Orwell: 2+2=5. 2025. Written and directed by Raoul Peck

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Held on Sun, Nov 9, 2025, 2:30 p.m.

Followed by a conversation with Raoul Peck and Alex Gibney

MoMA, Floor T1, Theater 1

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1

Orwell: 2+2=5. 2025. France/USA. Directed by Raoul Peck. Courtesy NEON

Orwell: 2+2=5. 2025. France/USA. Written and directed by Raoul Peck. Narrated by Damian Lewis. DCP courtesy NEON. 119 min.

Living in 2025 can feel a bit like inhabiting a dystopian world pulled from a work of paranoid fiction. George Orwell’s 1949 novel 1984 is a poignant literary reference for our times, and Academy Award nominee Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro, 2016) has constructed an in-depth investigation of the origins and odyssey of the book’s creation. Tracing Orwell’s journey as a writer from humble beginnings in colonial India to his severe health struggles in middle age, Peck (aided by the voice talents of Damian Lewis) has created something closer to a thriller than a traditional biographical documentary. All the more fitting for a film that exposes contemporary realities that Orwell dreaded and warned us to guard against.

Tickets are available to members at the Explore category and above beginning two weeks before each screening date. Additional tickets will be released to members and the general public one week before each screening date. Please note that space is extremely limited and tickets will be in high demand. Tickets can be reserved at moma.org/contenders beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET.

For the Contenders series, due to limited availability, members at the Explore category and above receive two free tickets per membership.

If a screening is sold out, a standby line will form one hour before the start time. If you are a ticket holder and arrive after the scheduled start time, we cannot guarantee entry.

This film accompanies The Contenders 2025.

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