The Criterion Collection

As an annual showcase of approximately thirty new international films, the New York Film Festival may not be the world’s biggest movie gathering, but it has a special place in our hearts—and not just because we’re New Yorkers. The Film Society of Lincoln Center event has always been an occasion to see new works by filmmakers we know and love. And the relationship has gone the other way as well, with many past festival selections going on to become special Criterion editions (The Ice Storm, Ratcatcher, In the Mood for Love, The Royal Tenenbaums, Fat Girl, Brand upon the Brain!, A Christmas Tale).

This year’s festival, the forty-seventh, has already brought us Wild Grass, from eighty-seven-year-old Last Year at Marienbad magician Alain Resnais, and Vincere, from Fists in the Pocket’s onetime enfant terrible Marco Bellocchio. And there are more Criterion-approved auteurs to come between now and the festival’s end on October 11, including three with North American premieres: Andrzej Wajda (Sweet Rush), Pedro Costa (Ne change rien), and Catherine Breillat (Bluebeard). Of course, no 2009 festival would be complete without Lars von Trier’s Cannes cause célèbre Antichrist, which New Yorkers can see this weekend. And we can’t forget Henri-Georges Clouzot—he may be long passed, but he’s got a new film of sorts: Serge Bromberg’s documentary on his incomplete L’enfer, which we reported on from last month’s Toronto Film Festival. Get ticket information here.