We are getting reports from those inside Lincoln Center that the New York Film Festival post-screening Q&A for Sony Pictures Classics’ The Room Next Door was interrupted tonight by a small group of protesters in the theater who were chanting in support of Palestine and Lebanon, whose capital Beirut has been the target of Israeli airstrikes.
A Film at Lincoln Center spokesperson tells Deadline tonight, “Two individuals held a banner and shouted slogans in the theater during the Q&A following the NYFF screening of Pedro Almodóvar’s film The Room Next Door. They were peacefully escorted out.”
We’ve reached out to Sony Pictures Classics for any further comments.
From those on the ground, we’re told that the protesters, wearing masks, interrupted the conversation between the pic’s director Pedro Almodóvar, and stars Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola.
The protest drew some applause, we also hear. Almodóvar gave the group a chance to be heard as he along with Swinton helped diffuse the situation.
We’ll have more developments as they happen.
The Room Next Door is Spanish filmmaker Almodóvar’s first English-language move. The pic won the Golden Lion at its Venice Film Festival world premiere as well as the Brian Award for Almodóvar.
The movie follows Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), who were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. The Room Next Door opens Dec. 20 in New York and Los Angeles.
