As a THR article points out, the NYFF this year is particularly "well stocked with Cannes titles,": 17 of the 28 festival official selections for September-October 2008 were a part of the French fest. Refer to that THR article for details of the lineup. IFC has four of the titles, more than any other distributor: McQueen's HUNGER, Garrone's GOMORRA, Desplechin's A CHRISTMAS TALE, and Assayas' SUMMER HOURS. Sony Pictures Classics has three: Cantet's THE CLASS, Wong's ASHES OF TIME REDUX, and Folman's WALTZ WITH BASHIR.

Cantet's THE CLASS, Eastwood's CHANGELING, and Aronofsky's Mickey Rourke vehicle THE WRESTLER will be showing at the Zeigfield theater throughout the festival--a new wrinkle.

The press screenings this time include two showings of quite a few of the films, to allow journalists and industry people more schedule flexibility. I will plan however on attending the screening that include a Q&A with the director, when there is one, as much as possible.

THE LINEUP LISTED ALPHABETICALLY:

THE CLASS, Laurent Cantet, France (Sony Pictures Classics) [Opening night]
CHANGELING, Clint Eastwood, U.S. (Universal) [Centerpiece]
THE WRESTLER, Darren Aronofsky, U.S. [Closing night]
24 CITY, Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan
AFTERSCHOOL, Antonio Campos, U.S.
ASHES OF TIME REDUX, Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong (Sony Pictures Classics)
BULLET IN THE HEAD, Jaime Rosales, Spain/France
CHE, Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain
CHOUGA, Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan
A CHRISTMAS TALE Arnaud Desplechin, France (IFC Films)
FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA, Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France
GOMORRAH, Matteo Garrone, Italy (IFC Films)
HAPPY GO LUCKY, Mike Leigh, U.K. (Miramax)
THE HEADLESS WOMAN, Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain
HUNGER, Steve McQueen, U.K. (IFC Films)
I'M GOING TO EXPLODE, Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico
LET IT RAIN, Agnes Jaoui, France, 2008
LOLA MONTES, Max Ophuls, France/West Germany (Rialto Pictures) [retrospective]
NIGHT AND DAY, Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008
THE NORTHERN LAND, Joao Botelho, Portugal
SERBIS, Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France
SUMMER HOURS, Olivier Assayas, France (IFC Films)
TOKYO SONATA, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands
TONY MANERO, Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil
TULPIN, Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland
WALTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France (Sony Pictures Classics)
WENDY AND LUCY, Kelly Reichardt, U.S. (Oscilloscope Pictures)
THE WINDMILL MOVIE, Alexander Olch, U.S.

The preceding alphabetical list indicates which NYFF titles already have U.S. distribution lined up. I counted 12 but there will surely be some more coming. They will be some of the more interesting theatrical openings in the latter part of the year.

In fact one more just came--CHE-- so now there are at least 13. CHE some were saying recently had a "last chance" at the NYFF and at Toronto to get US distribution. Magnolia Pictures has bought it now at Toronto and will give it a limited release in December and thereby qualify it for Oscar consideration. Its four hour and 20+ minute running time makes it a tough sell theatrically but it is capable of generating great interest, with Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro in the lead and another Oscar nomination most likely. It also has gone by the title GUERILLA.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.