May December to open New York Film Festival

"We are all so proud," says Todd Haynes

by Anne-Katrin Titze

Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, will be the Opening Night selection
Todd Haynes’s May December, starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, will be the Opening Night selection

Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Todd Haynes’s May December (Christine Vachon, his longtime producer was honoured at this year’s Karlovy International Film Festival), starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton will be the Opening Night selection of the 61st New York Film Festival. Todd’s previous films screening at the New York Film Festival were Velvet Goldmine (NYFF 36), I’m Not There (NYFF 45), Carol (NYFF 53), Wonderstruck (NYFF 55 - Centerpiece Selection), and The Velvet Underground (NYFF 59).

Todd Haynes’s longtime producer Christine Vachon
Todd Haynes’s longtime producer Christine Vachon Photo: Ed Bahlman

“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American première of May December,” said director Todd Haynes. “It is a festival that plays a role in my work and life like no other in the world, since it enshrines the cultural life of this city, which is both my creative home as a filmmaker and, as ever, the eternal site of artistic possibility.”

“May December is a tour de force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to- moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic

Director, New York Film Festival. “It cements Todd Haynes’s place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”

May December will be released in the US in theatres November 17 and on Netflix December 1.

The New York Film Festival Main Slate selection committee, chaired by Dennis Lim, also includes Florence Almozini, Justin Chang, K Austin Collins and Rachel Rosen.

The 61st New York Film Festival runs from Friday, September 29 through Sunday, October 15.

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