ASTORIA, NY.- Todd Haynes has been a cornerstone of the American independent film world since the early 1990s and remains one of the groundbreaking artists of our time. Museum of the Moving Image will celebrate Haynes throughout December with a comprehensive film retrospective and honor him with the 2023 Moving Image Award for Career Achievement at its winter benefit event on December 4. Prior to that, MoMI is now opening the exhibit Reflected Forms: Story and Character in the Films of Todd Haynes. Copies of MoMI’s new book Todd Haynes: Rapturous Process will be on sale starting November 24. The Museum’s multifaceted Haynes programming coincided with the release of his new film May December in theaters November 17 and on Netflix on December 1.

The Moving Image Awards features an awards program with special guest presenters in the Redstone Theater, followed by a festive cocktail reception in the Hearst Lobby. Funds raised from the event benefit the Museum’s year-round programming. Single tickets are $250 with a discounted option of $125 for artists/guild members/students and a $400 VIP option. Sponsor and supporting levels are also available. Learn more and get tickets here.

Now open, the exhibit Reflected Forms: Story and Character in the Films of Todd Haynes looks at the director’s creative process and his use of image books, albums that gather visual inspirations for each of his productions. Materials on view are from the films Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), Velvet Goldmine (1998), Far from Heaven (2002), I’m Not There (2007), and May December (2023) and are drawn from Haynes’s film production archive, a collection that was recently donated to the Museum. Reflected Forms will appear within the Museum’s core exhibition Behind the Screen.

The retrospective, which runs December 1–30, offers New York audiences an opportunity to see all of Haynes’s films on the big screen—many presented in 35mm—as well as the HBO limited series Mildred Pierce and documentary Six by Sondheim. Haynes will appear in person on opening night, Friday, December 1, with two programs of early works, and with May December on Saturday, December 2, at 3:00 p.m. (the screening is free for MoMI members).

From the 1980s through the 2020s, Haynes’s work has ranged from music videos to television series, and breakthrough shorts and features such as the controversial Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987), Dottie Gets Spanked (1993), Poison (1991), and Safe (1995), which marked the start of his longstanding collaboration with Julianne Moore. Haynes explores facets of musical celebrity and artistic creation in his cinematic tour de force I’m Not There (2007), in which six different actors play Bob Dylan; the glam-rock investigative drama Velvet Goldmine (1998); and his documentary The Velvet Underground (2021). Haynes has consistently pursued his own path, taking on projects both utilizing and subverting storytelling conventions. A magnificently mounted and beautifully acted film that evokes the craftsmanship and artifice of Hollywood studio filmmaking, Far from Heaven (2002) was nominated for four Oscars and swept the New York Film Critics Circle awards. The beloved Carol (2015), an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, garnered its stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara Oscar nominations; while another period piece, the HBO production Mildred Pierce, adapted from James M. Cain’s 1941 novel, won Kate Winslet an Emmy. An adaptation of Brian Selznick’s graphic novel Wonderstruck (2017) ties together a pair of deeply emotional stories of obsession from different time periods featuring young deaf adventurers, and Dark Waters (2019) uses the aesthetics of seventies thrillers to tell the true story of the lawyer who fought DuPont for decades over its environmental contamination. See below for the full schedule.

The new book Todd Haynes: Rapturous Process, published by the Museum, is an adaptation of Centre Pompidou's book published on the occasion of its own Haynes retrospective earlier in 2023, but featuring new material for English-language readers. It includes an in-depth 2023 career interview with Haynes by the Pompidou's Judith Revault d'Allonnes, a new essay by Michael Koresky, a conversation about May December between Haynes and filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, and a foreword by Julianne Moore. The book features more than 200 pages of materials from Haynes's archives, including drawings, paintings, storyboards, notes, on-set photographs, costume and set designs, and more—much of which is drawn from Haynes’s production archive, which is part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is the only institution in the United States that deals comprehensively with the art, technology, enjoyment, and social impact of film, television, and digital media. In its stunning facility 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 largest 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.