The NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL hits 50 with --whew!-- this terrific and extensive line-up

On paper, anyway. That's always the way it is with festivals. But even the paper involved in this one looks pretty amazing: for instance a new giallo type thriller, below (which is actually a remake. Hint: that's Rachel McAdams, below, in the Kristin Scott Thomas role). And its director is Brian DePalma (above), returning, after a six-year hiatus, to the genre he helped perfect.

Ang Lee doing 3-D (that's The Life of Pi, opening night, below).

A tribute to Nicole Kidman, including her new film, The Paperboy (below).

A cast/director reunion for The Princess Bride, below, after 25 years. (For local fans of this charming movie, I should think the event will be a "must.")

Plus the new Assayas, Carax, Haneke, Kiarostami, Larraín (yup--we can use only his last name now!), Potter and Resnais (the last's film is shown at bottom of post) -- plus all those new names, the work of a few of which will have become buff-must-sees by the time the films are (we hope) released theatrically next year. The shot below is from Here and There, a new Mexican film by Antonio Méndez Esparza.

And of course the annual Views From the Avant-Garde (below), now in its 16th year, and even further expanded, naturally.

For me, the saddest part of the festival will be saying good-bye to Richard Peña (below), for the past 25 years the Film Society’s Program Director and Selection Committee Chair of the New York Film Festival, who is stepping down at the end of this year. This fellow has been such a welcoming fixture at the Film Society, while bringing so many wonderful films and filmmakers to our attention, that it is difficult to imagine movie-going there without him at the helm. Little wonder this 50th New York Film Festival is devoting a gala evening to this very special gentleman.

I shouldn't be sad, I suppose, since Mr. Peña -- on a bus ride up Broadway to Lincoln Center, following the luncheon for this year's Open Roads fest of new Italian films -- assured me that he was looking forward with great anticipation to going on to an entirely new chapter of his life. And it is his life, after all. He also, on that bus ride, told me to be certain to see one in particular of those Italian films, The Arrival of Wang (below, click and scroll down to learn about that film), which proved a major delight of that fest and a movie I would never have wanted to miss. This is exactly this kind of thing -- accessibility and friendliness coupled to knowledge and wisdom -- that will make me miss Richard all the more.

If I were to go at length about this year's NYFF, the way I'd like, this post would last for-f-ing-ever and I would slight the other films I've promised to cover this week. So, after I've caught a few of these films at their press screenings, I'll post a short work-up on that movie here, under the headline of NYFF50: -- with the title and director following. (A fuller review will appear if and when that film receives a theatrical, DVD, or digital release.)

And now, to give you quick access to the fest -- which begins this Friday, September 28, and runs through Sunday, October 14 -- simply click on any of the fifteen links below, the first of which brings you the entire fest at a glance, while the others detail each individual section. You're on your own from there. Believe me, you could spend hours just browsing this entire site and its mouth-watering-for-film-buffs delights....

THE 50TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL (ENTIRE)

NYFF50: MAIN SLATE

NYFF50: SPECIAL EVENTS

50 YEARS OF THE NY FILM FEWSTIVAL (ongoing)

NYFF50: MASTERWORKS

NYFF50: CINEMA REFLECTED

NYFF50: HBO DIRECTORS DIALOGUES

NYFF50: MIDNIGHT MOVIES

NYFF50: ON THE ARTS

NYFF50: VIEWS FROM THE AVANT-GARDE

NYFF50: CINÉASTES/CINEMA OF OUR TIME

NYFF50: PIERRE RISSIENT AND THE CINEMA MAC MAHON

NYFF50: CONVERGENCE

NYFF50: SHORTS PROGRAM

NYFF LIVE