Museum of the Moving Image - MoMIIncluding Curators’ Choice series, new dates for First Look festival, and more in January–April 2026​
Plus, the call for submissions for Marvels of Media Festival, a celebration of autistic media-makers, closes January 31, with festival dates set for March 26–28

Astoria, New York, December 17, 2025 — In early 2026, Museum of the Moving Image’s film programming will feature its annual Curators’ Choice series, a showcase of some of the best releases of 2025, many with filmmakers in person; the screening series 2001: The Year, Not the Movie, honoring the 25th anniversaries of films released in the year 2001; a weekend of films on the occasion of Marilyn Monroe’s centenary; the 15th edition of First Look festival—with new dates and format; and the 5th Marvels of Media Festival, celebrating the work of autistic media-makers.
 
Programs and dates are subject to change. Additional programs will be announced as they are confirmed.
 
Curators’ Choice 2025
January 9–February 8, 2026
The Museum is pleased to present another edition of its annual survey of favorite films that premiered theatrically during the previous calendar year, selected by its curators. This 2025 review features films big and small, from studio releases like One Battle After Another and Sinners to precious, enrapturing works of art like 7 Walks with Mark Brown and Caught by the Tides. New York audiences will have another chance to see these splendid films on the big screen, featuring a selection of special guests in person to discuss their craft and process. Special guests scheduled to appear include Ari Aster, Mary Bronstein, Robert Kaplow, Angus MacLachlan, David Osit, Alex Ross Perry, Ira Sachs, and David Strathairn, plus more to be announced. Series info (The full lineup will be announced soon.)
Organized by Senior Curator of Film Michael Koresky, Associate Director of Special Programs Sarah Luciano, and Film and Public Programs Manager Emily Greenberg.
 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Family Day 2026
Sunday, January 18, 2:00 p.m.
The Museum invites families to join in celebrating the birthday of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with talks, tours, digital media-making activities, and more. Through a program of events and screenings, explore the connections between moving image history and Black Americans’ fight for freedom during the Civil Rights Movement. Please note the Museum will be open Monday, January 19, 12:00–6:00 p.m. with additional programming to be announced.

Indoor Drive-In at MoMI: The Mahoning Drive-In Road Show
Saturday, January 31, 5:00 p.m.
Relive the glory days of the drive-in—and the grindhouse—when the films were wild, the popcorn was hot, and double features were the order of the night. The Mahoning Drive-In Road Show comes to MoMI with a double feature you could have seen at any drive-in theater in the Midwest or grindhouse theater in Times Square during the 1970s. Hosted by Virgil and Mark from Pennsylvania’s 35mm movie mecca, The Mahoning Drive-In Theater comes indoors for a night at the Museum, complete with vintage snack bar ads, trailers, and an intermission reel between the films. In addition to introducing the show, the Mahoning staffers will talk about the history of their theater and drive-ins overall. Part of the Museum’s ongoing series Disreputable Cinema, programmed by Jesse Berberich.
 
Marilyn Monroe in New York
February 7–8, 2026
The year 2026 marks the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth. To celebrate, the Museum has devised a special weekend of programming in conjunction with the beautifully designed and illustrated new publication Dear Marilyn: The Unseen Letters and Photographs (2025, ACC Art Books), which is at once a memoir and a tribute by  photographer and filmmaker Sam Shaw—a long-time confidant who knew Marilyn Monroe not as an icon, but as a cherished friend and artist in her own right. Shaw took the iconic photo of Monroe’s dress ballooning up over the subway grate from the set of The Seven-Year Itch, a classic New York moment. In tribute, the Museum will present a selection of Monroe’s New York–set films and a talk with the Shaw family about her and the photos.

2001: The Year, Not the Movie
February 14–April 5, 2026
In both cinema and the world at large, there was before 2001 and there was after 2001. For movie lovers, there will always be the cinematic and cultural meaning of the year as enshrined by Stanley Kubrick in 1968 as a beacon of future shock and a symbol of human endeavor. But when that year finally came, it was indeed a herald of larger shifts that had begun to take place at the turn of the millennium. We had made it through the clamor and paranoia of Y2K, but the internet had only begun to transform our relationships to ourselves and others; the dot-com bubble had already burst; and the harbinger of early, lo-fi digital video was starting to make itself known, though many years before it would change the way movies were shot, distributed, projected, and consumed. And, of course, the cataclysmic events of September 11 changed how Americans saw and experienced the world. It also happened to be a particularly spectacular movie year, many films of which seem unusually remarkable in their undying greatness and for the prescient ways they predicted the century to come, in both theme and form. This series pays tribute to the films (and, in one major case, the television) of that year, which still hold sway over movie lovers everywhere—a treasure trove of new classics all celebrating their 25th anniversaries.
 
Awards Watch Party
Sunday, March 15
Arrive on the red carpet for the Museum’s first-ever live viewing party of America’s biggest movie awards! Has your year of watching films paid off? Complete a ballot before the show for the chance to win prizes for most—or least!—correct guesses. Can you beat MoMI’s film programmers at their own game? Mon Amour café will stay open late with themed snacks and specialty cocktails. During commercial breaks, you can get your photo taken on the red carpet, enjoy trivia hosted by a soon-to-be-revealed dynamic duo of Queens stars, and more. Free with RSVP, open to Museum members and invited guests only.

Marvels of Media Festival 2026
March 26–28, 2026
The Museum’s annual celebration of the outstanding work created by autistic media-makers returns for a fifth edition with screenings, panel discussions, workshops, and an exhibition that includes virtual reality experiences and video games. The festival kicks off with an opening night reception on March 26 and continues through Saturday. Admission to all Marvels of Media screenings and events is free with RSVP. The lineup will be announced in February. Lead support from Sapan Studio.
The call for submissions for the 2026 Marvels of Media Festival closes on January 31. Learn more and submit here.

First Look 2026
April 23–May 3, 2026
First Look, MoMI’s annual festival for adventurous new cinema, introduces New York audiences to more than two dozen works hailing from nearly as many countries, encompassing feature and short films; fiction and nonfiction; New York premieres; experiments with—and exemplary expressions of—form. Since its inception in 2012, the guiding ethos of First Look is discovery, aiming to introduce audiences to new films, filmmakers to new audiences, and everyone to different methods, perspectives, interrogations, and encounters. The 15th edition of the festival will be spread out over two weekends, and feature new genre sections, tributes, events, and panels. Presenting Sponsor: MUBI

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About Museum of the Moving Image
MoMI celebrates the history, art, technology, and future of the moving image in all of its forms. Located in Astoria, New York, the Museum presents exhibitions; screenings; discussion programs featuring actors, directors, and creative leaders; and education programs. It houses the nation’s most comprehensive collection of moving image artifacts and screens over 500 films annually. Its exhibitions—including the core exhibition Behind the Screen and The Jim Henson Exhibition—are noted for their integration of material objects, interactive experiences, and audiovisual presentations. For more information about MoMI, visit movingimage.org.

Press contact: Tomoko Kawamoto, tkawamoto@movingimage.org, 718 777 6830

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Museum of the Moving Image is housed in a building owned by the City of New York and has received significant support from the following public agencies: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York City Council; New York City Economic Development Corporation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Institute of Museum and Library Services; National Endowment for the Humanities; National Endowment for the Arts; and Natural Heritage Trust (administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation). For more information, please visit movingimage.org.