Film series: Party Like It's 1999

A man dressed in black bending backwards seeming to deft gravity. — Still from "The Matrix" (1999) Courtesy of Criterion Pictures.

The year was 1999. The internet was a new frontier. Fears of the new millennium and a Y2K bug loomed. The a new European currency called the Euro was introduced. The peer-to-peer music sharing platform Napster was founded and became instantly popular. President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial began. "The Sopranos" premiered on HBO. Backstreet Boys were "Artist of the Year" in the Billboard Charts.

And cinemas were filled with excellent movies.

"Party Like It's 1999" celebrates the 25th anniversary of a venerable year for independent cinema. Made on the verge of the new millennium, films from 1999 frequently reflected anxieties about a rapidly changing world and a youthful, technology-centered future. The year was also an exciting moment for independent filmmaking and saw emerging talents producing visionary work in parallel with established directors, thanks to new, more accessible filmmaking technologies and robust studio support for singular storytelling.

What is remarkable is the remarkable longevity of these films, which have remained fixtures in the American cultural landscape and continued to influence fashion, filmmaking, our relationship to technology, and more.

Our series includes perennial fan favorites like 10 Things I Hate About You and The Mummy as well as boundary-pushing titles like The Matrix, Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut, and the low-budget, internet sensation The Blair Witch Project.