The story of the 57th New York Film Festival is taking shape. Festival organizers, Film at Lincoln Center (FKA the Film Society of Lincoln Center), have shared the beginning, middle, and end of this year’s regal New York City Upper West Side affair. Set to unspool September 27 through October 13, 2019, the event will open with the World Premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and close with the New York Premiere of Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn. Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story takes up the festival’s coveted Centerpiece slot. We expect the rest of the festival’s offerings to be announced soon. Tickets for the 57th New York Film Festival go on sale to the general public on September 8.

An annual hyper-curated event, the New York Film Festival weaves the best in contemporary world cinema together into a narrative thread. With the films announced so far, American cinema has a commanding seat at the festival’s table. The fete usually features a mix of films by both established and emerging filmmakers. New York Film Festival Director Kent Jones returns as chair of the selection committee that also includes Dennis Lim, FLC Director of Programming, and Florence Almozini, FLC Associate Director of Programming.

Opening Night: Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman

Opening Night’s The Irishman reunites Scorsese with Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Harvey Keitel for an American crime epic based on Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses. The highly anticipated film also stars Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa. The Irishman will be the eighth film Scorsese has presented at the festival, the first being Mean Streets at NYFF11 in 1973. This will be the first time a Scorsese picture has opened the annual event. The Irishman is a Netflix release.

Centerpiece: Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story

Image credit: Wilson Webb / Netflix

Brooklyn-born filmmaker Noah Baumbach is another fixture at the NYFF. His first feature, Kicking and Screaming, premiered at the event 24 years ago. But this will be the first time one of his films occupies an anchor spot. Marriage Story is a complex and humorous examination of a married couple negotiating their divorce and the custody of their son. It stars Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Merritt Wever, and Julie Hagerty. The film will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this month. Like The Irishman and NYFF56 Centerpiece Roma, Marriage Story is a Netflix release.

Closing Night: Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn

Closing Night goes to actor/filmmaker Edward Norton’s sophomore directorial outing Motherless Brooklyn. The film is an adaptation of Jonathan Lethem’s best-selling novel of the same name. It follows Lionel Essrog, a lonely private detective with Tourette’s Syndrome as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend Frank Minna. Norton has taken some liberties with his version of the story. Instead of placing the action in modern Brooklyn as Lethem does, Norton transforms the narrative into a neo-noir re-set in 1950s New York. Norton stars as Essrog. His supporting cast comprises Alec Baldwin, Bruce Willis, Willem Dafoe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Leslie Mann, and Cherry Jones. The film also features a Daniel Pemberton score with Wynton Marsalis on trumpet. Thom Yorke of Radiohead also contributed an original song. Motherless Brooklyn will arrive in theaters later this year courtesy of Warner Bros.

Tickets for the 57th New York Film Festival go on sale to the general public on September 8. Festival and VIP passes are on sale now at the NYFF57 website.