Virtual Lock
Dracula (Radu Jude)
It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
Kontinental ’25 (Radu Jude)
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
Resurrection (Bi Gan)
The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
Sirât (Óliver Laxe)
What Does That Nature Say to You (Hong Sang-soo)

Strong Chance
Blue Moon (Richard Linklater)
The Blue Trail (Gabriel Mascaro)
Duse (Pietro Marcello)
Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch)
Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach) [centerpiece]
Mirrors No. 3 (Christian Petzold)
Nuestra Tierra (Lucrecia Martel)
One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Romería (Carla Simón)
Sound of Falling (Mascha Schilinski)
Two Prosecutors (Sergei Loznitsa)
Yes! (Nadav Lapid)

Moderate Possibility
Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
Drunken Noodles (Lucio Castro)
Enzo (Robin Campillo)
Franz (Agnieszka Holland)
Girl (Shu Qi)
Heads or Tails? (Alessio Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)
Living the Land (Huo Meng)
Love on Trial (Fukada Koji)
The Love That Remains (Hlynur Pálmason)
Magellan (Lav Diaz)
Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie) [opening night]
No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)
Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
The Perfect Neighbor (Geeta Gandbhir)
A Poet (Simón Mesa Soto)
Renoir (Hayakawa Chie)
Rose of Nevada (Mark Jenkin)
The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie)
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)
The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas)
Young Mothers (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)

Currents
The Currents (Milagros Mumenthaler)
Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze) [gala]
Hair, Paper, Water (Nicolas Graux & Trương Minh Quý)
The Lake (Fabrice Aragno)
Mare’s Nest (Ben Rivers)
Phantoms of July (Julian Radlmaier)
The Seasons (Maureen Fazendeiro)
Tales of the Wounded Land (Abbas Fahdel)
With Hasan in Gaza (Kamal Aljafari)

Spotlight
Back Home (Tsai Ming-liang)
Below the Clouds (Gianfranco Rosi)
Hamnet (Chloé Zhao) [gala]
Late Fame (Kent Jones)
Remake (Ross McElwee)
The Souffler (Gastón Solnicki)

New

Dracula (Radu Jude)
Jude fiction film.

Duse (Pietro Marcello)
Lim is a great admirer of Marcello’s, and Scarlet made it in despite a relatively muted reception.

Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch)
Jarmusch’s NYFF attendance can be a bit inconsistent, but this hopefully seems like a return to form.

Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)
Baumbach’s become a NYFF regular, especially in gala slots (including the divisive White Noise), so predicting this for Centerpiece or Closing Night seems like a safe bet.

Nuestra Tierra (Lucrecia Martel)
Have no idea what to expect from a Martel documentary, but the general adoration of her work makes it likely that this will be in either Main Slate or Spotlight.

Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos)
The inclusion of Poor Things as a non-gala selection in Main Slate meant that the committee’s love for Lanthimos was greater than I anticipated; I’m still not entirely convinced that his inclusions aren’t a case-by-case basis but it’s in the cards.

Franz (Agnieszka Holland)
Green Border was a semi-surprising Main Slate pick, and I don’t know how to factor in the TIFF world premiere.

Girl (Shu Qi)
The Venice competition berth for one of cinema’s greatest actor’s directorial debut seems like a vote of confidence.

Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie)/The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie)
Still not entirely sure how NYFF feels about the Safdies—Uncut Gems was notably a late addition to Spotlight, after the likes of Joker—but wouldn’t be shocked if Josh got the first Opening Night world premiere in a while, and Benny was also in the mix.

No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)
Feel like Decision to Leave might not have made it into NYFF last time in a stronger premiere year/without the Cannes Best Director award, but he’s always a candidate.

A Poet (Simón Mesa Soto)
Included mostly because of the 1-2 Special acquisition, which signals at least a certain degree of confidence in the film’s merits.

Rose of Nevada (Mark Jenkin)
Enys Men was a slightly surprising choice, and this seems like a relatively more conventional film.

The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)
Four Daughters wasn’t picked and I truthfully have no idea how this especially sensitive and timely event will be tackled, but I wouldn’t be shocked if this was selected.

The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas)
Suspended Time didn’t make it but I retain some hope for Assayas.

Dry Leaf (Alexandre Koberidze)
This will almost certainly be in the NYFF selection, but an over-three-hour film shot entirely on a Sony Ericsson seems more in the vein of past Currents gala film The Human Surge 3.

Hamnet (Chloé Zhao)
Assuming one of the other films I’ve anticipated for Main Slate doesn’t take the Spotlight gala spot, I think this would make sense, especially considering the very low profile it’s had thus far relative to the prominence of Nomadland‘s 2020 run.