Angelina Jolie Receives Standing Ovation at New York Film Festival Premiere of Maria: 'So Happy to Be Here'

Angelina Jolie wowed a New York City audience with her emotional new performance.

The Oscar winner attended the New York Film Festival premiere of Maria on Sunday, Sept. 29, at Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan. Jolie, 49, stars as famed opera singer Maria Callas in the film directed by Pablo Larraín, who previously made Jackie and Spencer.

Speaking onstage prior to the screening, Jolie said, "I’m so happy to be here tonight. And I’m so happy to share this stage with these extremely talented, wonderful people and my dear friends. I hope you see in this film how much we really care for the people whose lives we’re sharing with you and how much they also loved art."

The actress said Callas, who died in her Paris apartment in 1977 at age 53, "loved New York" and "I know she loved to perform here, teach here. I know she would have loved to be here tonight, to feel this communication and be with all of you who really appreciate the life of an artist."

"I hope you also see how much we deeply respect the art form that is opera. We’re so excited to bring this to you tonight," added Jolie.

Later, as the end credits rolled, Jolie and the filmmakers stood in a balcony and waved to the audience below as they received a standing ovation from the crowd.

Maria, written by Steven Knight, had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August. The cast also includes Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alba Rohrwacher, Pierfrancesco Favino and Valeria Golino.

A synopsis teases that Maria "reimagines" the iconic American-Greek soprano "in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life." It's set in Paris, where she retreated "after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye."

Jolie spoke at the Venice Film Festival about her nervousness in singing for the film, and how taking on the role changed her perspective on the term "diva."

"I think it's often come with a lot of negative connotations," she told reporters Aug. 29. "I think I've re-learned that word through Maria ... and I have a new relationship to it."

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"I think it is often other people's perception of a woman that defines, sometimes too much, who she is and who she was or what she intended," Jolie added. "I actually think [Maria] was one of the hardest-working people, who didn't hurt anybody."

"I suppose it's everybody in this room that makes that definition sometimes, but the true definition may be [that] the great composers define it differently," she added of "diva" labels.

Maria is in select theaters Nov. 27, then on Netflix Dec. 11.