Moving Image Announces 2013 Selections for First Look Showcase

An adventurous lineup has been announced by Museum of the Moving Image for its second annual edition of First Look, a showcase for inventive, groundbreaking new international cinema. Taking place at the Museum from January 3 through 13, 2013, First Look will include 26 works, feature-length and short films from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States: a highly selective group of films that are distinguished by their artistic audacity. Almost all of the programs are New York premieres. 

The featured filmmakers, many of whom will make personal appearances during the series, include established masters such as Thom Andersen, James Benning, and Bruno Dumont, and such exciting emerging directors as Mati Diop (from France), Eloy Enciso (Spain), Nicolás Pereda (Mexico), and Philip Scheffner (Germany). Among the highlights are Benning’s Easy Rider, a landscape film that revisits the locations of Dennis Hopper’s 1969 movie; a selection of short films by Kleber Mendonça Filho (director of the acclaimed film Neighboring Sounds), and In The Shadows by Thomas Arslan, a major figure in the Berlin School movement. 

First Look is curated by Dennis Lim, editor of Moving Image Source, the Museum’s multimedia magazine; Rachael Rakes, Assistant Curator of Film; and David Schwartz, Chief Curator. Essays on select films will be published on Moving Image Source(http://movingimagesource.us) in early January. 

“Many of the films in this year’s edition take the form of journeys—geographical, emotional, and artistic,” said David Schwartz. “This is truly a series filled with discoveries, and a great way for adventurous filmgoers to start 2013.” 

"As with last year's inaugural edition, we wanted to showcase the range of innovation the exists in world cinema today,” said Dennis Lim. “And we also wanted to draw attention to films that have fallen through the cracks, like Manuel Mozos's Xavier, a lost classic of recent Portuguese cinema, and In The Shadows by Thomas Arslan, a major German director whose work has not been widely shown in the States." 

"This year, First Look has expanded its breadth, with genre-defying, boundary-pushing works of all forms, demonstrating how cinematic creativity can be found in modes as divergent as action movies and the avant-garde," said Rachael Rakes.

Official selections for 2013 edition of First Look (listed by filmmaker)

• Gabriel Abrantes, Birds (Zwazo), 2012, 17 mins. Portugal
• María Alché, Noelia, 2012, 14 mins. Argentina
• Thom Andersen, Reconversion (Reconversão), 2012, 68 mins. Portugal
• Thomas Arslan, In The Shadows, 2010, 85 mins. Germany
• James Benning, Easy Rider, 2012, 95 mins. U.S.
• Mati Diop, shorts retrospective: Atlantiques, 2009, 15 mins.; Snow Canon, 2011, 33 mins.; Big in Vietnam, 2012, 28 mins. France
• Bruno Dumont, Outside Satan, 2011, 110 mins. France
• Eloy Enciso, Arraianos, 2012, 70 mins. Spain
• Pedro González-Rubio, Inori, 2012, 60 mins. Japan
• João Rui Guerra da Mata, As the Flames Rose, 2012, 26 mins. Portugal
• Jang Kun-jae, Sleepless Night, 2012, 65 mins. South Korea 
• Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, P-047, 2011, 98 mins. Thailand
• Kleber Mendonça Filho, shorts retrospective: Cold Tropics (Recife Frio), 2009, 24 mins; Luz Industrial Mágica, 2008, 7 mins; Eletrodoméstica, 2005, 22 mins.; Friday Night Saturday Morning, 2005, 15 mins; Green Vinyl, 2004, 16 mins.;The Little Cotton Girl, 2002, 7 mins; Brazil
• Manuel Mozos, Xavier, 1991/2002, 100 mins. Portugal
• Nicolás Pereda, Greatest Hits, 2012, 103 mins. Mexico
• Joana Preiss, Siberia, 2011, 82 mins. France
• Philip Scheffner, Revision, 2012, 106 mins. Germany
• Various directors, graduates of Marina Razbezhkina’s School of Documentary Film and Documentary Theatre,Winter, Go Away!, 2012, 79 mins. Russia
• Eduardo Williams, Could See a Puma, 2012, 17 mins. Argentina

Details about the opening night film and a complete schedule with descriptions will be announced shortly. Tickets for screenings (with the exception of opening night) are included with Museum admission ($12 adults / $9 students and senior citizens). A First Look series pass, allowing the holder admission to the Museum and all First Look screenings for the run of the series, will again be available. All screenings, with the exception of the opening event, are free for Museum members (members receive a discount on opening night tickets). Memberships start at $75 with benefits that include year-round free admission to the Museum and its programs, reservation privileges, and discounts on special programs.