A Conversation with Tom Gunning

Legendary American scholar and critic Tom Gunning has changed the way we think about film history and the future of the medium, profoundly influencing generations of academics, artists, and cinephiles. On Sunday, April 27, Devika Girish and Clinton Krute hosted a live conversation with Gunning and curator David Schwartz at the Museum of the Moving Image, following a screening of Hal Hartley’s Flirt (1995), an experimental narrative of love and loss set in three cities—New York, Berlin, and Tokyo. The event was part of a multiday series of screenings and discussions organized by Schwartz, taking place at venues including MoMI, Anthology Film Archives, and Light Industry. This special weekend marked the publication of a new collection of Gunning’s writing, entitled The Attractions of the Moving Image: Essays on History, Theory, and the Avant-Garde. The conversation covered a wide range of topics, from Gunning’s seminal essay “The Cinema of Attractions” (1986) to his teacher-student relationship with Hartley to some contemporary films that he’s (perhaps surprisingly) enjoyed.