NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV Directed by Amanda Kim opens March 24

Opens Friday, March 24 for a limited run

At Film Forum – 209 West Houston Street, NYC

Tickets: $15 (members $9)

https://filmforum.org/

Film Forum is pleased to present the US theatrical premiere of Amanda Kim’s NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV on Friday, March 24.

The Korean-born, German-educated, life-long New Yorker Nam June Paik (1932-2006) coined the phrase “the electronic superhighway” long before the Internet was born. A consummate shape-shifter — classical composer, subversive trickster, pioneer of experimental “interventions” (he called “action music”) and, according to friends, speaker of nine languages (all badly). Paik’s influences ranged from Hegel to Schoenberg, from traditional Korean dance to Buddhism, space travel, and beyond. Debut filmmaker Amanda Kim’s captivating, kinetic documentary — narrated by actor Steven Yeun (MINARI, BURNING) — uses archival footage and clips from the artist’s work to recount his collaborations and fascinations with Joseph Beuys, Charlotte Moorman (the topless cellist), David Bowie, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, Merce Cunningham, and his great mentor and friend, John Cage. NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV had its world premiere at the 2023
Sundance Film Festival.

“A gargantuan tower of televisions… a majestic beast of an artwork — captivating, ingenious, exhilarating, and kind of hilarious.” – Andrew Russeth, Artforum (on Nam June Paik’s most celebrated sculptural piece, The More, the Better)

“An incisive look at a rarely seen side of (the) pioneering video artist’s life. Paik’s videos, sculptures, and performances exude a madcap creativity that’s all too rare these days. Kim spins Paik’s life story into a farther-reaching statement about what happens when Asian artists live in diaspora. Barring only Jean-Luc Godard, no other 20th-century artist was better at speaking about their work using pithy one-liners.” – Alex Greenberger, ArtNews

“Essential viewing. Paik was a true visionary who foresaw the virtual world we now live in… What separated him from the others (the artistic avant-garde) was his obsession with new technology, especially the possibilities that television offered for an artist willing to twist, distort and deviate TV from its typical usage.”

Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“So beautifully made, about a figure of such unique fascination, whose art is so perfectly showcased by the documentary format, that when it’s over you can’t believe the film hadn’t existed until now. It feels, in its way, essential. A tantalizing portrait of Nam June Paik… (who) did nothing less than invent an art form.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

NAM JUNE PAIK: MOON IS THE OLDEST TV (2023, 107 min) Directed by Amanda Kim. Producers: Jennifer Stockman, David Koh, Amanda Kim, Amy Hobby, Jesse Wann, Mariko Munro. Cinematographer: Nelson Walker. Editor: Taryn Gould. Original Score: Will Epstein. Music: Ryuichi Sakamoto. VFX/Animation: Adam Teninbaum. Narrator: Steven Yuen. US. In English, German, and Korean with English subtitles. A Greenwich Entertainment Release.

With support from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation Fund