Lincoln Kirstein's Modern

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Sergei Eisenstein (Russian, 1898–1948). _Eisenstein’s Mexican Film: Episodes for Study (still)_.1955. From footage of 1930–32. 35mm film transferred to video (black and white, silent). The Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive

Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein’s Mexican Film: Episodes for Study (still). 1955

Sergei Eisenstein (Russian, 1898–1948). Eisenstein’s Mexican Film: Episodes for Study (still).1955. From footage of 1930–32. 35mm film transferred to video (black and white, silent). The Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive

Thomas Beard: You could say that the film program is a portrait of Lincoln Kirstein by way of the movies he loved.

There'll be some classic Cagney pictures that were of particular interest to Kirstein, and the same for Marilyn Monroe. I'm also attempting to reconstruct the five programs that were held in 1933 by the Film Society, of which Kirstein was a founding director. So, you'll have avant-garde films like Ballet Mecanique or Bunuel's L’age d’or alongside an episode from a silent serial starring Pearl White, or a Disney ‘Silly Symphony.’

I think it’s also nice, because it shows you the range of the kind of films that Kirstein was interested in, you know having different kinds of films presented alongside one another that I think is still a really exciting model, one that I think can be an inspiration for people going to the movies today.