The latest films from Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler and Pedro Almodovar are among those being screened at the 40th New York Film Festival, which begins on Friday.

The festival will open with the North American premiere of About Schmidt, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Nicholson, who has already been tipped for an Oscar for his role.

Nicholson, who plays a newly retired man coming to terms with the death of his wife, said that roles as good as this one come along all too rarely for older actors.

"I found it interesting that this guy who has a mathematical depth about life really seems to understand nothing about his own life," said the 65-year-old.

Premieres

"In nearly every scene, he's operating under some preconceived notion."

Although there are no world premi�res at this year's festival, some of the most highly regarded films from this year's international film festivals will be screened.

Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her ends the festival

These include Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-drunk Love, which earned Anderson the best director prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The film provides comic actor Adam Sandler with his first dramatic role, as a lonely businessman in pursuit of romance.

Highlights

Other highlights will include Auto-Focus, starring Greg Kinnear as Bob Crane, the star of hit US sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Crane, who led a sleazy double life offscreen, was murdered in 1978.

There are also several highlights from this year's Berlin Film Festival, including Paul Greengrass's Golden Bear-winner Bloody Sunday, about the British Army's shootings at a Londonderry demonstration in 1972.

Special events at the festival will include a showing of the 1926 silent classic Faust, accompanied by a live rendition of a new score, and a celebration of Indian actress Shabana Azmi.

The event closes on 13 October with Talk To Her, the latest film from Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. It has already been a hit in the UK and across Europe.