Fret not if you couldn’t get to Park City this year, the New Directors/New Films series, sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center, brings Park City to you! This year’s line-up includes no less than five Sundance champs: Phil Morrison’s Junebug, Jorge Gaggero’s Live-in Maid, Jeff Feuerzeig’s The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro’s much-hyped Murderball, and Zézé Gamboa’s The Hero, which opens this 34th edition of the series. This year’s lot is particularly strong, recalling the 2002 edition, which featured Atanarjuat and Late Marriage, and includes 25 features and eight shorts from over 20 countries. There are many highlights, among them Robin Campillo’s zombie film They Came Back and Fernando Eimbcke’s Jarmuschian Duck Season, and two powerful docs about the horrifying effects of democracy and globalization on third world countries: Our Brand is Crisis and Darwin’s Nightmare, respectively. Anyone who hasn’t seen Chris Landreth’s Oscar-winning Ryan can now enjoy it before Oskar Roehler’s Agnes and his Brothers, which plays on the last day of the festival and takes its inspiration—for better and for worse—from one of the very best German films of all time, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s In a Year of 13 Moons. With more than half the films facing uncertain futures (only 10 have distribution deals), see them while you have a chance.
Beginning September 27, please check back daily as a synopsis and full review of each festival film will be added to Slant Magazine’s ongoing coverage. The 42nd New York Film Festival will run from October 1 to October 17, 2004. For more information please check the festival’s main program. Ed Gonzalez
• Agnes and His Brothers (Oskar Roehler)
• Certi Bambini (Andrea and Antonio Frazzi)
• Clorox, Ammonia and Coffee (Mona J. Hoel)
• Darwin’s Nightmare (Hubert Sauper)
• The Devil and Daniel Johnston (Jeff Feuerzeig)
• Duck Season (Fernando Eimbcke)
• Grand Voyage (Ismaël Ferroukhi)
• The Hero (Zézé Gamboa)
• Junebug (Phil Morrison)
• Kontroll (Nimród Antal)
• L’esquive (bdellatif Kechiche)
• Live-In Maid (Jorge Gaggero)
• Mila from Mars (Sophia Zornitsa)
• Murderball (Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro)
• Our Brand Is Crisis (Rachel Boynton)
• Primo Amore (Matteo Garrone)
• Private (Saverio Costanzo)
• Sequins (Eleonore Faucher)
• Somersault (Cate Shortland)
• South of the Clouds (Zhu Wen)
• Starlit High Noon (Nakagawa Yosuke)
• They Came Back (Robin Capillo)
• Two Great Sheep (Liu Hao)
• The Welts (Magdalena Piekorz)
• Young Rebels (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck)
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