The DIA, in partnership with Spot Lite Detroit and Jerk X Jollof, presents this mid-week After-work mixer and dance party to celebrate the new exhibition James Barnor:  Accra/London A Retrospective.

The DJ will be spinning music infused with high life and afro-rhythms which were popular in Accra and dear to Barnor. The event will also feature live drummers and a West African dance performance, along with food trucks slinging authentic African and African-inspired cuisine.

Mixer:  5:30pm – 8:00pm
Dance Party:  8:00pm – 2:00am

Come early…stay late!

USA/2022—directed by Laura Poitras | 113 minutes

In her essential, urgent, involving new documentary, Oscar®–winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) intertwines two narratives: the fabled life and career of era-defining artist Nan Goldin, and the backlash against the Sackler family, owners of the pharmaceutical dynasty that Goldin stood up to by fighting to hold accountable the drug manufacturers behind the opioid crisis.

Following her own struggle with opioid addiction, Goldin, now 68, who rose from the New York “No Wave” underground of the ‘80s to become one of the great photographers of the late 20th century, became an unyielding activist at art institutions around the world that had accepted millions from the Sackler family.

Illustrated with a rich trove of photographs by Goldin, who engagingly narrates her own story, including her suburban upbringing, the loss of her teenage sister, and her fight against AIDS in the 1980s, Laura Poitras’s latest film is a remarkable, empowering work that stirringly connects tragedy with personal responsibility and artistic expression. Winner, Golden Lion for Best Film, 2022 Venice Film Festival.

“Overwhelming. A towering work of shocking intelligence and still greater emotional power.” –Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire 

Austria/Germany/2025 — directed by Alexander Horwath | 185 min.

The feature film debut of Austrian film historian and curator Alexander Horwath — former Director of the Austrian Film Museum — Henry Fonda for President is a brilliantly conceived and remarkably entertaining panorama of the history, politics, and culture of the United States as seen through the life and screen performances of the great American actor. 

Though structured chronologically, this transfixing documentary transcends the conventions of traditional film biographies by using Fonda’s own words and experiences, alongside moments from his countless screen characters, to create a luminous prism through which the film ingeniously explores and meditates upon the changing face of the country and of cinema itself. Much more than a clever cinematic stunt, Henry Fonda for President is a revelatory historical vision, packed with insights and observations — and, of course, a must for movie lovers. 

“This transfixing gem is a sheer delight from start to finish.” — Kieron Corless, Sight & Sound

USA/2024 — directed by Constance Tsang | 116 min.

Within the confines of a massage parlor in Flushing, Queens, Amy (Ke-Xi Wu) and Didi (Haipeng Xu) navigate romance, the search for happiness, and the obligations of family while thousands of miles from home. Despite the physical and emotional toll their work demands, the two women have forged an impenetrable sisterhood, which is unexpectedly imperiled when events take a dramatic turn on Lunar New Year. 

Co-starring the extraordinary Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng, who won the Best Actor Prize at the 2024 Cairo Film Festival for his performance here, Blue Sun Palace is at once a stirring immigrant’s tale, a dark workplace comedy, and a deeply modern New York story. Special Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival; dual Best Actress Prize, Hong Kong International Film Festival. In Mandarin, English, and Min Nan with English subtitles.

“NYT Critic’s Pick! A gorgeously intimate debut feature that creates a whole world.” — Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

(USA/2024 — directed by Sarah Friedland)

Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), a retired cook living in California, prepares breakfast—a dish she seems to have made many times before, though small, puzzling errors now punctuate her familiar routine. When her son (H. Jon Benjamin) arrives to dine with her, she mistakes him for a suitor. Their “date” leads them to an assisted living facility, which Ruth does not remember having chosen for herself. There, she begins to accept the warmth and support of two care workers (Carolyn Michelle and Andy McQueen) and discovers new ways to ground herself in her body, even as her mind begins a journey of its own.

Writer-director Sarah Friedland’s coming-of-old-age feature compassionately follows the winding path of octogenarian Ruth’s memories and desires while remaining rooted in her sage perspective.

Winner: Best Debut Film, Best Director, and Best Actress, 2024 Venice Film Festival. (90 min.)

