While the US festival season has been in a bit of disarray since SXSW was canceled back in March, it appears that some events will actually take place before the end of 2020, led by the New York Film Festival in September. And though the event is scaled down a bit from previous editions, there are still some high-quality films being screened, including the upcoming Closing Night selection, “French Exit.”
Today, NYFF announced that Azazel Jacobs’ upcoming feature, “French Exit,” will serve as the Closing Night selection at this year’s event. The film’s world premiere will happen at the event, which was announced a week after the news that Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” would open the fest.
“French Exit” stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges in a drama about a widow that abandons her life as a New York City socialite to move to Paris with her son and their cat (actually voiced by Tracy Letts).
“NYFF is the film festival I grew up attending,” said Jacobs. “I remember seeing ‘Night On Earth’ for the first time, and waiting afterwards to hand Jim Jarmusch a fan letter. I remember that same year seeing Gus Van Sant’s ‘My Own Private Idaho’ and having my aim to become a filmmaker only more solidified. I’m grateful to the NYFF for allowing ‘French Exit’ to premiere in the city I was raised in, and love, and to all who are undoubtedly working tirelessly to make this event happen.”
READ MORE: Sundance Gets Approval To Shorten 2021 Film Festival
New York Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez added, “We’ve been watching New York filmmaker Azazel Jacobs for more than a decade, since his film ‘Momma’s Man’ screened in our New Directors/New Films festival in 2008. Now, we’re honored that he’ll make his NYFF debut with Closing Night selection ‘French Exit,’ a tour-de-force collaboration with Michelle Pfeiffer that we can’t wait to share with audiences in NYC and beyond.”
This year’s NYFF is expected to be a much smaller affair than previous years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And though New York City has recently been doing pretty well in halting the spread of the illness, the US, as a whole, is struggling, leading to the festival reducing its scope in 2020 and adding a digital component, as we’ve seen elsewhere.
This year’s New York Film Festival is expected to begin on September 25.
