Academy Museum launches publishing program with books on Miyazaki, Spike Lee, and Almodóvar

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced its plans for the publication of three debut catalogues on the work of legendary moviemakers Hayao Miyazaki, Spike Lee, and Pedro Almodóvar, whose careers will be celebrated when the museum opens its inaugural exhibitions to the public on September 30, 2021. The three volumes will be co-published with DelMonico Books and distributed worldwide by D.A.P. Artbook.

Bill Kramer, director and president of the Academy Museum, said, “These first Academy Museum publications are a lasting record of our extraordinary inaugural exhibitions and our dynamic collaborations with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli and filmmakers Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar. Like the exhibitions, these catalogues will bring readers closer to the filmography, art, influences, and careers of these remarkable artists.”

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures chief artistic and programming director Jacqueline Stewart said, “Launching the Academy Museum’s publishing program with books dedicated to the work of Hayao Miyazaki, Spike Lee, and Pedro Almodóvar is a testament to the museum’s commitment to exploring the full range of moviemaking and furthering scholarship on the history of film. Each book is beautifully illustrated and includes overviews by the exhibition curators alongside original texts by scholars, journalists, and the artists’ contemporaries that will give readers new insights into the work of these extraordinary film artists.”

The richly illustrated catalogue ‘Hayao Miyazaki’ is published in partnership with Studio Ghibli. It will be available through the Academy Museum Store on September 7, 2021. Marking the museum’s eponymous inaugural temporary exhibition, the publication features hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s archives in Japan. The 288-page hardcover book illuminates Miyazaki’s creative process and animation techniques through imageboards, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds, and production cels from his early career through all 11 of his feature films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). The book features a foreword by producer and Studio Ghibli cofounder Toshio Suzuki along with texts by Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, Cologne-based journalist and film critic Daniel Kothenschulte, and Academy Museum Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel. ‘Hayao Miyazaki‘ is designed by Jessica Fleischmann/Still Room and copublished with DelMonico Books.

‘Spike Lee: Director’s Inspiration’, available in April 2022, brings Lee’s Academy Museum gallery to life. It delves deeply into items from Lee’s personal collection, which will be on view at the Academy Museum, and offers insight into the Academy Award-winning writer-director’s heroes, influences, and collaborations. The book features a new conversation between Lee and director Shaka King, an introduction by exhibition curator Dara Jaffe, and reflections by composer and musician Terence Blanchard, casting director Kim Coleman, director and producer Cheryl Dunye, actor Giancarlo Esposito, artist Isaac Julien, actor Rosie Perez, director Patrik-Ian Polk, screenwriter and director Dee Rees, actor, director, and writer Roger Guenveur Smith, artist Martine Syms, and production designer Wynn Thomas. The publication offers insight into the many creative and social legacies that have shaped Lee’s filmmaking approach, presenting items from Lee’s personal collection including original film posters and objects, photographs, and artworks, many of which were personally inscribed to him by people who have inspired his work. ‘Spike Lee: Director’s Inspiration’ is the first volume in a series that will focus on preeminent directors and the things that inspire them, with new titles to be published every fall.

Also available in April 2022, ‘Pedro Almodóvar: Installation’ includes a foreword by actor Tilda Swinton, a conversation between Academy Award-winning writer-director Almodóvar and film journalist Rachel Handler, essays by producer Agustín Almodóvar and Academy Museum curators Jenny He and J. Raúl Guzmán, and an illustrated filmography. The 300-page catalogue ‘Pedro Almodóvar: Installation’
is bilingual (Spanish and English) and filled with hundreds of images. Largely image-based, the book features visual chapters devoted to each of the 12 large-scale video montages Almodóvar created for the Academy Museum, which distill his forty-year filmography around key themes and scenes including family, bodies, guilt and pain, mothers, musicals, and religious education.