The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures buzzed with excitement as a crowd of art and film lovers alike shuffled into a theater Tuesday evening for a screening of “Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV.”

Through archival footage and written materials, the film recounts the work and life of the Korean artist as it follows his journey growing up in Japanese-occupied Korea, moving to study piano performance in Germany, participating in international artist collective Fluxus and eventually making his way to New York City to experiment with avant-garde art alongside a community of creative mavericks.

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Nam June Paik is most well known for being the father of video art. His elevation of the medium to the level of fine art was unprecedented and groundbreaking, though not appreciated fully until later in his life.

“To be able to bring film and video to the art world and to bring it a sense of relevance and significance and also respect and value in a way that most people didn’t respect before is inspiring,” said Santana Aguirre, an attendee at the screening.

The people who inspired Paik’s work, as well as the people he inspired, were a main focus of the film, which featured acclaimed artists including Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Charlotte Moorman, Joseph Beuys, Allen Ginsberg, Park Seo-Bo, Marina Abramović and more. Several of these artists participated in exclusive interviews for the film.

“I love the way that they were able to actually put a lot of attention to his partner [Charlotte Moorman] the cellist — she played a really big role,” said Christina Valentine, the associate director of the ArtCenter Galleries and the curator of exhibitions at ArtCenter College of Design. “When I was in art school, they just mentioned her name, but they didn’t really talk about how integral she was and how much of a partnership they had in the art making process.”

Some of Paik’s most notable works shined in the film, including his TV Buddha and Electronic Superhighway. However, the filmmakers did not shy away from showing his personal and professional struggles as an artist. Art critics did not receive Paik’s work with technology well for years before he became the household name he is now. Additionally, his leftist views and strained relationship with his father, explored in the film, prevented his return to Korea for more than three decades.

Following the documentary program, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art hosted a panel featuring the film narrator, executive producer and award-winning actor Steven Yeun, film producer Jennifer Stockman, and LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director Michael Govan.

“They spoke on the panel about how this work wouldn’t have been as pertinent as it is today,” said attendee Eve Robitshek. “With the amount of technology that we all consume on a daily basis, he talked about living in an ocean, and I think that it was incredible to watch this piece today in our relevant landscape.”

The panelists discussed the process of making the film and added to the inspiring story of the main character himself, emphasizing that Paik’s work only grew in importance and influence after his death.

“As artists, we get to do what we do now because he did what he did,” Aguirre said.

Though many attendees were those with connections to the museum or film worlds who were familiar with Paik’s work prior to the screening, many still felt they took a lot away from the film.

“I work in the arts, and I’ve seen a lot of his work,” Valentine said. “But we don’t really get to know a lot of his biography that seems to be left out quite often, especially in the context of him as a Korean. So that was nice. I enjoyed that a lot.”

“Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV” released in the United States on March 24, 2023.