Parallel Mothers Q&A with Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz & Milena Smit | NYFF59

Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers, the Closing Night Film of the 59th New York Film Festival, opens at Film at Lincoln Center on December 24, with a sneak preview on December 23. Get tickets: Moderated by NYFF Director of Programming Dennis Lim. Get tickets to Drive My Car: In this muted contemporary melodrama, two women, a generation apart, find themselves inextricably linked by their brief time together in a maternity ward. The circumstances that brought them to the Madrid hospital are quite different—one accidental, the other traumatic—and a secret, hiding the truth of the bond that connects these two, is a powerful story that tackles a deep trauma in Spanish history. Penélope Cruz’s Janis is a uniquely complex, flawed, but ultimately alluring lead character, who finds herself in a morally and emotionally treacherous situation. She’s viewed in contrast with Ana, radiantly portrayed