Today the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Comic-Book, Pop-Cult explosion-slash-promotional orgy that is Comic Con begins its annual four-day Operation: Occupy Javits, and this weekend NYCC screens the best film of the year, while the NYFF screens one of the most anticipated docs of the year.
And so, over the next 96 hours, the New York City subway will transport even weirder human cargo than it normally does, and the Javits Convention center will host even stranger hook-ups and deal-making from drunken conventioneers than it usually does (as well-paid, well-fed labor union-types watch, making for moments of culture-shock rivaled only by the sticker-shock of exhibiting at Javits).
There will probably be at (the very least) least a dozen marriage proposals; more than a few newly-forged partnerships twixt future media creators; pleasant surprises and anti-climaxes as digital-soulmates finally meet in-person (experiencing something akin to Plato's concept of the soul's infinite knowledge being lost through mortal birth and slowly re-learning said knowledge through moment by moment life experience); countless fan photo opps (well, at $70 a pop they'll be counted); a hyper-giddiness experienced by workaday soldiers for whom Halloween comes more than once a year, thanks to Comic Con; a dharmic reinforcement to those for whom, as Ministry once sang: "Halloween is every day."
Kudos to Comic Con for hosting the New York premiere of Lars Von Trier's final cut of Nymphomaniac. This is quite a coup, and I'm very surprised that the New York Film Festival isn't screening it. Irrespective of the silly press and marketing campaign for this film, the porny promotional photos and the bogus selling of it as "part one" and "part two," to my feeble mind, Nymphomaniac is the best film of the year, and Von Trier's most important work. I'll be posting more notes on this major accomplishment soon.
Nymphomaniac is currently available on VOD and will be screening at the IFC Center, Sunday October 12th, at 2PM. More information can be found HERE
This year's NYFF also scored very (very) big, with its world premiere of super-hero journo Laura Poitras' Citizen Four happening this Friday, October 10th at 6pm, with an additional screening on Saturday, October 11th at 1pm. More information can be found HERE.
Laura Poitras will also be giving a free public talk during The Film Society of Lincoln Center's & HBO's Directors Dialogue series, on Saturday, October 11th at 4PM. More information can be found HERE
Returning to our film in progress, for those unable to attend, herewith, the three official NYCCC livestreams: