A yearly highlight of New York (or American) programming, the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look will return on March 13 with an opening-night screening of Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s Sujo, close on March 17 with Bill and Turner Ross’ Gasoline Rainbow, and in the intervening days combine programming of recent cutting-edge highlights with in-person talks and seminars.
First Look’s fixture “Working on It” will run between March 13 and 15, offering “a laboratory for works in progress and dialogues about process, bringing together festival guests, filmmakers, students, writers, and the general public.” Meanwhile, writers and editors from Reverse Shot “will continue discussions begun in last year’s Emerging Critics Workshop throughout the festival.”
So says MoMI’s Curator of Film Eric Hynes:
“Now in its 13th year, First Look has carved out a unique, and we think essential, place in New York’s film and cultural landscape. For five days in mid-March, MoMI is transformed into a space of active discovery, experimentation, dialogue, and possibility. We’re presenting a slate of films that we love and admire, and we can’t wait to show them to our audiences. We’re also welcoming artists from around the world to gather in Astoria, Queens, to meet and inspire one another with works completed and unfinished. It’s not a coincidence that First Look alums often re-congregate and return to us — they’re a permanent part of our community, and we’re committed to growing a platform that champions adventurous works of cinema.”
First Look 2024 was programmed by Eric Hynes, MoMI Curator of Film & First Look Artistic Director; Edo Choi, Associate Curator of Film & First Look Senior Programmer; and Sonia Epstein, Curator of Science and Technology & First Look Film and Exhibitions Programmer. First Look’s avant-garde films were programmed by Edo Choi and David Schwartz, MoMI Curator at Large. First Look 2024 Presenting Sponsors are Lismore Road and MUBI. With additional support from the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism.
See the lineup below:
OPENING NIGHT
“Sujo“
Dirs. Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez. Mexico/U.S./France. 2024, 125 mins. With Juan Jesús Varela, Yadira Perez Esteban, Sandra Lorenzano, Alexis Jassiel Varela, Jairo Hernández Ramírez. After his father is murdered by fellow cartel henchmen, four-year-old Sujo is snuck out of town by women who raise him as their own. As Sujo grows into a young man, he and his friends follow temptation and the lure of easy money back into town, where further tragedy awaits. Unlike most stories set in the milieu of Mexican cartels, Sujo’s arc doesn’t end there. He moves to Mexico City to earn an honest, threadbare living, and begins to audit classes thanks to a sympathetic teacher. But violence still shadows him, and there may be a limit to what he can escape. Rondero and Valadez’s follow-up to their critically acclaimed Identifying Features has the time-spanning breadth of an epic and multifaceted cinematic chops to match. It also has an extraordinary fidelity to the lived moment, unfurling via a series of you-are-there long takes that assert Sujo’s humanity regardless of the traps ensnaring him. Sujo is a major work by two of the finest young filmmakers of their generation. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize, World Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. New York premiere
CLOSING NIGHT
“Gasoline Rainbow“
Dirs. Bill and Turner Ross. U.S. 2023, 110 mins. With Tony Aburto, Micah Bunch, Nichole Dukes, Nathaly Garcia, Makai Garza. On the precipice of early adulthood, five recent high-school graduates escape small-town Oregon for one last adventure together, trekking 500 miles westward for their first visit to the Pacific coast. From a busted old van to a cargo train, hitched rides to a party boat, they span the wild country and befriend a host of fellow travelers. The latest film from Bill and Turner Ross (Contemporary Color; Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets) is another joyous exploration (and detonation) of the borderlands of reality, mythology, narrative, improvisation, the discernable, and the ineffable. It’s a timeless tale yet a precise record of its moment, with its five protagonists treading a classic American pathway as only they can—in the vernacular of their own time and town, and with an extraordinary sense of openness and inclusion. Few films have this much buoyancy, this much forward momentum (the Rosses’ typically delicious cinematography whizzes by, no need to gape), haunted by the knowledge that a comedown —the rest of life — awaits. New York premiere
