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Noah Baumbach’s White Noise to Open the New York Film Festival

Greta Gerwig’s man. Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/FilmMagic,

The New York Film Festival has returned to the city that never sleeps (because everyone’s watching movies, duh) for its 60th year at the Lincoln Center. Kicking off the lineup of films is the North American premiere of Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, an adaptation of the 1985 Don DeLillo novel of the same name that will stream on Netflix. The film stars Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig as Jack and Babette Gladney, a married couple whose lives are upended after an airborne toxic event causes them to rethink their reality. “In 1985 my father and I drove from Brooklyn to see Kurosawa’s Ran open the 23rd NYFF, the same year that he brought home the hardback of Don DeLillo’s White Noise,” shared Baumbach to NYFF. “Opening the 60th NYFF with White Noise is truly special for me. This festival was part of my film education and has been a home for me and many of my movies over the years. I couldn’t be more excited and honored to return.” White Noise marks the fourth film in a row distributed by a streaming service to open the festival; The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple TV+), The Irishman (Netflix), and Lovers Rock (BBC One/Amazon Prime) have all been opening-night films for NYFF.

Meanwhile, in the documentary category, Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed will be the “Centerpiece” film selection for the festival. “Laura Poitras weaves two narratives: the fabled life and career of era-defining artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty Goldin personally took on in her fight to hold accountable those responsible for the deadly opioid epidemic,” says the press release. Goldin, a renowned photographer, will design the poster for NYFF 60. The film will be screened at Alice Tully Hall on October 7.

One film that’s gotten a lot of notice? Clemency director Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, a biographical drama about the lynching of Emmett Till and his mother’s pursuit of justice, which will premiere during the opening weekend in the “Spotlight” film selection. Other selections include the Luca Guadagnino drama Bones and All, starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell as cannibal lovers, and Maria Schrader’s She Said, which follows the two New York Times reporters who helped ignite the Me Too movement and put Harvey Weinstein behind bars. The film festival runs from September 30 to October 16. Tickets for the festival go on sale to the general public Monday, September 19, at noon ET. Find the full list of films below.

Opening Night
White Noise: Dir. Noah Baumbach

Centerpiece
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed: Dir. Laura Poitras

Closing Night
The Inspection: Dir. Elegance Bratton

NYFF 60th Anniversary Celebration
Armageddon Time: Dir. James Gray
Aftersun: Dir. Charlotte Wells
Alcarràs: Dir. Carla Simón
All That Breathes: Dir. Shaunak Sen
Corsage: Dir. Marie Kreutzer
A Couple: Dir. Frederick Wiseman
De Humani Corporis Fabrica: Dir. Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Decision to Leave: Dir. Park Chan-wook
Descendant: Dir. Margaret Brown
Enys Men: Dir. Mark Jenkin
EO: Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski
The Eternal Daughter: Dir. Joanna Hogg
Master Gardener: Dir. Paul Schrader
No Bears: Dir. Jafar Panahi
The Novelist’s Film: Dir. Hong Sangsoo
One Fine Morning: Dir. Mia Hansen-Løve
Pacifiction: Dir. Albert Serra
R.M.N.: Dir. Cristian Mungiu
Return to Seoul: Dir. Davy Chou
Saint Omer: Dir. Alice Diop
Scarlet: Dir. Pietro Marcello
Showing Up: Dir. Kelly Reichardt
Stars at Noon: Dir. Claire Denis
Stonewalling: Dir. Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka
TÁR: Dir. Todd Field
Trenque Lauquen: Dir. Laura Citarella
Triangle of Sadness: Dir. Ruben Östlund
Unrest: Dir. Cyril Schäublin
Walk Up: Dir. Hong Sangsoo

Spotlight
Bones and All: Dir. Luca Guadagnino
A Cooler Climate: Dir. James Ivory and Giles Gardner
Exterior Night: Dir. Marco Bellocchio
Is That Black Enough for You?!?: Dir. Elvis Mitchell
The Kingdom Exodus: Dir. Lars von Trier
Personality Crisis: One Night Only: Dir. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi
She Said: Dir. Maria Schrader
Solaris: Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Sr.: Dir. Chris Smith
The Super 8 Years: Dir. Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot
Till: Dir. Chinonye Chukwu
Women Talking: Dir. Sarah Polley

Noah Baumbach’s White Noise Is NYFF’s Opening Night Film