The New York Film Festival’s parent company, Film at Lincoln Center, has put together the program for its Currents series at the 62nd edition – 12 features and 28 shorts that will complement the main program with an emphasis on new, innovative voices.

Currents’ Centerpiece selection is the world premiere of Jem Cohen’s Small, big and far, a disaster story about the travels of an astronomer in search of a sky dark enough to study the stars.

Other portraits are by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, a fragmentary reassembly of the legacy of the Martinique writer and activist; Pierre Creton and Vincent Barrés 7 Walks with Mark Brownon the trail of a paleobotanist in search of native plants; Yashaddai Owens’ debut film, Jimmywhich imagines a young James Baldwin arriving in Paris from New York; and Lilith Kraxner and Milena Czernovsky’s bluish (Winner of the Grand Prix at FIDMarseille) portrays the daily lives of two young women who have recently moved to a big city and are experiencing their early adult life there.

Films deal with socio-political issues such as Guillaume Cailleau’s and Ben Russell’s DIRECT ACTION (winner of the award for best film in the “Encounters” section of the Berlinale), which traces the actions of a French political eco-activist group, and Dimitris Athiridis’ exergue – for documenta 14where politics and art collide in a 14-part series that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the global contemporary art show Documenta 14 and how it signaled major impending political changes in Europe.

Other features include Nicolás Peredas Lázaro at nightan awkward love triangle between actors auditioning for the same film; Matthew Rankins Universal language (winner of the Audience Award at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes), which explores the connection between resettled Iranians in Canada and Marta Mateus’ Fire of the Windwhere past and present traditions mix in a small community during the harvest season.

The short films in Currents reflect similar stylistic and thematic concerns and are grouped into six programs, see below.

The NYFF runs September 27 to October 14 at Lincoln Center and at venues in Staten Island (Alamo Drafthouse Cinema), Brooklyn (BAM), Bronx (The Bronx Museum) and Queens (Museum of the Moving Image).

Current features

Currents core: Small, big and wideJem Cohen, world premiere

7 Walks with Mark BrownPierre Creton and Vincent Barré

The Ballad of Suzanne CésaireMadeleine Hunt-Ehrlich

BluishLilith Kraxner, Milena Czernovsky

DIRECT ACTIONGuillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell

exergue – for documenta 14Dimitris Athiridis,

Fire of the WindMarta Mateus

JimmyYashaddai Owens,

Lázaro at nightNicolas Pereda

The suitHeinz Emigholz

Universal languageMatthew Rankin

You burn me / You burn meMatias Piñeiro

CURRENT SHORT FILMS

Currents Program 1: The will to change
Black glassAdam Piron

Man number 4Miranda Pennell,

Feel good all aroundJordan Lord,

The Deep West AssemblyCauleen Smith,

Currents Program 2: Identification Marks

TrackChanyeol Lee, Hanna Cho, Samgar Rakym, Ali Tynybekov,

I remember (depth of shallow cruelty), James Richards, Tolia Astachishvili

Efforts of natureMorgan Quaintness,

Be John SmithJohn Smith

Flow program 3: Signal-to-noise ratio

GrandmaAuntSisterCatZuza Banasińska,

JizaiMaiko Endo,

Like an outbreakSebastian Schjaer

Hemel, Danielle Dean,

Flow program 4: Space is the place

Turning roundsChristina Jaegernik,

ESP, Laura Kraning,

newly engravedHey,

Even a black screenRhayne Vermette

The country at nightRichard Tuohy,

Archipelago of Earthen Bones – To BunyaMalena Szlam

Flow program 5: Material Worlds
Living matterPablo Marin,

Towards the sun, far from the center, Pascal Viveros, Luciana Merino,

No spankingJordan Strafer,

Sinking feelingZachary Epcar

The invisible worm, Rosalind Nashashibi,

Flow program 6: Poetry is not a luxury

Garbage roomSimon Liu,

Machine boysKarimah Ashadu,

Razeh-delMaryam Tafakory,

Practice, practice, practiceKevin Jerome Everson,

October noonFrancisco Rodríguez Teare