Now, long story short, I found out about the festival one week before it started. Obviously, I knew at that instance that I had to go and at least watch one film. Having gone through the experience of both working and attending the Florida Film Festival this last April, I wanted to know how different it would be from the aforementioned.
 |
| The red carpet for the 54th New York Film Festival |
This is where it got tricky, since I found out a week before the big event, most of the films were already sold out or on stand by with the possibility of the release of more tickets during the week. I was kind of bummed, but that didn't stop me from taking advantage of the other programs the festival had to offer. The 54th New York Film Festival offered a set of panels and showings under the title of "Convergence". What would fall under "Convergence"? Well, according to the festival's booklet which I'm currently holding on my hands: "Convergence offers an array of immersive experiences that redefine the idea of cinematic storytelling". That means, VR films, audience directed films, and immersive storytelling films. I was able to attend a panel called Soundhunters, which, in a nutshell, was a talk about a phone and computer application under the same name that lets you record and sample multiple sounds that you hear in your day to day life, and remix them into a song. Pretty cool right?
While this sounds like an interesting idea for your next project, there's still a downside. Although Soundhunters lets you share your remix on social media, it doesn't let you download it. So, unless you just want to do this for your own personal fun, Soundhunters exclusive contests, or just to show your friends and family, it's going to be very hard to use the content for your professional projects. When I was in the theater, I overheard multiple filmmakers and content creators arguing about this issue--how one would work VERY hard to create a track for a project, but then not being able to download it and use it. "This still needs more development. It's kind of absurd", I overheard a director say to a sound designer in front of me.
Nonetheless, I do think that the concept is very interesting (I downloaded the application myself, but have not used it). But I, as well as most people in the room, think that there is so much more that you can do with an application like this. Especially after the beautiful videos that we were shown in the presentation that were created using the application. To experience a little bit of Soundhunters click here.
Moving on to the main slates, I was able to get a ticket for Pablo Larraín's latest, Neruda, starring Gael García Bernal as Oscar Peluchonneau, a Chilean inspector that is obsessed with hunting down the famous poet Pablo Neruda (Luis Gnecco) for being a member of the Communist party around the 1940s in Chile. This film is beautifully scripted; there's no other way to put it. Narrated in first person by the complete acousmêtre (Gael's character) in form of poetry, this film invites you to get lost in the world of Pablo Neruda. Followed was a Q&A with Larraín and García Bernal where they talked about shooting in Argentina, cameras, characters, setting improvisations, among others. Neruda is currently the Chilean entry for "Best Foreign Film" at the 89th Academy Awards.
During all of this, I was still waiting for tickets to Personal Shopper (the first screening to be specific) to become available. I checked every single day, but it never went out of stand by. It wasn't until they day before the screening that tickets for the second screening became available. The only reason as to why I wanted to attend the first screening was because Kristen Stewart was only going to be in person for that one. Being the second film that she stars under the direction of Olivier Assayas, I've read many articles about the dynamic relationship these two share, therefore I wanted to see them speak together and hear about their experiences (I'm also a very big Kristen Stewart fan). After standing in line for two and a half hours, a very nice gentleman sold me a ticket--little did I know that I was going to be in the front row.
Personal Shopper tells the story of Maureen (Kristen Stewart) a medium living in France who works as a personal shopper for a high profile celebrity, while seeking a signal from her dead twin brother who was also a medium. I gave this film a solid 10/10. The suspense from beginning to end has you writing conclusions that may not be exactly what you expect. If you're familiar with Hitchcock's work, you can also notice that Assayas threw some Rebecca spice into the mix, making the ride more desirable.
In the Q&A an audience member asked Assayas about the soundtrack of the film. Not the soundtrack as in the film's musical score, but the soundtrack as in the combination of the dialogue, effects, and music. Assayas mentioned that he's not completely fond of film music because it may sometimes convey emotions in the spectator that are not exactly what the scene is trying to get out of you. "Whatever you deal in terms of sound in a film begins with silence..." he said. It's all about the genre, when you work on a film that's all about the suspense, silence helps to emphasize the sound effects that REALLY mean something. In Assayas' words, "it pushes it"-- it creates, fear, danger, and anxiety. In Personal Shopper, is the sound effects that truly "underline our emotions".
Both films premiered worldwide at the Festival de Cannes 2016, but had their U.S premieres at the NYFF54, in the screenings that I attended.
 |
| Left to Right: Gael García Bernal and Pablo Larraín during the Q&A for Neruda |
 |
| Left to Right: Olivier Assayas and Kristen Stewart during the Q&A for Personal Shopper |