The 53rd New York Film Festival was held September 25 – October 11, 2015.
The lineup consisted of seven sections:
The Festival also included various talks and free screenings. The primary selection committee included Kent Jones (chair), Dennis Lim, Marian Masone, Gavin Smith, and Amy Taubin. The Shorts Programs were selected by Sarah Mankoff, Laura Kern, Matt Bolish, Florence Almozini, and Dan Sullivan. Projections was programmed by Dennis Lim, Aily Nash, and Gavin Smith. The Dorsky/Hiler retrospective was programmed by Gavin Smith, and Convergence was curated by Matt Bolish.[1] [2]
| Title | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Walk (Opening Night) | The Walk | Robert Zemeckis | United States | |
| Steve Jobs (Centerpiece) | Steve Jobs | Danny Boyle | USA | |
| Miles Ahead (Closing Night) | Miles Ahead | Don Cheadle | USA | |
| Arabian Nights | As 1001 Noites | Miguel Gomes | Portugal France Germany Switzerland | |
| The Assassin | 聶隱娘 Nie Yin Niang | Hou Hsiao-hsien | Taiwan China Hong Kong | |
| Bridge of Spies | Bridge of Spies | Steven Spielberg | USA | |
| Brooklyn | Brooklyn | John Crowley | UK Ireland Canada | |
| Carol | Carol | Todd Haynes | USA | |
| Cemetery of Splendour | รักที่ขอนแก่น Rak Ti Khon Kaen | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Thailand France Germany Malaysia | |
| Les Cowboys | Les Cowboys | Thomas Bidegain | France | |
| Don't Blink – Robert Frank | Don't Blink – Robert Frank | Laura Israel | USA Canada | |
| Experimenter | Experimenter | Michael Almereyda | USA | |
| The Forbidden Room | The Forbidden Room | Guy Maddin Evan Johnson | Canada | |
| In the Shadow of Women | L'Ombre des femmes | Philippe Garrel | France | |
| Journey to the Shore | 岸辺の旅 Kishibe no tabi | Kiyoshi Kurosawa | Japan France | |
| The Lobster | The Lobster | Yorgos Lanthimos | France Netherlands Greece UK | |
| Maggie's Plan | Maggie's Plan | Rebecca Miller | USA | |
| The Measure of a Man | La Loi du marché | Stéphane Brizé | France | |
| Mia Madre | Mia Madre | Nanni Moretti | Italy France | |
| Microbe & Gasoline | Microbe et Gasoil | Michel Gondry | France | |
| Mountains May Depart | 山河故人 Shan He Gu Ren | Jia Zhangke | China France Japan | |
| My Golden Days | Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse | Arnaud Desplechin | France | |
| No Home Movie | No Home Movie | Chantal Akerman | Belgium France | |
| Right Now, Wrong Then | 지금은맞고그때는틀리다 Jigeumeun-matgo-geuttaeneun-tteullida | Hong Sang-soo | South Korea | |
| The Treasure | Comoara | Corneliu Porumboiu | Romania | |
| Where to Invade Next | Where to Invade Next | Michael Moore | USA |
| Program | Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program 1: International | La novia de Frankenstein | Agostina Gálvez, Francisco Lezama | Argentina | |
| Program 1: International | Monaco | David Easteal | Australia | |
| Program 1: International | Carry On | Rafael Haider | Austria | |
| Program 1: International | Marea de Tierra | Manuela Martelli, Amirah Tajdin | Chile, France | |
| Program 1: International | The Mad Half Hour | Leonardo Brzezicki | Argentina, Denmark | |
| Program 2: Genre Stories | Territory (Territoire) | Vincent Paronnaud | France | |
| Program 2: Genre Stories | We Wanted More | Stephen Dunn | Canada | |
| Program 2: Genre Stories | Sânge | Percival Argüero Mendoza | Mexico | |
| Program 2: Genre Stories | How to Be a Villain | Helen O’Hanlon | UK | |
| Program 2: Genre Stories | Ramona | Andrei Cretulescu | Romania | |
| Program 3: Animation | The Lingerie Show | Laura Harrison | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Whole | William Reynish | Denmark | |
| Program 3: Animation | Sanjay’s Super Team | Sanjay Patel | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Rolling | Matt Christensen | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Hot Bod | Claire van Ryzin | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Food | Siqi Song | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Denis the Pirate | Sam Messer | USA | |
| Program 3: Animation | Palm Rot | Ryan Gillis | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Hernia | Jason Giampietro | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Riot | Nathan Silver | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Sundae | Sonya Goddy | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Dragstrip | Pacho Velez, Daniel Claridge | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Special Features | James N. Kienitz Wilkins | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Six Cents in the Pocket | Ricky D’Ambrose | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Bad at Dancing | Joanna Arnow | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | My Last Film | Zia Anger | USA | |
| Program 4: New York | Review | Dustin Guy Defa | USA |
| Title | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everything is Copy | Everything is Copy | Jacob Bernstein | USA | |
| Fish Tail | Rabo De Peixe | Joaquim Pinto Nuno Leonel | Portugal | |
| Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) | Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) | Abbas Fahdel | Iraq France | |
