RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys will open the New York Film Festival in September, Deadline reports.
Whitehead’s novel, published in 2019 by Doubleday, follows Elwood Curtis, a Black teenager in 1960s Florida who is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory rife with racism and abuse. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, which won the Kirkus Prize and the Pulitzer Prize, “Inspired by disclosures of a real-life Florida reform school’s long-standing corruption and abusive practices, Whitehead’s novel displays its author’s facility with violent imagery and his skill at weaving narrative strands into an ingenious if disquieting whole.”
The film adaptation is directed by documentarian Ross (Hale County This Morning, This Evening), who co-wrote the screenplay with Joslyn Barnes (Bàttu). Ethan Herisse (When They See Us) stars as Elwood, with other cast members including Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Hamish Linklater, Daveed Diggs, and Fred Hechinger. Executive producers include Whitehead and Brad Pitt.
Dennis Lim, the film festival’s artistic director, said, “RaMell Ross’ fiction debut, like his previous work in photography and documentary, searches for new ways of seeing and, in so doing, expands the possibilities of visual language. It’s the most audacious American movie I have seen in some time, and we are excited and honored to open the New York Film Festival with it.”
The film will open the festival at Alice Tully Hall on Sept. 27. It is set to premiere in theaters on Oct. 25.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
