As film fans, there aren’t very many times in the year that is as exciting as the fall film festival season. With Venice, TIFF, Telluride, Fantastic Fest, and others clogging our schedules, some of the year’s best films are getting center stage, drawing interest and acclaim from fans all around the world. Firmly in the center of the season is the New York Film Festival. And according to that event’s director, Kent Jones, there’s a reason why film festivals have become such events, and it’s partly because of Netflix and Amazon.
Speaking to Variety, Jones discussed a number of topics relating to this year’s NYFF, including the opening night World Premiere of Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” Jones doesn’t hide the fact that he’s close with the filmmaker and attributes that relationship, combined with some fortuitous scheduling, as the reason why NYFF is the place where one of the year’s most-anticipated films will get showcased.
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However, “The Irishman” is far from the only high-profile film to get the spotlight in New York this year. Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory,” Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” and Celine Sciamma’s film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” are all getting screened at NYFF. And Jones doesn’t just see that as a win for his event and its pedigree, but also as a sign of the times.
“Multiplexes are being filled with stuff that’s just more of the same idea,” he explained. “At this point, it’s a separate world — I hesitate to say that it’s even part of the same industry. It really isn’t.”
He continued, “I think that what really developed last year, and what’s only become more dramatically true this year, is that filmmakers want their movies to be seen on as many big screens as possible. Therefore, they want to go to as many festivals as possible.”
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Jones attributes to this change to the aforementioned trends at the box office, which is dominated by sequels, superhero films, and big-budget blockbusters, and the rise of streamers like Amazon, Netflix, and others. While he’s not mad about the streaming services or the box office, he does see the exclusion of indie films as a real issue. As for how he thinks film fans can combat this problem?
“Go [to cinemas] more,” he said. “If the numbers were better, things would be different.”
The New York Film Festival kicks off September 27 and runs until October 11.