Celebrating its 46th edition, the New Directors/New Films 2017 [2] festival has been introducing New York audiences to the work of emerging filmmakers from around the world for nearly half a century. It’s an annual rite of early spring in NYC and is known for bringing previously little-known talents, like Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, and Kelly Reichardt, into the limelight. Presented by the Museum of Modern Art [3] and the Film Society of Lincoln Center [4], this year’s festival will screen 29 features and nine short films from March 15-26.

The Istituto Luce Cinecittà [5] announced that the lineup features two Italian films, The Challenge [6], directed by Yuri Ancarani [7], and Happy Times Will Come Soon [8], directed by Alessandro Comodin [9]. Both directors will be in attendance and available for interviews.

The Challenge, directed by Yuri Ancarani
2016, France/Italy - Arabic with English subtitles - 70 minutes

Italian director Yuri Ancarani's visually striking documentary enters the surreal world of wealthy Qatari sheikhs who moonlight as amateur falconers, with no expenses spared along the way. The Challenge follows these men through the rituals that define their lives: perilously racing blacked-out SUVs up and down sand dunes; sharing communal meals; taking their Ferraris out for a spin with their pet cheetahs riding shotgun, and much more. Ancarani's film is a sly meditation on the collective pursuit of idiosyncratic desires.

Screenings:

When: March 16, 6:30 pm
Where: MOMA Titus 2 - 11 West 53 Street (btwn 5th and 6th Aves) 

When: March 19, 1:30 pm
Where: Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street

Happy Times Will Come Soon (I Tempi Felici Verranno Presto), directed by Alessandro Comodin
2016, Italy/France - Italian with English subtitles - 102 minutes

Tommaso and Arturo are on the run in a remote forest. They hunt for food, trying to survive and find their way through the lush nature. It's quiet, almost peaceful, until the sound of gunshots. Many years later, this forest has a wolf problem. It’s here where Ariane discovers a strange hole in the ground. Could she be the woman referred to in the valley's legends? The reason Ariane ventured into that hole remains a mystery. Nothing more was ever discovered, and everyone tells the story in a different way. But all agree that Ariane surely met the wolf often talked about that few have seen. This beautiful and haunting meditation on the relationships between imagination, desire, and violence is a dreamlike fable with the weight of documentary reality.

Screenings:

When: March 22, 9:30 pm
Where: Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street

When: March 23, 8:45 pm
Where: MOMA Titus 2 - 11 West 53 Street (btwn 5th and 6th Aves)

To purchase tickets to individual films click here [10].