Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV. 2023. Directed by Amanda Kim

Film

Wed, Feb 22, 7:00 p.m.

Followed by a conversation with the filmmaker

MoMA, Floor T2/T1, Theater 1

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 1

Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV. 2023. USA. Directed by Amanda Kim. Photograph by Peter Moore © Northwestern University, courtesy Barbara Moore

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV. 2023. USA. Directed by Amanda Kim. New York premiere. In English, German, Korean; English subtitles. 107 min.

Fearlessly innovative and playfully prophetic, Nam June Paik comes to life in Amanda Kim’s feature debut through a skillful assembly of interviews and archival footage that portrays the father of video art both in his time and through his far-reaching legacy. While covering the artist’s peripapetic journey across the mid-century avant-garde in Europe and the United States, Kim pays special attention to Paik’s Korean-American identity and his life as an artist at the forefront of an emergent art form. Coinciding with the launch of the MoMA exhibition Signals: How Video Transformed the World, in which Paik’s work will be on view, this enchanting documentary portrait—featuring readings of Paik’s writings by actor Steven Yeun—offers insight into one of the most influential artists our time, whose outlook on human behavior and technology resonates ever more powerfully in today’s interconnected world.

This film accompanies Doc Fortnight 2023: MoMA’s Festival of International Nonfiction Film and Media.

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