| Immigration Battle/Reasons to Believe | Michael Camerini Shari Robertson | USA | ||
| Jag är Ingrid | Stig Björkman | Sweden | ||
| In Jackson Heights | In Jackson Heights | Frederick Wiseman | USA | |
| Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang | Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang | Walter Salles | Brazil France | |
| Rebel Citizen | Rebel Citizen | Pamela Yates | USA | |
| Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art | James Crump | USA | ||
| We Are Alive | On est vivants | Carmen Castillo | France Belgium | |
| The Witness | The Witness | James Solomon | USA |
| Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asylum (selected episodes) | Laura Poitras | USA, Germany | |
| Peace in the Valley | Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher | USA, Germany | |
| Notes from the Border | Iva Radivojevic | USA, Germany | |
| The Above | Kirsten Johnson | USA, Germany | |
| God Is an Artist | Dustin Guy Defa | USA, Germany | |
| Birdie | Heloisa Passos | USA, Germany |
| Program | Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program 1 | Neither God nor Santa María | Samuel M. Delgado, Helena Girón | Spain | |
| Program 1 | Something Horizontal | Blake Williams | USA, Canada | |
| Program 1 | Analysis of Emotions and Vexations | Wojciech Bakowski | Poland | |
| Program 1 | Traces/Legacy | Scott Stark | USA | |
| Program 1 | Entangled (Entrelazado) | Riccardo Giacconi | Colombia, Italy | |
| Program 2 | Prima Materia | Charlotte Pryce | USA | |
| Program 2 | Intersection | Vincent Grenier | USA | |
| Program 2 | Port Noir | Laura Kraning | USA | |
| Program 2 | Centre of the Cyclone | Heather Trawick | USA, Canada | |
| Program 2 | The Devastated Land (Le Pays Dévasté) | Emmanuel Lefrant | France | |
| Program 2 | Cathode Garden | Janie Geiser | USA | |
| Program 2 | Something Between Us | Jodie Mack | USA | |
| Program 2 | brouillard – passage 15 | Alexandre Larose | Canada | |
| Program 3 | A Distant Episode | Ben Rivers | UK, Morocco | |
| Program 3 | In Girum Imus Nocte | Giorgio Andreotta Calò | Italy | |
| Program 3 | Half Human, Half Vapor | Mike Stoltz | USA | |
| Program 3 | Occidente | Ana Vaz | France, Portugal | |
| Program 3 | YOLO | Ben Russell | USA, South Africa | |
| Program 3 | Ah humanity! | Ernst Karel, Verena Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor | Japan, France, USA | |
| Program 4 | Hard as Opal | Jared Buckhiester, Dani Leventhal | USA | |
| Program 4 | Confessions [1971] | Curt McDowell | USA | |
| Program 4 | Non-Stop Beautiful Ladies | Alee Peoples | USA | |
| Program 4 | Mars Garden | Lewis Klahr | USA | |
| Program 4 | The Exquisite Corpus | Peter Tscherkassky | Austria | |
| Program 5 | Soft Fiction [1979] | Chick Strand | USA | |
| Program 5 | Lost Note [1969/2015] | Saul Levine | USA | |
| Program 6 | Minotaur | Nicolás Pereda | Mexico, Canada | |
| Program 6 | Live to Live (Vivir para Vivir) | Laida Lertxundi | USA, Spain | |
| Program 7 | Hello | Simon Fujiwara | Germany | |
| Program 7 | F for Fibonacci | Beatrice Gibson | UK | |
| Program 7 | Black Code (Code Noir) | Louis Henderson | France | |
| Program 7 | Lessons of War | Peggy Ahwesh | USA | |
| Program 7 | Scales in the Spectrum of Space | Fern Silva | USA | |
| Program 7 | Many Thousands Gone | Ephraim Asili | USA, Brazil | |
| Program 8 | Isiah Medina | Canada | ||
| Program 9 | Radio at Night | James Richards | Germany, UK | |
| Program 9 | All That Is Solid | Louis Henderson | France, UK, Ghana | |
| Program 9 | Mad Ladders | Michael Robinson | USA | |
| Program 9 | Erysichthon | Jon Rafman | Canada | |
| Program 9 | Slow Zoom Long Pause | Sara Magenheimer | USA | |
| Program 9 | Hyperlinks or It Didn’t Happen | Cécile B. Evans | UK | |
| Program 10 | Santa Teresa & Other Stories | Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias | Dominican Republic, Mexico, USA | |
| Program 10 | Bunte Kuh | Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpour, Parastoo Anoushahpour | Canada | |
| Program 10 | The Everyday Ritual of Solitude Hatching Monkeys | Basim Magdy | Egypt | |
| Program 11 | The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers | Ben Rivers | UK, Morocco | |
| Program A | Chums from Across the Void | Jim Finn | USA | |
| Program A | The Two Sights | Katherin McInnis | USA | |
| Program A | A Disaster Forever | Michael Gitlin | USA | |
| Program B | Terrestrial | Calum Michel Walter | USA | |
| Program B | Noite Sem Distância | Lois Patiño | Portugal, Spain | |
| Program C | Rabbit Season, Duck Season | Michael Bell-Smith | USA | |
| Program C | All My Love All My Love | Hannah Black | UK | |
| Program C | Velvet Peel 1 | Victoria Fu | USA | |
| Program C | OM Rider | Takeshi Murata | USA |
| Title | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton | Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton | Guy Maddin Evan Johnson Galen Johnson | Canada | |
| Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman | Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman | Chantal Akerman | France | |
