NY Film Festival: Pablo Larraín’s Angelina Jolie Starrer ‘Maria,’ Elton John Doc Among Spotlight Highlights
By Hilary Lewis
August 14, 2024
The 2024 New York Film Festival has announced the lineup for its Spotlight section, including Pablo Larraín’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in her final days, as well as the U.S. premiere of R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s documentary Elton John: Never Too Late.
The section will also feature the North American premiere of Alex Ross Perry’s anti-biodoc about the rock band Pavement, titled Pavements; TWST/Things We Said Today, Andrei Ujica’s archival film about the Beatles’ 1965 Shea Stadium concert; and Jacques Audiard’s Cannes winner Emilia Pérez.
Additional films in the Spotlight slate include the Jesse Eisenberg-directed A Real Pain, starring Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as cousins who attempt to reconnect on a pilgrimage to the Polish hometown of their Holocaust survivor grandmother; Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s immersive documentary Union about the day-to-day struggles of the Amazon Labor Union and events that led to its historic 2022 vote; Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics, about the rise of the far right in Brazil; Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, a political drama exploring the true story of a woman’s search for information about her husband’s kidnapping by the Brazilian government; Guy Maddin and Evan and Galen Johnson’s sci-fi satire of world leaders at the G7 summit, Rumours; and Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend.
The section will also include the U.S. premiere of another “last film” by the late Jean-Luc Godard, Scénarios, which will screen with Exposé du film annonce du film “Scenario,” a documentary conceptualized by Godard and shot in 2021 by longtime collaborator Fabrice Aragno.
Leos Carax also pays homage to Godard in his Spotlight selection, It’s Not Me, which will receive its North American premiere in New York.
Film at Lincoln Center, which presents the NY Film Festival, previously announced that Luca Guadagnino’s Queer would have its U.S. premiere as the Spotlight gala screening.
The 62nd New York Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 27 to Oct. 14.
