“White Noise,” the latest project from director and screenwriter Noah Baumbach, will be the opening night movie of the 60th New York Film Festival, organizers announced Tuesday.
The festival, which runs from September 30 to October 16, will host the film’s North American premiere; its world premiere will open the 79th Venice Film Festival later this month.
Baumbach directed the film and adapted the screenplay from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel of the same name, which won the American Book Award for fiction that year and focuses on themes of American family life in the midst of repetitive and overwhelming reminders of death.
The film follows a college professor and his family as they are forced to evacuate their home due to an industrial accident. From there, they must contend with the inevitable, relentless reminders of death as stories of sudden deaths, school evacuations, and toxic waste disasters fill the airwaves.
“White Noise” stars Adam Driver as Jack Gladney, a “Hitler Studies” teacher and father of four. Greta Gerwig plays Babette, Gladney’s wife. Other cast members include Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith, Sam Nivola, and Raffey Cassidy.
This is Baumbach’s last collaboration with Gerwig, his partner. They have co-written several films, including ‘Frances Ha’ (2012) and ‘Mistress America’ (2015), both of which he directed, and ‘Barbie’, which she directs and is slated for release. in 2023.
Baumbach’s other credits include “The Squid and the Whale” and “Marriage Story,” both of which earned him Oscar nominations.
In a statement, Baumbach explained that as a child he attended the New York Film Festival with his father and later premiered his first film there, “Kicking and Screaming,” in 1995. Other Baumbach films have been chosen for the event’s main slate over the years, but ‘White Noise’ is the first of his productions to open the festival.
After the premiere, the film will be available to stream on Netflix later in 2022.