The full line-up for the 2012 New York Film Festival has been announced.  I’ve been impressed with the line-ups for the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, but they both have a surprising omission: Michael Haneke‘s Amour, which one the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  However, it won’t be bypassing the fall festival circuit entirely, and it will make its North American debut at NYFF.  The festival will also open with Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi and Robert Zemeckis‘ Flight.  In between, you have other exciting films like David Chase‘s Not Fade Away, Noah Baumbach‘s Frances Ha, Roger Michell‘s Hyde Park on Hudson, Brian de Palma‘s Passion, and more.

Hit the jump for the full line-up.  Tickets for the 2012 New York Film Festival go on sale September 9th.  The festival runs from September 28 – October 14th.

Ang Lee’s next project, Life of Pi has been casting over the past few weeks. Its most recent additions include Irrfan Khan (In Treatment), Adil Hussain (Calendar Girls), and Gerard Depardieu (La Vie en Rose). The film, based on the novel by Yann Martel, is about a young boy who is stranded at sea in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a tiger. According to Variety, Khan will play the adult version of the lead character Pi, while Hussain will play Pi’s father, a zookeeper. Depardieu will play the part of the chef on the ship which they are traveling on. Though Depardieu is most known for playing Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac, I loved him in my childhood for his villainous role of Jean-Pierre in 102 Dalmations. Currently, the Bollywood actress Tabu (The Namesake), is being spoken to about playing Pi’s mother. Lee recently made an interesting choice in hiring newcomer Suraj Sharma as Pi, who will have only a tiger to share the screen with for two-thirds of the film.

For more on this film, as well as a synopsis, continue after the jump:

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) had found the lead star for his upcoming 3D adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi with seventeen-year-old newcomer Surej Sharma.  The highly acclaimed novel tells the story of a boy named Pi, who gets stranded at sea for 227 days with a tiger. Now, with production set to start in January, Ang Lee is looking to cast the boy’s parents in the film.

According to TimesofIndia (via ThePlaylist), Lee hopes to cast popular Bollywood actress Tabu in the role of Pi’s mother, while Bollywood actors Sushant Singh and Sonu Sood are up for role of Pi’s father. By doing this, Lee will be following in the footsteps of Danny Boyle, who also chose to cast Bollywood actors in leading roles for Slumdog Millionaire.  Life of Pi is set to open on December 14, 2012.  You can hit the jump to read a plot synopsis for the novel.