For the last 25 years as the program director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Pena has shaped the New York Film Festival upholding the standards of cutting edge cinema and opening new perspectives for film directors and the audience. By introducing new film making countries  to the critical film community  in New York and other major festivals he has shifted the festival’s  Eurocentric orientation to a global perspective presenting production...

For the last five consecutive years JAPAN CUTS, the New York festival of contemporary Japanese Cinema   has been embedded in the New York Asian Film Festival and steadily gained in importance. There are now more films from Japan at the NY Asian Film Festival than from any other country. Programmed during the Film Festival, at the Walter Read Theater and the Japan Society from July 1-14, 35 Japanese films were shown. It included 32 new titles, mostly premieres which were presented only once. Th...