Lineup: 47th Annual New Directors/New Films, Through –April 8

Djon Africa

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art:  complete lineup for the 47th annual New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), through– April 8, 2018.

Throughout its rich, nearly half-century history, the festival celebrates filmmakers who represent the present and anticipate the future of cinema, daring artists whose work pushes the envelope in unexpected ways. This year’s festival will introduce 25 features and 10 short films to New York audiences.

“The purpose of New Directors/New Films is to seek out emerging filmmakers who are working at the vanguard of cinema,” says Film Society Director of Programming Dennis Lim. “This is as diverse and wide-ranging a lineup as we’ve assembled in years: full of pleasures and provocations and, above all, surprises—proof that film remains a medium ripe for reinvention in ways big and small.”

“The filmmakers in this year's New Directors are as imaginative, daring and restless as any we've seen, whether observing a world-famous rapper fighting injustices in Sri Lanka or prostitutes and holy men in Jamaica, a coal peddler in the Congo or a credit-card scammer in Switzerland," says Josh Siegel, Curator of the Department of Film at The Museum of Modern Art.

This year’s lineup boasts features and shorts from 29 countries across five continents, with 10 North American premieres, 13 films directed or co-directed by women, and 14 works by first-time feature filmmakers. Highlights include Pedro Pinho’s surprising three-hour epic The Nothing Factory, which was voted #1 on Film Comment magazine’s Best Undistributed Films of 2017 list; the late Hu Bo’s epic feature debut An Elephant Sitting Still, a masterpiece sure to be remembered as a landmark of modern Chinese cinema; New York-based filmmaker Ricky D’Ambrose’s dark, minimalist pseudo-detective tale Notes on an Appearance; Gustav Möller’s emergency call center thriller The Guilty, which won prizes at Rotterdam and Sundance; Our House, an evocative examination of female friendship by first-time Japanese filmmaker Yui Kiyohara; acclaimed documentarian Emmanuel Gras’s Cannes prizewinner Makala, which follows the monumental efforts of a young Congolese charcoal-maker at work; Khalik Allah’s stylistically rich Black Mother, a close look at Jamaica via its holy men and prostitutes; Locarno prizewinner Milla, Valérie Massadian’s moving, visually striking meditation on young motherhood; and many more exciting discoveries.

The New Directors/New Films selection committee is made up of members from both presenting organizations. The 2018 feature committee was comprised of Dennis Lim (Co-Chair, FSLC), Josh Siegel (Co-Chair, MoMA), Florence Almozini (FSLC), Sophie Cavoulacos (MoMA), La Frances Hui (MoMA), and Dan Sullivan (FSLC), and the shorts were programmed by Brittany Shaw (MoMA) and Tyler Wilson (FSLC).

To become a member of the Film Society or MoMA, please visit filmlinc.org or MoMA.org, respectively. Plus, see more and save with a 3+ film discount package or brand new VIP All-Access Pass (quantities are limited).

New Directors/New Films is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art and is supported by the Annual Film Fund of The Museum of Modern Art, Film Society’s New Wave, The New York Times, American Airlines, The Village Voice, Shutterstock, and Hudson Hotel.

FILMS & DESCRIPTIONS: All films are digitally projected unless otherwise noted

CLOSING NIGHT: Hale County This Morning, This Evening

RaMell Ross, USA, 2018, 76m