Director Harmony Korine Appears at SPRING BREAKERS Screening for Moving Image Retrospective Today

Director, screenwriter, and artist Harmony Korine has developed an aesthetic as unique and bracing as any that launched in the heyday of 1990s American independent film. Korine made his name as the screenwriter of the nihilistic-teen movie Kids, but came into his own as a director with the 1997 feature debut, Gummo. From March 8 through 22, 2013, Museum of the Moving Image will present a retrospective of all of Korine's five feature films to date, including his latest, Spring Breakers-a triumph at both the Toronto and Venice film festivals.

Harmony Korine will appear in person with the Museum's preview screening of Spring Breakers tonight, March 12, at 7:00 p.m., participating in a conversation moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz after the film. Korine's latest is a high-concept pulp-fest featuring Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine as co-eds who perform a catalogue of illegal and incendiary activities in order to get out of their boring small town for spring break. Also starring James Franco, the film opens theatrically in New York and Los Angeles on March 15 (nationwide on March 22), released by A24 Films.

In addition to Spring Breakers (2013) and Gummo (1997), the Museum retrospective includes Mister Lonely (2007), Korine's largest production to date and which features art cinema luminaries Diego Luna, Werner Herzog, Denis Lavant, and Samantha Morton cast as celebrity impersonators; the critically acclaimed Julien Donkey-boy (1999); and the cult hit Trash Humpers (2009), which film critic J. Hoberman called a "gloriously desultory slap in the face of public taste." Together, these films reveal the eccentricities as well as the depth of one of the most compellingly divisive directors working today.

"Harmony Korine portrays a particular and peculiarly American mode of existence in the 21st century," said David Schwartz. "Although his films come to us in a disparate range of forms-from his Dogme 95-inspired Julien Donkey-Boy, to the found-footage style of Trash Humpers, to his latest foray into mainstream cinema with Spring Breakers-Korine consistently brings to the camera an eye for subversive beauty and a sympathetic understanding of the world he inhabits. This places him alongside some of the very best filmmakers working today."

SCHEDULE FOR 'HARMONY KORINE,' MARCH 8-22, 2013
All screenings take place at Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue in Astoria. Screenings are included with Museum admission and free for Museum members unless otherwise noted. Tickets for Friday evening screenings (when the Museum offers free gallery admission) are $12 adults / $9 students and senior citizens.

Gummo
FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Harmony Korine. 1997, 89 mins. 35mm. With Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Lara Tosh, Chloe Sevigny. With an elliptical narrative and a non-professional ensemble cast, Gummo follows two teens in tornado-ravaged Ohio town sniffing glue, killing cats, having sex, riding dirtbikes, listening to metal, and encountering a procession of quirky, bizarre, and scary people. Named "worst film of the year" in The New York Times, and at the same time spurring Werner Herzog (among others) to label Korine "the future of American cinema," Gummo was one of the most divisive and memorable indie films of the 1990s.

Mister Lonely
SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 6:00 P.M.
Dir. Harmony Korine. 2007, 112 mins. With Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, James Fox, Werner Herzog. Korine's third feature is a quirky and strangely warm story of misfit companionship, in which a group of star impersonators (played by actual stars) live on a commune in Scotland and prepare an ensemble show. It is also a story about nuns flying out of airplanes.

PREVIEW SCREENING:
Spring Breakers
With director Harmony Korine in person
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Harmony Korine. 2013, 92 mins. DCP Courtesy A24 Films. With James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson. The buzz film of the Toronto Film Festival, and fresh from its American premiere at SXSW, Korine's latest is a high-concept pulp-fest starring former Disney Channel girls as co-eds who perform a catalogue of illegal and incendiary activities in order to get out of their boring small town for spring break. With the encouragement of their new friend "Alien" and an assortment of neon bikinis, they will stop at nothing for an experience they will never forget.
Tickets: $20 public / $12 Museum members / Free for Silver Screen members and above. Tickets are available for purchase online at movingimage.us or by phone at 718 777 6800.

Julien Donkey-boy
FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Harmony Korine. 1999, 94 mins. With Ewan Bremner, Brian Fisk, Chloë Sevigny. Korine's second feature follows Julien, a schizophrenic who works in a school for the blind and lives at home with his brother, pregnant sister, and their sadistic father (played by Werner Herzog). Eventually Julien escapes from his home and embarks on an exploration through the streets on foot. Made according to the strictures of the Dogme manifesto, Julien Donkey-Boy found champions among a handful of critics, including, improbably, Roger Ebert, and scores of fans for its shocking, unscripted performances and unabashedly raw style.

Trash Humpers
FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Harmony Korine. 2009, 78 mins. 35mm. Made as a VHS tape found in a ditch, Korine's provocative Trash Humpers depicts masked actors simulating sex with garbage, mimicking the grungy amateur aesthetic of a found home movie with seemingly random cuts between vignettes in alleyways, backyards, and parking lots. An "ode to vandalism," according to the filmmaker, Trash Humpers rewards the open-minded viewer with moments of astonishing and unexpected poignancy.

MUSEUM INFO
Hours: Wednesday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday, 10:30 to 8:00 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday except for select holiday openings and special programs.
Film Screenings: Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays, and as scheduled. Unless otherwise noted, screenings are included with Museum admission.
Museum Admission: $12.00 for adults (18+); $9.00 for senior citizens and for students (13+) with ID; $6.00 for children ages 3-12. Children under 3 and Museum members are admitted free. Admission to the galleries is free on Fridays, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Tickets for special screenings and events may be purchased in advance by phone at 718 777 6800 or online.
Location: 36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street) in Astoria.
Subway: M (weekdays only) or R to Steinway Street. Q (weekdays only) or N to 36 Avenue.
Program Information: Telephone: 718 777 6888; Website: movingimage.us
Membership: 718 777 6877, members@movingimage.us

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Photo courtesy of Muse Productions.