# 2021 New York Film Festival

The 59th New York Film Festival took place from September 24 to October 10, 2021. Unlike the 2020 New York Film Festival, which was staged online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 festival returned to physical screenings at the Lincoln Center.
Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth was announced as the opening film with Pedro Almodóvar's Parallel Mothers announced as the closing film. Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog was the festival's centerpiece screening.

## Official Selection

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Opening Film ||||
| The Tragedy of Macbeth | The Tragedy of Macbeth | Joel Coen | United States |
| Centerpiece ||||
| The Power of the Dog | The Power of the Dog | Jane Campion | New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia |
| Closing Film ||||
| Parallel Mothers | Madres Paralelas | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain |
| Main Slate ||||
| A Chiara | A Chiara | Jonas Carpignano | Italy |
| Ahed's Knee | Habereḵ | Nadav Lapid | France, Israel, Germany |
| Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn | Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc | Radu Jude | Romania, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Croatia |
| Benedetta | Benedetta | Paul Verhoeven | France, Netherlands |
| Bergman Island | Bergman Island | Mia Hansen-Løve | France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden |
| Il Buco | Il Buco | Michelangelo Frammartino | Italy, France, Germany |
| Drive My Car | Doraibu mai kā | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation | The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation | Avi Mograbi | France, Finland, Israel, Germany |
| Flee | Flee | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway |
| France | France | Bruno Dumont | France, Germany, Belgium, Italy |
| Futura | Futura | Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher | Italy |
| The Girl and the Spider | Das Mädchen und die Spinne | Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher | Switzerland |
| Hit the Road | Hit the Road | Panah Panahi | Iran |
| In Front of Your Face | In Front of Your Face | Hong Sang-soo | South Korea |
| Întregalde | Întregalde | Radu Muntean | Romania |
| Introduction | Introduction | Hong Sang-soo | South Korea |
| Memoria | Memoria | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Colombia, Thailand, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Mexico, Qatar |
| Neptune Frost | Neptune Frost | Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman | United States, Rwanda |
| Passing | Passing | Rebecca Hall | United States, United Kingdom |
| Petite Maman | Petite Maman | Céline Sciamma | France |
| Prayers for the Stolen | Noche de fuego | Tatiana Huezo | Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar |
| The Souvenir Part II | The Souvenir Part II | Joanna Hogg | United Kingdom |
| Titane | Titane | Julia Ducournau | France |
| Unclenching the Fists | Разжимая кулаки | Kira Kovalenko | Russia |
| The Velvet Underground | The Velvet Underground | Todd Haynes | United States |
| Vortex | Vortex | Gaspar Noé | France |
| What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? | რას ვხედავთ როდესაც ცას ვუყურებთ? | Alexandre Koberidze | Georgia, Germany |
| Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy | Gūzen to Sōzō | Ryusuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| The Worst Person in the World | Verdens verste menneske | Joachim Trier | Norway |

### Spotlight

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Belle | 竜とそばかすの姫 | Mamoru Hosoda | Japan |
| C'mon C'mon | C'mon C'mon | Mike Mills | United States |
| Dune | Dune | Denis Villeneuve | United States |
| The French Dispatch | The French Dispatch | Wes Anderson | United States |
| Jane by Charlotte | Jane by Charlotte | Charlotte Gainsbourg | France |
| The Lost Daughter | The Lost Daughter | Maggie Gyllenhaal | United States, Greece |
| Marx Can Wait | Marx Can Wait | Marco Bellocchio | Italy |
| Red Rocket | Red Rocket | Sean Baker | United States |
| The Souvenir | The Souvenir | Joanna Hogg | United Kingdom, United States |

