Tonight, the Museum of Modern Art celebrates the artistic talents of one of the most artistic directors—Australian Baz Luhrmann.
Lovers of Luhrmann’s colorful scenes from films like Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, and Romeo + Juliet (whose lush imagery and encapsulation of heartache and lust was burned into the retinas and hearts of an entire generation of teenage moviegoers), will appreciate that the MoMA has chosen him as the recipient of their first-ever film benefit.
Sponsors of a dinner and cocktail for the Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning Luhrmann are Men’s Vogue and Louis Vuitton (whose current ad campaign contains shots by Annie Leibovitz that could be a storyboard for some of the windswept, wilderness shots of the epic Australia).
Hugh Jackman, who stars in Luhrmann’s next film, Australia, will serve as an honorary chair, and the stars are expected to come out to fete the filmmaker. Keep your eyes peeled for co-star Nicole Kidman, Eva Mendes, Elizabeth Moss, Jeremy Piven, Jessica Biel, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Blake Lively, Penn Badgley, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Lucas, Jacinda Barrett, and Rachel Weisz.
Designers Miuccia Prada, Massimo Ferragamo, Tory Burch, Georgina Chapman, Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Rachel Roy and Zac Posen are expected.
Sir Elton John is expected to perform.
Money raised will go toward helping the museum’s ongoing effort to build its film library, which has more than 22,000 titles and 4 million film stills.
