Pedro Almodóvar: Muses and Influences

The singular Academy Award–winning Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar (b. 1949)—whose immersive, multichannel media installation is on view as part of the Academy Museum’s Stories of Cinema exhibition—was the focus of a career retrospective film series at the museum in 2022. With 23 features to date and an active filmmaking practice since the 1970s, Almodóvar’s vibrant films have touched many genres, from melodrama and comedy to drama and high-camp musical. To present a dimensional experience of the director’s rich works, we’ve pulled from some of his most iconic inspirations for a program that highlights his influences, including Luis Buñuel, Nicholas Ray, Ingmar Bergman, and 1950s American science fiction, as well as his many muses, including Gena Rowlands and Joan Crawford. To launch this series, which we’ve timed to celebrate the release of the Academy Museum’s visually stunning book, Pedro Almodóvar: Installation/Instalación (2023, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures/DelMonico Books), we’re kicking off the series with his sensational 1993 feature Kika.