“God Help Me: Gregg Araki” Series To Feature Never-Aired, Rare And Early Works Selected By The Director

Master Class With Araki On September 28

New York, NY (August 19, 2013)

The Museum of Arts and Design presents the first American retrospective of New Queer Cinema cult auteur Gregg Araki this fall from September 19 through October 26. God Help Me: Gregg Araki will survey the director's career thus far, with 9 films selected by Araki himself, including his rare early work Three Bewildered People in the Night (1987), the never-aired MTV pilot This is How the World Ends (2000) and the complete Teenage Apocalypse trilogy. MAD will also host a rare master class with the director on September 28.

"Araki is a pioneer of American '90s independent cinema. He's a filmmaker whose distinct voice and intelligent perspective on youth and queer culture have influenced so many others. His work plays with genres and narrative tropes, breaking from traditional structures, while addressing serious issues in culture. I hope that this retrospective will give audiences a rare opportunity to see all of Araki's work, and introduce him to a new generation," says Jake Yuzna, MAD's Director of Public Programs.

Widely regarded as one of the key directors of 'New Queer Cinema'—alongside figures such as Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien, Tom Kalin and Jennie Livingston—Araki came to prominence in 1992 with The Living End, a raw and intense road movie that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that year. The film follows a drifter and a film critic, both gay and HIV positive, as they embark on a road trip and crime spree across America. Exploring the anger and alienation triggered by an HIV positive diagnosis, the film was described as simultaneously honest, humorous and heart-rending in the exploration of its lead characters' plight.

Araki further cemented his status as cult filmmaker with Totally F****ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995), and Nowhere (1997), known together as the "Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy." Navigating adolescent transformation, alternative models for sexuality and love, alien visitors, and the effects of HIV/AIDS on Generation X, Gregg Araki blended and parodied influential cinematic genres from the coming-of-age to road trip to science fiction, to craft a body of groundbreaking films that continue to reverberate today.

The series will also give the public a chance to discover Araki's first film, Three Bewildered People in the Night (1987), shot guerilla-style in black and white with a spring-wound Bolex camera and a budget of only $5000, as well as the pilot for a never-realized TV miniseries This is How the World Ends (2000). Araki showed equal ease and gained wider mainstream recognition with a more traditional narrative in Mysterious Skin (2004), which explores the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse on the trajectories of two young men. In 2010, Araki switched back to his signature style with the comedic and wildly libidinous dystopian sci-fi film Kaboom, which won the first ever Queer Palm at that year's Cannes Film Festival. Taking audiences on a turbulent and thrilling ride through celebrity mania, doomsdays, sexual awakenings, neo-Nazis, and teenage wastelands, Araki's daring cinematic voice has crafted a complex pop portrait of adolescent America as it transitioned into a new millennium.

RARE MASTER CLASS BY GREGG ARAKI

On Saturday, September 28 at 3pm, Araki will lead an intimate master class at the Museum. This seminar-style program will offer the opportunity to hear Araki speak on the trajectory of his career, see sneak-peaks from his newest film, and gain insight into his process and inspiration.

666: A Master Class with Gregg Araki will take place in the MAD Theater.

ABOUT THE SERIES

God Help Me: Gregg Araki is organized by Jake Yuzna, Director of Public Programs.

Movie tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for members and students with valid ID. Tickets to 666: A Master Class with Gregg Araki are $35 for the general public and $15 for members and students.

Tickets may be purchased by phone at (800) 838-3006 or online via http://www.madmuseum.org/series/god-help-me-gregg-araki.

All screenings and the master class will take place at the MAD Theater, located on the below-street level of the museum at 2 Columbus Circle at 59th Street.

For more information about the series, go to http://www.madmuseum.org/series/god-help-me-gregg-araki.

The MAD Theater will screen nine films from Araki's oeuvre, including:

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN

The Museum of Arts and Design explores the intersection between art, design, and craft today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the artisanal to digital. The Museum's exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by gifted and innovative artists. MAD's permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day. At the center of the Museum's mission is education. The Museum's dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families, and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances, and symposia related to the Museum's collection and topical subjects affecting the world of contemporary art, craft, and design are held in a renovated 144-seat auditorium.

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