The SAG and WGA strikes threatened to really ruin the fall film festival season for a minute there. And while some films eventually did bail, not wanting to risk the idea of now acting talent there to promote it— “Challengers” and “Dune 2” for two examples—despite the challenges of promotion and worries around it, the 2023 fall film festival selections have been excellent at all of the festivals. And the 61st New York Film Festival, which is already incredible, just got a tremendous boost: Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein epic starring himself and Carey Mulligan will join the festival as part of the Spotlight Gala section today.
Today, Film at Lincoln Center announced Cooper’s film will make its North American premiere at the David Geffen Hall on October 2. In his directorial follow-up to “A Star Is Born,” Cooper dramatizes legendary musician Leonard Bernstein’s public and private lives with sensitivity, visual ingenuity, and symphonic splendor. “Maestro” joins the previously announced gala films, opening night movie “May December” by Todd Field, Sofia Coppola’s Centerpiece movie “Priscilla” and Michael Mann’s Closing night picture “Ferrari.”
Here’s what Netflix has to say about “Maestro,” of which you saw in yesterday’s teaser trailer, no doubt.
Coasting on the boundless energy of its subject’s runaway genius, “Maestro” transports the viewer back to a vividly re-created postwar New York, when Bernstein (Cooper) began his stratospheric rise to international fame as both a conductor and composer and when he first met Felicia (Carey Mulligan), the actress whom he would marry and spend his life with. “Maestro” is a tender, often intensely emotional film about the different faces one wears when living in the public eye, depicting the complicated yet devoted decades-spanning relationship between Leonard and Felicia. Fueled by Cooper and Mulligan’s perfectly matched duet of towering performances, Matthew Libatique’s balletic cinematography, and, of course, Bernstein’s thrilling music, “Maestro” is a tour de force for its director. A Netflix release.
Clearly, the NYFF programmers are impressed by the film and what it achieves.
“’Maestro’ is a bravura achievement for its director and star, a work of conviction and imagination that does justice to the brilliance and complexity of its subject,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “We are honored to have Bradley Cooper’s enthralling film as a gala presentation at this year’s festival, and doubly so to be showing it in a venue that is synonymous with Leonard Bernstein.”
“The New York Film Festival is proud to present the North American debut of Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s tour de force film about the life of renowned conductor, composer, and musician Leonard Bernstein,” said Lesli Klainberg, President, Film at Lincoln Center. “It is particularly significant that this is the first film to premiere in the new David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, which Bernstein famously led for over a decade, and where NYFF began in 1963. This state-of-the-art presentation was realized with the collaboration of our colleagues at the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and supported by our friends at Netflix and Dolby.”
The New York Film Festival audience will experience “Maestro” with the ultra-vivid colors of Dolby Vision and the immersive sound of Dolby Atmos. A Dolby Vision projection system and a Dolby Atmos sound system will be installed by Dolby and its technical partners in David Geffen Hall specifically for the “Maestro” premiere, transforming the venue into a state-of-the-art cinema equipped with Dolby’s cutting-edge technology for the one-night-only experience.
The complete NYFF Spotlight lineup will be announced soon. You can see the full NYFF lineup so far here. Lastly, check out the teaser trailer for “Maestro” again if you haven’t already.
