Representing seven countries from around the world, the initial seven selections are Karl Markovics’ BREATHING (Austria), Anca Damian’s CRULIC: THE PATH TO BEYOND (Romania), Julia Murat’s FOUND MEMORIES (Brazil), Pablo Giorgelli’s LAS ACACIAS (Argentina), Joachim Trier’s OSLO 31, AUGUST 31ST (Norway), Alejandro Landes’s PORFIRIO (Colombia) and Angelina Nikonova’s TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (Russia).

“A testament to the vitality of international auteurist cinema, our initial titles set a high bar for emerging directors this year. As in past years, the New Directors class of 2012 promises to generate talent that will rank notably amongst the most innovative and influential in the field,” said Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.

Murat’s FOUND MEMORIES was named Best Film in the New Horizons category at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival and received a Special Mention at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, while Giorgelli’s LAS ACACIAS was the winner of the Camera d’Or and a favorite of the 2011 Cannes Critics Week. The film has been described as a genre-straddling gem by The Guardian.

Film Society of Lincoln Center Program Director Richard Pena added, “Even with the lion’s share of films still to be selected, the year’s first crop for ND/NF introduces a group of filmmakers both exceptionally accomplished in their storytelling as well as adventurous in their approach to filmmaking.”

Directing debuts include veteran Austrian actor Markovics’s BREATHING and Nikonova’s TWILIGHT PORTRAIT, winner of the Golden Alexander Best Film Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, which she co-produced and co-wrote with the film’s lead actress Olga Dihovichnaya.

Joachim Trier’s OSLO, AUGUST 31^ST, which premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this week, marks the filmmaker’s return to New Directors/New Films, where he premiered his debut feature REPRISE in 2007. Additional sophomore efforts are Damian’s animated documentary CRULIC: THE PATH TO BEYOND – her second film following festival favorite CROSSING DATES (2008), and Landes’s PORFIRIO, another film that wildly expands the documentary form. The film won the Golden Peacock Best Film Award at the International Film Festival of India. Landes’s first feature, COCALERO (2007) enjoyed a successful debut at Sundance.

For more than four decades, New Directors/New Films has been a beacon for emerging directors eager to make their mark on the film scene, and the festival has introduced or cemented the status of some of the most familiar and critically acclaimed directors (Chantal Akerman, Pedro Almodóvar, Darren Aronofsky, Ken Burns, Agnieszka Holland, Wong Kar Wai, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, among them).

The seven official selections include:

BREATHING (Atmen) (2011) 90min
Director: Karl Markovics
Country: Austria
The remarkably assured directorial debut from veteran Austrian actor Karl Markovics (THE COUNTERFEITERS) creates a slipstream between the perilousness of youth and the inevitability of death. Roman (Thomas Schubert) is an inmate at a juvenile detention center whose last hope of parole rests on his ability to hold down a job as a morgue assistant. Remorse, horror and ultimately a glimmer of illumination are cultivated through his work and his attempts to connect with a life hanging in the balance. BREATHING is a Kino Lorber release.

CRULIC: THE PATH TO BEYOND (2011) 73min
Director: Anca Damian
Country: Romania
When Claudiu Crulic, a young Romanian in Poland, is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit, he becomes a pawn in a Kafkaesque miscarriage of justice and goes on a hunger strike to protest his treatment in jail. Filmmaker Anca Damian’s documentary is by turns chilling and heartbreaking, but also ironic, with a bit of black humor thrown in for good measure. What makes her extraordinary documentary even more compelling is its strong visual style: Damian uses hand drawn, cutout and collage animation techniques to create a strikingly memorable film.

FOUND MEMORIES (Historias Que So Existem Quando Lembradas) (2011) 98min
Director: Julia Murat
Country: Brazil
The original title, which translates as “stories that only exist when remembered,” beautifully expresses the theme and core sentiment of Julia Murat’s film. FOUND MEMORIES is a poetic rendering of the fictive town of Jotuomba. A magical confluence of generations and cultures is occasioned by the visit of Julia, a young photographer, to this place where time has seemingly stood still and life is rooted in the fixed roles of tradition soon to be rendered obsolete. FOUND MEMORIES is a Film Movement release.

LAS ACACIAS (2011) 85min
Director: Pablo Giorgelli
Country: Argentina
A road movie with a difference, LAS ACACIAS takes a 900-mile trip from Asunción, Paraguay to Buenos Aires, with a gruff, taciturn truck driver and the two illegal immigrants—a young woman, and her newborn daughter—he is reluctantly transporting. Largely confined to the cramped confines of the truck’s cab, Giorgelli’s camera observes the miles passing, and the quiet, subtly evolving interaction of the trio, while borders are crossed (in more than one sense) and the driver gradually lowers his defenses and finds himself becoming unexpectedly attached to his passengers.

OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (2011) 96min
Director: Joachim Trier
Country: Norway
Daylight lingers at the end of August in Oslo, but sunlight is not a friend to Anders, a semi-recovered addict, facing a new life which may not be appealing without former habits. Joachim Trier’s first feature, REPRISE, was a critical highlight of New Directors/New Films 2007, and while that antic fiction was about friendship and hope, his second is quite different, bearing traces of Robert Bresson. Adapted from the same novel as Louis Malle’s THE FIRE WITHIN (1963), this subtle and haunting film follows Anders, as he tries to adjust – making love, wandering through Oslo, having a job interview, seeing old friends, and trying to get comfortable with his situation.

PORFIRIO (2011) 101min
Director: Alejandro Landes
Country: Colombia
Paralyzed from the waist down by a stray police bullet, the title character in Alejandro Landes’ remarkable film spends his days selling minutes on his cell phone when not flirting with his comely neighbor, and secretly plotting his revenge. Landes worked on the film for five years, creating a tale that joined the most intimate details of Porfirio’s day-to-day life with an astonishing re-creation of his attempt to hijack an airplane.

TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (2011) 105min
Director: Angelina Nikonova
Country: Russia
TWILIGHT PORTRAIT is a powerhouse collaboration co-written and co-produced by Angelina Nikonova, who directed, and Olga Dihovichnaya, who stars in this very dark, provocative and constantly surprising debut feature film. In a modern Russian city where corruption, apathy and class warfare are the norm, a woman is raped, rather casually by the police. What follows explodes the conventions of sexual politics—and will certainly have film-goers talking. This staggering film features great performances and an unvarnished view of life in the age of Putin.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Sunday, March 11, 2012.
New Directors/New Films tickets can be purchased online at newdirectors.org, or in person at the box offices of The Film Society of Lincoln Center (Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th Street, near Amsterdam Avenue) and The Museum of Modern Art (11 W. 53rd Street).

There are two advance ticketing opportunities:
Film Society and MoMA Members may purchase tickets starting Sunday, March 4. To become a Member of the Film Society or MoMA please visit: filmlinc.com and MoMA.org, respectively.

About New Directors/New Films
Dedicated to the discovery and support of emerging artists, New Directors/New Films has earned an international reputation as the premier festival for works that break or re-cast the cinematic mold. The New Directors/New Films selection committee is made up of members from both presenting organizations: from The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Marian Masone, Richard Peña, and Gavin Smith; and from The Museum of Modern Art, Jytte Jensen, Laurence Kardish, and Rajendra Roy.

About The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art
Under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic, and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, now in its 50thyear, and New Directors/New Films, which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award—now named “The Chaplin Award”—to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com.

The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film was established as the Film Library in 1935, and presented its first series as circulating exhibitions in 1936. The Film Department organizes over 50 film exhibitions every year, including annual programs such as Premiere Brazil, To Save and Project and The Contenders.  The Department also organizes exhibitions in MoMA’s galleries, including Tim Burton (2009-10) and Pixar: 20 Years of Animation (2005–06). The department also has an extensive archive of over 27,000 film and video works, including the world’s largest institutional collections of the works of D. W. Griffith, Andy Warhol, and Stan Brakhage. Rajendra Roy is the current Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, appointed in May 2007.

Sponsorship
New Directors/New Films is presented by The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center and is supported by Kenneth Kuchin, The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, the New Wave Young Patrons of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, The New York Times and American Airlines.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Film Society of Lincoln Center
John Wildman, jwildman@filmlinc.com, 212/875-5419
David Ninh, dninh@filmlinc.com, 212/875-5423

The Museum of Modern Art
Sarah Jarvis, sarah_jarvis@moma.org, 212/708-9757

Online press office:
Press materials including high-res images and press releases are available for download at: www.filmlinc.com/press (Password: press2) and MoMA.org/press.

New Directors/New Films is accepting submissions for ND/NF 41, running from March 21-April 1, 2012. ND/NF has showcased the work of emerging artists for over 40 years, and continues to celebrate the most innovative voices in filmmaking. The submission deadline is January 6, 2012. There is no fee for submitting films to New Directors/New Films, but please keep the following guidelines in mind:

• Entries must be New York premieres and must have been completed in 2011 or 2010. Films shown in other festivals or public screenings in New York are not eligible for consideration.
• Work can be submitted on DVD, HDCam, Digibeta or 35 mm. DVD submissions will not be returned.
• Works of all lengths will be considered. There are not separate categories for feature length and short films.
• Films in any language other than English must be subtitled in English
• All applicants will be notified of the committee’s decision by February 29, 2012

In a review of the film, Variety said “the Vegas’ expressionist style, restrained emotional palette and delicate humor herald the arrival of promising young talents.”

If you missed Octubre at ND/NF, now’s your chance to see it. Check out the trailer below!

Guillermo del Toro claims that New Directors/New Films changed his life! Today is your last opportunity to rush on down to New Directors/New Films and find out if it can change your life too. There will be a limited number of $7.50 Rush tickets available for all New Directors/New Films screenings on Sunday except for the Closing Night screenings of Circumstance.

The New York Times says Circumstance has “power.” Standby tickets will be available for both of its Sunday screenings. Read more…

All directors in person and all screenings followed by Q&A for Sunday’s line-up of New Directors/New Films at MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Read more..

SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY APRIL 3

1:00pm Hospitalité – at FSLC: Rush

1:30pm Man Without a Cell Phone – at MoMA: Rush

3:30pm Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure – at FSLC: Rush

4:00pm Octubre – at MoMA: Rush

7:00pm Circumstance – MoMA: Standby

7:30pm Circumstance – FSLC: Standby

Rush at MoMA: Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at MoMA’s Film Desk.

Rush at FSLC: Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater box office.

Standby at MoMA: Tickets, at regular prices, may be available to the standby line approximately 10 minutes before the 7pm & 7:30pm Closing Night screenings of Circumstance.

Photo from: Circumstance

You’ve got two more days to gorge on New Directors/New Films selections — here’s a quick rundown of lineup for this last weekend.

Saturday:

Attenberg, 1pm: This film and last year’s standout Dogtooth have many ready to declare Greece the new hotspot for risk-taking cinema. Attenberg‘s sensibility is all its own — it’s a coming-of-age tale like no other.

Summer of Goliath, 2:30pm: This film blends documentary and narrative in its portrait of a scattered lives in a small town — sometimes overtly, as two characters have a conversation that doesn’t seem to make sense, only to later have it again in proper context, perfectly rehearsed.

Gromozeka, 3:45pm: The three friends in this Russian film face tragicomic troubles of epic proportions, none more so than the cab driver who discovers his daughter’s side job in a truly regrettable way. Gromozeka offers a acrid but amusing take on crises of masculinity.

Hospitalité, 5:15pm: What starts as an oddball comedy of manners in Koji Fukada’s film grows into a larger metaphor for a national fear of what’s foreign in the form of uninvited house guests.

The Destiny of Lesser Animals, 6:30pm: Providing an unusual twist on the familiar narrative of the character who longs to get out of town, this Ghana-set film follows a policeman trying to retrieve his stolen forged passport in order to get back to the US, and suggests that the stronger choice may be to stick around.

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, 8pm: This documentary is really the story the of two pairs of men — two alcoholic roommates who fought every night, and the friends living next door who taped their bickering and ended up with a viral sensation on their hands before their was even such a word.

Octubre, 9pm: Vying with Winter Vacation for the prize of best deadpan at the festival, this Peruvian film centers around a neighborhood money-lender who despite all his resistance and attempts to be left alone acquires a makeshift family and place in the community during October’s Lord of Miracles festivities.

Sunday:

Hospitalité, 1pm

Man Without a Cell Phone, 1:30pm: In what has to be one of the most genial films about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a young slacker who only cares about meeting girls gets pulled into a local protest over the positioning of a cell phone tower by his more politically engaged father.

Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure, 3:30pm

Octubre, 4pm

Circumstance, 7/7:30pm: The budding romantic relationship between two young Iranian women is challenged not just by the restrictive lifestyle that’s all that’s available to them but also by the newfound religiousness of one of their family members, a recovering drug addict, in the festival’s closing night film.

At MoMA: A limited number of $7.50 Rush tickets will be available for the New Directors/New Films screenings of Summer of Goliath (2:30pm), Hospitalité (5:15pm), and Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure (8:30pm). Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at MoMA’s Film Desk.

AT FSLC: A limited number of $7.50 Rush tickets will be available for Gromozeka (3:45pm) and Octubre (9pm). Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater box office.

AT FSLC: Tickets, at regular prices, may be available to the standby line approximately 10 minutes before showtime for Attenberg (1pm), and The Destiny of Lesser Animals (6:30pm) at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater box office.

SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY APRIL 2
1:00pm Attenberg – at FSLC: Standby
2:30pm Summer of Goliath – at MoMA: Rush
3:45pm Gromozeka – at FSLC: Rush
5:15pm Hospitalité – at MoMA: Rush
6:30pm The Destiny of Lesser Animals – at FSLC: Standby
8:00pm Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure – MoMA: Rush
9:00pm Octubre – FSLC: Rush

Read more…

Plus: The New York Times says Circumstance, the festival’s Closing Night film, has “power.” Tickets are available for both of its Sunday screenings. Read more…

Rush at MoMA: A limited number of $7.50 Rush tickets will be available for the New Directors/New Films screenings of Gromozeka (6:00pm) and The Destiny of Lesser Animals (9:00pm) at MoMA. Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at MoMA’s Film Desk.

Rush at FSLC: A limited number of $7.50 Rush tickets will be available for the 8:30pm screening of Summer of Goliath at FSLC. Rush tickets may be purchased, on a first-come, first-serve basis, beginning one hour before each screening at Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater box office.

Standby at FSLC: Tickets, at regular prices, may be available to the standby line approximately 10 minutes before the 6pm screening of Man Without a Cell Phone at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater box office.

Read more…

SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY APRIL 1
6:00pm Man without a Cell Phone – at FSLC: Standby
6:00pm Gromozeka – at MoMA: Rush
8:30pm Summer of Goliath – at FSLC: Rush
9:00pm The Destiny of Lesser Animals – at MoMA: Rush

Photo from Gromozeka