FESTIVALS

Paramount’s Flight will make its world premiere as the closing-night film of the upcoming New York Film Festival, which runs September 28 to October 14.

The mystery thriller, headlining Denzel Washington, marks director Robert Zemeckis’ first live-action film since Cast Away in 2000.

“We’re delighted to welcome Robert Zemeckis to the New York Film Festival for the first time,” said Richard Pena, selection committee chair and program director at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, host of the festival. “A director equally known for delighting audiences as well as for pushing the technological limits of filmmaking, Zemeckis has created with Flight a remarkable film about one man’s journey to some of the darkest parts of his soul.”

In Flight, Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a seasoned airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a midair malfunction, saving nearly every passenger on board. He initially is heralded as a hero, but an FAA investigation raises troubling questions.

John Goodman, Don Cheadle, Melissa Leo, Bruce Greenwood and Kelly Reilly also star.

Paramount opens the movie in theaters on November 2.

“Robert Zemeckis has shown his diversity as a storyteller in comedies, dramas and has skillfully translated narratives into special-effect environments,” Film Society of Lincoln Center executive director Rose Kuo said. “It is a pleasure to see him bring to life this complicated, tragicomic portrait of a man in crisis, with an exceptional and poignant performance by Denzel Washington.”