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| Wong Kar Wai, Artistic Director of China: Through the Looking Glass says in Andrew Rossi's grand The First Monday in May: "The only way to move forward is not forgetting your past." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
Patti Smith, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Hanks, Tina Fey and Idina Menzel will be in conversation with Ethan Hawke, Jay McInerney, John Oliver, Damian Holbrook and Marc Platt respectively, in the inaugural Tribeca Talks: Storytellers at this year's Tribeca Film Festival.
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| Opium perfume bottle drawings by Yves Saint Laurent in China: Through the Looking Glass Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
In early May of last year, Gay Talese and I walked through China: Through the Looking Glass, with Billie Holiday's rendition of These Foolish Things, the lyrics inspired by Anna May Wong, welcoming us to the permanent Chinese collection of the Met that was transformed into an imaginary wonderland of dialogue between Western fashions and Eastern arts, where Yves Saint Laurent's Opium drawings meet a gourd-shaped vase from the 18th century.
The documentary The First Monday In May has its World Premiere as the Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night Gala and is unquestionably a work of art. It unfolds like a delicately embroidered thriller, a beautiful one where the moon in the water needs to be trusted. We travel to faraway lands of fantasy and fabric with Andrew Bolton, now Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute and Anna Wintour, Condé Nast Artistic Director and Vogue Editor-in-Chief as our regal guides.
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| Gay Talese in silhouette looking at film clip edited by Wong Kar Wai Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
We witness the opening of crates at The Met, one of which includes a spectacular gown from John Galliano's China inspired Spring 2003 collection for the House of Dior and hear the designer talk about the "mystery" and his complete awareness that the sense of "danger" in the Oriental dress, is a product of early Hollywood film depictions and has little to do with any lived reality. Wong Kar Wai notes: "The only way to move forward is not forgetting your past."
Rihanna rehearsing before her performance during the Costume Institute Benefit, the arrival of the stars on the red carpet and in party mode - André Leon Talley sums it up best, when he likens it to the Super Bowl that takes "months and weeks and weeks and months" to prepare in every little detail.
Review to follow the World Premiere -
Tribeca Talks: Storytellers
Patti Smith with Ethan Hawke - April 14, 3:00pm - SVA Theatre 2
Idina Menzel with Marc Platt - April 18, 4:00pm - SVA Theatre 1
Tina Fey with Damian Holbrook - April 19, 6:00pm - John Zuccotti Theater BMCC
Francis Ford Coppola with Jay McInerney - April 20, 4:00pm SVA Theatre 1
Tom Hanks with John Oliver - April 22, 6:00pm - John Zuccotti Theater BMCC
The First Monday in May World Premiere - April 13, 7:00pm - John Zuccotti Theater BMCC Expected to attend: TBA
Additional screening - April 14, 9:00pm - Regal Battery Park Stadium 11-5
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| China: Through the Looking Glass at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze |
The First Monday in May opens in the US on April 15.
The 2016 Costume Institute Benefit Gala for the Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is on the first Monday in May. The exhibition will be open to the public from May 5 through August 14.
The 15th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T runs from April 13 through April 24.
