The world premiere of Magnolia Pictures’ The First Monday in May will open the 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 13, 2016.
Directed by Emmy Award nominated filmmaker Andrew Rossi (Page One: Inside The New York Times) the intimate documentary looks at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most attended Costume Institute exhibition in history, “China: Through the Looking Glass.” The film follows curator Andrew Bolton, now Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute, in an exploration of the tension between fashion and art. The Tribeca Film Festival runs April 13 to April 24. Opening night is sponsored by Farfetch with special thanks to Thakoon.
“The First Monday in May illuminates the debate between fine art, fashion, pop culture and captures the creativity, passion and visionaries behind the exhibition and gala – Andrew Bolton and Anna Wintour,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, Tribeca Film Festival, and Executive Chair, Tribeca Enterprises. “It is an honor to pay tribute to a fellow New York cultural institution on our opening night.”
“It’s an honor to premiere this film downtown with the Tribeca Film Festival for their fifteenth Festival, and I am truly thrilled to partner again with Magnolia Pictures,” said director Andrew Rossi. “The First Monday in May celebrates creativity in art and fashion and is deeply rooted in the creative world of New York, so to launch at a Festival that came into life in order to support that culture is very meaningful. We’re so excited to have the team at Magnolia behind the film, bringing it to audiences all across the country.”
The First Monday in May follows the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “China: Through the Looking Glass,” exhibition, an exploration of Chinese-inspired Western fashions by Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton. With unprecedented access, filmmaker Andrew Rossi captures the collision of high fashion and celebrity at the Met Gala, one of the biggest global fashion events co-chaired every year by Condé Nast Artistic Director and Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. Featuring a cast of renowned artists in many fields (including filmmaker Wong Kar Wai and fashion designers Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano), the movie dives into the debate about whether fashion should be viewed as art.
Produced by Fabiola Beracasa Beckman, Sylvana Ward Durrett, and Dawn Ostroff, in association with Relativity Media, Conde Nast Entertainment, Mediaweaver Entertainment and Sarah Arison Productions, The First Monday in May will be released in theaters on April 15. The film features Wong Kar Wai, film director and Artistic Director of “China: Through the Looking Glass”; Baz Luhrmann, film director and creative consultant for the Met Gala; Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley; Harold Koda, Former Curator in Charge of the Costume Institute; Thomas Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; and fashion designers Jean Paul Gaultier, Karl Lagerfeld, John Galliano, and Ricardo Tisci; as well as cameos from some of the leading names in fashion and entertainment.