George Clooney's 'The Descendants' to Close New York Film Festival

The festival's main slate consists of 27 feature films and the return of On Cinema.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced that Alexander Payne's The Descendants, starring George Clooney, will be the Closing Night film at the 49th New York Film Festival.
The festival's main slate consists of 27 feature films and the return of On Cinema, previously titled The Cinema Inside Me, which will feature an in-depth conversation with Payne. This year's festival will also feature programming to complement the main slate, including Masterworks programs.
“In many of the films in this year’s festival, characters pass from recognition of a problem or situation to actual resistance,” says Richard Peña, selection committee chair & program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. “This confrontational attitude is perhaps a sign of our increasingly polarized times.”
The Descendants will screen at Alice Tuly Hall on Sunday, Oct. 16 and marks Payne's third time to the NYFF. Sideways and About Schmidt were previously shown.
“We are delighted to welcome back Alexander Payne to the New York Film Festival. Payne's nuanced character studies capture the moral  chaos lurking just below  the surface of everyday American lives," said Rose Kuo, executive director at The Film Society of Lincoln Center.
The NYFF takes place Sept. 30-Oct. 16.
The 49th New York Film Festival main slate:
Opening Night Gala Selection
CARNAGE
Director: Roman Polanski
Country: France/Germany/Poland
Centerpiece Gala Selection
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Director: Simon Curtis
Country: UK
Special Gala Presentations
A DANGEROUS METHOD
Director: David Cronenberg
Country: UK/Canada/Germany
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Country: Spain
Closing Night Gala Selection
THE DESCENDANTS
Director: Alexander Payne
Country: USA
4:44: LAST DAY ON EARTH
Director: Abel Ferrara
Country: USA
THE ARTIST
Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Country: France
CORPO CELESTE
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Country: Italy/Switzerland/France
FOOTNOTE
Director: Joseph Cedar
Country: Israel
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD
Director: Martin Scorsese
Country: USA
GOODBYE FIRST LOVE
Director: Mia Hansen-Løve
Country: France/Germany
THE KID WITH A BIKE
Director: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Country: Belgium/France
LE HAVRE
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Country: Finland/France/Germany
THE LONELIEST PLANET
Director: Julia Loktev
Country: USA/Germany
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Director: Sean Durkin
Country: USA
MELANCHOLIA
Director: Lars von Trier
Country: Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany/Italy
MISS BALA
Director: Gerardo Naranjo
Country: Mexico
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey
PINA
Director: Wim Wenders
Country: Germany/France/UK
PLAY
Director: Ruben Östlund
Country: Sweden/France/Denmark
POLICEMAN
Director: Nadav Lapid
Country: Israel/France
A SEPARATION
Director: Asghar Farhadi
Country: Iran
SHAME
Director: Steve McQueen
Country: UK
SLEEPING SICKNESS
Director: Ulrich Köhler
Country: Germany/France/Netherlands
THE STUDENT
Director: Santiago Mitre
Country: Argentina
THIS IS NOT A FILM
Director: Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Country: Iran
THE TURIN HORSE
Director: Béla Tarr and Agnes Hranitzky
Country: Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland/USA