The New York Film Festival is one of the most prestigious events on the film festival calendar. This non-competitive event is held in New York in the fall annually and usually focuses on between 20 and 30 feature films although there are many sidebars that highlight niche categories of cinematography. This well-established festival has an interesting history and has seen many changes since its beginnings.
It was founded in 1963 by Amos Vogel and Richard Roud. They were supported by William Schuman, who was the president of the Lincoln Center. The Film Society of Lincoln Center still presents the New York Film Festival to this day. Schneider had recruited Boston-born Roud the previous year. At that time, Roud was working as a film critic for The Guardian and was based in London, England. He remained in London but needed a New York-based co-programmer for the event to be a success. Therefore, he recruited Amos Vogel from the Cinema 16 film club.
The first New York Film Festival opened on September 10, 1963. The first film featured at this event was ‘The Exterminating Angel’ which was directed by Luis Buñel. The official selection committee in the first year was Andrew Sarris and Arthur night. The following year, Susan Sontag was added to the selection committee.
In 1968, Vogel resigned as the Festival Director. Originally, Roud was the Program Director but he was the festival’s president from 1969 to 1987. During his 25 years with the festival, Roud predominantly focused on European art cinema.
Robert Pena took the reins from Roud in 1988 and became the lead programmer for the festival. Pena was a fan of Roud and a keen festival-goer. He was also an accomplished programmer, academic, and film historian. Pena retained many of the festival’s traditions during his reign, but also expanded on the Eurocentric focus of the festival. Pena led the program for his 25th and final year in 2012 which was also the 50th presentation of the New York Film Festival.
Since 2013, Kent Jones has been the festival’s director. The 5th festival he has led is the 55th New York Film Festival which began on September 28, 2017, and is scheduled to end on October 15, 2017. The tradition of focusing on around 25 to 30 films that represent current cinema continues. These consist of a combination of new discoveries, international art house films, and new studio releases that are launching movies ahead of the awards season.
Spotlight on Documentary is a section that was originally part of the general Special Events category but became a category in its own right in 2014 and features approximately 10 to 15 feature-length documentary-style films.
In 2016, a category called ‘Explorations’ was added, although it has not been made clear if this is now a permanent fixture on the program. This category highlights six films from around the world that are inventive and exploratory.
Two further categories are ‘Convergence’ and ‘Revivals and Retrospectives’. Convergence was added in 2012 and is a section for transmedia and interactive storytelling. Revivals and Retrospectives is a section that was formerly known as ‘Masterworks’ and this program focuses on specific filmmakers. Classic films that have either been re-released or restored are screened.
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