2021 New York Film Festival bows with Denzel Washington in "The Tragedy of Macbeth"

The 59th New York Film Festival opened Friday night, and movie fans couldn't be more relieved.

After last year's pandemic-prompted "virtual festival," in which most screenings were held online, this year's fest brings audiences back together to venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Pleasantville, N.Y., with a lineup that features work by some of the world's most talented filmmakers.

At Friday's world premiere of Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth," the director of the festival, Eugene Hernandez, called the kickoff event "a homecoming."