| Chevalier | Chevalier | Athina Rachel Tsangari | Greece | |
| De Palma | De Palma | Noah Baumbach Jake Paltrow | USA | |
| Heart of a Dog | Heart of a Dog | Laurie Anderson | USA France | |
| Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles | Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles | Chantal Akerman | Belgium France | |
| Junun | Junun | Paul Thomas Anderson | USA | |
| The Martian | The Martian | Ridley Scott | USA | |
| O Brother, Where Art Thou? (15th Anniversary Screening) | O Brother, Where Art Thou? | Joel Coen Ethan Coen | USA | |
| Son of Saul (Film Comment Presents) | Saul fia | László Nemes | Hungary |
| Title | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blow Out | Blow Out | Brian De Palma | USA | |
| Ran | 乱 | Akira Kurosawa | Japan | |
| A Touch of Zen | 俠女 Xiá nǚ | King Hu | Taiwan | |
| Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Visita ou Memórias e Confissões | Manoel de Oliveira | Portugal | |
| Black Girl | La Noire de… | Ousmane Sembène | France Senegal | |
| The Boys from Fengkuei | 風櫃來的人 Fēngguì lái de rén | Hou Hsiao-hsien | Taiwan | |
| Heaven Can Wait | Heaven Can Wait | Ernst Lubitsch | USA | |
| Insiang | Insiang | Lino Brocka | Philippines | |
| The Long Voyage Home | The Long Voyage Home | John Ford | USA | |
| The Memory of Justice | The Memory of Justice | Marcel Ophüls | UK USA France Germany | |
| Rocco and His Brothers | Rocco e i suoi fratelli | Luchino Visconti | Italy France |
| Program | Title | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Early Sounds/Middle Silence | Ingreen | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1964 | |
| Early Sounds/Middle Silence | A Fall Trip Home | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1964 | |
| Early Sounds/Middle Silence | Summerwind | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1965 | |
| Early Sounds/Middle Silence | Kodachrome Dailies from the Time of Song and Solitude (Reel 1) | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2005-2006 | |
| Hours and More for Jerome | Two Personal Gifts aka Fool’s Spring | Jerome Hiler, Nathaniel Dorsky | 1966-1967 | |
| Hours and More for Jerome | Hours for Jerome Part 1 | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1966-1982 | |
| Hours and More for Jerome | Hours for Jerome Part 2 | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1966-1982 | |
| Excavations | Pneuma | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1977-1983 | |
| Excavations | 17 Reasons Why | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1985-1987 | |
| Excavations | Alaya | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1976-1987 | |
| Three Cinematic Songs | Triste | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1974-1996 | |
| Three Cinematic Songs | Variations | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1992-1998 | |
| Three Cinematic Songs | Arbor Vitae | Nathaniel Dorsky | 1999-2000 | |
| Three Devotional Songs | Song and Solitude | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2005-2006 | |
| Three Devotional Songs | Threnody | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2004 | |
| Three Devotional Songs | The Visitation | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2002 | |
| The Quartet | Sarabande | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2008 | |
| The Quartet | Compline | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2009 | |
| The Quartet | Aubade | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2010 | |
| The Quartet | Winter | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2007 | |
| New Beginnings | The Return | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2011 | |
| New Beginnings | Pastourelle | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2010 | |
| New Beginnings | August and After | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2012 | |
| Worlds Emerging | April | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2012 | |
| Worlds Emerging | Song | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2013 | |
| Worlds Emerging | Spring | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2013 | |
| The Late Quartet | Summer | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2013 | |
| The Late Quartet | February | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2014 | |
| The Late Quartet | Avraham | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2014 | |
| The Late Quartet | December | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2014 | |
| Contemplations | Love’s Refrain | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2000-2001 | |
| Contemplations | Intimations | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2015 | |
| Contemplations | Prelude | Nathaniel Dorsky | 2015 |
| Program | Title | Director | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passing Glances | In the Stone House | Jerome Hiler | 1967-1970/2012 | |
| Passing Glances | New Shores | Jerome Hiler | 1970-1990/2012 | |
| Inhabited Places | Words of Mercury | Jerome Hiler | 2011 | |
| Inhabited Places | Gladly Given | Jerome Hiler | 1997 | |
| Inhabited Places | Marginalia | Jerome Hiler | 2015 |