NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL: CLOSING NIGHT, 1963-2019

The New York Film Festival (NYFF) was first held in 1963, and is the third-oldest film festival in the United States, after Columbus and Ann Arbor. It is considered the most prestigious non-competitive film festival in the United States, though it has been eclipsed in the last generation by the competitive Sundance Film Festival. The NYFF has been closely associated with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and has been held at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from the very beginning; in fact, the Center and the Festival came into existence more or less simultaneously.

Lincoln Center President William Schuman wanted to draw...