Every year, Museum of the Shifting Picture presents First Look, its competition of latest and revolutionary worldwide cinema, with a various slate of main New York premieres, work-in-progress screenings and periods, and recent views on the artwork and strategy of filmmaking. The 14th version runs March 12–16 with a lineup of 38 movies from 21 international locations, of which twenty are options, together with 4 world premieres and 23 U.S. or North American premieres.
The competition will open and shut with two scintillating debut options, Durga Chew-Bose’s lush, heart-wrenching Bonjour Tristesse and Giovanni Tortorici’s deft, dashing Diciannove.
These screenings bracket the competition’s showcase centerpieces:
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958–1989, the newest, must-see epic from archival composer Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Energy Mixtape)
When the Cellphone Rang, an incantatory autofiction from Serbian filmmaker Iva Radivojević
The provocative Zodiac Killer Mission, First Look alumnus Charlie Shackleton’s latest winner of the NEXT Innovator Award on the 2025 Sundance Movie PageantDir. Göran Hugo Olsson, “Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958–1989” (2024) (courtesy SVT)
Filmmakers for all of the showcase displays famous above will seem in particular person. As filmmaker participation is central to the ethos of First Look, the competition just lately introduced almost 40 visitors who will seem to debut new movies, or take part in work-in-progress displays as a part of Engaged on It, which runs concurrent with the competition, March 12–14.
Different worldwide award-winners on the competition embody:
Miguel Coyula’s Chronicles of the Absurd (IDFA 2024 Envision Competitors, Finest Image)
Omar Mismar’s A Frown Gone Mad (IDFA 2024, Excellent Inventive Contribution)
Yoko Yamanaka’s Desert of Namibia (Cannes 2024, FIPRESCI Prize)
So Yo-hen’s Park (Taiwan Worldwide Documentary Pageant, Grand Prize)
Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc’s Tata (2024 Astra Movie Pageant, Finest Director)
Dominique Cabrera’s The Fifth Shot of La Jetée (Dok Leipzig 2024, Golden Dove).
Dir. Yôko Yamanaka, “Desert of Namibia” (2024) (courtesy the Desert of Namibia Movie Companions)
Along with Shackleton, the Museum additionally welcomes again First Look veterans:
Elementary, the newest from documentary grasp Claire Simon
Measures for a Funeral, Sofia Bohdanowicz’s engrossing gothic fever dream
New works by Ben Balcom, James Edmonds, Kevin Jerome Everson, Eva Giolo, Ewelina Rosinska, and extra—lots of that are offered within the Illuminations avant-garde movie program
As a part of the Museum’s Science on Display initiative, Brigid McCaffrey’s Sanctuary Station and Gerard Ortín Castellví’s Bliss Level will make their New York debuts.
For schedule, descriptions, and tickets, go to movingimage.org/firstlook2025.
First Look presenting sponsors are Lismore Highway and MUBI.
Dir. Omar Mismar, “A Frown Gone Mad” (2024) (courtesy Omar Mismar)
Dir. Deniz Eroglu, “The Shipwrecked Triptych” (2025) (courtesy Deniz Eroglu / Neuzeit)