“The delicacy of what acclaimed theater actor Chalfant does in this role is astounding. This is a finely wrought, infinitely tender movie.” —Allison Willmore, New York Magazine

(Vietnam/France/2024 — directed by Trương Minh Quý)

Two young men work deep beneath the earth as coal miners—yet Việt and Nam are also lovers, sharing secret moments of physical pleasure before one embarks on a perilous journey to emigrate to another land. From this intimate story, captured with sensual detail and unflinching eroticism, Vietnamese filmmaker Trương Minh Quý delves even deeper to unearth the memories and legacies of a nation. Set at the turn of the 21st century, the film resonates with echoes of the country’s war decades earlier, as Nam’s mother leads them on a pilgrimage to discover where his father was killed as a soldier. Shot in a graceful and mesmerizing style on 16mm—and banned in its home country—Việt and Nam is a quietly expressive, mind-bending work about two men with unsettled pasts and uncertain futures. In Vietnamese with English subtitles. (129 min.)

“Ravishing… a sad and sublimely beautiful movie.” —Justin Chang, The New Yorker

Katie Hornstein is a professor of art history at Dartmouth College and the author of Picturing War in France (Yale, 2018) and, more recently, Myth and Menagerie: Seeing Lions in the Nineteenth Century (Yale, 2024). A collection she co-edited with Daniel Harkett, Animal Modernities: Images, Objects, Histories, is forthcoming from Leuven University Press in 2025.

A specialist in the long nineteenth century, Katie’s current work engages with contemporary debates in art history and the humanities more broadly, including post-humanism, the intertwined logics of empire and ecological destruction, and the representation and uses of non-human animal bodies in modern material and visual culture. She is currently developing a new project dedicated to carrier pigeons and their expansive labors in service to humans.

Katie received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

France/2024—directed by Louise Courvoisier | 90 min.

Winner of a special prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the enchanting Holy Cow tells the story of 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau) who’s thrust into the unexpected and very adult role of looking after his younger sister and their family farm in the Jura section of France. 

Totone assumes even more responsibility – and anxiety – when he enters a cash competition for creating the best Comte cheese made in this part of the French Alps. An engaging and immersive glimpse into the hardscrabble life of French agriculture, this assured debut from director Louise Courvoisier is a beguiling coming of age story and, above all, an ode to the mystery and magic of cheese. In French with English subtitles.

“A charming, moving and humorous coming-of-age story told with brio. Delicious!” –John Bleasdale, Time Out

Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art Annual Meeting, Artist Conversation, and Reception

Presented by the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art and Michigan Central Art

Schedule

5:30–6 p.m. | FMCA Annual Meeting, Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall

• For FMCA members only; advance registration required.

6–7:30 p.m. | Artist Conversation: Ash Arder & Kevin Beasley, Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall

• Free and open to the public; no registration required.
• Join contemporary artists Ash Arder and Kevin Beasley for presentations on their work, followed by a conversation moderated by Kelly Kivland, Director and Lead Curator at Michigan Central, and Katie Pfohl, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the DIA.

7:30–9 p.m. | FMCA Member Reception, Rivera Court

• For FMCA members only; advance registration required.

Artist Bios

Ash Arder (she/they) is a Detroit-based artist whose work explores ecology, industry, and labor through installations, sound, and material experimentation. Their recent solo exhibition Flesh Tones was presented at Cranbrook Art Museum in 2023.

Kevin Beasley (he/him) is a New York-based artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, sound, photography, and performance. His recent installation PROSCENIUM | Rebirth / Growth: The Watch / Harvest / Dormancy: On Reflection is on view at Storm King Art Center until November 2025.

Hailing from Flint, Tunde Olaniran is a creative force whose work spans music, dance, film, literature, and performance art. Filled with vibrant costumes and catchy lyrics, their performances are surrealist spectacle, blending genres like pop, dance, folk, hip-hop and R&B. Expect intricate dances, soaring vocals, throbbing basslines, and sweat-soaked sequins on the stage.

Olaniran's albums have earned critical acclaim from outlets including The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and NPR. Their most recent album, Chaotic Good, features a collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, the first original composition by the world-renowned cellist. Tunde has created impactful collaborations with artists such as Mona Haydar, adrienne maree brown, Nick Cave, and Esperanza Spalding. A 2017 Art Matters Fellow, 2019 United States Artist Fellow, and 2020 University of Michigan Artist-in-Residence, Olaniran’s work for PBS earned a Regional Emmy in 2021. In 2022, they premiered Made A Universe, an experimental short film and exhibition commissioned by Cranbrook Art Museum.

This Friday Night Live! performance is proudly presented as part of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ Pride Month offerings.

Pride Themed docent-led guided gallery tours will be offered one hour prior to event start time, meeting at the DIA Woodward lobby entrance. The tours will be approximately 45-minutes in length.