And just like that, the fall film festival season has come to a close. While there are still plenty of regional festivals raging on, today’s final screenings of the 62nd New York Film Festival mark the conclusion of the year’s major film festivals. The 2024 version of NYFF ran from Sept. 27 to Oct. 14 with thousands of cinephiles watching over 100 movies programed by the team at Film at Lincoln Center.
The New York Film Festival is set apart from its fellow fall festivals by being the only one not to award prizes and by being the least concerned with “world premiere” status. What that means for festival goers, and those following along from afar, is that the movies picked for NYFF are selected purely on merit. This year’s lineup included some of the best films from around the world including Oscar frontrunners like Sean Baker’s Anora, the Selena Gomez musical Emilia Perez and of course Angelina Jolie’s big screen return in Maria.
With so many incredible options, festival goers were forced to make some tough calls as to which movies to cram into their tight schedules. However, luckily for you dear reader, Parade was on the ground scouting out the best movies at NYFF. While we certainly didn’t see everything, here are 10 of our favorites, and where/when you’ll be able to watch them.
Related: The 9 Best Movies from the 2024 Tribeca Festival
Best movies at the 2024 New York Film Festival
TIFF
1. All We Imagine As Light
The first Indian movie to compete in Cannes’ main competition since 1994, All We Imagine As Light from Payal Kapadia came into NYFF with plenty of wind in its sails and somehow managed to pick up even more praise. The film follows two nurses both trapped in difficult romantic relationships and looking for relief. The first is in an arranged marriage to a man who moved to Europe and hasn’t communicated with her in over a year, while the other is a Hindu girl secretly dating a Muslim man. While the intimate film is very much the story of these women and their trip to the seaside, it also speaks to much larger political issues at play in India. It’s currently sitting on a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, and it’s hard to imagine someone not loving this story.
Available in theaters on Nov. 15, 2024
TIFF
2. Anora
While winning the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, hasn’t always meant commercial success in the US, with Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Sadness and Parasite in recent years, we’re on a bit of a hot streak. Sean Baker (who previously crafted masterpieces like The Florida Project and Tangerine) won the Palme this year for Anora, a dramedy about a Russian-American stripper (Mikey Madison) who falls in love with a young Russian oligarch (Mark Eydelshteyn). Playing a host of fall festivals, Anora has been amassing praise around the world and was a runner-up for the TIFF People’s Choice Award. It yet again earned rave reviews at NYFF and now seems like a lock for a Best Picture nomination if it doesn’t just snatch the win outright.
Available in theaters on Oct. 18, 2024
Related: The 25 Best Movies of 2023
NYFF
3. Happyend
Let me introduce you to your new favorite film. The hidden gem of 2024 is undoubtedly this Japanese coming-of-age story from Neo Sora. After making his NYFF debut last year with a tribute to his father in the concert doc Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus, he’s returning with this delightful portrait of five best friends attending a Tokyo high school. Between prank wars, sneaking into clubs and an ongoing battle with the school’s new Big Brother-esque surveillance system, Happyend delves into the melancholy nature of friends growing up and apart, while also skewering totalitarianism. Laugh-out-loud funny at moments and snot-nose-crying sad at others, it is one of the best films of the year. This is the movie to watch now so you can seem cool to your friends later.
Available in theaters in 2025
NYFF
4. Hard Truths
One of the biggest revelations to come out of this year’s TIFF was Mike Leigh‘s British drama Hard Truths about a middle aged woman filled with rage. Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets & Lies earned actress Marianna Jean-Baptiste and Oscar nom, and critics are hailing her work in Hard Truths as even better. The movie was apparently not accepted at earlier festivals, but watching Jean-Baptiste menace her family, grocery store cashiers and drivers on the road earned laughs from NYFF audiences. The emotional turn in the back half, however, certainly tugged on heartstrings as well.
