The First Monday in May

The First Monday in May is a 2016 documentary film directed by Andrew Rossi and produced by Fabiola Beracasa Beckman, Dawn Ostroff, and Sylvana Ward Durrett. The film chronicles the conception and execution of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2015 exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass, curated by Andrew Bolton. Framed around the planning of the annual Met Gala, the documentary explores the intersection of fashion, art, and cultural politics as the exhibition becomes the most attended fashion show in the museum’s history.

The film premiered as the opening night selection of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States by Magnolia Pictures on April 15, 2016. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its access and visual style, though some questioned its critical distance from its subjects.