The Favourite to open 56th New York Film Festival

Yorgos Lanthimos' film selected for gala

by Anne-Katrin Titze

Emma Stone as Abigail Hill in The Favourite
Emma Stone as Abigail Hill in The Favourite Photo: Yorgos Lanthimos

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced on Monday that Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite - co-written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, starring Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman, and Emma Stone - is the Opening Night Gala selection of the New York Film Festival. The Favourite, shot by cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected) and Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake) has costumes designed by Sandy Powell (Todd Haynes' Wonderstruck and Carol, Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street).

The Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair is Kent Jones. Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming and Florence Almozini, FSLC Associate Director of Programming join Kent as the selection committee members.

Kent Jones: “The Favourite is a lot of things at once, each of them perfectly meshed: a historical epic; a visual feast; a wild, wild ride; a formidable display of the art of acting from Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman, abetted by a brilliant cast; a tour de force from Yorgos Lanthimos. And… it’s a blast. We’re very excited to have it as our opening night film."

The Favourite will be screened at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 28.

Fox Searchlight Pictures will release The Favourite on November 23 in the US.

The 2018 New York Film Festival runs from September 28 through October 14.

Share this with others on...
News

Inviting curiosity Ildikó Enyedi on the value of science, perception, discovery and Silent Friend

Streaming Spotlight: the rites of Spring We shine our Beltane spotlight on films in which the old ways linger

Fighting fit for a debut feature Valéry Carnoy talks toxic masculinity, memory, confidence and Belgian 'soft-power'

Collective power We look ahead at the programme of this year's Folk Film Gathering

Writing hidden messages Arnaud Desplechin on guilt, melodrama, feeling haunted, and Two Pianos

Clever crafting with Idiots Chris Barfoot on his six-camera set up and three-day shoot of his debut feature

More news and features

We're bringing you news and reviews from the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Queer East.



We're looking forward to Cannes.



We've recently brought you coverage of Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema, the Glasgow Film Festival, the Berlinale, Sundance and Palm Springs.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest from the spring events:


Cannes 16 titles added to line-up


Cannes Carla Simón heads short film jury


Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection


Cannes Payal Kapadia heads Critics' Week jury