In 2024, the New York Film Festival comes back from its longest absence in more than two decades, blending an excitingly eclectic mix of movies that perfectly reflects industry revivals in the post-strike era. The festival comes just as the long-awaited resolution of the much-anticipated Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes is finally in sight; its lineup will celebrate inventive filmmaking and shed light on LGBTQ+ stories. It will go down in history in this year’s 2024 NYFF as cinematic innovation at its finest. All of it will take place under the auspices of newfound visions, diverse storytelling, and highly bankable casts.
Queer to it all is that the buzz this year all sounds like much ado about nothing: One could claim it is, in fact, the year of mainstreaming visibility and representation for stories about LGBTQ+ people. Independent, innovative films to Hollywood blockbusters, these are issues of identity and heart and soul of love and the harsh realities of the queer condition in contemporary society. Informing this trend is Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated drama with questions involving questions over the existence of youth, desire, and self-discovery. Other highlights include Cheryl Dunye’s new bold feature film, weaving together directorial style and queer history and culture.
In addition to queer content, the festival is going to host another stunning film lineup with A-list performances. Some of Hollywood’s brightest stars are appearing on screens in some of the most-awaited movies at the festival, including Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, and Tessa Thompson. All these cases deal with truly above-the-top performances, displaying great creativity and passion filmmakers and actors have devoted to their projects since the industry recovered after strikes.
Established as the showcase for international cinema, the 50th NYFF continues this tradition. Works from many countries of the world are represented there, with most of the films focusing on the central social and political concerns. Several of the best directors from South Korea, France, Brazil, and other countries will come with their directions for our selection, resulting in one collective take on a festival which will have plenty of material to prove exciting for international crowds. International films will give strength to an already overflowing slate of exciting new voices and well-established auteurs.
Perhaps the New York Film Festival 2024 is a testament to how film can be pretty resilient in the face of adversity. Its return, after the year of suspended productions and uncertainty caused by the strikes, happens to be evidence that storytelling in all its forms remains an unstoppable force. Whether in queer narratives or in star-studded features, this year’s event was nothing short of a revival of cinema, no doubt showing brighter times were in store for this art form.
