Robert Zemeckis Movie \'Flight,\' With Denzel Washington, Will Close New York Film Festival

By DAVE ITZKOFF

There's no official word yet on which movie will be showing when the New York Film Festival takes off this year, but its organizers know how they'll bring the festival in for a landing: “Flight,” a new thriller directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Denzel Washington, will make its world premiere as the closing-night selection on Oct. 14, the Film Society of Lincoln Center said on Thursday.

In “Flight,” the first live-action feature by Mr. Zemeckis (“Back to the Future,” “Forrest Gump”) since 2000, Mr. Washington plays a pilot who crash-lands his commercial plane without a single fatality, resulting in his being hailed as a hero while leading to further explorations of his motives, decisions and behavior. The cast of “Flight” also includes John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood and Kelly Reilly, and Paramount will release the film theatrically on Nov. 2.

Richard Peña, the selectio n committee chairman and program director of the Film Society, described Mr. Zemeckis in a statement as “a director equally known for delighting audiences as well as for pushing the technological limits of film-making” and said that “Flight” was “a remarkable film about one man's journey to some of the darkest parts of his soul.”

The New York Film Festival will open on Sept. 28. Announcements about additional programming are still en route.