David Schwartz News

While Robin Williams (1951–2014) was best known for his dazzling comic improvisations, his film work showed remarkable range. On Thursday, July 9, Museum of the Moving Image will present a preview screening of Boulevard, featuring Williams in his remarkable final performance, as a quiet man whose life changes dramatically after a charismatic young hustler forces him to rethink his own identity. This special screening in advance of its theatrical release will be followed by a discussion with director (and Astoria, Queens native) Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) in person. The Museum will precede this program, on June 27, with screenings of two additional films starring Williams in dramatic roles: Robert Altman's Popeye (1980) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990).

Get a first look at NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: DARKEST DAWN (formerly titled NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: ORIGINS 3D) starring Tony Todd, Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, R. Madhaven, Joseph Pilato, Tom Sizemore, Alona Tal, Sarah Habel, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Audrey Grace Davis, and Nazhi McCullough! The filmmakers just released the first trailer and stills, as well as a video message from Tony Todd (including some live-action zombie bashing) in conjunction with the launch of the film's Indiegogo campaign, which will help bring the film to more theaters across the country. Scroll down!

Starting fittingly on July Fourth weekend, Museum of the Moving Image will present The Essential John Ford, a tribute to the consummate American filmmaker. Ford made his reputation on westerns, but worked in many genres, creating films of depth, beauty, and ambiguity. From July 3 through August 2, the Museum will present 20 movies directed by Ford-all on film, with some restored archival prints-including his masterpieces Young Mr. Lincoln, My Darling Clementine, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Panorama Europe 2015, the seventh edition of this vital festival of new European cinema (formerly known as Disappearing Act), presented by Museum of the Moving Image and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), returns to the Museum and the Bohemian National Hall with a slate of sixteen new features from today, May 29 through June 14.

The great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi (1916-1996), best known for his passionate, socially committed films in the post-World War II era, and actor Tatsuya Nakadai (b. 1932) worked together on nine notable films, chief among them the epic anti-war drama The Human Condition (1959-1961). From May 15 through 24, 2015, Museum of the Moving Image will present all nine of these films-all in 35mm-in the series Portraying the Human Condition: The Films of Masaki Kobayashi and Tatsuya Nakadai to honor this remarkable screen partnership. Nakadai, in his third annual appearance at the Museum, will participate in discussions with screenings of The Human Condition Part I (May 16) and the Cannes prize-winning samurai revenge tale Harakiri (May 24).

Panorama Europe 2015, the seventh edition of this vital festival of new European cinema (formerly known as Disappearing Act), presented by Museum of the Moving Image and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), returns to the Museum and the Bohemian National Hall with a slate of sixteen new features from May 29 through June 14.

The great Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi (1916-1996), best known for his passionate, socially committed films in the post-World War II era, and actor Tatsuya Nakadai (b. 1932) worked together on nine notable films, chief among them the epic anti-war drama The Human Condition (1959-1961). From May 15 through 24, 2015, Museum of the Moving Image will present all nine of these films-all in 35mm-in the series Portraying the Human Condition: The Films of Masaki Kobayashi and Tatsuya Nakadai to honor this remarkable screen partnership. Nakadai, in his third annual appearance at the Museum, will participate in discussions with screenings of The Human Condition Part I (May 16) and the Cannes prize-winning samurai revenge tale Harakiri (May 24).

Tsai Ming-liang, the defining artist of Taiwan's Second Wave of filmmakers, will be the subject of a major retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image, from today, April 10 through 26, 2015-the most comprehensive presentation of Tsai's work ever presented in New York.

Two of the most distinct and idiosyncratic voices in American independent cinema, the Austin-based filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner, will be the subjects of a retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image, Kumiko and the Zellner Bros., from February 28 through tonight, March 5, 2015. The brothers will appear in person tonight, March 5, at 7:00 p.m., with a preview screening of their latest film, the Sundance favorite, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. The retrospective will also include their early features Frontier, Goliath, and Kid-Thing, and a compilation of their short films in the program Zellernoids! Short Film Cavalcade.

Tsai Ming-liang, the defining artist of Taiwan's Second Wave of filmmakers, will be the subject of a major retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image, from April 10 through 26, 2015-the most comprehensive presentation of Tsai's work ever presented in New York.

Two of the most distinct and idiosyncratic voices in American independent cinema, the Austin-based filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner, will be the subjects of a retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image, Kumiko and the Zellner Bros., from February 28 through March 5, 2015. The brothers will appear in person on Thursday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m., with a preview screening of their latest film, the Sundance favorite, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. The retrospective will also include their early features Frontier, Goliath, and Kid-Thing, and a compilation of their short films in the program Zellernoids! Short Film Cavalcade.

Indian super-star musician and composer A. R. Rahman, best known in the United States for his Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, and Grammy-winning score for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, will appear in person for the world premiere of Jai Ho, a new documentary about his career, at Museum of the Moving Image tonight, February 25, at 7:00 p.m.

Indian super-star musician and composer A. R. Rahman, best known in the United States for his Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, and Grammy-winning score for Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, will appear in person for the world premiere of Jai Ho, a new documentary about his career, at Museum of the Moving Image on Wednesday, February 25, at 7:00 p.m. The film, directed by Umesh Aggarwal, traces milestones in Rahman's personal and professional life and features spectacular concert footage and interviews with Rahman, Danny Boyle, Shekhar Kapur, Mani Ratnam, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other collaborators. After the screening, Rahman will participate in a discussion moderated by Scott Foundas, Chief Film Critic, Variety.

Museum of the Moving Image has announced the lineup for its First Look Festival, an expanded and reconceived version of its annual showcase for inventive new international cinema. Now in its fourth year, First Look,with a lineup that has expanded both in size and scope, is now officially a festival, the first major moving image event of the year. First Look will take place at the Museum from today, January 9 through 18, 2015.

Tickets for the fourth annual edition of First Look, Museum of the Moving Image's showcase for inventive new international cinema, are now on sale at movingimage.us/firstlook.

Just as critics and cinephiles are unveiling their “Best of 2014” lists, Museum of the Moving Image has announced the seven titles selected for its annual Curators' Choice series. The films will be shown during the weekend of January 2 through 4, 2015. Selected by Chief Curator David Schwartz and Assistant Film Curator Aliza Ma, the films are Richard Linklater's Boyhood, Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language 3-D, Tsai Ming-liang's Stray Dogs, Ramon Zürcher's The Strange Little Cat, Alain Guiraudie's Stranger by the Lake, Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, and Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez's Manakamana.

Museum of the Moving Image will present sixteen contemporary animated films in a new edition of its popular See It Big! series, co-programmed with the online film magazine Reverse Shot. The series, which opens November 28 and continues through December 28, 2014, includes works by renowned animation directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli, Bill Plympton, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, and Satoshi Kon, as well as unique works by directors Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater and others.

Museum of the Moving Image will present sixteen contemporary animated films in a new edition of its popular See It Big! series, co-programmed with the online film magazine Reverse Shot. The series, which opens November 28 and continues through December 28, 2014, includes works by renowned animation directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli, Bill Plympton, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, and Satoshi Kon, as well as unique works by directors Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater and others.

Museum of the Moving Image has announced the lineup for its First Look Festival, an expanded and reconceived version of its annual showcase for inventive new international cinema. Now in its fourth year, First Look,with a lineup that has expanded both in size and scope, is now officially a festival, the first major moving image event of the year. First Look will take place at the Museum from January 9 through 18, 2015. “First Look reflects the breadth and adventurousness that defines the Museum,” said Chief Curator David Schwartz. “This year, we are expanding beyond programs in the Redstone Theater, with screenings in the Bartos Screening Room, and a newly commissioned large-scale video installation.” The Museum is also announcing a programming partnership with FIDMarseille, the cutting-edge documentary festival programmed under the leadership of Jean-Pierre Rehm.

Museum of the Moving Image and the Polish Cultural Institute New York will present Ways to Freedom: Polish Film and the Rise of Democracy, a thirteen-film series commemorating the 25th anniversary of the first free parliamentary elections in Poland. The series, running today, November 13 through 23, 2014, includes seven features and six documentary shorts that date from 1977 through 1990, a tumultuous political period in which the nation experienced the loosening of Stalin-era control, the imposition of martial law, and the birth and growth of the Solidarity movement. Four of the screenings will be introduced by noted film scholars, and the opening night of the series will be followed by a reception.