48th Annual New Directors/New Films

March 27 – April 7

The Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center announce the complete lineup for the 48th annual New Directors/New Films (ND/NF), March 27 – April 7. Throughout its rich, nearly half-century history, the festival has celebrated 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 24 features and 11 short films to New York audiences.

The Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece selections are the New York premieres of three Sundance award-winners: opening the festival is Chinonye Chukwu’s Clemency, which won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and features a masterful performance from Alfre Woodard as a prison warden grappling with her role in the justice system; Centerpiece is Alejandro Landes’s Monos, a contemporary reimagining of Lord of the Flies and winner of a World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize; and closing ND/NF is Pippa Bianco’s Share, a powerful portrait of a sexual assault victim, which took home U.S. Dramatic prizes for Breakthrough Performance and Screenwriting.

The lineup also boasts top prizewinners from festivals around the world, including Yeo Siew Hua’s A Land Imagined, a sociopolitical noir set in mainland China (awarded Locarno’s Golden Leopard); cinematographer Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s stunning feature directorial debut Manta Ray, voted one of the best undistributed films of 2018 by Film Comment (and winner of Venice’s Orizzonti prize); Shengze Zhu’s Present.Perfect., a fascinating found-footage doc assembling live-streamed clips from marginalized voices (which took home Rotterdam’s Tiger Award); and two more Sundance winners—Tamara Kotevska & Ljubomir Stefanov’s wildly engaging beekeeping documentary Honeyland (World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize) and Luke Lorentzen’s exhilarating doc about family-run ambulances, Midnight Family(U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography).

Among the first-time features are Lucio Castro’s End of the Century, a decades-spanning queer love story screening in its World Premiere; A Family Submerged, the feature directorial debut of actress María Alché (Lucrecia Martel’s The Holy Girl), shot by renowned cinematographer Hélène Louvart; Qiu Sheng’s Suburban Birds, a two-part narrative puzzle; Lila Avilés’s intimate portrait of a female hotel worker The Chambermaid; and Eva Trobisch’s All Good, which won Locarno’s Best First Feature prize and has drawn comparisons to Maren Ade. Making their fiction feature debuts are Ognjen Glavonić with The Load and André Novais Oliveira with Long Way Home.

Additional highlights include several titles with distinct visual styles—Mark Jenkin’s Bait, shot on hand-processed black-and-white 16mm film, and Peter Parlow’s The Plagiarists, which uses low-def Betamax to spoof microbudget American indies—and hybrid films that defy categorization—Burak Cevik’s Belonging, a murder investigation told via voiceover, abstract imagery, and footage of the suspects’ first encounter, and Andrea Bussmann’s experimental narrative Fausto, which synthesizes Oaxacan myths with the classic Faust story. Also screening are four films with memorable performances: Philippe Lesage’s nuanced coming-of-age story Genesis; Camille Vidal-Naquet’s intimate character study of a gay hustler, Sauvage; Markus Schleinzer’s Angelo, about an African child sold into 18th-century Viennese court society, co-starring Alba Rohrwacher; and Sudabeh Mortezai’s Joy, about a Nigerian sex worker tasked with training a young recruit. Rounding out the lineup are two programs comprising 11 short films including Jacqueline Lentzou’s Hector Malot: The Last Day of the Year, winner of Best Short Film at Cannes Critics’ Week, and Malena Szlam’s Altiplano, screening on a 35mm print.

“Demanding our attention and exemplifying the vitality of contemporary cinema, this year’s class of emerging directors is one of the most courageous in years,” said Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at The Museum of Modern Art. “Ready to investigate the deepest pain as well as celebrate profound humanity, these filmmakers are the brave new champions of our beloved artform.”

“Spanning the globe and a wide spectrum of styles and concerns, the bold and brilliant films in this year’s New Directors lineup are collective proof that cinema is still as supple a medium as ever,” said Film Society Director of Programming Dennis Lim.

This year’s lineup boasts 35 features and shorts from 29 countries across four continents, with 10 North American Premieres and two World Premieres, 15 films directed or co-directed by women, and 11 works by first-time feature filmmakers.

The New Directors/New Films selection committee is made up of members from both presenting organizations. The 2019 feature committee was comprised of Rajendra Roy (Co-Chair, MoMA), Dennis Lim (Co-Chair, FSLC), Josh Siegel (MoMA), Florence Almozini (FSLC), La Frances Hui (MoMA), and Dan Sullivan (FSLC), and the shorts were programmed by Brittany Shaw (MoMA) and Tyler Wilson (FSLC).

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 8 at noon. MoMA and Film Society members receive an early access purchasing period starting on Monday, March 4 at noon. To become a member of MoMA or the Film Society, please visit MoMA.org or filmlinc.org, respectively. Plus, see more and save with a 3+ film discount package or $50 Student All-Access Pass. A limited number of VIP All-Access Passes will also be available.

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

Additional funding is provided by The Museum of Modern Art’s Annual Film Fund. Leadership support for the Annual Film Fund is provided by the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation and Steven Tisch, with major contributions from Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), Yuval Brisker Charitable Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Karen and Gary Winnick, and The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art.