The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Announces New Exhibitions for the Spring 2025 Season
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE DIRECTOR'S INSPIRATION: BONG JOON HO, OPENING MARCH 23, 2025, AND
BARBIE TO ANNA KARENINA: THE CINEMATIC WORLDS OF SARAH GREENWOOD AND KATIE SPENCER OPENING MAY 23, 2025.
Editorial images available HERE.
Los Angeles, January 30, 2025—The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures today announced new exhibitions for the spring 2025 season. These include Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho, the first-ever museum exhibition dedicated to the Oscar®-winning director, tracing his creative development through his films and the films that most influenced him; and Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, an exploration of the Oscar-nominated production design team, who collaborated to visually design the story, directorial vision, and characters of films such as Barbie (2023), Anna Karenina (2012) and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
“These exhibitions showcase how the Academy Museum collaborates with world-renowned filmmakers to bring insight and deepened understanding to their creative processes,” said Amy Homma, Academy Museum Director and President. “I am so excited for the public to celebrate and explore the imaginations and brilliance of Bong Joon Ho, Sarah Greenwood,
and Katie Spencer. These exhibitions will showcase the incredible diversity of voices, stories, and cultures that have shaped the movie industry and the global film community.”
“Through unprecedented access to materials from his personal archive, Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho invites visitors to explore his creative process through production materials and the films that most inspire him,” said Michelle Puetz, Exhibitions Curator. “Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer provides a firsthand look into the duo’s artistic vision and uniquely collaborative creative process—showcasing how they bring cinematic worlds to life, from concept to reality.”
Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho
Director's Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho is the first museum exhibition dedicated to the internationally acclaimed, Oscar–winning film director. In a continuation of the Academy Museum’s Director’s Inspiration series, this exhibition offers a focused spotlight on Bong Joon Ho’s creative process, filmography, and cinematic influences.
Whether set in 1980s Korea or an imagined future time and space, Bong Joon Ho's films address issues that are transnational and universal: class disparity, social injustice, the environmental crisis, and political and moral corruption. His protagonists are everyday people—unlikely heroes—who confront the absurdities of modern life. From his earliest short films to his international breakthrough, The Host (Republic of Korea, 2006), through the Oscar-winning Parasite (Republic of Korea, 2019), Bong Joon Ho’s work defies simple categorization, embedding social critique into deeply humorous, unexpected, and thought-provoking stories.
With unprecedented access to the filmmaker's archive and personal collection, the exhibition features over 100 original objects including storyboards, research materials, film posters, concept art, creature models, props, and on-set photographs. At the center of the exhibition is a space designed to reflect Director Bong’s creative workspace, which includes select objects spanning his filmography.
Director's Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho is curated by Exhibitions Curator Michelle Puetz, with the support of Assistant Curator Nicholas Barlow, Research Assistants Josue Lopez and Jeongsil Yoon, and former Getty Marrow Curatorial Intern Janice Kim. The exhibition runs from March 23, 2025–January 10, 2027, and will be accompanied by a screening series that launches the weekend of March 22 with screenings of Parasite (2019) and Okja (2017), with Bong in person.
Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer is an immersive and experiential look at one of the most distinctive production design teams
working today. The exhibition explores how Greenwood and Spencer develop the overall look and visual concept of a movie, and how they collaborate to create unique environments and settings that convey time, place, and character. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the impact of production designers and set decorators on a film and will leave with a greater understanding and knowledge of their work.
Barbie to Anna Karenina is divided into four galleries—three featuring Greenwood and Spencer’s work on the films Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012), Beauty and the Beast (Bill Condon, 2017), and Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023). Each gallery invites visitors to step into the world design for these films and explores Greenwood and Spencer’s process through key props and pre-production materials. A final gallery showcases Greenwood and Spencer’s creative process through a recreation of their studio space as it looked during their work on the film Barbie.
Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer have worked together for more than 25 years on over 20 feature films. Together, they have been nominated for seven Oscars for their films starting with Pride & Prejudice in 2005, followed by Atonement (2007), Sherlock Holmes (2010), Anna Karenina (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Darkest Hour (2017). They received their seventh Academy Award® nomination for their creation of the pink-hued universe of writer-director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023).
Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer is curated by Exhibitions Curator Michelle Puetz, with the support of Curatorial Assistants Simran Bhalla and Alexandra James Salichs and former Curatorial Assistant Manouchka Labouba. The exhibition runs from May 23, 2025–October 25, 2026.
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Exhibition Credits:
Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho is made possible in part by leadership support from CJ ENM, Korea Foundation, and Netflix. Additional support provided by Sara Risher and Yeardley Smith. Technology solutions generously provided by Panasonic.
Barbie to Anna Karenina: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer is supported by Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Tom Duffield, and Yeardley Smith. Special thanks to Mattel for their collaboration and support for this exhibition
About the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures The Academy Museum is the largest museum in the world devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. The museum advances the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema through inclusive and accessible exhibitions, screenings, programs, initiatives, and collections. Designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, the museum's campus contains the restored and revitalized historic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building (1939)—and a soaring spherical addition. Together, these buildings contain 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, two state-of-the-art theaters, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, and beautiful public spaces that are free and open to the public. These include: The Walt Disney Company Piazza and the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby, which houses the Spielberg Family Gallery, Academy Museum Store, and Fanny’s restaurant and café. The Academy Museum is open six days a week from 10am to 6pm.
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