Save the Date! Todd Haynes: Far from Safe

March 8–April 12, 2025

Todd Haynes will be at BAMPFA to present Safe, Velvet Goldmine, I’m Not There, and Far From Heaven, launching an extensive retrospective of his films, exceptional explorations of identity in relation to self and society, and the danger and power of resisting or transgressing social norms.

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Todd Haynes: Far From Heaven, 2002
Todd Haynes: May December, 2023
Todd Haynes: I'm Not There, 2007
Todd Haynes: Wonderstruck, 2017
Todd Haynes: Carol, 2015
Todd Haynes: Far From Heaven, 2002
Todd Haynes: Velvet Goldmine, 1998

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Save the Date! Todd Haynes: Far from Safe

March 8–April 12, 2025

Drawn to cinema and already making Super 8mm movies as a child, Todd Haynes earned cinematic cult hero status with the banned but bootlegged 1987 underground hit Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story and was hailed as a pioneer of the New Queer Cinema with the release of his first feature Poison (an ambitious re-imagining of stories by Jean Genet in three distinct cinematic idioms) in 1991. Since then, Haynes has continued to direct an impressive body of work, including original screenplays; Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, adaptations; Dark Waters, Wonderstruck, Carol; innovative biopics; I’m Not There; and a dazzling documentary about The Velvet Underground; distinguished by his commitment to experimentation and omnivorous cinephilia.

Certain themes recur throughout Haynes’s varied oeuvre, especially the nature of identity in...

Certain themes recur throughout Haynes’s varied oeuvre, especially the nature of identity in relation to the self and society, and the power and danger of resisting or transgressing social norms. Illness, toxicity, and contagion in the films can serve as sinister existential menace, or sickness can be or provide a portal for resistance. Haynes frequently tweaks narrative and genre conventions to upend or unsettle viewer expectations, activating critical engagement with the works. Often working within specific historical times and places, his meticulous production design is further enhanced by the choice of media, cameras, lenses, and film stocks with which each project is made. This extensive retrospective offers the very special opportunity to see all of Haynes’s feature films and a selection of early works on screen at BAMPFA’s Barbro Osher theater and begins with four films chosen and presented by the director himself.

—Kate MacKay, Associate Film Curator

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