Talking shop with Richard Peña, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s program director, it becomes apparent that these are hardly business-as-usual days for any film festival, much less for the New York Film Festival — the city’s definitive annual movie event that is set to begin its 45th program next Friday. As the years have passed and the number of film festivals and independently produced films have skyrocketed, Mr. Peña said, he has noticed a decline both in the number of films seeking to question or challenge the modern conventions of cinema, and of art-house screens across the country still eager to screen such work.