Available in theaters on Jan. 10, 2025
Related: 20 Academy Award Contenders for 2025 You Need to Watch
NYFF
5. Maria
The spiritual successor to Jackie and Spencer, Maria is the third recent film from Pablo Larrain focused on a misunderstood iconic woman. Angelina Jolie takes on her first meaty role since 2008’s Changeling, playing opera singer Maria Callas in the final days of her life. Both Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart earned Best Actress nominations for their portrayals, and it seems likely Jolie could land another Oscar nom this year as well. Her fragile performance, the stunning cinematography and the decadent costumes are all worth the price of admission. This is certainly a movie you see for the vibes more than for the plot, but wow are the vibes exquisite.
Available in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024 and streaming on Netflix Dec. 11, 2024
NYFF
6. Nickel Boys
While opening NYFF doesn’t always mean a film is great, it does mean the film will receive plenty of attention. In the case of this year’s festival opener, Nickel Boys, however, NYFF certainly had a winner on its hands. The historical drama based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead is unlike anything you’ve seen before. Shot from a pair of first person points-of-view, the film toggles back and forth between standing in for newcomers Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson playing friends attending a reform school in Jim Crow era Florida. The smartly subtle film is one that will haunt you and may require a second viewing to completely untangle, but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s supporting performance as one of the boys’ grandmother will leave you crying.
Available in theaters on Dec. 13, 2024
NYFF
7. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Easily one of the smartest and most cleverly scripted films of 2024 is Rungano Nyoni‘s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. The Zambian/British movie follows Shula (Susan Chardy), who stumbles upon the dead body of her uncle on a dirt road late at night in Zambia. As the very traditional funeral proceedings begin, Shula slowly pieces together family secrets leading to one of the year’s most satisfying finales. I’ve never seen anything quite like On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, and if Zambia selects it as its entry for Best International Feature, it will be the year’s coolest Oscar nominee.
Available in theaters on Dec. 13, 2024
NYFF
8. A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed, produced and stars in this Sundance dramedy about a pair of cousins. Eisenberg and Succession‘s Kieran Culkin are relatives who reunite for a tour of Poland following the death of their grandmother who survived a concentration camp during World War II. Both Eisenberg and Culkin turn in exceptional performances and Will Sharpe and Jennifer Grey are fun as other members of their European tour group. This is certainly a crowd pleaser and the movie to go see with your parents while you’re home for Thanksgiving.
Available in theaters on Nov. 1, 2024
NYFF
9. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Perhaps one of the buzziest entries in this year’s Best International Feature Oscar race is the German entry from Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. If you’re wondering why an Iranian film is being submitted by Germany, it’s because Rasoulof’s criticism of the Iranian government in his filmmaking has repeatedly put him at danger in Iran. After making The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof was sentenced to 8 years in prison with flogging and had to flee Iran over the course of a 28-day journey, much of which was on foot. He eventually made it to Germany where he completed post-production on the movie and currently resides. Sacred Fig is impeccable separate from its director’s story, however. The nearly three-hour-long movie zooms by as the tension ratchets up when a pair of sisters attempt to house an injured rioter in their apartment while their father works for the Iranian government.
Available in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024
NYFF
10. Viet and Nam
This slippery, quiet romance from Vietnamese director Minh Quý Trương follows a pair of young coal miners, hiding their secret romance. The movie, which jumps timelines, includes fantasy sequences and wanders lazily (yet purposefully) through everyday encounters is a delicately woven masterpiece. The two lovers, named Viet and Nam although we don’t know who is who, are attempting to flee the country for a better life abroad, but their quest seems doomed from the start. Untangling intergenerational trauma, the aftermath of the Vietnam War, LGBTQ+ rights and rural traditionalism is impossible, and this film deftly manages to explore them all while providing a bittersweet love story. Watching this felt like reading a piece of literary fiction in the best possible way.
Release date pending
Related: The Best Movies of 2024 (So Far)
