It’s NYFF day. OK, yes, earlier today, we were honored to premiere the trailer for the 60th New York Film Festival. Following that update, we got word about NYFF’s Spotlight section and new world premieres added to the festival, including Maria Schrader‘s drama “She Said,” starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, detailing the New York Times investigation that uncovered decades of sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood.
But there’s one film in the new additions to the line-up that we’re a bit desperate to highlight and desperate to see: Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking,” her screen adaptation of Miriam Toews’s acclaimed novel about a group of women from a remote religious Mennonite community dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault.
“Woman Talking” features a superb cast, arguably one of the best of the year. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, and Judith Ivey, and Canadian acting legend Sheila McCarthy, known for the Genie-winning” I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing,” 1987 dramedy. Hildur Guðnadóttir, the Academy Award-winning composer of “Joker,” has written the film’s score.
Polley is, of course, one of Canada’s premiere filmmakers. After starting out as a child actor and acting for years in film and TV, including a star-making turn in Atom Egoyan’s “Sweet Hereafter” (1997). In the mid-aughts, she turned away from acting (for the most part and started directing. Her directorial debut “Away From Her” (2006) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and “Take This Waltz” followed in 2011. Her first documentary film, “Stories We Tell” (2012), is widely recognized as one of the best documentaries of this century (we surely put it way up top).
Here’s how NYFF describes the film.
Sarah Polley brings ferocious honesty and restrained urgency to her screen adaptation of Miriam Toews’s acclaimed novel about of a group of women from a remote religious community dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault perpetrated by the colony’s men. A film of ideas brought to life by Polley’s imaginative direction, and a superb, fine-tuned ensemble cast—including Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, and Judith Ivey—Women Talking is a deep and searching exploration of self-determination, group responsibility, faith, and forgiveness, philosophically engaging and emotionally rich in equal measure. A United Artists release.
Produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B company, “Women Talking” is due December 2 via Orion Pictures. The film will also play as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, followed by its New York premiere at the aforementioned NYFF. That said, given TIFF hasn’t dubbed it a world premiere, that tips its hand a little bit: it will likely make its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on Labor Day weekend. That’s not confirmed yet, but more info will arrive closer to the end of August. Check out the first look at the film below.
