NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum will present the U.S. theatrical premiere of Kent Jones’ Late Fame on Friday, August 7.

Willem Dafoe is Ed Saxberger, a postal worker whose former life as a downtown poet in late-70s New York is rediscovered by a young admirer (Edmund Donovan) and his “Enthusiasm Society,” a group of 20-somethings with a comically romanticized sense of the past. In the company of his new friends, including the mysterious and mercurial Gloria (Lee of Past Lives), Ed has the uncanny feeling of merging with his younger self. Directed by Kent Jones from a witty, razor-sharp script by Samy Burch (May December), Late Fame  is a funny, lively, poignant, and occasionally haunting New York story.

Late Fame had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and went on to screen at the 2025 New York Film Festival, Viennale, and more.

Late Fame is Kent Jones' fifth feature film, following the award-winning Diane (2019); the documentary landmark Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015, a Film Forum premiere); A Letter to Elia (2010), co-directed with Martin Scorsese; and Val Newton: Man in the Shadows (2007). A longtime collaborator of Scorsese’s, Jones co-wrote his epic documentary My Voyage to Italy (1999).

“Enchanting… Dafoe gives a performance that's like a slowly unfolding wildflower in a movie that confirms Jones's lyrical gifts as a filmmaker." — Owen Gleiberman, Variety

“A truly great and nuanced role for Dafoe, whose physical presence can evoke coarse sturdiness and emotional delicacy at the same time. Also doing excellent work here is Lee, who gives the vampish and self-consciously artificial Gloria a magnetic inner life.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture

“A lovely slice of life, a heartfelt New York story.” – Xan Brooks, The Guardian

“A tantalizing character study. Dafoe is low-key and magnificent. The movie abounds in exquisite grace notes.” – Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“Jones’ direction infuses even simple dialogue scenes with breezy maturity and palpable longing, sometimes flex[ing] with thrilling experimental flourishes. But Late Fame stuns even in its unflashy moments when it’s merely observing an evolving city in motion, with photographer Wyatt Garfield infusing modern Manhattan with a casual, abiding dignity.” – Vikram Murthi, IndieWire