Film Society of Lincoln Center to Host Evening with Ethan Hawke, 9/30

The Film Society of LINCOLN Center will host Ethan Hawke on September 30 and Richard Gere on October 8 as guests of honor for "An Evening With..." at the 52nd New York Film Festival. "An Evening With...Richard Gere" will be presented by Jaeger-LeCoultre. Updating the tribute format from previous years, the evenings will include an intimate dinner and a conversation between the guests and NYFF Director Kent Jones, and will benefit the Film Society of LINCOLN Center. Hawke will also be attending the festival as a director, on behalf of his documentary Seymour: An Introduction, and Gere stars in the Main Slate selection from director Oren Moverman, Time Out of Mind.

"An Evening With..." recognizes the work of individuals who have made significant artistic contributions to film culture, and will continue to do so in the future. Past honorees include Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg, Nicole Kidman, Richard Peña, and last year's guests, Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes. The "An Evening With..." dinner events will take place in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at LINCOLN Center. For information on how to purchase tables of 10 or single tickets to either of the "An Evening With..." events, please contact Austin Lee Brown at abrown@filmlinc.com or (212) 875-5285.

Regarding the selection of Hawke and Gere, FSLC's Executive Director Lesli Klainberg said, "We are very excited to be honoring two men that have built very successful careers enjoying both critical and box-office success, yet-as evidenced by their films at this year's New York Film Festival are still exploring as artists and doing some of their best work yet."

A multiple Academy Award® nominee as both actor and writer, a Tony nominee for his stage work, and an accomplished author, Ethan Hawke made his debut at the age of 15 in Joe Dante's Explorers (1985), and soon made his mark as a student under the tutelage of Robin Williams's enigmatic teacher in Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society (1989). Hawke quickly established a reputation as a young actor to watch and tapped into the pop culture Zeitgeist with Ben Stiller's 1994 comedy Reality Bites.

In one of the great film partnerships in modern movies, Hawke has teamed up with director Richard Linklater for The Newton Boys (1998), Waking Life (2001), Tape (2001), Fast Food Nation (2006), as well as the critically acclaimed "Before Trilogy," made up of Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and BEFORE MIDNIGHT (2013), the third installment for which the trio of Hawke, Linklater, and co-star and co-writer Julie Delpy received Academy Award® and Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay. Hawke and Linklater's most recent collaboration, the widely acclaimed Boyhood, a film shot over 12 years chronicling the life of a child from ages 6 through 18, has continued the impressive duo's run.

Other notable Hawke films include Antoine Fuqua's Training Day (2001), for which he received an Academy Award® nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as well for Best Supporting Actor playing opposite Denzel Washington, and that same year, his directorial debut, Chelsea Walls, starring Uma Thurman, Kris Kristofferson, Rosario Dawson, Natasha Richardson, and Steve Zahn. Hawke's documentary Seymour: An Introduction, which follows the life of the legendary pianist and teacher Seymour Bernstein, garnered much acclaim at the recent Telluride Film Festival. IFC Films will release Seymour: An Introduction in 2015.

Hawke has three other films set for release in 2015, including the Spierig Brothers' Predestination for Sony; Michael Almereyda's take on William Shakespeare's Cymbeline, a Lionsgate release; and Andrew Niccol's Good Kill. Hawke also recently wrapped production on Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's Ten Thousand Saints; Alejandro Amenábar's Regression alongside Emma Watson; and Blumhouse Productions and Ti West's In a Valley of Violence alongside John Travolta and Taissa Farmiga.

Richard Gere made his feature-film debut in Milton Katselas's Report to the Commissioner (1975), following success on the London stage, where he was one of the few Americans ever to work with Britain's Young Vic Theatre, in The Taming of the Shrew. Two years later, he gave a career-making performance as a violent hustler opposite Diane Keaton in Richard Brooks's Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977). The following year he starred in Terrence Malick's classic Days of Heaven (1978), and then went on to establish himself as a major star with his iconic performances as a jaded male escort in Paul Schrader's American Gigolo (1980) and a naval cadet involved in a passionate romance in Taylor Hackford's 1982 An Officer and a Gentleman (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor).

