Palm Springs International Film Festival unveils 2017 lineup, to open with ‘The Sense of an Ending’
The Palm Springs International Film festival unveiled the lineup for its 2017 edition on Thursday morning. Running Jan. 2-16, the festival will screen 190 films from 72 countries. Among the selections will be 43 of the 85 official submissions for the foreign language Academy Award.
The festival’s awards gala will be Jan. 2, and the opening night screening Jan. 5 will be the world premiere of Ritesh Batra’s “The Sense of an Ending.” An adaptation of the novel by Julian Barnes starring Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Dockery and Matthew Goode, the film is the follow-up to Batra’s debut feature “The Lunchbox,” which was popular on the festival circuit and garnered heated media attention when it was not selected to be India’s Oscar submission.
The festival will close with Taylor Hackford’s “The Comedian,” starring Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Harvey Keitel, Patti LuPone and Edie Falco. That film recently had its world premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup. The programming team has managed to pull together a plethora of different viewpoints in storytelling from around the world in hopes of generating great discussion sorely needed in these divisive times,” said the festival’s new artistic director, Michael Lerman, in a statement.
Other notable titles among the nine world premieres at the festival are Colin Hanks’ documentary “Eagles of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends),” America Young’s “The Concessionaires Must Die!” and Andrew Wagner’s “Breakable You.”
Among the festival’s 24 U.S. premieres is Amma Asante’s “A United Kingdom,” starring David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike.
The World Cinema Now section will include Alison Maclean’s “The Rehearsal,” Amber Tamblyn’s “Paint it Black,” Amber Sealey’s “No Light and No Land Anywhere,” Oliver Hirschbiegel’s “13 Minutes,” Amir Galván Cervera and Mitzi Vanessa Arreola’s “The 4th Company,” Baltasar Kormákur’s “The Oath,” Stéphanie Di Giusto’s “The Dancer,” Lee Tamahori’s “The Patriarch,” Cristian Mungiu’s “Graduation,” Benedict Andrews’ “Una” and Houda Benyamina’s “Divines”
The festival will feature a six-film focus on Polish cinema including Andrzej Wajda’s “Afterimage,” his final film before his death in October, as well as his 1958 film “Ashes and Diamonds.”
There will also be a 10-film competition section titled “New Voices/New Visions,” spotlighting first- or second-time international filmmakers. The “Modern Masters” section will include 10 films from directors such as Terence Davies, Steve James, Thomas Vinterberg, Francois Ozon, Feng Xioagang, Ken Loach, Carlos Saura, Kim Ki-duk, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne and Olivier Assayas.
The complete festival lineup will be available beginning Dec. 16 at psfilmfest.org
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