Clint Eastwood movie to close New York Film Festival

Image caption, Clint Eastwood's latest movie explores the afterlife

A film directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Matt Damon will close this year's New York Film Festival, organisers have announced.

Hereafter is written by Peter Morgan, who penned the screenplays for The Queen and Frost/Nixon.

The movie, which also stars Belgian actress Cecile de France, is part of a line-up of 28 feature films.

David Fincher's movie The Social Network will open the festival, which starts on 24 September.

Shakespearean romance The Tempest, starring Helen Mirren, will serve as the centerpiece film for the 17-day event.

Eastwood's latest offering follows a succession of films that have scored box office success and critical acclaim, including Gran Torino, Letters from Iwo Jima and Changeling.

Herefter explores the intertwined lives of people connected to experiences of death or the afterlife.

Eastwood, 80, leads several veteran directors who have been selected to show their films at the festival, including Mike Leigh, 67, Jean-Luc Godard, 79, and Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira who is 101.