Throughout the '80s Gere appeared in numerous films, including Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club (1984) opposite Diane Lane, Bruce Beresford's King David (1985), Richard Pearce's No Mercy (1986), Sidney Lumet's Power (1986), and Gary Sinise's Miles from Home (1988). His versatility as an actor was in EVIDENCE with his portrayals of a corrupt and amoral cop in Mike Figgis's Internal Affairs, and as a businessman romancing a call girl played by Julia Roberts in Garry Marshall's blockbuster Pretty Woman (for which he received his second Golden Globe Best Actor nomination). Gere made his debut as a producer and starred opposite Jodie Foster in Jon Amiel's Sommersby (1993). Additional career highlights include his performances as a lawyer representing Edward Norton's altar-boy suspect in Gregory Hoblit's Primal Fear (1996), a lawyer wrongly accused of murder in Jon Avnet's Red Corner (1997), and a reporter in Runaway Bride (1999), for which he reteamed with Garry Marshall and Julia Roberts.

Another big year for Gere was 2002, with the releases of Mark Pellington's thriller The Mothman Prophecies, Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful-which reunited Gere with Diane Lane-and Rob Marshall's Oscar-winning big-screen version of the musical Chicago. Gere received the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his triple-threat acting/singing/dancing performance in Marshall's film. In 2012, Gere's portrayal of a fast-talking hedge fund magnate staying just a hair's breadth ahead of forces that would destroy his family and career in Nicholas Jarecki's ARBITRAGE earned him another Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.

Now, Gere plays a man at the opposite end of the spectrum in Oren Moverman's Time Out of Mind. The NYFF official Main Slate selection, about a homeless man surviving on the streets of New York City and desperate to connect with his estranged daughter, has already earned Gere some early critical praise. The actor will be seen next in Andrew Renzi's Franny, with Dakota Fanning, and John Madden's The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, both due in theaters in 2015.

The 17-day New York Film Festival highlights the best in world cinema, featuring top films from celebrated filmmakers as well as fresh new talent. The selection committee, chaired by Kent Jones, also includes Dennis Lim, FSLC Director of Programming; Marian Masone, FSLC Senior Programming Advisor; Gavin Smith, Editor-in-Chief, Film Comment; and Amy Taubin, Contributing Editor, Film Comment and Sight & Sound.

Tickets for the upcoming New York Film Festival range in price from $15 & $25 for most screenings to $50 & $100 for Gala evenings. Film Society members receive a discount on tickets as well as the benefit of a pre-sale opportunity. Please note: All sales are final. No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are subject to availability. Programs and prices are subject to change. Please note that the line for tickets may form in advance of the time of distribution.

Visit filmlinc.com/NYFF for more information. The updated NYFF App is available for download on iOS and Android.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of LINCOLN Center works to recognize established and emerging filmmakers, support important new work, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the moving image. The Film Society produces the renowned New York Film Festival, a curated selection of the year's most significant new film work, and presents or collaborates on other annual New York City festivals including Dance on Camera, Film Comment Selects, Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Latinbeat, New Directors/New Films, NewFest, New York African Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival, New York Jewish Film Festival, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, and Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. In addition to publishing the award-winning Film Comment magazine, The Film Society recognizes an artist's unique achievement in film with the prestigious Chaplin Award. The Film Society's state-of-the-art Walter Reade Theater and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, located at LINCOLN Center, provide a home for year-round programs and the New York City film community.
The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, HBO®, Stella Artois, The Kobal Collection, Variety, Trump International Hotel and Tower, Row NYC Hotel, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Support for the New York Film Festival is also generously provided by KIND Bars, Portage World Wide Inc., WABC-7, and WNET New York Public Media.

For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

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