New Work/New Acquisitions
July 1–August 31, 2005

To date, The Museum of Modern Art’s film and media archive comprises nearly 25,000 individual titles. The Department of Film and Media deems these materials essential to moving-image history, and preserves and stores them in the climate-controlled Celeste Bartos Film Preservation Center, in Hamlin, Pennsylvania, a facility offering ample space for the care and cataloguing of future acquisitions. From Hollywood feature productions and independent works that explore social issues to experimental works that reframe vintage footage and foreign films that examine cultural values, the works in this exhibition illustrate the diversity of MoMA’s notable film and media collections.

This program is part of the Museum-wide New Work/New Acquisitions exhibition.

Organized by Anne Morra, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media.

Russkiy kovcheg (Russian Ark). 2002. Russia. Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. With Sergei Dontsov, Mariya Kuznetsova. A dreamlike journey in one fluid camera-take through the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, guided by an unidentified nineteenth-century diplomat. In Russian, English subtitles. 100 min.
Friday, July 1, 6:00; Sunday, August 28, 2:00. T2

Bezi zeko bezi (Run Rabbit Run). 2003. Serbia/Montenegro. Directed by Pavle Vuckovic. A tale of a rabbit-hunting fox that takes an ironic twist. 7 min.
Bartleby. 2001. USA. Directed by Jonathan Parker. Screenplay by Parker, Catherine DiNapoli. With Crispin Glover, Glenne Headly. A recent adaptation of the Herman Melville story of Bartleby, a stoic office worker. 83 min.
Friday, July 1, 8:15; Saturday, August 27, 2:00. T2

La Trilogie des amours. 1999–2003. France/Senegal. Directed by Laurence Attali. Includes Même le vent (1999), Baobab (2000), and Le déchaussé (2003)—each a poetic love story. In French, English subtitles. 74 min.
Saturday, July 2, 6:45; Wednesday, August 17, 6:00 (introduced by Laurence Attali). T2

Chihwaseon (Painted Fire). 2002. South Korea. Directed by Im Kwon-Taek. With Choi Min-Shik. A vigorous portrait and picaresque biography of Jang Seung-Up, a nineteenth-century painter who lived like a vagabond. Born a commoner, the artist dazzled and scandalized the Chosun Dynasty’s ruling class with his delicate, vibrant compositions and wanton behavior. In Korean, English subtitles. 117 min.
Sunday, July 3, 5:30. T2; Friday, August 26, 8:00. T1

My Architect. 2003. USA. Directed by Nathaniel Kahn. The filmmaker investigates the life, death, and many secrets of his architect father, Louis Kahn. His discoveries are at once heartfelt and heartbreaking. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary. 116 min.
Monday, July 11, 8:30; Saturday, August 20, 6:30. T1

Soft and Hard (A Soft Conversation between Two Friends on a Hard Subject). 1985. France. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Anne-Marie Miéville. Godard and Miéville’s daily life in Switzerland is anything but ordinary…. While carrying out domestic tasks, they discuss the creation and reception of art. In French, English subtitles. 48 min.
The Old Place. 1998. France. Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Anne-Marie Miéville. Commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art, this film essay on the role of art at the end of the twentieth century uses textual excerpts from Henri Bergson and Simone de Beauvoir. In French, English subtitles. 47 min.
Wednesday, July 13, 8:00; Saturday, July 16, 8:00. T2

Five. 2004. Iran/France/Japan. Written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami. Five mines the potential of digital imagery and sound while investigating the fluid limits of documentary practice. Canny and sublime, the film comprises five long takes of a beach on which Kiarostami observes a universe of change. No dialogue. 74 min.
Saturday, July 16, 6:00; Sunday, July 17, 5:00. T2

Pharmacy. 2001. Hungary. Directed by Bruce Checefsky. A remake of Francizska and Stefan Themerson’s 1930 film Apteka, an early instance of the photogram technique applied to motion pictures. 5 min.
Requiem for a Dream. 2000. USA. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Screenplay by Aronofsky, Hubert Selby, Jr. With Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly. Aronofsky challenges our ideas of addiction in this complicated and emotionally unrelenting film about Sara Goldfarb, a depressive game-show junkie. 101 min.
Thursday, August 18, 6:00. T1; Monday, August 22, 8:15. T2

Light Is Calling. 2003. USA. Directed by Bill Morrison. Music by Michael Gordon. Using footage from James Young’s 1926 film The Bells, Morrison fashions a narrative of separated lovers. 8 min.
The Mesmerist. 2003. USA. Directed by Bill Morrison. Music by Bill Frisell. With John Barrymore, Boris Karloff. Considered by the filmmaker a revision of James Young’s The Bells (1926). 16 min.
Rakkaus on aarre (Love Is a Treasure). 2002. Finland. Written and directed by Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Portraits of five women who experience life-altering moments. In Finnish, English subtitles. 55 min. Program 79 min.
Thursday, August 18, 6:00; Monday, August 29, 6:00. T2

Black Tape: The Videotape Fariborz Kamkari Found in the Garbage. 2002. Iran. Directed by Fariborz Kamkari. With Parviz Moasesi, Shilan Rahmani. A deteriorating marriage is explored with an ever-present video camera. This work illustrates the social inequalities facing women in Iran, where the line between life and death is barely definable. In Farsi, English subtitles. 85 min.
Friday, August 19, 6:00; Saturday, August 27, 4:00. T2

An Estranged Paradise. 1997–2002. China. Directed by Yang Fudong. A meditation on peace, boredom, love, and melancholy, this film tells the story of a young man who lives with his fiancée in a small town in China. For no apparent reason, he becomes disaffected and restless. Gift of Marion and Jim Cohen. 76 min.
Thursday, August 25, 6:00. T2; Wednesday, August 31, 8:00. T1

Das Himmler-Projekt (The Himmler Project). 2000. Germany. Directed by Romuald Karmaker. In 1943, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler gave a rallying speech to his assembled S.S. generals. Although secret, the event was recorded on audiotape. Karmaker photographs actor Manfred Zapatka reading Himmler’s speech, complete with cadences, pauses (for applause), and grammatical mistakes. The film is simple and terrifying. In German, English subtitles. 182 min.
Saturday, August 27, 7:00. T1; Wednesday, August 31, 6:00. T2

top