If there was any question as to the changing face/function of the studio-dependent art house division, the just-announced 2009 New York Film Festival line-up offers compelling proof that the concept of the indie label-as-Oscar bait factory is losing currency. The last two NYFFs featured the US or North American premieres of studio-division-distributed eventual Oscar nominees The Queen, The Wrestler, Happy-Go-Lucky and I’m Not There (as well as red carpet and/or press conference appearances from the likes of Hollywood movie stars such as Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie and American cinema stars such as Wes Anderson and Steven Soderbergh). Though the NYFF 2009 lineup is full of films with US distributors, it’s notably lacking in excuses for Oscar campaigns (with the exception of Lee Daniels’ Push, which is hardly a fresh choice — it’s basically played every major festival in the world since winning Sundance, though it was pulled from what should have been its Film Society debut) and, with the exception of Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, is virtually star-free. I’m not complaining — the kind of film I’m talking about often ranks amongst NYFF’s biggest disappointments — but it does seem like a notable swerve away from business as usual. (And will I *ever* see The Road?)

What the NYFF 2009 lineup lacks in Hollywood-friendly star power, it makes up for in auteur weight. The festival will screen newish films (many first screened at Berlin, Cannes, Venice or Toronto) from Lars Von Trier, Pedro Costa, Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais, Todd Solondz, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke and more. Cannes favorites Vincere and Police Adjective will be there. Catherine Breillait’s Bluebeard and Maren Ade’s Everyone Else, both missing in action since Berlin, will be there, too. But if NYFF is going to function as a near-year-end best of the fests, there are still some titles that seem noticeably omitted — will *you* ever see Dogtooth?

The full line-up is here.