I’ve already gushed about NYC’s Museum of the Moving Image in a previous article, so I’ll have to skip writing about how excited I am for the place to reopen.
The museum’s new extension is almost done, which effectively doubles the size of the place and features a brand new theater and video projection room. Of course, they’re going to take advantage of the space with an absolute ton of special events and movie screenings, something for every kind of film fan. Check out all the amazing things to look forward to! Screenings of Mad Magician, The Hustler, The Valiant Ones, Rome, Open City, and more? I’m going to live at this place.
Highlights of the opening weekend (January 15th) will include:
· screenings throughout the weekend, including the premiere of a newly restored print of the 1961 drama The Hustler, starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason; the premiere of a newly restored 3D digital version of the 1954 thriller The Mad Magician, starring Vincent Price; works by American avant-garde masters; and the 1985 independent feature Mala Noche, shown as the first film in a complete retrospective of director Gus Van Sant
· Signal to Noise, a late-night art party on January 15, featuring a three-ring circus of live electronic music, DJ and VJ sets, moving image performances and interactive art
· an artist’s talk by Paul Kaiser of the OpenEnded Group, presented in the new William Fox Amphitheater, about his group’s work in the inaugural digital media exhibition Real Virtuality
· Magic, Music and Early Movies (January 16), with rising new music star Sxip Shirey performing as a one-man band on handmade instruments to accompany the magical silent films of Georges Méliès, all shown in archival 35mm prints
· free admission on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 17), when the Museum will show an archival 35mm print of the landmark documentary King: A Filmed Record, Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
· and family workshops three times a day, throughout the weekend, in the Museum’s core exhibition Behind the Screen, inviting children to participate in creating animations, sound effects and visual effects
There will be a six week long inagural program called Celebrating the Moving Image, which will feature dozens of screenings. One of the highlights is an appearance on January 24 by director Gus Van Sant, who will be there for a preview screening of his new film Restless as part of his Moving Image retrospective.
Film programs in Celebrating the Moving Image, to be shown in the new 267-seat main theater and the new 68-seat Celeste and Armand Bartos Screening Room, will include:
· Recovered Treasures: Great Films from World Archives, presenting new and recently restored prints of films including The Stranger (Agantuk) (1991), a late masterwork by Satyajit Ray (print from the National Film Development Corporation, India); The Valiant Ones (1975), King Hu’s lavish martial arts epic (Hong Kong Film Archive); a double feature of Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (1945), a landmark of Italian Neorealism (Cineteca Nazionale, Rome) and Federico Fellini’s Roma (1972), a poetic and autobiographical portrait of the city (Cineteca di Bologna); The Hustler (1961, directed by Robert Rossen) in a beautiful black-and-white restoration (20th Century-Fox); and L’Argent (1928), directed by Marcel L’Herbier (Centre National du Cinéma, France) with live music performed by the Mont Alto Orchestra
· and Avant-Garde Masters, presenting recently restored films and videos by artists including Gregory Markopoulos, George and Mike Kuchar, Jonas Mekas, Carolee Schneemann, Abigail Child and Andy Warhol
Also showing is John Ford’s How Green Was My Valley, the James Cagney starring The Mayor of Hell and the 1948 David Lean Oliver Twist.
The Gus Van Sant retrospective will feature a complete list of his feature films (all 14, from Mala Noche to Milk) along with a selection of his shorts and music videos.
Beautiful mix of genres, countries and decades there. Check http://movingimage.us for details on how to get there and mark your calendars accordingly.