Series Site
March 8–April 12, 2025
Drawn to cinema and already making Super 8mm movies as a child, Todd Haynes earned cinematic cult hero status with the banned but bootlegged 1987 underground hit Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. Following the 1991 release of his first feature, Poison (an ambitious reimagining of stories by Jean Genet in three distinct cinematic idioms), he was recognized as a pioneer of the New Queer Cinema. Since then, Haynes has continued to direct an impressive body of work—including original screenplays Safe, Velvet Goldmine, and Far From Heaven; adaptations Dark Waters, Wonderstruck, and Carol; an innovative biopic, I’m Not There; and a dazzling documentary about The Velvet Underground—distinguished by his commitment to experimentation and omnivorous cinephilia.
Certain themes recur throughout Haynes’s varied oeuvre, especially the nature of identity in relation to the self and society, and the power and danger of resisting or transgressing social norms. Illness, toxicity, and contagion in the films can serve as sinister existential menace, or sickness can be or provide a portal for resistance. Haynes frequently tweaks narrative and genre conventions to upend or unsettle viewer expectations, activating critical engagement with the works. Often working within specific historical times and places, he further enhances his meticulous production design through his choice of media, cameras, lenses, and film stocks for each project. Beginning with four films chosen and presented by the director himself, this extensive retrospective offers viewers the very special opportunity to see all of Haynes’s feature films and a selection of early works.
—Kate MacKay, Associate Film Curator