Noah Baumbach’s White Noise chosen as Opener of the 60th New York Film Festival

Film at Lincoln Center announces Noah Baumbach’s White Noise as Opening Night of the 60th New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall on September 30.

In one of the year’s most gratifyingly ambitious American films, Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story) has adapted Don DeLillo’s epochal postmodern 1985 novel White Noise, long perceived as unfilmable, into a richly layered, entirely unexpected work of contemporary satire. Adam Driver heartily embodies Jack Gladney, an ostentatious “Hitler Studies” professor and father-of-four whose comfortable suburban college town life and marriage to the secretive Babette (Greta Gerwig, perfectly donning a blonde mop of “important hair”) are upended after a horrifying nearby accident creates an airborne toxic event of frightening and unknowable proportions. In a tightrope walk of comedy and horror, Baumbach captures the essence of DeLillo’s cacophonous pop-philosophical nightmare on unbounded consumerism, ecological catastrophe, and the American obsession with death. Impeccably matching DeLillo’s and Baumbach’s similarly percussive form of stylized dialogue, White Noise is wonderfully abrasive and awe-inspiring, a precisely mounted period piece entirely befitting our modern, through-the-looking-glass pandemic reality. A Netflix release.

“In 1985 my father and I drove from Brooklyn to see Kurosawa’s Ran open the 23rd NYFF, the same year that he brought home the hardback of Don DeLillo’s White Noise,” said Baumbach. “Opening the 60th NYFF with White Noise is truly special for me. This festival was part of my film education and has been a home for me and many of my movies over the years. I couldn’t be more excited and honored to return.”

“Opening the 60th edition of the New York Film Festival with Noah Baumbach’s ambitious, funny, and resonant White Noise underscores this festival’s history of introducing new filmmakers to New York audiences. A regular attendee of the festival as a kid, Noah Baumbach saw his indie filmmaking career take off after debuting Kicking and Screaming at NYFF in 1995,” said Eugene Hernandez, Executive Director of the New York Film Festival. “White Noise will usher in a 60th NYFF selection of films by established directors and vibrant new voices; we’re looking forward to sharing the communal experience of cinema with audiences at Lincoln Center and in other parts of the city this fall! Stay tuned!”

“Noah Baumbach’s adaptation of White Noise is an unequivocal triumph: a wildly entertaining and morbidly funny meditation on the way we live now that is also the director’s most ambitious and expansive film,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “Aided by a brilliant cast led by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, Baumbach has not only captured the essence of Don DeLillo’s beloved, era-defining book—he has turned it into a movie that speaks profoundly to our moment.”

Baumbach’s previous NYFF Main Slate selections include Kicking and Screaming (NYFF33), The Squid and the Whale (NYFF43), Margot at the Wedding (NYFF45), Frances Ha (NYFF50), The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (NYFF55), and Marriage Story (NYFF57 Centerpiece). While We’re Young was a secret screening at NYFF52. De Palma, co-directed with Jake Paltrow, was a special event at NYFF53.

Campari® is the exclusive spirits partner for the 60th New York Film Festival and the presenting partner of Opening Night, extending its longstanding commitment to the world of film and art.

The NYFF Main Slate selection committee, chaired by Dennis Lim, also includes Eugene Hernandez, Florence Almozini, K. Austin Collins, and Rachel Rosen.

Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema and takes place September 30–October 16, 2022. An annual bellwether of the state of cinema that has shaped film culture since 1963, the festival continues an enduring tradition of introducing audiences to bold and remarkable works from celebrated filmmakers, as well as fresh new talent.

Please note: Masks are required for all staff, audiences, and filmmakers at all times in public spaces. Proof of full vaccination is not required for NYFF60 audiences, but full vaccination is strongly recommended. Visit filmlinc.org/safety for more information.

Secure your Opening Night tickets and more with Festival Passes, limited quantities on sale now. NYFF60 single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, September 19 at noon ET, with pre-sale access for FLC Members and Pass holders prior to this date. Save 50% on FLC Memberships through August 3 only with the code BAUMBACH––the biggest discount of the year! New, current, and lapsed Members are eligible to redeem. Support of NYFF benefits Film at Lincoln Center in its nonprofit mission to promote the art and craft of cinema. NYFF60 press and industry accreditation is now open and the application deadline is August 31.

New York Film Festival Opening Night Films

2021      The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, US)

2020      Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen, UK)

2019      The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, US)
2018      The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/US)

2017      Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater, US)

2016      13TH (Ava DuVernay, US)
2015      The Walk (Robert Zemeckis, US)
2014      Gone Girl (David Fincher, US)
2013      Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass, US)
2012      Life of Pi (Ang Lee, US)
2011      Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Poland)
2010      The Social Network (David Fincher, US)
2009      Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, France)
2008      The Class (Laurent Cantet, France)
2007      The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, US)
2006      The Queen (Stephen Frears, UK)
2005      Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, US)
2004      Look at Me (Agnès Jaoui, France)
2003      Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, US)
2002      About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, US)
2001      Va savoir (Jacques Rivette, France)
2000     Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
1999     All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
1998     Celebrity (Woody Allen, US)
1997     The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, US)
1996    Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, UK)
1995    Shanghai Triad (Zhang Yimou, China)
1994    Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, US)
1993    Short Cuts (Robert Altman, US)
1992    Olivier Olivier (Agnieszka Holland, France)
1991    The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, Poland/France)
1990    Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen, US)
1989    Too Beautiful for You (Bertrand Blier, France)
1988    Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)
1987    Dark Eyes (Nikita Mikhalkov, Soviet Union)
1986    Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, US)
1985    Ran (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)
1984    Country (Richard Pearce, US)
1983    The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, US)
1982    Veronika Voss (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany)
1981    Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, UK)
1980    Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme, US)
1979    Luna (Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy/US)
1978    A Wedding (Robert Altman, US)
1977    One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda, France)
1976    Small Change (François Truffaut, France)
1975    Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, Italy)
1974    Don’t Cry with Your Mouth Full (Pascal Thomas, France)
1973    Day for Night (François Truffaut, France)
1972    Chloe in the Afternoon (Eric Rohmer, France)
1971    The Debut (Gleb Panfilov, Soviet Union)
1970    The Wild Child (François Truffaut, France)
1969    Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, US)
1968    Capricious Summer (Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia)
1967    The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria)
1966    Loves of a Blonde (Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia)
1965    Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, France)
1964    Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev, Soviet Union)
1963    The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, Mexico)

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