Every year as the air turns crisp, Gotham cinephiles know that it must be time for the New York Film Festival, one of the country’s most prestigious and long-running cinematic soirees. This year marks the festival’s 60th anniversary, and for its splashy opening night film on Friday, the stars turned out for director Noah Baumbach’s White Noise as it made its North American debut. 

Adapted from Don DeLillo’s visionary 1985 novel of the same name, White Noise’s darkly comic plot springs from a chemical spill that unleashes a toxic cloud that looms over the story and its characters. At the center of that cloud is Jack Gladney (Adam Driver), a professor of “Hitler studies,” wrestling with the life, death and absurdity of American suburbia. Alongside his wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), and his four children, Jack searches for happiness as the world around him grows more and more uncertain. 

At the Netflix film’s premiere, Baumbach took a moment to tell the audience how much the New York Film Festival meant to him and his career: “I grew up in Brooklyn and my parents would drive into the city or take the subway to go to the festival. They were very into movies, and this festival was very much a part of my movie education growing up.” 

Baumbach explained how important it was to have his directorial debut, 1995’s Kicking and Screaming, shown at the NYFF. “My first film, Kicking and Screaming, not only premiered here, but was essentially rescued from the straight-to-video heap that the distributor was going to put it on. I really do feel that I owe a large part of my career to this festival... Since then, I’ve had many of my movies played in the festival, but none have had the honor of opening [night].”

Baumbach was joined at the premiere by his Marriage Story star Driver, as well as his Mistress America star (and real-life partner), Gerwig, and cast members Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith and Raffey Cassidy. Check out the gallery below.