MUMBAI: David Fincher’s The Social Network has been selected as the Opening Night film for the upcoming 48th Annual New York Film Festival, kicking off at Alice Tully Hall on 24 September.

Directed by Fincher from a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. The film is set to be released by Sony Pictures Entertainment on 1 October, 2010. The New York Film Festival runs 24 September – 10 October, 2010.

“It’s exceptionally rare to discover a film that so powerfully captures the spirit of its time; The Social Network is such a film. David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin are a director/writer team, like Lumet and Chayefsky before them, that make this movie not only of the moment, but reflective of larger cultural issues as well, and confirm their position at forefront of contemporary cinema,” says The Film Society of Lincoln Center selection committee chair and program director Richard Peña.

The Social Network is a film that proves you don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies. The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Ceán Chaffin and based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich.