Podcast Summary: ALL OF IT — Previewing This Year's NYFF

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Fran Hoepfner (Vulture film critic)
Date: September 29, 2025
Episode Theme:
A deep dive into the standout films, themes, and creative voices shaping this year’s New York Film Festival (NYFF). Alison Stewart and critic Fran Hoepfner preview a diverse slate—from international dramas, new documentaries, and movies about artists, to buzzy biopics and daring, formally inventive works—and discuss what makes this cultural event such a unique, vibrant part of NYC’s creative scene.

Main Topics & Key Insights

1. The NYFF Experience

• NYFF’s Unique Energy: Fran describes the festival’s atmosphere as “my favorite time of year,” likening its early fall timing to a nostalgic “back to school feel” and highlighting the community that forms among recurring attendees.
  • Quote:

    “Film festivals happen year round, but this happening in early fall has a kind of back to school feel. …You start to see the same characters at the film festival every year. There’s people whose faces I just know from seeing movies with them every single fall. It’s so exciting, and the energy is so wonderful.” (01:09, Fran Hoepfner)

2. Festival Standouts: Feature, International & Documentary

Sentimental Value

• A family drama about a once-famed film director seeking a comeback by making a movie based on his fractured relationship with his daughters.
• Why It Stands Out:
  • Avoids “self-aware Hollywood” tropes, weaving European theater and Hollywood without being saccharine; centers on character-driven storytelling.
  • Quote:

    “It’s a story that’s about film and about theater and about show business. But it’s not this kind of self-aware Hollywood version of it. …It has a slightly less, well, dare I say, sentimental feel to it. It’s more grounded and theoretical.” (01:57, Fran Hoepfner)

• Cast Notes: Renate Reinsve returns; Elle Fanning “plays a kind of version of herself” reckoning with her own stardom (02:52).

The Secret Agent

• “Period piece in the 70s in Brazil under a military dictatorship,” characterized equally as a spy film and ensemble hangout comedy.
• Why It Stands Out:
  • Despite a sprawling cast (“about 45 characters”), director Kleber Mendonça Filho ensures each character is vivid and memorable, creating an “ensemble piece of everyone just trying to get through this difficult time.”
  • Quote:

    “Every single person you see in this movie is instantaneously memorable…They are so fun to see, and it becomes this wonderful ensemble piece.” (04:14, Fran Hoepfner)

• Cinematography: Shot in Panavision, visually rich (04:44).

NYFF Documentaries on Gaza

• Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk: Built from FaceTime video calls between the director and a young Gaza photographer after October 7, 2023.
• With Hasan in Gaza: Revisits old footage to create parallels between Gaza past and present.
• On Documentary Techniques:
  • Captures daily life and connection despite war and displacement; the choppy, interrupted FaceTime calls heighten realism and empathy.
  • Quote:

    “You’d think…that it might get tired or tedious, especially because the Internet connection is not very good…But the subject and the conversations are so engaging and warm and funny. …It makes it so clear that what is happening has completely disrupted what should otherwise be this really colorful, remarkable city and way of life.” (06:08, Fran Hoepfner)

3. Big Directors & Formally Inventive Dramas

House of Dynamite (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

• US military responds to a detected nuclear missile; tense, war-room thriller.
• Bigelow’s Technique:
  • Builds suspense by “being really withholding and not showing us the full picture,” replaying the same 35 minutes from multiple viewpoints: “It’s kind of like a symphony…[paying] attention to the strings and then the brass…and it all comes together in the end.” (09:49, Fran Hoepfner)
• Memorable Quote:

  “She can be really withholding…We’re seeing about the same 35 minutes three different times, but from different points of view.” (09:49, Fran Hoepfner)

After the Hunt

• Explores the aftermath and ripples of MeToo, set in academia.
• Nuanced Perspective:
  • Follows a character (Julia Roberts) not in the MeToo spotlight herself but caught between loyalty and morality; depicts how there’s “no good path forward for literally anyone involved.”
  • Quote:

    “It kind of shows how regardless of a response to this kind of crisis, there’s sort of no good path forward…There are repercussions that continue to happen.” (10:56, Fran Hoepfner)

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

• Biopic focusing on Bruce Springsteen’s struggles with depression, starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong.
• Unique Focus:
  • More universal than just Springsteen’s stardom: “For a minute I forgot it was about Bruce Springsteen, which…is actually a compliment.” (12:16, Alison Stewart)
  • Showcases a tender friendship (White/Strong).

