BATTLE OF THE PARTIES

Battle of the Parties: New York’s Downtown Cool Kids vs. Actual Upper East Side Children

See how two of the week’s parties– the one year anniversary bash for Metrograph, the Lower East Side’s movie theatre of choice for arthouse films, and The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s annual Bunny Hop, sponsored by Bonpoint–stacked up.

by Lauren McCarthy

March 10, 2017

Angela Pham/BFA.com

In New York, there are the fashion cool kids (Chloë Sevigny, Alexa Chung, et al.), and then there are actual cool kids (re: children). That was the case when it came to this week’s most diverse pair of parties: the one year anniversary bash for Metrograph, the Lower East Side’s movie theatre of choice for arthouse films, and The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s annual Bunny Hop, sponsored by Bonpoint. See how the two parties stacked up here–and remember, when it comes to parties, everyone is a winner.

Location:

Metrograph: Metrograph, of course. The Lower East Side movie-theater, which in the past year has hosted premieres of The Neon Demon, The Nice Guys, Mr. Robot, and Westworld, shut down its screenings for the evening to host a multi-level rager on Wednesday evening.

Bunny Hop: A private residence on the Upper East Side, transformed into a spring-themed wonderland complete with tulips and butterflies. The timeframe was a kid-friendly 5 – 6:30 p.m.

Host Committee:

Metrograph: A who’s who of the New York film world, including Laurie Anderson, Olivier Assayas, Noah Baumbach, Mike Birbiglia, Steve Buscemi, Michael Cera, Amy Heckerling, Tom McCarthy, Chloë Sevigny, and Christine Vachon, as well as honorary hosts Wes Anderson, Mike Birbiglia, Peter Bogdanovich, Jonathan Demme, Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Ilana Glazer, Ethan Hawke, Gaby Hoffman, Isabelle Huppert, Abbi Jacobson, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Jonze, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, Laura Linney, Kenneth Lonergan, John Cameron Mitchell, Raoul Peck, Zachary Quinto, Julian Schnabel, Jason Schwartzman, and Steven Spielberg. Prestige enough for you?

Bunny Hop: Upper East Side society types Mary Carlisle Gambill, Anna Kennedy Safir, and Sara Gilbane Sullivan, and honorary chair Drew Barrymore.

Additional Guests:

Metrograph: The downtown crowd, including Chris Rock, Melissa Leo, Kiernan Culkin, Trudie Styler, Tavi Gavinson, Bobby Cannavale, Kiernan Culkin, Helena Christensen, Petra Collins, and Tom Sachs. Plus, a trio of Girls actors for good measure: Zosia Mamet, Chris Abbot, and Ebon Moss Bachrach.

Bunny Hop: More of the uptown mommies, with their tots in tow.

Entertainment:

Metrograph: A performance by the Chinatown Lion Dancers.

Bunny Hop: A live animal show, a petting zoo, two photo booths, a DJ, magicians and balloon artists, as well as a special live performance from Gazillion Bubble Show.

Refreshments:

Metrograph: Ruffino wine and VDKA 6100 cocktails, plus all the movie theater candy and popcorn you could ever want.

Bunny Hop: A buffet full of chicken fingers and macaroni and cheese, with juice boxes to wash it down. And some white wine for the mommies.

Related festivities:

Metrograph: The following evening the theater hosted a screening of Personal Shopper, where the film’s star, Kristen Stewart, showed off her newly shaved head and a stunning Chanel gown.

Bunny Hop: Nap-time.