Kerry Brougher, Director of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, this week announced the details of the inaugural exhibitions that will be on view when the Museum opens in late 2019. The first institution of its scope and scale devoted to the past, present, and future of cinema, the Academy Museum will open with a long-term exhibition that explores the evolution of film from its beginnings to its possible futures. Where Dreams Are Made: A Journey Inside the Movies (working title) will occupy two floors of the Museum’s iconic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building—and looks at the development of the art and science of motion pictures. Brougher also announced the institution’s first temporary exhibitions.

The Museum will open with Hayao Miyazaki (working title), presented in collaboration with the filmmaker’s Studio Ghibli—the first major exhibition of his work presented in the United States. This exhibition will be followed by Regeneration: Black Cinema 1900–1970 (Fall 2020), a groundbreaking exhibition that reveals the important and under-recognized history of African-American filmmakers in the development of American cinema. It will explore African-American representation in the motion picture from its advent to just beyond the Civil Rights era.

The Museum’s 34-foot-high project space will open with a major work by the Tokyo-based interdisciplinary art collective teamLab. Additional exhibitions will include Making of: The Wizard of Oz, featuring elements that contributed to the creation of this iconic film, a history of the Academy Awards, and an Oscars® experience.

The Academy Museum’s opening temporary exhibition will be an unprecedented U.S. retrospective of famed Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, curated by Jessica Niebel in collaboration with Studio Ghibli. Celebrated and admired around the world for his imagination, authorial vision, craftsmanship, and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki continues to influence generations of filmmakers and film lovers. The exhibition will take visitors on a thematic journey through his cinematic worlds using original production materials from Studio Ghibli’s archives and features such films as My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Spirited Away (2001). The exhibition will present more than 200 concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, cels, backgrounds, film clips, and immersive environments. A catalogue, film series, and public events will accompany the presentation, and unique Studio Ghibli merchandise will be sold at the Museum’s shop.

In the Museum’s Hurd Gallery—a 34-foot-high project space dedicated to the work of contemporary artists and filmmakers pushing the boundaries of moving image media—will be a dramatic interactive installation by teamLab, curated by Kerry Brougher and Deborah Horowitz. teamLab is an interdisciplinary art collective based in Tokyo comprising more than 500 artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians, and architects. Transcending Boundaries presents a site-specific, real-time, ever-changing environment that allows the viewer to engage directly with the artwork itself. teamLab’s work looks toward the expanded possibilities of moving image and digital technology.

Following Hayao Miyazaki, the Academy Museum will present Regeneration: Black Cinema 1900-1970 in Fall 2020. Regeneration will explore the visual culture of Black cinema in its manifold expressions from its early days to just beyond the Civil Rights movement. Co-curated by Doris Berger and Rhea Combs, Supervisory Curator of Photography and Film at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), it will be the first exhibition of its kind—a research-driven, in-depth look at Black participation in American filmmaking. In addition to offering a critical exploration of Hollywood productions, Regeneration will highlight the work of independent African-American filmmakers and create dialogues with visual artists. The exhibition’s goal is to redefine American film history as it elevates this under-represented aspect of artistic production and presents a more inclusive story. Regeneration is the proud recipient of the Sotheby’s Prize. The Sotheby’s Prize is an annual award that supports and encourages museums to break new ground. The grant aims to recognize curatorial excellence, and to facilitate exhibitions that explore overlooked or under-represented areas of art history. The Sotheby’s Prize is awarded by a jury comprising Sir Nicholas Serota, Donna De Salvo, Okwui Enwezor, Connie Butler, Emilie Gordenker, and chaired by Allan Schwartzman.

Regeneration’s curatorial team is collaborating with an advisory panel throughout the development of the exhibition. The panel brings expertise and experience deeply rooted in scholarship and filmmaking and includes Charles Burnett, filmmaker, Academy member; Ava DuVernay, filmmaker, Academy member; Michael B. Gillespie, Associate Professor, The City College of New York, Department Media Communication Arts; Shola Lynch, Curator, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, filmmaker, Academy member; Ron Magliozzi, Curator of Film, The Museum of Modern Art; Ellen C. Scott, Associate Professor and Head of Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television; and Jacqueline N. Stewart, Professor, The University of Chicago, Department of Cinema and Media Studies.