‘Life of Pi’ to open 50th New York Film Festival

Reports confirm that Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi will be opening the 50th annual New York Film Festival.

Established by Amos Vogel and Richard Roud, the festival has been a major highlight and fixture of the American film circuit since the ’60s. Also known as NYFF, the festival is non-competitive, and its selection of films are hand-picked by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Joining an exclusive group of filmmakers to have had more than one film in the festival’s Opening Night slot, Ang Lee now finds himself in fine company, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Robert Altman, Pedro Almodóvar and François Truffaut. Lee’s Life of Pi has been chosen to launch the landmark 50th edition of the New York Film Festival.

The screening of the adventure drama will also mark festival’s first ever 3-D opening, while serving as the World Premiere of the major motion picture.

Starring Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain, Life of Pi is an adaptation of Yann Martel‘s best-selling novel of the same name. It tells the story of a zookeeper’s son who is set adrift in the Pacific Ocean after a shipwreck, finding himself surrounded by an exotic family of animals including a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger. Based on Martel’s well loved book, much is expected of the movie. Particularly with Ang Lee on board.

Lee – the big budget feature’s famous director – recently expressed his delight at opening the New York Film Festival in a statement, saying: “I am both delighted and honored to be back at the New York Film Festival with Life of Pi.

“I have the deepest respect for Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night film for the 50th Anniversary is extremely gratifying. I am also excited because this is my hometown, and to be unveiling this film that I am so proud of here is a real pleasure.”

For more on the New York Film Festival visit Filmlinc

Life of Pi is released on 21 December.