James Gray’s ‘Paper Tiger’ Will Open This Year’s New York Film Festival

It may be the dead of July, but the fall film festivals are just on the horizon. With TIFF announcements already rolling out (and more to come next week), plus the Venice lineup slated to be revealed next week too, the New York Film Festival has also started to share its slate.

Up first, the fest’s opening night selection: James Gray‘s “Paper Tiger,” which will open the 64th New York Film Festival with its North American premiere in a gala debut at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 25. Gray and members of the cast and crew will be in attendance. NYFF64 takes place from September 25 – October 12.

Starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson, the film premiered in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. It drew strong reviews, including a rave from our own David Ehrlich, who wrote that the film is “both sweepingly mythic and hauntingly personal all at once.”

All of its stars earned strong acclaim for their work, including Teller, who told our Anne Thompson about the deep feeling that went into his role as a husband and father trying to do his best. “I felt immensely for this father and husband. It was clear he loves his kids, and he’s trying to lead by example, and to show them that success in life is not based on the car you drive. He wants to show them that you can build something on your own merit, and if you work hard and treat people right, that you can earn it,” the actor said.

The film is Gray’s fourth film to be selected for NYFF, following “The Immigrant” (2013) as an official Main Slate selection, “The Lost City of Z” (2016) as the Closing Night film, and “Armageddon Time” (2022) as a Main Slate selection and the festival’s 60th anniversary screening. It marks the first time the New York native will open his hometown festival. Neon will release the film later this year.

Per NYFF, Gray’s thriller, which is set in 1986 Queens and Brooklyn, “is an authentically drawn New York story and a master class in escalating tension, charting the tragic domestic fallout after family man and engineer Irwin (Miles Teller), who aspires to middle-class comforts, is pulled into a shady deal by his brother, Gary (Adam Driver), a former NYPD cop. Gary thinks he can make a killing on a scheme with Russian criminals dumping oil down by the Gowanus Canal, assisting them to work around regulations; instead Gary ends up endangering his brother, as well as Irwin’s sons (Gavin Goudey and Roman Engel) and wife Hester (Scarlett Johansson), who is going through her own private crisis. Torn between brotherly love and marital loyalty, Irwin discovers he’s ensnared in forces far beyond his control. With its vivid period detail and marvelous, deeply moving trio of lead performances, ‘Paper Tiger’ is a frightening portrait of pollution in all forms — and the human bonds that can save us from the brink of despair.”

In an official statement, Gray shared, “I’m immensely grateful to be welcomed back to this remarkable festival. This deeply personal film is rooted in New York City; from my upbringing to life-changing family experiences. To be here, at the heart of art and cinema, with our cast and crew — many of whom are New Yorkers — is a privilege. Thank you to the entire New York Film Festival team. It is an honor.”

Added NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim, “James Gray has been a fixture at the New York Film Festival for many years, and we are thrilled to welcome him back as our Opening Night filmmaker with a career-best achievement. ‘Paper Tiger’ is a movie of immense emotional power, at once lovingly realistic and grandly mythic, and it confirms that James is one of the great New York filmmakers — one of the great filmmakers, period — of our time.”

The NYFF Main Slate selection committee is chaired by Lim, and includes Florence Almozini, Justin Chang, and Rachel Rosen. More NYFF lineup announcements, including Closing Night, Centerpiece, the Main Slate, Spotlight, Currents, Revivals, and Talks, will arrive in the coming weeks.