SHOWCASE SCREENING
“The Echo (El Eco)“
Dir. Tatiana Huezo. Mexico/Germany. 2023, 102 mins. Epic and intimate, mythological and quotidian, The Echo (El Eco) deftly combines Mexican-Salvadoran auteur Tatiana Huezo’s aptitude for both fiction (Prayers for the Stolen) and nonfiction (Tempestad) in one uncategorizable, absorbing cinematic experience. Such hybridity suits the film’s characters: young women in the remote Mexican town of El Echo who exude vivacious optimism while shouldering disproportionately gendered responsibilities of family, farm life, and town. Huezo familiarized herself with the community over a four-year period before embarking on a year-and-a-half shoot that overflows with seasonal spectacle, emotional peaks and valleys, and vigorous, tactile existence. Documentary Award, 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. Best Documentary Award, 2023 Morelia International Film Festival. New York premiere
Co-presented by Cinema Tropical, as part of the ongoing series Las Premieres
SHOWCASE SCREENING
“Tendaberry“
Dir. Haley Elizabeth Anderson. U.S. 2023, 115 mins. With Kota Johan, Yuri Pleskun. This rapturous, dazzlingly unconventional debut by Haley Elizabeth Anderson dives deep into the life, mind, and spirit of Dakota (Johan), a twentysomething Dominican American woman finding her footing in South Brooklyn. Dakota falls fast in love with Yuri (Pleskun), an adoring Ukrainian boy in Coney Island, but their idyll is disrupted when a family sickness sends him back home—a trip that continues indefinitely when war comes to Ukraine. What follow are days, nights, weeks, and seasons of wage labor, street encounters, misbehavior and loneliness, and the constancy of change, a theme underscored by a narrative that shifts, zigs, and zags, even incorporates archival footage made by
Press release draft_ First Look 2024.docx
artist Nelson Sullivan documenting New York’s queer and nightlife scenes of the 1980s. Anderson’s understanding of young adulthood in the big city is intimate and wise, as is her incantation of the Brooklyn of street corners, subway stops, dive bars, grimy apartments, and the bruised beauty of Coney Island. New York premiere
SHOWCASE SCREENING
“The Featherweight“
Dir. Robert Kolodny. U.S. 2023, 99 mins. With James Madio, Ruby Wolf, Keir Gilchrist, Ron Livingston, Stephen Lang, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Shari Albert, Imma Aiello. The pride of Hartford, Connecticut, featherweight boxer Willie Pep (Madio) was the winningest fighter of all time, prevailing in 229 of 241 bouts. But by the mid-1960s, the fortysomething Pep’s star has dimmed. He’s running low on money and prospects, and his young wife, an aspiring actress (Wolf), has grown restless. Despite his advanced age and the protestations of his longtime trainer (Lang), Pep decides to return to the ring—and let a documentary crew chronicle his journey. Robert Kolodny’s debut feature assumes the perspective of that documentary, which, though it’s a fictional conceit within the otherwise factually based story of Pep, is doggedly realized as if it were an actual archival document. Imagine a lost feature by the Maysles Brothers or Ricky Leacock, filmed right when they might have consorted with a colorful and tragic character like Pep, and you’ve got The Featherweight, a film that’s jaw-droppingly uncanny, while also packing an emotional wallop thanks to a career-defining performance by character actor Madio. New York City premiere
“1489“
Dir. Shoghakat Vardanyan. Armenia. 2023, 76 mins. Picking up a camera to document her family’s attempts at locating her brother after he goes missing in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Shoghakat Vardanyan films things we don’t often see: the struggles, emotions, and Kafkaesque runarounds when missing soldiers and their families are reduced to a statistic. New York premiere
“Achilles“
Dir. Farhad Delaram. France, Germany, Iran. 2023, 116 mins. With Mirsaeed Molavian, Behdokht Valian, Hedieh Saghari, Roya Afshar, Neda Aghighi, Firouz Agheli. In Farhad Delaram’s seductive, shape-shifting debut feature, former filmmaker Farid works nights at a Tehran hospital—and sleeps there most days too. Estranged from his partner and hopeless about the future, he starts to awaken after meeting a patient in the psychiatric ward whose supposed fits of madness he innately understands. New York premiere
“Arthur&Diana“