### Currents

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| All About My Sisters | Jia ting lu xiang | Wang Qiong | United States |
| The Great Movement | El Gran Movimiento | Kiro Russo | Bolivia, France, Qatar, Switzerland |
| Haruhara-san's Recorder | Haruharasan no uta | Kyoshi Sugita | Japan |
| I Want to Talk About Duras | Vous ne désirez que moi | Claire Simon | France |
| Just a Movement | Juste une mouvement | Vincent Meessen | Belgium, France |
| Nature | La Nature | Artavazd Peleshian | France, Germany, Armenia |
| A Night of Knowing Nothing | A Night of Knowing Nothing | Payal Kapadia | France, India |
| Outside Noise | Outside Noise | Ted Fendt | Germany, South Korea, Austria |
| Prism | Prism | Éléonore Yameogo, An van Dienderen and Rosine Mbakam | Belgium |
| Returning to Reims | Retour à Reims (Fragments) | Jean-Gabriel Périot | France |
| A River Runs, Turns, Erases, Replaces | Gang-eun heuleugo, gub-ichigo, jiugo, doebichunda | Shengze Zhu | United States |
| Social Hygiene | Hygiène sociale | Denis Côté | Canada |
| Ste. Anne | Ste. Anne | Rhayne Vermette | Canada |
| The Tale of King Crab | Re Granchio | Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis | Italy, Argentina, France |
| The Tsugua Diaries | Diários de Otsoga | Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes | Portugal |

### Short films

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Country |
| 38 | 38 | Daniel Chew, Micaela Durand | United States |
| All of Your Stars Are But Dust on My Shoes | All of Your Stars Are But Dust on My Shoes | Haig Aivazian | Lebanon |
| Blind Body | Blind Body | Allison Chhorn | Australia |
| The Canyon | The Canyon | Zachary Epcar | United States |
| The Capacity for Adequate Anger | The Capacity for Adequate Anger | Vika Kirchenbauer | Germany |
| Cutting the Mushroom | Cutting the Mushroom | Mike Crane | United States |
| Day Is Done | Day Is Done | Zhang Dalei | China |
| Do Not Circulate | Do Not Circulate | Tiffany Sia | Hong Kong |
| Dog Star Descending | Dog Star Descending | Aykan Safoğlu | Turkey, Germany |
| Dreams Under Confinement | Dreams Under Confinement | Christopher Harris | United States |
| earthearthearth | earthearthearth | Daïchi Saïto | Canada |
| Elle | Elle | Luise Donschen | Germany |
| Estuary | Estuary | Ross Meckfessel | United States |
| Fictions | Fictions | Manuela de Laborde | Mexico, Germany |
| Grandma's Scissors | Grandma's Scissors | Erica Sheu | Taiwan, United States |
| Here Is the Imagination of the Black Radical | Here Is the Imagination of the Black Radical | Rhea Storr | United Kingdom |
| Homage to the Work of Philip Henry Gosse | Homage to the Work of Philip Henry Gosse | Pablo Martín Weber | Argentina |
| Home When You Return | Home When You Return | Carl Elsaesser | United States |
| A Human Certainty | A Human Certainty | Morgan Quaintance | United Kingdom |
| If I Could Name You Myself (I Would Hold You Forever) | If I Could Name You Myself (I Would Hold You Forever) | Hope Strickland | United Kingdom |
| In and Out a Window | In and Out a Window | Richard Tuohy | United States |
| In Flow of Words | In Flow of Words | Eliane Esther Bots | Netherlands |
| Kindertotenlieder | Kindertotenlieder | Virgil Vernier | France |
| May June July | May June July | Kevin Jerome Everson | United States |
| Night Colonies | Night Colonies | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Thailand |
| No Subject | No Subject | Guillermo Moncayo | France, Colombia |
| Personality Test | Personality Test | Justin Jinsoo Kim | South Korea, United States |
| Reach Capacity | Reach Capacity | Ericka Beckman | United States |
| Six Seventy-Two Variations, Variation 1 | Six Seventy-Two Variations, Variation 1 | Tomonari Nishikawa | United States |
| South | South | Morgan Quaintance | United Kingdom |
| Strange Object | Strange Object | Miranda Pennell | United States |
| Sycorax | Sycorax | Lois Patiño, Matías Piñeiro | Spain, Portugal |
| To Pick a Flower | To Pick a Flower | Shireen Seno | Philippines |
| Tonalli | Tonalli | Los Ingrávidos | Mexico |
| What Is It That You Said? | What Is It That You Said? | Shun Ikezoe | Japan |