4. Art, Artists, and the Creative Process

Peter Hujar’s Day

• Adapted from a real, transcribed conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda.
• Set in the ‘70s/‘80s, it’s a window into the NYC art scene, Stonewall, Andy Warhol projects.
• Endearing, Immersive, Conversational:
  • “This might be my favorite film of the year. …It really just captures what it’s like to talk and eat and smoke a cigarette and vent to your friend for an hour.” (16:21, Fran Hoepfner)
  • Notable Clip:

    Linda: “I would like my work to stand about that. My work could stand so all by itself without a single star in it.”
    Peter: “But they’re not your everyday stars…these people are very special.” (14:59–16:17)

Blue Moon

• Focuses on the end of the famed Rodgers and Hart partnership and the rise of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Scorsese Film: Not in detail, but noted as another festival highlight centered on artists (13:14).

5. International Cinema & Political Resonance

It Was Just An Accident (Iranian director, Palme d'Or winner)

• Made in exile, this drama tackles truth, memory, and revenge as a group confronts a possible former torturer.
• Reflects both the director’s real political exile and the experience of reckoning with history and identity (17:37).

If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You

• Rose Byrne as a harried mother—“intense, very stressful…Safdie brothers movie for women.”
• Features ASAP Rocky (“a charmer”) and Conan O’Brien in an “incredibly frustrating” therapist role.
  • Quote:

    “We are just with her on this journey of temporary single parenthood…she’s just taking it all on like waves at the beach, just getting knocked over again and again.” (18:17–19:03, Fran Hoepfner)

6. Comedy, Music & Experimentation

Is This Thing On? (dir. Bradley Cooper)

• Stars Will Arnett (who prepped by doing open mics), Laura Dern.
• A more personal, emotionally raw film about comedy and relationships; represents a shift for Cooper from musical epics to intimate character drama.
  • Quote:

    “He has such a knack for emotional intensity and for really highlighting sort of the interiority of characters in crisis.” (20:52, Fran Hoepfner)

7. Epic Historical Filmmaking

Magellan (dir. Lav Diaz)

• “Huge epic” examining Portuguese colonialism in the Philippines, starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
• More accessible than Diaz’s usual “slow cinema;” Bernal’s acting is stellar (21:34).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “It’s my favorite time of year. I love, you know, film festivals…but this happening in early fall has a kind of back to school feel.” (01:09, Fran Hoepfner)
• “She can be really withholding…We’re seeing about the same 35 minutes three different times, but from different points of view.” (09:49, Fran Hoepfner, on Kathryn Bigelow’s approach)
• “For a minute I forgot it was about Bruce Springsteen, which I think is actually a compliment to the film.” (12:16, Alison Stewart)
• “It really just captures what it’s like to talk and eat and smoke a cigarette and vent to your friend for an hour.” (16:21, Fran Hoepfner, on Peter Hujar’s Day)
• “It’s kind of like a Safdie brothers movie for women…It is remarkable.” (18:17, Fran Hoepfner on If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:09: Introduction & NYFF atmosphere
• 01:34: “Sentimental Value” — modern family drama
• 03:13: “The Secret Agent” — Brazilian political ensemble
• 04:48: Gaza documentaries
• 07:42: “House of Dynamite” (Kathryn Bigelow) — high-stakes thriller
• 10:40: “After the Hunt” — MeToo and complexity
• 12:02: “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”
• 13:14: Films about artists, with Scorsese mention
• 14:35: “Peter Hujar’s Day” — artist’s conversational day-in-the-life
• 17:23: “It Was Just an Accident” (Iran, exile)
• 18:15: “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You” (Rose Byrne, ASAP Rocky)
• 19:27: “Is This Thing On?” (Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett)
• 21:34: “Magellan” (Lav Diaz, colonial Philippines epic)

In Summary

This episode offers an enthusiastic, insightful tour of NYFF’s 2025 lineup, mixing sharp film criticism with cultural analysis. Fran Hoepfner and Alison Stewart celebrate the wild diversity, formal risks, and poignant personal stories running through this year’s festival—from tense political thrillers and experimental documentaries to introspective artist portraits and exhilarating tales of struggling parents or creative icons. Whether you love history, experimental cinema, or just want to immerse yourself in artistic process and cultural dialogue, NYFF has something this year that is both “conversation starting” and deeply reflective of the world—and city—we live in.