Organizers of the New York Film
Festival said on Tuesday they will open this fall's event with
the North American premiere of French director Laurent Cantet's
"Entre les Murs" (The Class), winner of this year's top prize
at Cannes.
The New York festival, which opens in late September, is
one of the top cinema gatherings in the United States and tends
to showcase art-oriented and international films,
distinguishing it from the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan
in April that features some Hollywood studio fare.
"Entre les Murs" became the first French film in 21 years
to claim the coveted Palme d'Or award at Cannes, the world's
biggest film festival, after captivating the notoriously picky
audience of film industry insiders and journalists there.
Casting real teachers and students who were taught to act,
French director Cantet goes inside a Paris high school to paint
a portrait of growing up in modern-day France dealing with
issues of race, class and individuality.
"Laurent Cantet has pioneered a new kind of social cinema.
'The Class' is the finest example yet of this filmmaker's
important work, and we're delighted to have it open this year's
New York Film Festival," Richard Pena, the festival's selection
committee chair, said in a statement.
Based on an autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau,
"Entre les Murs" comes to theaters at a time when the problems
in France's often-overcrowded schools have been highlighted by
strikes and protests by teachers and pupils.
With memories still vivid of the 2005 riots in poor,
multiethnic suburbs around many French cities, the film also
taps into a wider debate about the place of young people of
immigrant backgrounds in French society.
The 46th New York Film Festival will hold two showcases
throughout its run from September 26 through October 12.
The first, "In the Realm of Oshima," looks at the work of
Japanese filmmaker Nagisa Oshima, and the second, Views from
the Avant-Garde, features Guy Debord's "In girum imus nocte et
consumimur igni."
(Reporting by Nancy Leinfuss; editing by Michelle Nichols
and Bob Tourtellotte)
In Theaters 
