Not everyone has the chance to go to a film festival and watch films before their release or with the cast and crew in attendance, but there may be an opportunity for this type of screening to become all the more frequent and accessible for American movie-goers. The New York Film Critics Series is launching a Live National In-Theatre Screening Series, which will screen in theatres across the country and allow audiences to see films before their theatrical release. Situated in New York, but being simulcast across the nation, the event will be hosted by Peter Travers, film critic of Rolling Stone Magazine, and will have cast and crew for a Q&A session after the film; very reminiscent of the advantages of a film festival premiere.
The first of this series will be Alexander Payne’s Nebraska starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte. The film follows a father and son on a road trip to claim a fortune that was won in a Sweepstakes contest; and is filmed in black and white. The film has received high praise out of the Cannes film festival, where Bruce Dern won Best Actor. It also received high praise after playing at the New York Film Festival. This will be an exciting film to kick off the series, as it exemplifies the kind of high caliber independent films that the series hopes to showcase, in an effort to prove the importance of their distribution and accessibility for future audiences. Producer Mark Ehrenkranz will be programming the series, which plans to bring 9-13 pre-release screenings to film fans. This will most likely be on a monthly basis.
This is the first series of its kind, and it offers film fans from around the country to participate in live Q&A sessions with their favourite actors and filmmakers. The New York Film Critics Series is an idea that is sure to get any film-lover excited. Pricing on tickets is still unknown, but the chance to attend one of these screenings guarantees a unique film-going experience, akin to those at a film festival, which can be hard to access for the average person. Now the excitement of a festival screening will be showcased across the country, where audiences can stay in the comfort of their own city to participate in an educational and exciting movie-going experience.
Source: New York Film Critics Series