Courtesy of Andana Films
OPENING NIGHT FILM
The Grocer’s Son, the Mayor, the Village, and the World... + If We Say That We Are Friends
Thursday, July 22, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater
Available to view online, July 26–August 1.
Dir. Claire Simon. France. 2020, 111 mins. In French with English subtitles. In Lussas, in the South of France, an uncommon business rises among the vineyards and orchards of cherry trees: an ultra-modern festival hub and platform to broadcast independent documentary films on the Internet. Documentary master and First Look returnee Claire Simon’s latest is entertaining, incisive, and a marvel of durational observational filmmaking, sticking with a diversity of characters as they try to find common cause among divergent industries and endeavors. Simon’s film stirs up a whirlpool of questions applicable to any self-reflective arts institution in 2021, First Look included: Is there a market for independent documentaries? What’s the purpose of a film festival? What do we actually mean by community? Where is the line between individual passion and institutional exploitation? New York premiere. View trailer.
Preceded by If We Say That We Are Friends
Dir. Yaara Sumeruk. United States, South Africa. 2019, 17 mins. In English and Xhosa with English subtitles. In Capetown, the Dine with Khayelitsha supper club invites suburban white Capetonians to break bread with Black Capetonians in the townships. Scrutinizing the frank encounters that result, Sumeruk’s film reconnects with the simultaneously curious, confrontational, and optimistic spirit of cinéma vérité. New York premiere
Claire Simon joined via video and with Yaara Sumeruk in person.
At the Museum: $20 ($15 members) includes a post-screening reception. Learn more here.
Available online July 26–August 1: $10 ($5 members). Order and watch online here.
