Moving Body Moving Image 2026: Films on the Immigrant Body, Free at Lincoln Center and Barnard

Moving Body Moving Image (MBMI) is a biennial that takes a different angle each time on the moving body on screen. It was founded by Gabri Christa, who directs it. The 2026 edition is titled "The Moving Immigrant Body On Screen" and gathers films about migration, displacement, identity, memory, heritage, belonging and the immigrant experience.

Part one is a full-day program on Sunday, October 18, from 12:00 to 6:00 PM at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium. It is free, and no RSVP is needed. The festival opens at noon. Shorts I starts at 12:30 with Navigation, Provenance: A Letter to my Daughter, Antítesis and Ina Ama. Shorts II follows at 2:00 PM with The Noise My Leaves Make, When the chair fell into the void, Las Madres, Pasa Pasa, and Expectations Sharpen the Blade with Which We Carve Joy. Shorts III begins at 3:30 PM with Air de Temps, Family Portrait, Refugiar el Gesto / Sheltering Gestures and The Long Goodbye. At 4:30 PM, Charlotte Brathwaite moderates a live discussion. You can drop in for just the block that interests you.

Part two is an installation at Barnard College's Movement Lab, October 19 to 24. It is also free, but RSVP is required. Four installation films play: X PAT BOND, In the Middle, ASSEMBLY LINE and HaMapah/The Map. Hours are 3:00 to 6:00 PM on October 19 to 23 and 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM on October 24. Jingqiu Guan leads a workshop on October 19 from noon to 2:00 PM, and a reception with the installation filmmakers follows at 6:00 PM that day. On October 22 at 6:00 PM, Guan presents the live performance Room: A Corporeal Dialogue Across Time, with a talkback.

It is a rare chance to see a concentrated slate of screendance and movement-based film for free. The festival's own notes single out Ina Ama, shot in London and drawing on the Filipino dance Tinikling, and Las Madres, which follows six pairs of immigrant mothers and daughters in a small community near the Hudson River. Pasa Pasa, directed by Lisa Kusanagi, is also in the lineup.