Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

Q & A with Filipino director, playwright and screenwriter, Jun Robles Lana ("Bwakaw",
50th New York Film Festival)

Jun Robles Lana (left) poses with a theatergoer after the screeening of "Bwakaw"

This is the stunning exterior of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, a multi-screen theater and cultural venue in the heart of Lincoln Center’s campus. The film center, named after FSLC board member, and award-winning filmmaker and designer Elinor Bunin Munroe. The campus was designed by David Rockwell and Rockwell Group who also collaborated with Diller Scofidio + Renfro on the exterior. The 17,500 square foot venue boasts 2 theaters, an ampitheater and a café. The 150-seat Francesca Beale Theater will show specialty film releases, and the intimate 90-seat Howard Gilman Theater will screen a combination of new film releases and special programs. The amphitheater, with a 152” Panasonic Plasma screen (the largest of its kind on public display in the country) is the venue for house lectures, panels and educational programs. The film center is located at 144 West 65th Street.

50th New York Film Festival: Filipino Movie "Bwakaw" Makes Its U.S. Premiere

Director, playwright, screenwriter and producer, Jun Robles Lana (right) during the Q & A at Alice Tully Hall

The 50th New York Film Festival runs from September 28 through October  14. This evening, a Filipino movie called BWAKAW made its US premiere at Alice Tully Hall. From Lincoln Center's official program: "Bwakaw is the film you hope for at any festival, a work by an unknown director that comes out of nowhere to captivate and enthrall with its emotional truth, high humor and sage assessment of the human condition. Filipino cinema great Eddie Garcia gives a career-capping performance as Rene, a 70-plus single gent in a quiet provincial town who, having alienated almost everyone with his caustic comments, is resigned to seeing out his days alone, save for the company of his loyal canine companion (whose name gives the movie its title). Rene has his secrets but is disinclined to share them until he befriends a brawny tricycle taxi driver. Employing frequent outrageous humor, director Jun Robles Lana elegantly captures the quality of everyday life in this backwater while crafting a superior character study of a man who has allowed most of life to pass him by until an emotional jolt emboldens him to go where he's never dared venture before." BWAKAW will be shown again on Wednesday (October 10 at 6:30 PM) and Friday (October 12 at 3:30 PM).