33rd Philadelphia Film Festival to open with 'September 5,' close with 'Blitz,' and feature 'Anora,' 'The Brutalist' and more

Philly's annual film showcase runs from October 17 through 27 at the Film Society's three venues.

Each October, the Philadelphia Film Festival features ten days of films, mostly consisting of movies that debuted at Cannes, Toronto, and other film festivals throughout the year, along with some world premieres and usually a selection of films of local interest.

This year is no different. The lineup is out today, and it features most of the year’s big award contenders and most of the big films that I was hoping would make it.

The festival will open on the 17th with September 5, a movie very much up my alley. It’s a telling of the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972, although told from a very different perspective from the Spielberg version—this one shows how ABC News covered the events. On the 25th, the closing film is Blitz, a World War II movie and the latest from director Steve McQueen.

The schedule won’t be out for a while, so we don’t know which films are showing when, but the “Centerpieces” include Sean Baker’s Anora, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Edward Berger’s Conclave, Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl, RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys, Justin Kurzel’s The Order, Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, and William Goldenberg’s Unstoppable.

Other major stuff is in the Masters of Cinema category, including Pedro Almodovar’s English-language debut The Room Next Door, Guy Maddin’s Rumours, Andrea Arnold’s Bird, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

The “World View” program is led by Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s Alpha, which I’ve heard great things about, and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. And there’s a whole program from India, starting with Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light.

I was also happy to see Eephus, a movie I’ve been waiting for since Cannes, in the Made in USA section, as well as The Knife, directed by former Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha. And speaking of sports, that Wing Bowl documentary, No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story, is on the lineup, as I hoped it would be.

There are tons and tons of documentaries across three categories — Non/Fiction, Sight & Soundtrack and Community Screenings — some of which I’ve seen and some of which I haven’t. The Luther Vandross doc, Luther: Never Too Much, is exquisite and I also highly recommend Dahomey and Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. I’m looking forward to seeing docs about Adam Kinzinger (The Last Republican), Billy Corben on the coup in Venezuela (Men of War), and Errol Morris on the Trump-era child separations (Separated).

As for the repertory showings, I can’t complain about the inclusion of one of my favorite movies, All The President’s Men.

What’s not there? As in the last couple of years, there has been nothing from Netflix’s awards slate, including Emilia Perez and Maria, although that’s less of a part of the awards conversation than most years. The latest from Paul Schrader and Paul Cronenberg are absent, and I was hoping Ron Howard’s insane-sounding Eden would make it in, too. But these are minor quibbles.

The full lineup is here; there’s much more that I didn’t mention. Stay tuned here- and subscribe!- for lots of fest coverage.