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SCREENING

Pretty Baby

Saturday, Nov 23, 2024 at 1:00 pm

Location: Bartos Screening Room

Free with Museum admission!

Dir. Lana Wilson. 2023, 138 mins. U.S. DCP. This two-part documentary is a galvanizing look at actor, model, and icon Brooke Shields as she emerges from her early years as a sexualized girl to a woman discovering her power. Shields’s career as a child model began as early as 11 months old. After starring in Louis Malle’s controversial Pretty Baby at age 12, she became the face of the eighties with Calvin Klein jeans ads and landed leading roles in The Blue Lagoon and Endless Love, navigating the unrelenting scrutiny of the press and a culture that wanted to commodify and shame her. After defying stereotypes by going to college, Shields re-entered the entertainment industry as an adult, only to face another set of impossible standards. Wilson’s diptych exposes the unfair expectations forced upon Shields while also giving her a longer arc in which to gain agency and find her own identity after absorbing decades of cultural projections.  

Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.