Dir. Sara Summa. Germany. 2023, 108 mins. With Sara Summa, Robin Summa, Lupo Piero Summa. In this form-blending, refreshing work of autofiction, siblings Arthur and Diana are on a meandering road trip through France, Germany, and Italy that brings out deep-seated family dynamics that will feel familiar to older sisters and younger brothers. U.S. premiere
Screens with “A Running Woman.” Dir. Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy). Germany, 3 mins. 16mm. International premiere
“Behind Closed Doors“
Dir. João Pedro Bim. Brazil. 2023, 66 mins. In 1968, Brazil’s military dictatorship enacted Institutional Act No. 5, which suspended the constitution, silenced citizens, and opted overtly into totalitarianism. This astonishing and ingenious film features archival audio documents of the meeting that decided this act, combined with blithe moving image propaganda perpetuated by the government. New York premiere. Presented as part of MoMI’s ongoing series New Adventures in Nonfiction
“The Clinic“
Dir. Midi Z. Taiwan/Myanmar. 2023, 87 mins. In Burmese with English subtitles. In Yangon, Myanmar, a couple, Aung Min and San San Oo, operates a neighborhood clinic, providing low-cost treatments and therapies for a range of physical and psychological maladies. They also make art—paintings and films—as revealed in this shapeshifting film that starts as direct cinema then blossoms into a self-reflexive examination of the Burmese soul. North American premiere Presented as part of MoMI’s ongoing series New Adventures in Nonfiction
“An Evening Song (for three voices)“
Dir. Graham Swon. U.S. 2023, 86 mins. With Deragh Campbell, Hannah Gross, Peter Vack. Swon’s sophomore feature displays a remarkable devotion to craft, combining elements of Gothic horror, pulp mystery, and period romance to tell the 1939-set tale of a married couple, new to the rural Midwest, who become enamored of their pious housekeeper. New York premiere
“Flying Lessons“
Dir. Elizabeth Nichols. U.S. 2024, 84 mins. With Philly Abe. An older punk artist named Philly Abe becomes muse, attentive neighbor, and friend to the younger filmmaker Elizabeth Nichols in this portrait that surfaces Philly’s life story through extraordinarily candid conversations as well as a gloriously SD video archive of concert footage and decades of DIY downtown New York films. New York premiere
Screens with “This Is for Jonas Mekas.” Dir. Friedl vom Gröller. Austria/U.S. 2023, 3 mins. 16mm. U.S. premiere
“Gwetto“
Dir. Michaël Andrianaly. Madagascar. 2023, 52 mins. In Andrianaly’s precise observational film, four undocumented workers from across the country endure their lot at a neighborhood car wash until they can earn enough to secure their identity papers and seek a better future.New York Premiere
Screens with “Hazel (dual).” Dir. Kevin Jerome Everson. U.S. 2023, 12 mins. In Everson’s mesmerizing black-and-white diptych, actor-musician Ricky Goldman incarnates Eddie Hazel, the virtuoso lead guitarist of George Clinton’s Funkadelic. New York premiere
EXPERIMENTAL SHORTS PROGRAM:
“Illuminations: Elsewhere/Here“
Playful, elusive, and tactile, these eclectic works are unified by their filmmakers’ attempts to orient themselves in a world of constant, turbulent flux. Part One offers encounters with places occupied by ghosts, while Part Two explores realms of domestic and urban anxiety.
Part One: Elsewhere
“Here & Elsewhere” Bram Ruiter. Netherlands. 2023, 11 mins. North American premiere
“It follows it passes on.” Erica Sheu. U.S./Taiwan. 2023, 5 mins. New York City premiere
“West Lounge” Kevin Jerome Everson. U.S. 2023, 5 mins. North American premiere
“Banging on Their Bars in Rhythm.” Kevin Jerome Everson. U.S. 2024, 11 mins. World premiere Stone, “Hat, Ribbon & Rose“. Eva Giolo. Belgium. 2023, 16 mins. North American premiere
“How to Run a Trotline“. Carl Elsaesser. U.S. 2024, 18 mins. World premiere
“Caracole (for Mac)“. Nathaniel Dorsky. U.S. 2022. 7 mins. North American premiere
Part Two: Here
“Seasonal Concerns.” Maximilien Luc Proctor. Germany. 2024, 3 mins. North American premiere Five “Days Till Tomorrow“. Lewis Klahr. U.S. 2022, 12 mins. World premiere
“Holographic Will“. Mike Stoltz. U.S. 2023, 5 mins. New York premiere
“Hey Sweet Pea“. Alee Peoples. U.S. 2023, 11 mins. North American premiere
“Labores en curso“. Bruno Delgado Ramo. Spain/Belgium. 2024, 29 mins. World premiere
“Single File.” Simon Liu. U.S./Hong Kong/Italy. 2023, 10 mins. New York premiere
SCIENCE ON SCREEN PRESENTS:
“Knit’s Island“
