Curators’ Choice 2023
Dec 26, 2023 — Jan 28, 2024
The Museum’s annual survey of some of our favorite films of the year returns with a surfeit and diversity of great cinema—and television. Curators’ Choice focuses on work that premiered theatrically (or was initially broadcast) during the calendar year 2023. Unlike in other year-end surveys and annual awards programs, our impulse is expansive in terms of the kinds of films we’re choosing to elevate, and inclusive of the full year of offerings. Alongside justly praised fall releases like Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Zone of Interest are earlier, unjustly overlooked titles such as Nothing Lasts Forever, Beau Is Afraid, Godland, R.M.N., and Unrest. We’re celebrating both the glory of big screen cinema with 70mm presentations of Oppenheimer and May December in 35mm, and the best of smaller screen storytelling with a special screening of Succession Season 4, Episode 3: “Conor’s Wedding,” with director Mark Mylod in attendance. We’re also enjoying thematic rhymes among films of varied genres and styles. On Sunday, January 14 we’ll present two extraordinary films set in the kitchens of master chefs: Frederick Wiseman’s epic documentary, Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros and Tran Anh Hung’s immersive period drama The Taste of Things. And from January 27–28 we’ll present two masterful works of nonfiction set in Parisian hospitals: Claire Simon’s Our Body and Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica. Throughout, we’ll be welcoming filmmakers to discuss their work, with more to be added closer to the screening dates.
Organized by Curator of Film Eric Hynes and Associate Curator of Film Edo Choi, with contributions by Michael Koresky and Sonia Epstein