UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE to Close 2014 New York Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance as the Closing Night selection for the upcoming 52nd New York Film Festival (September 26 - October 12). The black comedy stars Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. This marks Iñárritu's third time at the festival, having previously screened Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003). The Fox Searchlight Pictures and New Regency release is slated to open in select theaters on October 17, 2014.

New York Film Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair, Kent Jones said: "Birdman is a knockout. It's consistently surprising and inventive - you think the movie is going in one direction and then Iñárritu shifts gears and takes you somewhere else completely unexpected: the movie is like an intricate machine generating greater and greater amounts of beautiful radiant energy. The entire cast is amazing and they mesh perfectly, but I have to say that Michael Keaton is astonishing. He's always been a terrific and, in my opinion, underrated actor. Here he gets the role he deserves, and he makes the most of it. And, it's a great Broadway movie."

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's big, bold, and beautifully brash new movie, where one-time action hero Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton, in a jaw-dropping performance), in an effort to be taken seriously as an artist, is staging his own adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. As Thomson tries to get his perilous undertaking in shape for the opening, he has to cope with a resentful daughter (Emma Stone), a scene-hogging narcissist (Edward Norton), a vulnerable actress (Naomi Watts) and an unhinged girlfriend (Andrea Riseborough) for co-stars, a manager who's about to come undone (Zach Galifianikis), and the inner demon of the superhero that made him famous, Birdman. Iñárritu's camera magically prowls, careens and soars in and around the theater, yet remains alive to the most precious subtleties and surprises between his formidable actors. Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is an extravagant dream of a movie, alternately hilarious and terrifying, powered by a deep love of acting, theater, and Broadway - a real New York experience.

Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a presentation of Fox Searchlight Pictures and Regency Enterprises, a New Regency/M Productions/Le Grisbi production.

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 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.

NYFF previously announced the Opening Night selection Gone Girl, Centerpiece selection Inherent Vice, retrospective Joseph L. Mankiewicz: The Essential Iconoclast, as well as initial selections in the Revivals section of the festival to include Burroughs: The Movie, The Color of Pomegranates, Hiroshima Mon Amour, and Once Upon a Time in America.

Tickets for the 52nd New York Film Festival will go on sale to the general public at noon on Sunday, September 7. Becoming a Film Society member before July 31 provides access to a pre-sale period for single tickets to festival screenings and events ahead of the general public on-sale date.

Subscription Packages and VIP Passes to NYFF52 give the buyer the earliest access to tickets and are on sale through July 31. Depending on the level purchased, packages and passes provide access to Main Slate and Special Event screenings including those on the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing nights of the festival. VIP passes also provide access to many exciting events including the invitation-only Opening Night party, "Evening With..." Dinner, Filmmaker Brunch, and VIP Lounge. For information about purchasing Subscription Packages and VIP Passes, go to filmlinc.com/NYFF. To find out how to become a Film Society member, visit filmlinc.com/support/home.

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, Stella Artois, HBO®, the Kobal Collection, 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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