'Rifkin's Festival' Trailer: Woody Allen's Latest Follows A Troubled Marriage At A Film Festival

It may have taken a lot longer than fans of his would have hoped, but Woody Allen has been able to skip the Hollywood system altogether and make a new comedy, titled “Rifkin’s Festival.” And ahead of its September 18 debut at the San Sebastian Film Festival, we now have a trailer for the feature.

As the title suggests, “Rifkin’s Festival” tells the story of comedy, drama, romance, and life, in general, taking place during a film festival. The film is led by Wallace Shawn, as a husband that brings his wife to the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. He begins to notice that his wife has become enamored with a younger film director and this leads the husband to begin to question everything about his life. Yes, a Woody Allen film about an older man married to a younger girl with a relationship on the brink. Shocking, I know.

Joining Shawn in the cast are Gina Gershon, Louis Garrel, Elena Anaya, Sergi López, and Christoph Waltz. The film is, of course, written and directed by Woody Allen, marking his first feature since the troubled, “A Rainy Day in New York,” which experienced issues during its release due to the filmmaker’s personal drama and sexual abuse allegations resurfacing.

And though “Rifkin’s Festival” has no obvious markings of a filmmaker in crisis, it’s important to know the context that surrounds the film due to Allen’s behind-the-scenes drama. He’s been effectively blacklisted by Hollywood in light of the sexual abuse allegations and his comments about #MeToo. In addition, he’s had a number of actors and colleagues speak out against him publicly. This has forced the filmmaker to retreat to Europe, where people are still willing to accept him and his future films.

What this all means is that “Rifkin’s Festival” is the first feature that Allen has made that doesn’t have a concrete release strategy. His deal with Amazon is no longer in effect. North American distributors don’t really want to explain working with Allen. So, while the film has a major festival debut, it’s unclear when anyone in North America will be able to see the film. Until then, there’s just the trailer to keep you occupied.