For more than half a century, the New Directors\/New Films festival has introduced New York audiences to filmmakers who\u2019d go on to become household names: Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Wong Kar Wai.<\/p>\n
The festival, a partnership between Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art, returns this week for its 55th run.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aOur hope is that we’re catching very important artists on the brink, right when they’re about to break out,\u201d said Film at Lincoln Center Programmer Dan Sullivan. \u201c\u200aThe festival’s hit rate is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s selection includes 24 feature-length films and 10 shorts. The lineup<\/a> highlights movies from Germany, Japan, Mexico and India.<\/p>\n One clear standout is \u201cErupcja<\/a>\u201d from director Peter Ohs. While the director\u2019s name may be new to you, his lead actress is probably not; the film\u2019s protagonist is played by British pop star Charli XCX. Her character, a party girl on vacation to Warsaw with her boyfriend, reconnects with an old flame named Nel (Lena G\u00f3ra).<\/p>\n The two descend into a mutually destructive mania, Ohs\u2019 camera capturing the alternating Soviet and classical architecture of the city as a steady synth beat drives the plot forward.<\/p>\n \u201cErupcja\u201d is cowritten by Jeremy O. Harris, creator of the Broadway hit \u201cSlave Play,\u201d who also plays a supporting role in the new movie. Harris and Ohs will be doing a Q&A at each of the two screenings. Both events have already sold out \u2014 but standby tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Charli XCX is not on the lineup, but organizers said they \u201chope\u201d she might make a surprise appearance.<\/p>\n Another film being shown is a deeply moving documentary with unfortunate new relevance. \u201cDo You Love Me<\/a>,\u201d the feature debut by Lebanese director Lana Daher, is a 76-minute film entirely constructed of archival material. Daher weaves an impressionistic narrative from movies, TV clips, home videos, photography, oral testimony and pop music.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a country so often associated with war, violence, and destruction, the film becomes an act of remembrance,\u201d MoMA Film Department Curator La Frances Hui said. The movie is \u201can effort to preserve and reconstruct collective memory amid rubble and recurring bombardment.\u201d<\/p>\n