Just a quick note to say that the main program for the 46th New York Film Festival has been announced, and the slate looks quite strong this year. Along with the usual suspects - Jia Zhangke, Hong Sang-soo, Jerzy Skolimowski, Arnaud Desplechin, Steven Soderbergh, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Olivier Assayas, and Wong Kar-wai - I'm also excited to see Darezhan Omirbaev (wow, two Kazakh films!), Brillante Mendoza, and Kelly Reichardt make the line-up. The NYFF runs from Sept. 26 through Oct. 12.

Opening Night
The Class / Entre les murs
Laurent Cantet, France, 2008; 128m

Centerpiece
Changeling
Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008; 140m

Closing Night
The Wrestler
Darren Aronofsky, USA, 2008; 109m

Retrospective
Lola Montès
Max Ophuls, France/West Germany, 1955; 115m

24 City / Er shi si cheng ji
Jia Zhangke, China/Hong Kong/Japan, 2008; 112m

Afterschool
Antonio Campos, USA, 2008; 122m

Ashes of Time Redux
Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2008; 93m

Bullet in the Head / Trio en la cabeza
Jaime Rosales, Spain/France, 2008; 85m

Che
Steven Soderbergh, France/Spain, 2008; 268m

Chouga / Shuga
Darezhan Omirbaev, France/Kazakhstan, 2007; 91m

A Christmas Tale / Un conte de Noël
Arnaud Desplechin, France, 2008; 150m

Four Nights with Anna / Cztery noce z Anna
Jerzy Skolimowski, Poland/France, 2008; 87m

Gomorrah / Gomorra
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2008; 137m

Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, UK, 2008; 118m

The Headless Woman / La mujer sin cabeza
Lucrecia Martel, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2008; 87m

Hunger
Steve McQueen, UK, 2008; 96m

I'm Going to Explode / Voy a explotar
Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2008; 103m

Let It Rain / Parlez-moi de la pluie
Agnès Jaoui, France, 2008; 110m

Night and Day / Bam guan nat
Hong Sang-soo, South Korea, 2008; 144m

The Northern Land / A Corte do Norte
João Botelho, Portugal, 2008; 101m

Serbis
Brillante Mendoza, Philippines/France, 2008; 90m

Summer Hours / L’heure d’eté
Olivier Assayas, France, 2008; 103m

Tokyo Sonata
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/Netherlands, 2008; 85m

Tony Manero
Pablo Larrain, Chile/Brazil, 2008; 98m

Tulpan
Sergey Dvortsevoy, Germany/Kazakhstan/Poland/Russia/Switzerland, 2008; 100m

Waltz with Bashir
Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/France, 2008; 90m

Wendy and Lucy
Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2008; 80m

The Windmill Movie
Alexander Olch, USA, 2008; 80m