Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announces details of new gallery rotations

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced exciting new details of the upcoming gallery rotations in the museum’s core exhibition Stories of Cinema, with changes to the galleries Significant Movies and Moviemakers and Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation. The rotations debut to the public on February 19, 2023.

“Our core exhibition Stories of Cinema was conceived of to rotate and change, to tell the varied and diverse stories of moviemaking, and to capture the vitality and multitude of filmmakers and films. We are thrilled to welcome this next slate of Significant Movies and Moviemakers vignettes and a new iteration of our Animation gallery. Visitors will be able to enhance their knowledge of films they know well and make new cinematic discoveries, to journey from Casablanca to Inglewood, and to consider the historical context and communities in which these films were made,” said Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum.

Stories of Cinema: Significant Movies and Moviemakers

The museum’s celebration of Casablanca (1942) will feature original production objects highlighting beloved characters, settings, music, and the cinematic virtuosity that made the film one of Hollywood’s most enduring classics. The Academy Award^® Best Picture-winner is inseparable from the historical context of its production. Set against the backdrop of the World War II refugee crisis, Casablanca’s onscreen narrative echoed the offscreen experiences of many cast and crew members. The gallery will explore the influx of European é migrés who contributed their talents to the film, including Hungarian Jewish director Michael Curtiz and Austrian actor Paul Henreid, who played resistance fighter Victor Laszlo. In real life, Henreid was declared an enemy of the Third Reich, and ultimately had to escape to America just like the fictional character he portrayed. The actor’s real-life immigrant identification card will be displayed alongside the production-made prop passport for his character, underscoring the art-imitates-life aspects of this film. The gallery also includes the two iconic 58-key pianos that Sam (Dooley Wilson) plays in the film—in Casablanca and Paris—on view together for the very first time. Finally, the doors from Rick’s Café Américain, as well as the personal diary Ingrid Bergman maintained during filming will round out the gallery. Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Casablanca is curated by Associate Curator Dara Jaffe.

Boyz N the Hood (1991) will explore the movie’s groundbreaking depiction of Black life in South Central Los Angeles. The space will highlight writer-director John Singleton’s unique vision for the film, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Original Screenplay and became both the first African American and the youngest person ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. The space will include rare production photos, costumes, and props from the film, including objects from actor Tyra Ferell as well as materials from the John Singleton estate. The gallery will also feature an original mural by Uber Lopez Enamorado and original location photos of South Central Los Angeles by Al Seib. Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Boyz N the Hood is curated by Curatorial Assistant Esme Douglas with the support of Research Assistant Manouchka Kelly Labouba.

The presentation featuring Mexican American filmmaker Lourdes Portillo will highlight the life and career of the documentarian, visual artist, journalist, and activist. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Los Angeles, Portillo’s documentaries blend experimental and traditional modes of storytelling to focus on themes of identity and social justice in the United States and Latin America. Portillo’s vignette focuses on key projects including Las Madres–The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (1985),  La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead (1989), The Devil Never Sleeps (1994), and Missing Young Woman (Señorita extraviada) (2001). In addition to media installations, the gallery includes posters of Portillo’s films, artworks from her collection, research materials, and a Día de los Muertos altar created with the renowned Los Angeles art center Self Help Graphics & Art. Significant Movies and Moviemakers: Lourdes Portillo is curated by Assistant Curator Sophia Serrano.

To complement Portillo’s space, the museum will present Lourdes Portillo: Una vida de directora, a film series that runs May 12–21, 2023 and offers the opportunity for visitors to experience key works from the gallery on the big screen.

Stories of Cinema: Inventing Worlds & Characters: Animation

Nearly a century of animated filmmaking—as told through the stories of diverse animation artists—is highlighted in the fresh redesign of the Animation gallery and includes models, puppets, maquettes, animation drawings, cels, illustrations, character designs, and other materials that give insight into the visual styles, themes, and approaches of animation moviemakers. Working in traditional, computer-generated, or stop-motion animation, the storytellers all have the same aim: to delight, educate, and entertain.

Works on view include an original Jiminy Cricket maquette for Pinocchio (1940) and a stop-motion animation set for Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), both from the Academy Museum’s collection. Mary Blair illustrations for Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953) draw from the collection of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library. Animation drawings for films including The Little Mermaid (1989) and cel setups for films including Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) reveal the process of traditional animation. Concept artworks and maquettes show the extent of creative development that goes into the making of shorts such as Bao (2018) and features such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). Stop-motion animation puppets for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) and Robin Robin (2021) bring an opportunity to see the striking details and textures of memorable onscreen characters up close. In addition, through the animated documentary Flee (2021), the components of animation, like color scripts and character lineups, are foregrounded. Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation is curated by Exhibitions Curator Jenny He with the support of Curatorial Assistant Esme Douglas.