January at MoMI: Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., The Video Essay, plus filmmaker appearances in Curators’ Choice and other series

Astoria, New York, January 3, 2025 — This January, Museum of the Moving Image will present a weekend focus on the video essay; host Australian animator Adam Elliot with screenings of his films; continue with Curators’ Choice, an annual series presenting some of the best released film and TV of the past year, many with filmmakers in person; feature 35mm screenings of classic big-screen movies in See It Big: Let It Snow; and honor Martin Luther King, Jr. with a family day and screenings of Chisholm ‘72: Unbought and Unbossed; among other programs.
 
Please note the Museum will be open on Monday, January 20, 12:00–6:00, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
 
From January 3–5, the rise of the video essay in the twenty-first century is receiving its due with the series Expanded Screen: The Video Essay, with four programs of shorts that combine artistic experimentation, academic research, and essayistic reflections into a singular expression. Guest programmers Will DiGravio, John Gibbs, Evelyn Kreutzer, Kevin B. Lee, and Mara Oliva will be on hand at the final program on Sunday, January 5.
 
Among filmmaker appearances this month: Memoir of a Snail and Mary and Max + Shorts Trilogy with Adam Elliot in person (Jan. 3 & 4); Nickel Boys with RaMell Ross (Jan. 7); The Seed of the Sacred Fig with Mohammad Rasoulof (Jan. 8); Anora (35mm) with co-star Karren Karagulian (Jan. 9); an episode of the HBO series Somebody Somewhere with creators Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen (Jan. 10); Sugarcane with Julian Brave NoiseCat (Jan. 10); an episode of the HBO series Industry with actor Ken Leung (Jan. 10); Dahomey with Mati Diop (Jan. 11); Troma’s Bring on the Damned! with Brandon Bassham (Jan. 11); Janet Planet with Annie Baker (Jan. 12); A Different Man with Aaron Schimberg (Jan. 17); two episodes of the Showtime series Couples Therapy with executive producer Josh Kriegman (Jan. 31); and more to be announced.
 
New in the galleries: the core exhibition Behind the Screen includes a new exhibit, Clayography in Motion: Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, featuring original puppets from the film and 2D character cutouts allowing visitors to make their own short animations (on view through March 30); and on the Schlosser Media Wall, the new Community Curation series features World Is Turning by Rodell Warner (on view through Jan. 30).
 
On January 24, in conjunction with the exhibition Recording the Ride: The Rise of Street-Style Skate Videos, the Museum will present the program Skate Video Essentials: Classic Skate Stories, featuring the genre-defining shorts Skaterdater (1965), The Search for Animal Chin (1985), and Video Days (1991) on the big screen. The exhibition closes on January 26.
 
OPPORTUNITY: Call for submissions for Marvels of Media Festival
The Museum’s fourth annual festival, taking place March 27–29, 2025, is an opportunity to recognize the outstanding work by autistic media-makers, and features an exhibition, screenings, and panel discussions. Learn more and apply here by January 31, 2025. Learn more
 
Highlighted programs are listed below. For a complete schedule, visit movingimage.org click here for a month view). Schedule is subject to change. Additional programs may be added as they are confirmed.
 
SCREENING SERIES
 
See It Big: Let It Snow
December 6, 2024–January 24, 2025
For this year’s holiday season, the Museum’s signature series See It Big celebrates snow and winter in all its forms. Whether it’s the Torrance family barely surviving the snowbound Overlook Hotel or Charlie Chaplin battling the elements in the Klondike, Judy Garland trying to have a merry little Christmas or a group of scientists in the Antarctic desperate not to become a shape-shifting alien’s lunch, there’s something to freeze (or melt) the heart of any movie-lover. January titles: Nanook of the North, The Thing (35mm), Runaway Train (35mm), The Shining, The Gold Rush (35mm), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and The Ascent. Series info
 
Expanded Screens: The Video Essay
January 3–5
“The video essay or the videographic essay or the audiovisual essay represents a new cinematic avant-garde.” Thus wrote Scott MacDonald in an influential 2022 article, using three different terms to describe films and videos that employ existing media for critical purposes. Each term signals a separate way of combining artistic experimentation, academic research, and essayistic reflection into a singular expression. This screening series presents a selection of video essays (four programs featuring a total of 32 works) from across the 21st century that offer a spectrum of the medium’s possibilities, featuring authors who work in a self-defined space somewhere between film studies and experimental filmmaking. Organized by guest curators Will DiGravio, John Gibbs, Evelyn Kreutzer, Kevin B. Lee, and Mara Oliva. Series info
 
