By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Plenty of people will "like" this — the New York Film Festival opens Friday with David Fincher's hotly anticipated Facebook exposé, "The Social Network."
The film, which follows then-Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg's path to fame and riches, stars Jesse Eisenberg as a young Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake as whiz kid and Zuckerberg ally Sean Parker.
The much-anticipated film was written by Aaron Sorkin, the talent behind television's "West Wing" and "Sports Night."
Following "The Social Network," the festival will offer 28 full-length films from 14 different countries.
Highlights include the North American premiere of the "The Tempest," the gender-bending retelling of Shakespeare's 400-year-old tale of sorcery directed by Julie Taymor, whose most recent credits include "Frida" and "Across the Universe."
Two NYFF documentaries tell Manhattan-centric stories.
"Inside Job," an exploration of the recession's root causes, features lush shots of riverside yachts, Lear jets, and the Financial District at dawn, interspersed with hard hitting interviews with economists, politicians, and a Wall Street therapist. Director Charles Ferguson already holds a best documentary Oscar nomination for his Iraq war story, "No End in Sight."
"LENNONYC," created for PBS' "American Masters" series, highlights the landmarks and music of John Lennon's Manhattan. Director Michael Epstein strives to recreate the feel of the city in 1970s while telling what he sees as a classic story of immigrant rebirth.
The festival will close with Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter," which stars Matt Damon and Bryce Dallas Howard, and spotlights three people consumed by thoughts of death and the afterlife.
NYFF runs through Oct. 10 at The Walter Reade Theater and Alice Tully Hall.
