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Image source: MOMI – Outside Satan, dir. Bruno Dumont, is the opening film of the First Look series

For the second year, a very exciting film series/showcase is coming to the Museum of the Moving Image in January. Called First Look, it is “a showcase for inventive, groundbreaking new international cinema.” 26 feature-length and short films will be screened from January 4-13, 2013, by filmmakers from Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States. Here is the screening schedule.

Hors Satan (Outside Satan), the “breathtaking and provocative” new feature, directed by Bruno Dumont, will be the opening night film at 7:30pm on Friday, January 4 (opening reception follows). Here is what it’s about:

The impassive hero of Dumont’s mysterious, monumental parable is a nameless drifter with miraculous powers who seems to exist beyond good and evil. In the stark, desolate hinterlands near the Calais coast, this Jesus—or is it Satan?—figure becomes the protector of an awkward young woman. An opaque spiritual allegory in a breathtaking setting, beautifully photographed in CinemaScope, Outside Satan recaptures the elemental power of Dumont’s earliest works, Life of Jesus and L’humanité. Like all his best films, it’s equal parts provocation and theological inquiry.

Many of the series’ filmmakers will make personal appearances at the Museum – established masters such as Thom Andersen, James Benning, and Bruno Dumont, and emerging directors such as Mati Diop (from France), Eloy Enciso (Spain), Nicolás Pereda (Mexico), and Philip Scheffner (Germany). Being able to learn a little bit about the behind-the-scenes processes is fascinating and is one of the reasons MOMI is just so awesome.

First Look is curated by Dennis Lim, editor of Moving Image Source, the Museum’s multimedia magazine; Rachael Rakes, Assistant Curator of Film; and David Schwartz, Chief Curator. Essays on select films will be published on Moving Image Source in early January.

Here is the list of films being presented during First Look:

  • Gabriel Abrantes, Birds (Zwazo), 2012, 17 mins. Portugal
  • María Alché, Noelia, 2012, 14 mins. Argentina
  • Thom Andersen, Reconversion (Reconversão), 2012, 68 mins. Portugal
  • Thomas Arslan, In the Shadows, 2010, 85 mins. Germany
  • James Benning, Easy Rider, 2012, 95 mins. U.S.
  • Mati Diop, shorts retrospective: Atlantiques, 2009, 15 mins.; Snow Canon, 2011, 33 mins.; Big in Vietnam, 2012, 28 mins. France
  • Bruno Dumont, Outside Satan, 2011, 110 mins. France
  • Eloy Enciso, Arraianos, 2012, 70 mins. Spain
  • Pedro González-Rubio, Inori, 2012, 60 mins. Japan
  • João Rui Guerra da Mata, As the Flames Rose, 2012, 26 mins. Portugal
  • Jang Kun-jae, Sleepless Night, 2012, 65 mins. South Korea 
  • Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, P-047, 2011, 98 mins. Thailand
  • Kleber Mendonça Filho, shorts retrospective: Cold Tropics (Recife Frio), 2009, 24 mins; Luz Industrial Mágica, 2008, 7 mins; Eletrodoméstica, 2005, 22 mins.; Friday Night Saturday Morning, 2005, 15 mins; Green Vinyl, 2004, 16 mins.;The Little Cotton Girl, 2002, 7 mins; Brazil
  • Manuel Mozos, Xavier, 1991/2002, 100 mins. Portugal
  • Nicolás Pereda, Greatest Hits, 2012, 103 mins. Mexico
  • Joana Preiss, Siberia, 2011, 82 mins. France
  • Philip Scheffner, Revision, 2012, 106 mins. Germany
  • Various directors, graduates of Marina Razbezhkina’s School of Documentary Film and Documentary Theatre,Winter, Go Away!, 2012, 79 mins. Russia
  • Eduardo Williams, Could See a Puma, 2012, 17 mins. Argentina

We’ll see you there!

First Look Series [MOMI]


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