Dir. Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h. France. 2023, 95 mins. The filmmakers drop into the fictional landscape of the videogame DayZ as journalistic avatars and must battle a zombie apocalypse while endeavoring to stay alive long enough to film their interactions with the surprising community of people who spend their time in this VR world. New York premiere
Screens with “I Would Like to Rage.” Dir. Chloé Gailbert-Laîné. 2023, 12 mins. New York City premiere
“Limitation“
Dir. Elene Asatiani, Soso Dumbadze. Georgia. 2023, 125 mins. In Georgian with English subtitles. Georgian filmmakers Elene Asatiani and Soso Dumbadze construct an archival horror film about 1991’s bloody military coup d’état against the government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s first democratically elected president, forgoing contextual titles, narration, or interviews. North American premiere
Screens with “Threat Assessment“. Dir. Todd Chandler. U.S. 5 mins. Festival premiere
SCIENCE ON SCREEN PRESENTS:
“Magic Mountain“
Dir. Mariam Chachia, Nik Voigt. Georgia/Poland. 2023, 75 mins. In the spectacular mountains of southwest Georgia sits the Abastumani sanatorium, a treatment hospital for patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis, which becomes a site of fantasies and nightmares, a home of the living and the dead, in this reflection of a place and moment. New York premiere
“Mimang“
Dir. Kim Taeyang. South Korea. 2023, 92 mins. With Lee Myungha, Ha Seongguk, Park Bongjun, Baek Seungjin, Jung Suji. In Kim Taeyang’s richly cryptic debut feature, a young man and woman, unnamed former acquaintances, meet by chance in the historic Jongno district at the heart of Seoul, then walk and talk, visiting and revisiting Jongno’s landmarks, haunts, and byways as the years go by, much of the city and them changing beyond recognition. New York premiere
Screens with “The Perfect Square.” Dir. Gernot Wieland. Germany/Belgium. 2024, 8 mins. DCP. North American premiere
“Samsara“
Dir. Lois Patiño. Spain. 2023, 113 mins. Lois Patiño’s latest inquiry into the spiritual valences of cinema travels first to the temples of Laos and then to the shores of Tanzania by way of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the two chapters joined by a sensory passageway of inchoate sound and vision that has a genuinely purifying effect. U.S. premiere
Screens with “Print Analysis (2 B).” Dir. Ojoboca (Anja Dornieden and Juan David González Monroy). Germany, 1.5 mins. 16mm. World premiere
“Self-Portrait: 47 KM 2020“
Dir. Zhang Mengqi. China. 2023, 190 mins. Over the past thirteen years, Zhang has documented her father’s village in Hubei, China, as a repository of ancestral memory; for the tenth of these films, Zhang installed herself permanently in the village upon the outbreak of COVID-19. The result is an immense accomplishment, vividly depicting a year in the life of a stoic rural community, far removed from an urban-centered pandemic. North American premiere
“Solaris Mon Amour“
Dir. Kuba Mikurda. Poland. 2023, 47 mins. The same year that Alain Resnais’s masterpiece Hiroshima mon amour was released, science fiction writer and theorist Stanisław Lem began writing his influential novel Solaris, an artistic confluence that inspires this wholly original and emotionally resonant found footage film. North American premiere
Screens with “Handful of Dirt.” Dir. Izabela Zubrycka. 2023, 13 mins. Poland. North American premiere
Co-presented by Millennium Docs Against Gravity
“What Did You Dream Last Night, Parajanov?“
Dir. Faraz Fesharaki. Germany/Iran. 2024, 80 mins. This poignant, warts-and-all portrait of a family separated by space but still profoundly connected in each other’s hearts, minds, and dreams is composed almost entirely of webcam footage from Skype calls between the Berlin-based, Iranian émigré filmmaker, his parents, and his friend. International premiere
FIRST LOOK IN THE MUSEUM GALLERIES:
Fiona Tan: Footsteps
March 13–June 16, 2024 Location: Amphitheater Gallery
Composed of cinema from the earliest decades of the medium found in the Eye Filmmuseum’s archive in Amsterdam, this 97-minute video installation captures the Netherlands at the birth of cinema. Paired with narration written by artist Fiona Tan’s father in the late 1980s, this video work creates a dialogue between history, the artist’s past, and our present.
Fiona Tan (born in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, lives and works in Amsterdam) is a visual artist and filmmaker best known for her video and film installations exploring memory, identity, and the role of visual images. Organized by Sonia Epstein, Curator of Science & Technology
This exhibition is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.