Samuel L. Jackson will be the guest of honor at this year’s Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit,
presented by Chanel.
The actor will be toasted at the 16th annual event, to be held in New York City on Oct. 23. Ahead of the award, MoMA will also present Samuel L. Jackson: A Tribute from Oct. 4 through Oct. 16, screening several films from Jackson’s vast filmography in the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters. This selection includes work with his frequent collaborators Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino, leading-man roles in Changing Lanes (2002) and 187 (1997), and one of his many appearances as Nick Fury, in Captain Marvel (2019).
Jackson’s latest film, a new adaptation of August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson (2024), directed by Malcolm Washington, will also be screened as part of the series, ahead of its theatrical release on Nov. 8 and Netflix release on Nov. 22.
“Samuel L. Jackson has become a landmark cultural figure thanks to his early film work with Spike Lee, which transfixed both audiences and critics, and his biblically powerful turn as the wise and merciless assassin Jules in Pulp Fiction (1994),” Rajendra Roy, MoMA’s Celeste Bartos chief curator of film, said in a statement. “He has acting roots in the New York theater, just a few blocks away from MoMA, and we are thrilled to welcome him in celebration of his unparalleled accomplishments.”
Chanel has been a sponsor of The Museum of Modern Art’s annual Film Benefit since 2011 and has served as the lead sponsor of film at MoMA since 2021. Jackson joins previous MoMA Film Benefit honorees including Guillermo del Toro, Penélope Cruz, George Clooney, Laura Dern, Martin Scorsese, Julianne Moore, Tom Hanks, Cate Blanchett, Alfonso Cuarón, Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Kathryn Bigelow, Tim Burton and Baz Luhrmann.