The Museum’s annual survey of some of our favorite films of the year returns with another rich harvest of cinema—and television—at its best. The first iteration since 2019, following a pandemic-dictated hiatus, Curators’ Choice 2021 evidences a year of stunning ambition, excellence, experimentation, irreverence, liberation, and fury. While 2021 was a challenging year for the movies, with Hollywood and audiences gradually returning to theaters, it’s been a wildly exciting time for international, independent, and festival-oriented films. From idiosyncratic musicals (Annette) to revisionist westerns (The Power of the Dog); from feminist noirs (Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time and Nina Wu) to deluded male melodramas (Red Rocket); and from exuberant family fare (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) to masterful achievements in serial storytelling (The Underground Railroad), this year’s Curators’ Choice offers a wide-eyed, peripheral view of the current state of the cinematic arts.

Organized by Curator of Film Eric Hynes and Assistant Curator of Film Edo Choi.

SCREENING & LIVE EVENT
The American Sector
Sunday, December 19, 4:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room SCREENING & LIVE EVENT
Terra Femme
Sunday, December 19, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
Sunday, December 26, 1:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Sunday, December 26, 4:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period …
Sunday, December 26, 4:15 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
The Underground Railroad: Chapters 1–5
Friday, December 31, 12:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Benedetta
Friday, December 31, 4:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Underground Railroad: Chapters 6–10
Saturday, January 1, 12:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Bergman Island
Saturday, January 1, 1:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Souvenir
Saturday, January 1, 3:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Souvenir Part II
Saturday, January 1, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Sunday, January 2, 12:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Undine
Sunday, January 2, 1:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Benedetta
Sunday, January 2, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
All About My Sisters
Sunday, January 2, 3:15 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Days
Sunday, January 2, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The French Dispatch
Friday, January 7, 4:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The French Dispatch
Friday, January 7, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Friday, January 7, 7:15 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection
Saturday, January 8, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Annette
Saturday, January 8, 4:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Nina Wu
Saturday, January 8, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
The Power of the Dog
Saturday, January 8, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
Sunday, January 9, 1:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Downstream to Kinshasa
Sunday, January 9, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Drive My Car
Sunday, January 9, 3:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Sunday, January 9, 7:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Notturno
Saturday, January 15, 2:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening & Live Event
Ascension
Saturday, January 15, 4:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening & Live Event
Test Pattern
Saturday, January 15, 5:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image Screening
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could N…
Saturday, January 15, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
The Viewing Booth
Sunday, January 16, 2:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
Red Rocket
Sunday, January 16, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Anne at 13,000 Ft.
Sunday, January 16, 4:30 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room PREVIEW SCREENING
Compartment No. 6
Sunday, January 16, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater

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