20th Century Women, the new film from Beginners writer/director Mike Mills, will have its world premiere as the centerpiece screening of the 54th New York film festival, it was announced Tuesday. The is the second addition to the event’s lineup, following the reveal of the opening night selection, The 13th, Ava DuVernay’s documentary on race and prison.
Annette Bening heads the 1970s-set film as a single mother raising her teenage son (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann) in a sprawling bohemian house in Santa Barbara, shared by a carpenter (Billy Crudup) and a punk artist (Greta Gerwig). Elle Fanning rounds out the cast as her son’s rebellious friend. The festival pegs 20th Century Women as a “texturally and behaviorally rich new comedy”.
The festival’s director, Kent Jones, said he was “taken aback by 20th Century Women”, in a statement. “It’s made with an extraordinarily unusual level of craft and attention to detail, human and visual, which is now all but extinct,” he said.
Beginners, Mills’ last film, netted a supporting actor Oscar for Christopher Plummer in 2010.
20th Century Women will be released by A24 in December in the US.
The festival runs from 30 September to 16 October.
