Anchoring the New York Film Festival

Michael Fassbender, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Don Cheadle star in headline films.

by Anne-Katrin Titze

Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk and Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead to open and close 53rd New York Film Festival.
Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk and Don Cheadle's Miles Ahead to open and close 53rd New York Film Festival. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Three films (including two world premières) about three men - Steve Jobs, Miles Davis and Philippe Petit - anchor the 53rd New York Film Festival.

Announced yesterday, Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle's biopic, written by Aaron Sorkin, will be the Centerpiece. Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Katherine Waterston and Michael Stuhlbarg comprise the all-star cast.

The Walk in 3D, based on Philippe Petit's To Reach The Clouds, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit with Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon and Ben Schwartz, will open the festival. In 2012, Ang Lee’s majestic Life Of Pi was the first 3D movie screened as an Opening Night Gala.

Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's directorial debut, in which he stars as Miles Davis, opposite Emayatzy Corinealdi, Ewan McGregor and Michael Stuhlbarg, will be the Closing Night film. Zemeckis teamed with Cheadle in Flight, the 2012 Closing Night selection.

The selection committee, chaired by New York Film Festival Director, Kent Jones, includes Dennis Lim (Film Society of Lincoln Center Director of Programming), Marian Masone (Film Society of Lincoln Center Senior Programming Advisor), Gavin Smith (Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment) and Amy Taubin (Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound).

This year's New York Film Festival runs from September 25 through October 11.

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