Museum of the Moving Image presents The Films of Kelly Reichardt 4/1-3

Kelly Reichardt's films are among the most richly textured and keenly observant works in contemporary cinema. To coincide with the release of her latest film, Meek's Cutoff, Museum of the Moving Image will present "Adrift in America: The Films of Kelly Reichardt" from April 1 though 3, 2011.

The weekend retrospective opens with an evening with Reichardt featuring a rare showing of her short film Ode (1999) followed by a conversation with Chief Curator David Schwartz accompanied by clips from all her feature films, including select scenes from Meek's Cutoff. The series continues with screenings of her 1994 feature debut River of Grass; Old Joy, which brought her widespread acclaim in 2006; and Wendy and Lucy (2008), a devastating portrayal of alienation and poverty in America, starring Michelle Williams.

Meek's Cutoff, Reichardt's highly anticipated new film, opens theatrically on April 8 at Film Forum and Lincoln Plaza, released by Oscilloscope Laboratories.

"Reichardt delves deeply into landscapes, human and natural, finding poetry through a precise, distilled approach that is rooted in realism," stated David Schwartz. "She often evokes popular movie genres, including the road movie, the buddy film, and the Western, only to subvert them. She focuses on rootless characters who live on the margins-the exact opposite of the conventional American movie hero."

SCHEDULE FOR 'ADRIFT IN AMERICA: THE FILMS OF KELLY REICHARDT (APRIL 1-3)
Films are included with Museum admission unless otherwise noted and take place at the Museum. All films are directed by Kelly Reichardt.

An Evening with Kelly Reichardt
Friday, April 1, 7:00 p.m.
Kelly Reichardt will discuss her films in a conversation with Chief Curator David Schwartz that will include clips from all four of her feature films, including River of Grass, Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and her latest film Meek's Cutoff, which opens theatrically at Film Forum in Manhattan on April 8. Before the conversation, there will be a rare screening of Reichardt's short film Ode (1999, 48 mins.), filmed in Super-8, based on Herman Raucher's novel Ode to Billy Joe, which was inspired by the Bobbie Gentry song about a couple and their forbidden love.
Tickets: $10 public/Free for Museum members. Call 718 777 6800 for advance tickets.

River of Grass
Saturday, April 2, 3:00 p.m.
1994, 100 mins. 16mm print. With Lisa Bowman, Larry Fessenden. A 30-year-old woman takes off with a drifter, leaving her children and husband behind, and the pair becomes a hapless would-be-Bonnie-and-Clyde stumbling through the sterile South Florida landscape. Reichardt's debut feature announced her laconic, observational style. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum called it "A canny, contemporary portrait of shiftlessness."

Wendy and Lucy
Saturday, April 2, 5:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 3, 5:00 p.m.
2008, 80 mins. 35mm print. Michelle Williams is Wendy, a young woman traveling with her dog Lucy to Alaska in search of a job at a fish cannery. When her car breaks down in suburban Oregon, Wendy finds herself alone, broke, and hopeless. Echoing Vittorio De Sica's neo-realist classic Umberto D, this is a spare, compelling portrait of contemporary American poverty and alienation.

Old Joy
Sunday, April 3, 3:00 p.m.
2006, 76 mins. 35mm print. With Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith. Two old friends Mark and Kurt take a trip together into the picturesque mountains of the American Northwest and find that they don't have much in common anymore. This simple plot is the platform for an intimate exploration into, according to Reichardt, "the feeling of loss and alienation that everyone in my world seemed to be grappling with."