On March 15, University Press of Mississippi will publish the collection David Cronenberg: Interviews, edited by David Schwartz, MoMI's former Chief Curator and Programmer of the Paris Theater for Netflix. (The date also marks Cronenberg's 78th birthday.) In celebration, the Museum has invited a stellar group of writers, all featured in the book, for a live talk with Schwartz about Cronenberg's career. The wide-ranging conversation will kick off with a discussion of the director’s horror classic The Brood. (Viewers are encouraged to watch the film—available on the Criterion Channel or YouTube—prior to the event.) Confirmed guests include William Beard, Graham Fuller, Nicolas Rapold, Carrie Rickey, Gavin Smith, and Amy Taubin.

From his horror movies—including Scanners, Videodrome, Rabid, and The Fly, with their exploding heads, mutating sex organs, rampaging parasites, and scientists turning into insects—to his inventive adaptations of books by William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis), and Bruce Wagner (Maps to the Stars), Canadian director David Cronenberg has consistently dramatized the struggle between the aspirations of the mind and the messy realities of the flesh. He has been exploring the most primal themes since the beginning of his career and continues to probe them with growing maturity and depth. Cronenberg’s work has drawn the interest of some of the most intelligent contemporary film critics, and the 15 interviews in Schwartz's volume feature remarkably in-depth and insightful conversations, which reveal Cronenberg as one of the most articulate and deeply philosophical directors now working. The book is an essential companion to an endlessly provocative and thoughtful body of work.