will host everything from presentations to parties, while most screenings will take place at the AMC Loews Village.
This year's competition films are Farewell, Herr Schwarz (Germany/Israel), 1982 (US), The Sleepwalker (US/Norway), Miss Julie (Sweden), Love Steaks (Germany), Fall To Rise (US), Class Enemy (Slovenia), Getting To The Nutcracker (US), Bittersweet (US/Netherlands) and Butter On The Latch (US). There will also be out of competition screenings of See You Next Tuesday (US) and Nothing Left To Fear (US).
We'll be bringing you news and views from the festival over the course of the weekend. You can visit the festival website here.
