Archer’s Guide: New York Film Festival 52

Film Society Lincoln Center presents New York Film Festival 52 (NYFF52) and a calendar including something for everyone who enjoys new indie films, remastered classics and/or mind stretching subject matter. Whether your film tribute interest lies closer to retrospective pieces about James Brown, Lauren Bacall, or John Waters, the 2014 New York Film Festival will sate your curiosity and fill you with interesting facts about your celebrity crush.   Whether you crave immersion-style action featured in Canopy, or  a dual-perspective love story chronology like The Disapperance of Eleanor Rigby, you need to get a pair of tickets and a friend to sit with.

NYFF52 runs September 26 – October 12, 2014 at both the Walter Reade Theater at 165 West 65th Street, north side, and the Ellen Bunin Monroe Film Center at 144 West 65th Street, south side.  Tickets are available online or in person two hours or less before each show time, and ticket sales to the public began September 7, 2014.

The showing and celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap.  If you can think of a sillier or more era-celebratory way to cut your teeth on film festival-quality art than this retrospective, we want to know about it.  This film is about Rock and Roll as our 12-15 year old selves imagined and/or hoped it really would be.  If you haven’t heard of this film, you need to see it so that you can place some of the jokes you hear in conversation and never quite understand.

Clouds of Sils Maria is a thoughtful look at film itself and how it affects its participants, from Oliver Asayas.  This film will have you missing Juliette Binoche more than you already have been, and thinking you might give Kristen Stewart another look.

The revival of Moana with Sound is a compilation of 35mm film reels originally taken by Robert and Francis Flaherty in 1926 and then remastered with a soundtrack and presented by their daughter, Monica Flaherty, and Ricky Leacock in 1980.  The film depicts the culture and lives of the Samoan people in beautiful black and white.  The soundtrack was added during the second production iteration of the film, and this film comes with an added featured short.  This ticket offers culture and value.

Make your night out at the New York Film Festival even more memorable by planning time to talk with your date or film-buff buddy.  Try Dinner and a Movie.  $25 gets you a gourmet soup, sandwich or salad and a glass of wine and a ticket to hold in your hot little hand – this deal is bookable as you purchase film tickets.

Nora, General Manager at indie food and wine (the host restaurant of Dinner and a Movie in the Ellen Bunin Monroe Theatre) points out that this is a terrific deal and that not enough people take advantage of it.  She also said that stopping by the restaurant after a film for a cocktail often yields rare opportunities for filmmaker spotting.  Book Dinner and a Movie tickets now – you’ll dine sumptuously on original gourmet fare and see a fantastic original flick.

Now you have the inside scoop on a truly quintessential New York experience.  Get tickets and enjoy yourself some indie.