The 57th New York Film Festival keeps upping its game. Earlier this week, the festival added a (no longer) secret screening of Josh and Benny Safdie’s Uncut Gems. Tickets sold out immediately. Now, Film at Lincoln Center has shared the lineup for NYFF Live. One of our favorite sections of the festival, NYFF Live runs September 28-October 12 and is where the festival’s free talks live. This year’s program is exceptionally good, but more on that below. The festival also launched a new New York Film Festival daily podcast series that makes following at home even easier. The 57th New York Film Festival opens tonight with the world premiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and runs through October 13, 2019.

Based on the buzz following screenings at Telluride and Toronto, Uncut Gems is shaping up to be the Safdies’ crowning achievement. The film pairs the indie auteur brother team with the talented (but not always well-directed) Adam Sandler. Sandler stars as Howard, a diamond dealer whose life is approaching a fever pitch. His marriage is collapsing, he owes money to some shady characters, and he’s working on a diamond deal that’s way out of his league. NYFF57 added two screenings of Uncut Gems, October 3 at 9pm at Alice Tully Hall (followed by a Q&A with the Safdie brothers and Adam Sandler) and October 12 at 9pm at Walter Reade Theater. The festival lists them both as “stand by” for tickets. Fortunately, if you miss out on these screenings, you don’t have to wait too long. A24 is releasing the film on December 13th in select cities followed by a nationwide rollout on Christmas Day. Check out the trailer below.

As for those free daily talks, this year’s lineup is insane. Several filmmakers in the festival plan on dropping in for what should be scintillating conversations on the filmmaking process. Among them are the Dardenne brothers (Young Ahmed), Michael Apted (63 Up), Kelly Reichardt (First Cow), Nadav Lapid (Synonyms), Ric Burns (Oliver Sachs: His Own Life), Ivy Meeropol (Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn), Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu (The Whistlers), Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden), Justine Triet (Sibyl) and the Safdie brothers, who will be joined by other crew members for a making of Uncut Gems discussion. The Irishman will be a hot topic throughout the series as writer Steve Zaillian, DP Rodrigo Prieto, and producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff are all slated to take part in panels. Also, NYFF Director Kent Jones will talk with veteran cinematographer Denis Lenoir. Lenoir authored a book on John Cassavetes and is a frequent collaborator of Olivier Assayas. Their latest film together, Wasp Network, screens at this year’s fest.

Film Comment is hosting what is sure to be a thought-provoking discussion on the challenges of portraying current and recent historical events in film. Entitled State of the Nation, the panel includes writer-director Scott Z. Burns (The Report, The Laundromat) and director Jamsheed Akrami (Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema After the 1979 Revolution). Film Comment will be back towards the end of the festival with another edition of their popular Festival Wrap panel.

There are also two discussions involving projects in the Convergence section that should be illuminating. Casey Stein and Bernard Zeiger will hold an immersive presentation on Holy Night, a project that explores America’s opioid epidemic. Lance Weiler, Ava Lee Scott, Nick Fortugno, and Nick Childs, the storytellers behind interactive theater experience The Raven, gather to discuss their groundbreaking work inspired by the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe.

Advanced tickets are available for NYFF Live’s free talks. You can reserve yours starting at 10am the day prior to the talk. For the complete lineup see below or visit Film at Lincoln Center’s website.

Besides all the freebies in NYFF Live, the festival has added two additional free daytime events. Ethan Coen, John Turturro, and film distributor Eamon Bowles will pay tribute to indie film great Ben Barenholtz, who passed away earlier this year. Over the course of his career, Barenholtz supported visionary voices such as David Lynch, Joel and Ethan Coen, Guy Maddin, and John Sayles. Also a late addition, Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) will present and discuss her new short documentary Brigitte.

