The New York Film Festival opens NYFF59 with Joel Cohen's THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH with Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington.

"The New York Film Festival is a place where I've been watching movies as an audience member and showing them as a filmmaker for almost 50 years," said director Joel Coen. "It's a real privilege and a thrill to be opening the festival this year with The Tragedy of..."

The 59th New York Film Festival Opening Night is September 24, 2021 at Alice Tully Hall.  Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, the festival will take place September 24 - October 10, 2021.

NYFF59 will feature a combination of in-person, outdoor, and virtual screenings, with a comprehensive series of health and safety policies in coordination with state and city medical experts. Visit filmlinc.org for more information.

"We're proud to open the festival with a film that immediately joins the ranks of the great screen Shakespeares," said Dennis Lim, Director of Programming for the New York Film Festival. "Working with brilliant collaborators, including Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in stunning form, Joel Coen has made an inspired and urgent interpretation of an eternally relevant classic, a moral thriller that speaks directly to our time."

Here is a list of films that have previously opened the festival:

2020    Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen, UK)

2019    The Irishman (Martin Scorsese, US)

2018    The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland/UK/US)

2017    Last Flag Flying (Richard Linklater, US)

2016    13TH (Ava DuVernay, US)

2015    The Walk (Robert Zemeckis, US)

2014    Gone Girl (David Fincher, US)

2013    Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass, US)

2012    Life of Pi (Ang Lee, US)

2011    Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Poland)

2010    The Social Network (David Fincher, US)

2009    Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, France)

2008    The Class (Laurent Cantet, France)

2007    The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, US)

2006    The Queen (Stephen Frears, UK)

2005    Good Night, and Good Luck. (George Clooney, US)

2004    Look at Me (Agnès Jaoui, France)

2003    Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, US)

2002    About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, US)

2001    Va savoir (Jacques Rivette, France)

2000    Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, Denmark)

1999    All About My Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)

1998    Celebrity (Woody Allen, US)

1997    The Ice Storm (Ang Lee, US)

1996    Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, UK)

1995    Shanghai Triad (Zhang Yimou, China)

1994    Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, US)

1993    Short Cuts (Robert Altman, US)

1992    Olivier Olivier (Agnieszka Holland, France)

1991    The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland/France)

1990    Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen, US)

1989    Too Beautiful for You (Bertrand Blier, France)

1988    Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain)

1987    Dark Eyes (Nikita Mikhalkov, Soviet Union)

1986    Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, US)

1985    Ran (Akira Kurosawa, Japan)

1984    Country (Richard Pearce, US)

1983    The Big Chill (Lawrence Kasdan, US)

1982    Veronika Voss (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, West Germany)

1981    Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, UK)

1980    Melvin and Howard (Jonathan Demme, US)

1979    Luna (Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy/US)

1978    A Wedding (Robert Altman, US)

1977    One Sings, the Other Doesn't (Agnès Varda, France)

1976    Small Change (François Truffaut, France)

1975    Conversation Piece (Luchino Visconti, Italy)

1974    Don't Cry with Your Mouth Full (Pascal Thomas, France)

1973    Day for Night (François Truffaut, France)

1972    Chloe in the Afternoon (Eric Rohmer, France)

1971    The Debut (Gleb Panfilov, Soviet Union)

1970    The Wild Child (François Truffaut, France)

1969    Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (Paul Mazursky, US)

1968    Capricious Summer (Jiri Menzel, Czechoslovakia)

1967    The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Italy/Algeria)

1966    Loves of a Blonde (Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia)

1965    Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, France)

1964    Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev, USSR)

1963    The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel, Mexico)

The festival currently has festival passes on sale through July 30 with early bird pricing. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, September 7 at noon ET, with early-access opportunities for FLC members and pass holders prior to this date. Support of the New York Film Festival benefits Film at Lincoln Center in its non-profit mission to promote the art and craft of cinema.