Earlier today, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (Academy Museum, henceforth) announced their plans for their grand opening in 2019. In their announcement, facility spokespeople stated that the $388 million facility aims to become “the first institution of its scope and scale devoted to the past, present, and future of cinema.”
Museum director Kerry Brougher revealed that, among other exhibits, the Academy Museum will also open with a temporary exhibition that commemorates the work of iconic anime creator Hayao Miyazaki. The display will be the first major exhibition of Miyazaki’s work in the United States, and presented in cooperation with Studio Ghibli.
Following the Miyazaki display, the Academy Museum will host “Regeneration: Black Cinema 1900–1970” in Fall 2019, which celebrates the under-represented history and contributions of African-American filmmakers to American cinema as a whole. The exhibit will trace from the beginning of the motion picture era, to a period shortly following the Civil Rights era.
Planned permanent exhibits include:
- “Where Dreams Are Made: A Journey Inside the Movies,” which explores the development of film as an art and a science
- “Making of: The Wizard of Oz,” which includes a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers as its main attraction
- The “Lumière and Méliès Gallery,” which will display several of film’s earliest known films including Loui and Auguste Lumière’s “slice-of-life” features, and Georges Méliès’ “trick” films.
- The “Story Films Gallery,” which will show the evolution of cinematography, with exhibitions of early dramas, comedies, adventures, and animated works, among other genres. Focus will be given to pioneering women such as Alice Guy-Blaché and Lois Weber.
- The “Light and Shadow Gallery,” which features sequences from prominent silent films, with an emphasis on design, acting styles, cinematographic effects, and lighting techniques from the era.
- The “Modern Times Section,” which highlights the rise of Hollywood, the eruption of Soviet cinema, and the development of Hollywood’s independent filmmaking scene.
- “The Studio System,” which highlights the growth and decline of Hollywood’s “Studio System” (1926 – 1969), exploring the spectacle of the medium and the factory-like settings of studios of the time. Notable exhibits include a backdrop from Singin’ in the Rain, the doors to Rick’s Café Américain from Casablanca, and the typewriter Alfred Hitchcock used to write Psycho.
- “The Real World,” which highlights the evolution of film post-WWII. Movements include French New Wave, to Italian Neorealism, to Brazilian Cinema Novo.
- An homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey‘s Stargate Corridor sequence
- An exhibition covering the history of the Oscars
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was first announced in 2017. The 300,000 square-foot campus was designed by Pritzker-prize winning Renzo Piano, and is the United States’ first major museum dedicted to the art, craft, business, history, and science of film.
Hayao Miyazaki officially retired from feature filmmaking in 2013. In November 2016, we reported that Miyazaki expressed a desire to return to movie production. In NHK special Owaranai Hito Miyazaki Hayao (The Man Who Is Not Done: Hayao Miyazaki), it was revealed that Miyazaki was working on CGI short Kemushi no Boro. He wasn’t satisfied with the format, though, and presented a project proposal for a feature-length film in August 2016.
Miyazaki commented on the matter, stating that if the feature would take five years to make, he’d be 80 by the end of production. Though Miyazaki retired from feature films after 2013’s The Wind Rises, he continued to work as a director on shorts and features for the Studio Ghibli Museum.
In May 2017, Studio Ghibli put out a hiring call for new background artists and in-between animators for the feature. In February, we reported that Miyazaki was doing prep work for a new feature film, with the aim of having it in theaters by the 2020 Olympics. Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki noted at the time that “[r]ight now in Tokyo, he’s putting all his effort into making it [the feature].”
Kemushi no Boro made its debut at the Studio Ghibli Museum on March 21.
Miyazaki’s final film will be titled Kimi-tachi wa dou Ikiru ka? (How Are You Living?), and shares its title with a book by Genzaburo Yoshino. According to Toshio Suzuki, the film will be an action-adventure fantasy film.
Source: Deadline (Thanks to an anonymous tipster for the heads-up!)