Film at Lincoln Center’s podcast game has always been on point. For the 2019 festival, the producers will add timely content daily. This will include conversations with special guests, post-screening Q&As, festival highlights, and more goodies straight from the festival. The inaugural daily New York Film Festival podcast features a conversation between FLC Deputy Director Eugene Hernandez and festival programmer Florence Almozini, as well as the press conference for Pain and Glory, which finds festival programmer Dennis Lim discussing the filmmaking process with director Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas. Pain and Glory will have its New York premiere at NYFF on Saturday, September 28. You can find the Daily New York Film Festival Podcast series on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Stitcher.

NYFF Live Free Talks

Saturday, September 28
11am – Cinematography Now
Panelists: Ashley Connor (Madeline’s Madeline), Chris Teague (Russian Doll), Rodrigo Prieto (The Irishman), and David Schwartz, former Chief Curator, Museum of the Moving Image

7pm – Film Comment: State of the Nation
Panelists: Nicolas Rapold, Editor-in-Chief of Film Comment, Scott Z. Burns, writer-director of The Report and writer of The Laundromat; Jamsheed Akrami, professor at William Paterson University, director of Friendly Persuasion: Iranian Cinema After the 1979 Revolution, and author of the Jafar Panahi interview feature in the March/April issue of Film Comment; and Devika Girish, critic and Assistant Editor of Film Comment.

Sunday, September 29
7pm – NYFF Documentary Talk
Panelists: Ric Burns (Oliver Sacks: His Own Life), Tania Cypriano (Born to Be), Ivy Meeropol (Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn), Lynn Novick (College Behind Bars), and Lesli Klainberg, FLC Executive Director

Monday, September 30
7pm – Producers on Producing: Hosted by Producers Guild of America
Panelists: Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Irishman, Joker, The Wolf of Wall Street) and David Hinojosa (First Reformed, Vox Lux, Beatriz at Dinner)

Tuesday, October 1
7pm – In Conversation with Navid Lapid

Wednesday, October 2
7pm – In Conversation with the Dardenne Brothers
9pm – An Evening with Beatrice Gibson (offsite at Bar Laika)

Thursday, October 3
7pm – In Conversation with Michael Apted

Friday, October 4
7pm – In Conversation with Kelly Reichardt

Saturday, October 5
7pm – Film Comment: Filmmakers Chat
Panelists: Luise Donschen (Entire Days Together); Akosua Adoma Owusu (Pelourinho: They Don’t Really Care About Us); Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden); Corneliu Porumboiu (The Whistlers); Justine Triet (Sibyl); and Nicolas Rapold, Editor-in-Chief of Film Comment

Sunday, October 6
7pm – Making Uncut Gems
Panelists: Filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie, co-writer and editor Ronald Bronstein, producer Sebastian Bear McClard, composer Daniel Lopatin, and casting director Jen Venditti

Monday, October 7
4pm – Denis Lenoir in Conversation with Kent Jones
7pm – Writing New York: Hosted by Writers Guild of America, East
Panelists: JC Chandor (A Most Violent Year), Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), Elisabeth Holm (Landline), Gillian Robespierre (Obvious Child, Landline), Steven Zaillian (The Irishman), and Paul Schrader (First Reformed, The Last Temptation of Christ)

Tuesday, October 8
7pm – We <3 Agnès
Panelists: Rosalie Varda and other guests

Wednesday, October 9
7pm – Film Comment: Festival Wrap
Panelists: Nicolas Rapold, Editor-in-Chief of Film Comment; K. Austin Collins of Vanity Fair; programmer and FC contributing editor Nellie Killian; Michael Koresky of Film Comment and Reverse Shot; and Amy Taubin of Film Comment and Artforum

Friday, October 11
7:30pm – Holy Night: Meet the Makers
Panelists: Filmmakers Casey Stein and Bernard Zeiger

Saturday, October 12
3pm – The Raven: Meet the Makers
Panelists: Lance Weiler, Ava Lee Scott, Nick Fortungo, and Nick Childs