Tribeca Film Festival to open with movie about China-themed Met exhibit

The downtown-based Tribeca Film Festival is taking a trip uptown to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The cinema confab announced Monday that it is opening this year with “The First Monday in May,” a documentary look at the Met’s recent costume exhibition on China.

The film is directed by Andrew Rossi, who earlier in his career helmed “Page One,” the documentary about the New York Times that helped make the late David Carr something of a screen star.

SIGN UP for the free Indie Focus movies newsletter >>

In his new work, Rossi peeks behind the curtain of one of the country’s most venerated cultural institutions.

The Met’s 2015 costume exhibit, titled “China: Through the Looking Glass,” centered on how European and American designers have long looked to the Middle Kingdom for important fashion cues. “Monday” tracks curator Andrew Bolton as he puts together the show of Chinese-inspired Western fashions, examining the intersection not only of geography but of fashion, art and celebrity.

“‘The First Monday in May’ illuminates the debate between fine art, fashion, pop culture and captures the creativity, passion and visionaries behind the exhibition and gala, Andrew Bolton and Anna Wintour,” Tribeca co-founder Jane Rosenthal said in a statement. (The film, incidentally, will play downtown, at Tribeca’s flagship BMCC venue.)

“First Monday” is due to open in Los Angeles and New York later in April.

Though it has experimented with studio features for its opening night (“Shrek Forever After,” “Baby Mama,” among others), Tribeca in recent years has concentrated on culturally oriented nonfiction works, kicking off with documentaries about “Saturday Night Live” and the rapper Nas during the last few editions.

Tribeca, which is marking its 15th installment this year, is set to open April 13 in New York.

Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT