Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” will be the Centerpiece of the 62nd annual New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center announced Thursday. The drama starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton will make its U.S. debut on October at Alice Tully Hall. It is the Spanish auteur’s first English-language feature.
In “The Room Next Door,” set in Manhattan and upstate New York, Moore stars as Ingrid, a writer who reunites with her war journalist friend Martha (Swinton). According to the description provided by Film at Lincoln Center, “The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, sharing memories, anecdotes, art, movies — yet Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. … (The film is) a hushed and humane portrayal of the beauty of life and the inevitability of death.” In addition to directing, Almodóvar wrote the script, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through.”
“I am delighted that ‘The Room Next Door’ will be the Centerpiece of the New York Film Festival,” Almodóvar said in a statement. “This festival has been my bridge to New York audiences for decades, so it only felt natural that the two protagonists go see a film at the Alice Tully Hall in one of the scenes of the movie. It was very moving for me to shoot in a place that holds so very dear memories to me, and where I hope to keep on treasuring them in a not so distant future.”
“The Room Next Door” is Almodóvar’s 15th film to make it into the festival’s selection. “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” was the opening night selection in 1988, followed over the years by such landmark films as “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Volver,” “Bad Education,” and “Broken Embraces.” Nine Almodóvar films have had gala presentations, a record for the festival.
“Few filmmakers are as closely associated with the New York Film Festival as Pedro Almodóvar, and it is a true pleasure to present his first English-language feature as this year’s Centerpiece selection,” Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival, said, also via statement. “’The Room Next Door’ is the work of an artist at the height of his powers: a wise, exquisitely acted, achingly beautiful film that feels perfectly calibrated to this moment.”
Almodóvar’s latest project joins the previously announced Opening Night selection, RaMell Ross’s “Nickel Boys,” and Steve McQueen’s “Blitz,” the Closing Night film.
