NYFF announces Pedro Almodóvar Centrepiece

Tilda Swinton Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door Photo: Iglesias Más

Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton with John Turturro, Alex Høgh Andersen and Alessandro Nivola, will be the Centerpiece selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival. RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys and Steve McQueen’s Blitz are the Opening and Closing Night gala selections.

Almodóvar has a long and honoured history with the festival. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (NYFF26) was the Opening Night selection, and he also opened NYFF with All About My Mother (NYFF37). Bad Education (NYFF42) and Volver (NYFF44) were selected as Centerpieces, and Live Flesh (NYFF35), Talk To Her (NYFF40), Broken Embraces (NYFF47), and Parallel Mothers (NYFF59) were Closing Night selections. Additional NYFF selections include The Flower Of My Secret (NYFF33), The Skin I Live In (NYFF49), Julieta (NYFF54), Pain And Glory (NYFF57), The Human Voice (NYFF58), and Strange Way Of Life (NYFF61).

Almodóvar said: “I am delighted that The Room Next Door will be the Centerpiece of the New York Film Festival.

Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door will be the Centerpiece selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

“This festival has been my bridge to New York audiences for decades, so it only felt natural that the two protagonists go see a film at the Alice Tully Hall in one of the scenes of the movie. It was very moving for me to shoot in a place that holds so very dear memories to me, and where I hope to keep on treasuring them in a not so distant future.”

The festival's Artistic Director Dennis Lim said: “Few filmmakers are as closely associated with the New York Film Festival as Pedro Almodóvar, and it is a true pleasure to present his first English-language feature as this year’s Centerpiece selection.

“The Room Next Door is the work of an artist at the height of his powers: a wise, exquisitely acted, achingly beautiful film that feels perfectly calibrated to this moment.”

The Room Next Door will have its US premiere on Friday, October 4 at Alice Tully Hall.

The New York Film Festival Main Slate selection committee, chaired by Lim, also includes Florence Almozini, Justin Chang, K. Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen.

The 62nd New York Film Festival runs from Friday, September 27 through Monday, October 14.