Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar to Curate Exhibits for Academy Museum

By Jordan Moreau

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures announced that Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar and other filmmakers will collaborate on exhibitions when the museum opens.

Hildur Guðnadóttir, the composer for last year’s “Joker,” and Ben Burtt, a veteran sound designer on the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” franchises, will also help curate exhibits.

Bill Kramer, director of the Academy Museum, announced the details of the new collaborations on Saturday. The museum will open to the public on Dec. 14, eight years after the project was first announced.

“We will open the Academy Museum with exhibitions and programs that will illuminate the complex and fascinating world of cinema — its art, technology, artists, history, and social impact — through a variety of diverse and engaging voices. We will tell complete stories of moviemaking — celebratory, educational, and sometimes critical and uncomfortable. Global in outlook and grounded in the unparalleled collections and expertise of the Academy, these first exhibitions will establish this museum as incomparable in the world of cinema,” he said.

Kramer also acknowledged that the announcement comes at a time when most museums, movie theaters and other establishments are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are keenly aware that we’re working towards the opening of the Academy Museum during a time of great challenge. Over the past century, motion pictures have reflected and impacted major historical issues and events. The stories we tell in the Academy Museum are part of those bigger stories, and we are committed to highlighting the social impact of motion pictures. We look forward to brighter days for everyone, everywhere,” he said.

The six-level museum will be located at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. Exhibits will tell the stories of the film industry from around the world and dive into the arts and sciences of moviemaking. Several planned galleries will be focused on films like “The Wizard of Oz,” “Citizen Kane,” “The Matrix” and films by Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli.

Lee won his first Oscar for best adapted screenplay on 2019’s “BlacKkKansman,” in addition to an honorary award in 2016. Almodóvar earned two Academy Awards for his films “All About My Mother” in 1999 and “Talk to Her” in 2002. Last year, Guðnadóttir became just the fourth woman in history to win the Oscar for best original score. Sound designer Burtt has taken home Academy Awards for “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”