The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced its schedule of inaugural in-person screenings and public programs, which will begin on September 30 when the museum opens. The Academy Museum is the largest institution in the United States devoted to exploring the art and science of movies and moviemaking.
During the first three months of the Academy Museum’s opening, the museum will offer the public a robust, dynamic, and diverse slate of over 115 film screenings, discussions, and programs for film lovers of all ages, beginning with two special presentations of The Wizard of Oz (USA, 1939) featuring live musical accompaniment by the American Youth Symphony conducted by Academy Award®-nominated composer David Newman.
Other highlights of the museum’s first few months of in-person programming include the launch of ongoing series:
- Stories of Cinema: featuring screenings of films highlighted in the museum’s core exhibition, including Real Women Have Curves (USA, 2002) and The Way of the Dragon (Hong Kong, 1972).
- Oscar® Sundays: held every Sunday evening in the David Geffen Theater, this series celebrates films that have been honored at the Academy Awards®. For the series’ first iteration, we are celebrating the work of women directors, including Harlan County, U.S.A. (USA, 1976) and Seven Beauties (Italy, 1975).
- Family Matinees: held every Saturday for families of all ages, screenings will include Moana (USA, 2016), The Book of Life (USA, 2014), and Labyrinth (UK/USA, 1986).
- Legacy: launching with a discussion between Laura Dern and her parents Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd.
- In Conversation: launching with a discussion of how to contextualize cinema, featuring producers Effie T. Brown and Heather Rae.
Special series and standalone screenings for our opening months include:
- Malcolm X in 70mm: a screening for Academy Museum Members of the seminal film, with special guests Spike Lee and Denzel Washington.
- Oscar® Frights: featuring screenings of Oscar®-winning and nominated horror films, including Get Out (USA, 2017) and Psycho (USA, 1960).
- Hayao Miyazaki: in conjunction with the Academy Museum’s landmark exhibition on Hayao Miyazaki, the Academy Museum will screen the filmmaker’s complete body of work as a feature director, including My Neighbor Totoro (Japan, 1988) and Spirited Away (Japan, 2001).
- Imperfect Journey: Haile Gerima and His Comrades: following honoring Haile Gerima at the Academy Museum Opening Gala, the museum is thrilled to present this series focused on Haile Gerima’s work as a director and the work of some of his mentees and comrades, including Malik Sayeed, Bradford Young, and Arthur Jafa.
- Sound Off: A Celebration of Women Composers: in honor of the Academy Museum’s gallery created with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sound Off will feature screenings of films scored by women composers, including Joker (USA, 2019), scored by Guðnadóttir and Tron (USA, 1982), scored by Wendy Carlos.
- Retrospectives of films by Jane Campion and Satyajit Ray, the latter of which draws from the Academy Film Archive’s rich holdings of Ray’s films.
- Beyond the Icon: Anna May Wong: which celebrates the early film star’s work and legacy and includes screenings of Piccadilly (UK, 1929) and Shanghai Express (USA, 1932).
- Special screenings, including the 20th anniversary of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Canada, 2001).
Virtual programs will continue leading up to the museum’s opening, including a conversation with Oscar®-winning writer-director Spike Lee and writer-director-producer Shaka King, and a 20th Anniversary screening of Y tu mamá también (Mexico, 2001) with a conversation between cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki and writer-director Alfonso Cuarón, both recipients of multiple Oscars®.
Bill Kramer, director and president of the Academy Museum, said, “We are delighted to share details of our opening in-person screenings and programs. Over the last several months, the programming and education teams have done an incredible job of creating a series of robust and dynamic virtual programs. We continue these through September, highlighting the work of Anna May Wong, Spike Lee, Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki and Alfonso Cuarón, and then launch our in-person public programs with two screenings of The Wizard of Oz with a live orchestra. As with all of our exhibitions and initiatives, we are committed to showcasing the diverse art and artists of moviemaking in our theaters and educational spaces.”
Jacqueline Stewart, chief artistic and programming officer of the Academy Museum, said, “Presenting films and thoughtful educational programs that feature moviemakers is at the heart of our work to share the art and science of cinema, a mission that extends beyond and complements the exhibitions on view in the museum’s galleries. The museum’s schedule of opening programs illustrates the ways the Academy Museum will explore wide-ranging topics in film history while serving as a catalyst for new dialogues inspired by cinema and moviemaking.”
Future programs launching in early 2022 include screenings of the works of Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar; masterpieces from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema; Branch Selects—Academy Member-curated screenings that delve into different craft and scientific areas of film production; and much more.
You can see the full schedule of the Academy Museum’s film screenings and public and educational programs here.
