From Cuban Hip Hop to Peronismo: 6 Must-See Movies at NY’s Museum of the Moving Image

The Museum of the Moving Image is kicking off 2016 with its “First Look” series. Now in its fifth year, the festival is designed to spotlight “eye-opening and mind-expanding international cinema.” Programmed by Chief Curator David Schwartz and Associate Curator of Film Eric Hynes, the Museum is offering an eclectic mix of foreign titles that are only now getting their U.S. premieres. From documentaries tackling Franco-German relations to an entire film drawn entirely from YouTube clips uploaded from Inuit regions there’s definitely something in the festival for everyone.

Spanish and Portuguese speakers are in luck as the festival, perhaps hoping to further serve its increasingly diverse neighboring Queens population, has a few titles that show Latin American and Portuguese filmmakers pushing the boundaries of the cinematic form. That includes a highly lauded Cuban film about hip-hop band, Los Aldeanos and a documentary on the effect Juan Perón’s anti-leftist policies had on Argentinean architecture.

The “First Look” film series runs January 8 – 24, 2016 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.