Curators’ Choice 2024
Dec 1, 2024–Jan 31, 2025
Thanks to a notably strong year for both cinema and television, the Museum’s highly anticipated annual survey of some of our favorite releases from the last 12 months has rolled out in two batches, the first in December and the second in January. Curators’ Choice focuses on work that premiered theatrically (or was initially broadcast) during 2024, while also making room for a few recent films still seeking distribution. Throughout, we’ll be welcoming filmmakers to discuss their work, including Annie Baker, Aaron Schimberg, Mohammad Rasoulof, and many more.
Newly added: No Other Land, Universal Language, The Girl with the Needle, Green Border, and Couples Therapy. Press release for The Second Batch | Series info
 
 
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS AND OTHER SCREENINGS
 
Nickel Boys with director RaMell Ross in person
Tuesday, January 7, 6:30 p.m.
Dir. RaMell Ross.  2024, 140 mins. U.S. DCP. With Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. A visually astonishing film that takes an uncompromising look at America’s past with cleansing, clear eyes. From Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 
The Seed of the Sacred Fig with director Mohammad Rasoulof in person
Wednesday, January 8, 6:30 p.m.
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof. 2024, 168 mins. Iran/Germany/France. In Persian with English subtitles. DCP. With Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki. A tense and gripping thriller as well as a politically radical, antipatriarchal drama, Rasoulof’s film was shot in secret, away from the eye of the censorious Iranian government. Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 
Anora (in 35mm) with co-star Karren Karagulian in person
Thursday, January 9, 6:30 p.m.
Dir. Sean Baker.  2024, 139 mins. U.S. 35mm. With Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, this spellbinding, bullet-paced modern-day screwball comedy follows a young sex worker from the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn named Ani (breakout Mikey Madison) whose life takes an unexpected turn when she goes home with a client at a club where she dances. Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info

Somebody Somewhere with creators, writers, and executive producers Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen in person 
Friday, January 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Dir. Jay Duplass. 2024, 30 mins. U.S. DCP. Set in Manhattan, Kansas, the Peabody Award–winning HBO Original comedy series follows Sam (Bridget Everett), whose return to her hometown forces her to contend with family, friends, and her relationship to herself. Screening Season 3, Episode 4: “What If It Spreads?” Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 
Industry with actor Ken Leung in person 
Friday, January 10, 8:00 p.m.
Dirs. Mickey Down, Konrad Kay. 2024, 62 mins. U.S. DCP. With Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Harry Lawtey, Ken Leung, Conor MacNeill, Sagar Radia, Kit Harington. Centered on the London office of behemoth international bank Pierpoint & Co, HBO’s Industry follows a coterie of ambitious young bankers as they navigate the tempestuous world of high finance. Screening Season 3, Episode 7: “Useful Idiot.” Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 

Dahomey with Mati Diop in person
Saturday, January 11, 3:30 p.m.
Dir. Mati Diop. 2024, 67 mins. Benin/France/Senegal. In English and French with English subtitles. DCP. In this spellbinding reckoning with colonialism and restitution, African art works take on lives and voices of their own as they cross the sea for a homecoming. Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 

*NYFF62: 베를린영화제 금곰상 수상 '다호미(Dahomey)', 식민지 문화재 반환이 의미하는 것 ★★★★☆

Troma’s Bring on the Damned! followed by a Q&A with writer-director Brandon Bassham
Saturday, January 11, 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Brandon Bassham. 2024, 114 mins. U.S. DCP. Writer-director Brandon Bassham conjures up the horror anthology from hell with five tales of madness and humor in the tradition of Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt. Part of Disreputable Cinema. Event info
 
Dourgouti Town
Sunday, January 12, 3:00 p.m.
Dir. Dimitris Bavellas. 2024. 88 mins. Greece. DCP. In Greek with English subtitles. With Haris Alexiou. This documentary traces the gentrification and virtual obliteration of Dourgouti, a residential district just south of the Acropolis. Part of Always on Sunday: Greek Film Series. Event info
 
Janet Planet with director Annie Baker in person
Sunday, January 12, 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Annie Baker. 2024, 113 mins. U.S. With Julianne Nicholson, Zoe Ziegler, Elias Koteas, Will Patton, Sophie Okonedo. Baker's sublime directorial debut, set in summer 1991, is a singular cinematic experience, entering the specific world of a child as she slowly begins to come to terms with the reality around her. Part of Curators’ Choice 2024. Event info
 
Chisholm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed
January 17 & 20
Dir. Shola Lynch. 2004, 76 mins. Just a few years after becoming the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and more than a decade before the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton rose to the national stage, New York Democrat Shirley Chisholm sought to become the first African American to seek a major party’s presidential nomination. Part of MLK Day 2025. Event info
 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Day 2025
Sunday, January 19, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Join us in celebrating the birthday of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a talk, tours, digital media-making activities, and more. Visitors are invited to join a thoughtful conversation with teen advocates about conflict resolution with MoMI community partner Urban Upbound; create animations and immersive, virtual reality drawings; join a Museum tour; or participate in a scavenger hunt discovering the connections between moving image history and Black people’s fight for freedom during the Civil Rights Movement. Free with Museum admission. Event info
 
Skate Video Essentials: Classic Skate Stories
Friday, January 24, 7:30 p.m.
This screening program, presented in conjunction with MoMI’s exhibition Recording the Ride: The Rise of Street-Style Skate Videos, features three early classics that helped define the skate video genre. Event info
 
A Different Man with Aaron Schimberg in person
Saturday, January 25, 6:00 p.m.
Dir. Aaron Schimberg. 2024, 112 mins. U.S. DCP. With Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson. The winner of the Gotham Award for Best Picture, the latest from New York filmmaker Aaron Schimberg is a throwback to American independent films of yesteryear, a whip-smart, laceratingly funny genre crossbreed. Event info
 
Couples Therapy with executive producer Josh Kriegman in person
Friday, January 31, 7:00 p.m.
Now in its fourth season, Couples Therapy continues to operate at the vanguard of both nonfiction television and our cultural awareness of the therapeutic process. Screening two episodes. Event info
 
 
INSTALLATIONS AND EXHIBITIONS
 
Recording the Ride: The Rise of Street-Style Skate Videos
Through January 26
Recording the Ride features videos and artifacts from the formative years of the skate video in the late 1980s and the 1990s. These kinetic videos introduced a new visual aesthetic that influenced pop culture and filmmaking in the ’90s and beyond. Exhibition sponsor: New Balance. Exhibition info
 
The Jim Henson Exhibition
Ongoing
This exhibition offers a dynamic exploration of Jim Henson’s groundbreaking work for film and television and his transformative impact on culture. It features a broad range of objects from throughout his remarkable career and reveals how Henson and his team of builders, performers, and writers brought to life the enduringly popular worlds of The Muppet Show, the Muppet movies, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. Exhibition info
 
Behind the Screen
Ongoing
The Museum’s core exhibition explores how moving images are made, marketed, and shown and features more than 1,400 objects from the MoMI collection, integrated with audiovisual material and computer-based interactive experiences. The latest addition: Clayography in Motion: Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, featuring original puppets from the film and interactive stations where visitors can create their own short animations using 2D cutouts of characters. Exhibition info
 
Rodell Warner: World Is Turning
Through January 30
Trinidadian artist Rodell Warner brings together his most cherished moving image works, spanning 2013 to the present. Warner’s moving image experiments over 10+ years become a living archive; a collage of single-color GIFs and a 3D volumetric fan that isolates individual animations in full color. He is the second of three artists in our Community Curation series, presented in partnership with the Tezos Foundation. Visitors can also collect a free fragment minted on Tezos at the MoMI x Tezos station or online at movingimage.org/world-is-turning-fragment. Exhibit info
 
Waxwing
Through April 10
Visitors can play the unique arcade game Waxwing, developed by Common Opera, in the Museum lobby. The game subverts the traditional light gun by reimagining it as a literal source of light, shifting the focus from violence to an exploration of aspirations and the human condition. Exhibit info
 
Find all current MoMI exhibitions here.

 
About Museum of the Moving Image
Founded in 1985, MoMI celebrates the history, art, technology, and future of the moving image in all of its forms. Located in Astoria, New York, the Museum presents exhibitions; screenings; discussion programs featuring actors, directors, and creative leaders; and education programs. It houses the nation’s most comprehensive collection of moving image artifacts and screens over 500 films annually. Its exhibitions—including the core exhibition Behind the Screen and The Jim Henson Exhibition—are noted for their integration of material objects, interactive experiences, and audiovisual presentations. For more information about MoMI, visit movingimage.org.