Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

"That rocket was just climbing." Initially misunderstood by art critics and passed over in Europe, Korean video artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) rose to prominence in the US in the 1960s. Amanda Kim's formally layered and scintillating debut docu outlines the breakthrough of a rambunctious but sharp soul who flouted all rules and rocked the 1970s New York art scene with a healthy dose of destructiveness. Recordings of performances at the time and Paik's own video work are interwoven with testimonials and cameos by figures such as Marina Abramović and John Cage. Strikingly down-to-earth statements by the "father of video art" are read by Steven Yeun (Minari, Burning) and underline the visionary nature of his commentary on the meteoric and deafening rise of mass communication.

"Nam June Paik was Korean video art pioneer and experimentalist whose anarchic career is recounted in this amusing and engaging documentary, the title of which is taken from one of his works: a luminous disc on a screen, telling us we gaze at the TV in the submissive way we once stared at the moon." - The Guardian