Lana Wilson is an Emmy-winning director/writer who makes films that take deep dives into such topics as late-term abortion, suicide prevention, and phobias.
The Museum of the Moving Image will present a complete early-career retrospective of her work, Come Alive: The Films of Lana Wilson, this weekend.
The Wesleyan University graduate will discuss some of her pieces in person and introduce Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s 1998 musical The Hole, a personal favorite.
General admission is $15 with one free event. The schedule follows.
Friday, Nov. 22
After Tiller with Lana Wilson in person at 7 pm
After Dr. George Tiller’s assassination in Kansas in May 2009, only four American doctors continued to openly provide third-trimester abortions. This 85-minute documentary focuses on these physicians— LeRoy Carhart, Warren Hern, Susan Robinson, and Shelley Sella.
Saturday, Nov. 23
Pretty Baby at 1 pm
This two-part documentary looks at actor, model, and icon Brooke Shields as she emerges from her early years as a sexualized girl actress and model to a woman discovering her power.
Miss Americana with Wilson in person at 4 pm
This documentary follows Taylor Swift during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer but also as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.
The Hole introduced by Wilson at 6:15 pm
Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang’s musical takes place in a modern Taipei in the grip of a mysterious epidemic. Delaying his evacuation, Hsiao-kang meets his downstairs neighbor when a plumber accidentally creates a hole connecting their apartments. Tsai contrasts the apartment block’s dreariness with lavish production numbers set to the lip-synched music of Grace Chang.
Sunday, Nov. 24
A Cure for Fear + Mind/Trip: Episodes 4 and 5 at 1:30 pm
Audiences meet Neuroscientist Merel Kindt, who has discovered a cure for phobias using common medication. After a brief-but-intense exposure to his/her fear, the patient takes a single pill and 24 hours later, the fear is gone. This film is preceded by episodes four and five of Mind/Trip (2021, 20 minutes), an online series journeying into the lives of people living with mental health disorders.
The Departure with Lana Wilson in person at 3:30 pm
In Japanese with English subtitles, this documentary follows Buddhist priest Ittetsu Nemoto, a former wild child and punk rocker who now helps suicidal people find reasons to live.
Free screening of Look into My Eyes with Wilson in person at 6 pm
This movie investigates one-one-one psychic readings in NYC, but not the ubiquitous storefront palm readers. These subjects specialize in private, longer-form sessions that resemble therapy and often turn emotional.
“Over the course of five features and two episodic series, Lana Wilson has pushed the bounds of form, each time devising singular aesthetic and storytelling strategies,” stated MoMI Senior Curator of Film Eric Hynes. “Her films are actively creative. Sometimes they entail famously creative subjects, but it’s Wilson’s exploratory drive that interrogates, animates, and complicates every frame, yielding consistently surprising and essentially cinematic work. We’re excited to welcome Lana back to MoMI for this retrospective and celebration of her latest—and I think best film to date—Look into My Eyes.”
Museum of the Moving Image is at 36-01 35th Ave. in Astoria’s Kaufman Arts District. Click here for advance tickets.
Images: Lana Wilson and Museum of Moving Image