### Revivals

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Adoption (1976) | Örökbefogadás | Márta Mészáros | Hungary |
| Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) | Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) | John Carpenter | United States |
| Bluebeard's Castle (1963) | Herzog Blaubarts Burg | Michael Powell | Germany |
| Chameleon Street (1989) | Chameleon Street (1989) | Wendell B. Harris, Jr. | United States |
| James Baldwin: From Another Place (1973) | James Baldwin: From Another Place (1973) | Sedat Pekay | Turkey |
| Hester Street (1975) | Hester Street (1975) | Joan Micklin Silver | United States |
| Kummatty (1979) | Kummatty (1979) | Govindan Aravindan | India |
| Mississippi Masala (1991) | Mississippi Masala (1991) | Mira Nair | United Kingdom, United States |
| Radio On (1979) | Radio On (1979) | Chris Petit | United Kingdom, West Germany |
| Ratcatcher | Ratcatcher | Lynne Ramsay | United Kingdom, France |
| The Round-Up (1966) | The Round-Up (1966) | Miklós Jancsó | Hungary |
| Rude Boy (1980) | Rude Boy (1980) | Jack Hazan & David Mingay | United Kingdom |
| Sambizanga (1972) | Sambizanga (1972) | Sarah Maldoror | Angola, France |
| Songs for Drella (1990) | Songs for Drella (1990) | Ed Lachman | United States |
| Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) | Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) | Melvin Van Peebles | United States |
| Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987) | Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1987) | Christine Choy | United States |

### Amos Vogel Centenary Retrospective

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| The Lead Shoes (1949) | The Lead Shoes (1949) | Sidney Peterson | United States |
| Unconscious Motivation (1949) | Unconscious Motivation (1949) | Lester F. Beck | United States |
| The Battle of San Pietro (1949) | The Battle of San Pietro (1949) | John Huston | United States |
| Study No. 11 (1932), Allegretto (1936-43), and Motion Painting No. 1 (1947) | Study No. 11 (1932), Allegretto (1936-43), and Motion Painting No. 1 (1947) | Oskar Fischinger | Germany |
| Barravento | Barravento | Glauber Rocha | Brazil |
| Pearls of the Deep (1965) | Perličky na dně | Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Evald Schorm, Věra Chytilová, and Jaromil Jireš | Czechoslovakia |
| The Flicker (1966) | The Flicker (1966) | Tony Conrad | United States |
| Echoes of Silence (1965) | Echoes of Silence (1965) | Peter Emanuel Goldman | United States |
| Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom (1964) | Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom (1964) | Lebert Bethune | France |
| Now (1965) | Now (1965) | Santiago Álvarez | Cuba |
| Black Natchez | Black Natchez | David Neuman and Ed Pincus | United States |
| The Jungle (1966) | The Jungle (1966) | 12th and Oxford Street Film Makers | United States |
| Film Club (1968) | Film Club (1968) | Jaime Barrios | United States |
| WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) | WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) | Dušan Makavejev | Yugoslavia, West Germany |
| Nebula II (1971) | Nebula II (1971) | Robert Frerck | United States |

## Free talks

| Section | Speakers | Notes |
| The 2023 Amos Vogel Lecture | Albert Serra | The filmmaker spoke about his career and legacy |
| Deep Focus | The Making of Mississippi Masala | A discussion between director Mira Nair, cinematographer Edward Lachman, and actress Sarita Choudhury. |
| Deep Focus | Jane Campion | Campion talked about The Power of the Dog and her career with moderator and director Sofia Coppola. |
| Deep Focus | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | The auteur talked about his Drive My Car with moderator and filmmaker Matías Piñeiro. |
| Deep Focus | Saul Williams & Anisia Uzeyman | The filmmakers talked about cinema as a means of realizing new and better futures with moderator Maya Cade. |
| Deep Focus | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | The director talked about their latest film Memoria with novelist Katie Kitamura. |
| Cross Cuts | Mia Hansen-Løve & Joachim Trier | The filmmakers talk about their latest films, Bergman Island and The Worst Person in the World respectively. |
| Cross Cuts | Silvan Zürcher & Alexandre Koberidze | The two talked about their films The Girl and the Spider and What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?. |
| Cross Cuts | Maggie Gyllenhaal & Kira Kovalenko | The female filmmakers discussed feminism, heroines, transcending the status quo. |