The New York Film Festival announced Wednesday that the opening night screening of Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk has been moved back one day, from Friday, September 25 to Saturday, September 26, “for logistical and security reasons.” The earlier date coincides with the visit of Pope Francis. On Friday afternoon, according to the schedule posted by the Archdiocese of New York, His Holiness will be Pope-mobiling downtown from a 4 P.M. visit to a school in East Harlem to a Mass at Madison Square Garden, in Midtown West, slated to begin at 6 P.M. (Good luck with that.)
Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, which sits roughly between the two locations, will now host on Saturday the world premiere of The Walk which is based on the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit’s traversal of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974. Other events at the 53rd NYFF scheduled for Friday will not be changed, according to the festival office. The Pope leaves for Philadelphia on Saturday morning September 26; Billy Joel is at the Garden that night and is not expected to interfere with the NYFF, which will run through October 11.
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