From Jackson Heights to Capitol Hill: 5 Must-See Movies at the New York Film Festival

The New York Film Festival may no longer be run by the most influential Nuyorican in global cinema (Richard Peña), but it’s still the New York Film Festival, which means New York audiences are about to get a 17-day peek at some of the most buzzworthy titles from the global festival circuit, along with a couple of very special world premieres. Yes, you read correctly: 17 days, 27 films, and more countries than the United Nations Security Council including rotating members.

But this is nothing new. As the primary initiative of the Film Society at Lincoln Center, the New York Film Festival’s been at the vanguard of American cinephilia for 53 long years, with a resumé of U.S. premieres that includes films by the likes of Luis Buñuel, Yasujirō Ozu, Glauber Rocha, and just about every other cinematic demigod found on the syllabi of Film History 101 courses the world over.

This year the festival continues refining its mix of international arthouse sensations and highbrow Hollywood premieres, with Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, and Michael Moore premiering their latest alongside auteurs like Chantal Akerman and Guy Maddin. Oh, and did we mention there are a handful of Latino films? Did we have to?

An exploration of radical politics in Latin America, a profile of Illinois congressman and immigration crusader Luis Gutiérrez, an observational portrait of a Queens Latino enclave, and much more, these are our top picks of the films playing at this year’s edition of the NYFF.

The New York Film Festival runs September 25 — October 11, 2015.