Anticipating NYFF, 9/25.

"The 45th New York Film Festival is something of a family affair here at the Village Voice," writes Nathan Lee, pointing out that J Hoberman and Scott Foundas are on the selection committee and then referring to a column Jonas Mekas wrote in the weekly back in 1966, listing "arguments against and pro" the then-4-year-old festival.

As for 2007, "We can quibble all we want about who's hot and who's not when it comes to the grand old men of the movies - why choose the latest from Rohmer (The Romance of Astree and Celadon) but not Rivette (Ne Touche Pas le Hache)? Why include a film indebted to Manoel de Oliveira (In The City of Sylvia) but not a film by Manoel de Oliveira (Christopher Columbus, the Enigma)? - yet it seems churlish to do so given a year when 'the death of cinema' has moved from the think piece to the obituary page."

ST VanAirsdale, the Reeler, interviews NYFF programmer Richard Peña.

At the SpoutBlog, Karina Longworth has newsbits from the NYFF front: a Brian De Palma no-show and a screening cancellation: John Ford's The Iron Horse.

Posted by dwhudson at September 25, 2007 1:51 PM