Venice Golden Lion Winner ‘Happening,’ ‘The African Desperate’ Bookend New Directors/New Films
deadline.comFilm at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art has set Audrey Diwan’s Happening and The African Desperate by Martine Syms will bookend the 51st edition of their collaboration, New Directors/New Films running April 20–May 1 in NYC.The festival will introduce 26 features and 11 shorts and total of 39 directors — 21 of which are women.“Portraits of individuals and communities navigating uncertain and turbulent circumstances in pursuit of freedom, self-determination, and survival set a remarkably contemplative tone to the lineup,” said La Frances Hui, curator of MoMa’s film department and event co-char.Happening (L’Événement), winner of the 2021 Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Lion, is the portrait of a young woman attempting to secure an illegal abortion in 1960s provincial France.
It was acquired by IFC Films and will be released May 6.The African Desperate, a debut feature from Syms, rushes through 24 hours in the life of protagonist Palace Bryant (Syms’s fellow visual artist Diamond Stingily) on a surreal trip through moments when life feels on the precipice, starting with her MFA graduation in upstate New York and ending at a Chicago Blue Line Station.The rest of the lineup showcases work from a China, India, Norway, Argentina, Mexico, South Korea, France, and Rwanda; prizewinners from Berlin (Robe of Gems), Sundance (Dos Estaciones, Nanny), and Venice (Pilgrims, Full Time, White Building) and many feature debuts.Directors presented to New York audiences in previous editions, some for the first time, include Ryusuke Hamaguchi (whose Drive My Car just won the Oscar for best international feature), Hou Hsiao-hsien, Kelly Reichardt, Pedro Almodóvar, Souleymane Cissé, Euzhan Palcy, Jia Zhangke, Spike Lee,
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