An inspirational trove of film posters and ephemera, photographs, artwork and more from the collection of Spike LeeFor nearly four decades, Spike Lee has made movies that demand our attention. His extensive filmography reflects an unflinching critique of race relations in the United States, from the Student Academy Award(R)-winning short Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads and the ever-relevant Do the Right Thing to the more recent Oscar(R)-winning BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods. A lifelong cinephile and film scholar, Lee draws inspiration from other artists working across a range of eras, genres and global cinemas. He has also devoted much of his career to teaching the next generation of filmmakers. Spike Lee: Director's Inspiration presents Lee's personal collection of original film posters and objects, photographs, artworks and more--many of these inscribed to Lee personally by filmmakers, stars, athletes, activists, musicians and others who have inspired his work in specific ways. Straight from the walls of Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule production studio in Brooklyn, his faculty office at NYU and his Martha's Vineyard home, these objects offer a glimpse into what shapes Lee's signature filmmaking approach. Spike Lee: Director's Inspiration also includes a conversation between Lee and Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), Lee's list of 95 essential films and brief texts by some of the many artists Lee himself has inspired. Spike Lee (born 1957) is a director, writer, actor, producer, author and artistic director of the graduate film program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he has taught since 1993.

Spike Lee: Director's Inspiration

Humor & Entertainment

DelMonico Books/Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

A visually immersive exploration of the provocative and humanistic themes at the heart of Almodóvar's cinema Pedro Almodóvar is one of the most daring and influential writer-directors of our time. He directed his first feature in 1980, during La Movida Madrileña (the Madrid Scene), a countercultural and democratic movement in Spain, and has been pushing boundaries for over four decades. Often outlandish and provocative, and rife with passion, Almodóvar's 22 films to date explore the full spectrum of the human condition. In the process, they have transformed Spanish cinema and contributed invaluably to the global film scene. Pedro Almodóvar: Installation/Instalaciónaccompanies an immersive exhibition created by Almodóvar for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Spanning 1984's What Have I Done to Deserve This?to 2019's Pain and Glory, Almodóvar's 12-channel film installation distills his filmography around iconic scenes and key themes including Family, Bodies, Guilt and Pain, Mothers, Musicals, Noir and Religious Education. This lush volume devotes a visual chapter to each, showcasing Almodóvar's muses--including Victoria Abril, Antonio Banderas, Pina Bausch, Penélope Cruz, Rossy de Palma, Marisa Paredes and Julieta Serrano--and the inspiration he draws from filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman and Luis Buñuel. The bilingual (Spanish and English) book also features a new conversation between Almodóvar and film journalist Rachel Handler, an introduction by Tilda Swinton, a preface by curator Jenny He, texts by curator J. Raúl Guzmán and Agustín Almodóvar, and a richly illustrated filmography. As bold and beautiful as Almodóvar's films themselves, Pedro Almodóvar: Installation/Instalacióncaptures the dynamic female characters, tantalizing stories, colorful humor and depth of emotion that exemplify this Academy Award-winning director's career.

Pedro Almodóvar: Installation/Instalación

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Review\nEvokes the pride of cultural acknowledgment and serves as a dismaying reminder of the pernicious effects of racism and discrimination over the decades. -- Mekeisha Madden ― Financial Times\nA sense of doubleness reverberates throughout the show as it continues to chart year after year of bigotry and resistance, institutional repression and artistic sovereignty, struggles that were literally embodied by performers working in old Hollywood and outside its cruelly restrictive gates. -- Manohla Dargis ― New York Times\nComprised of erudite essays, illustrative case studies ... Simply outstanding. ― Midwest Book Review\nRegeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971 is jam packed with treasures and revelations … [An] astonishing, well-paced journey through seven-plus decades of movie history. -- Phyllis Tuchman ― Brooklyn Rail\nThe overlooked yet vibrant history of Black participation in American film, from the beginning of cinema through the civil rights movement 
From the dawn of the medium onward, Black filmmakers have helped define American cinema. Black performers, producers and directors―Bert Williams, Oscar Micheaux, Herb Jeffries, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Ruby Dee and William Greaves, to name just a few―had a vast and resounding impact. Black film artists not only developed an enduring independent tradition but also transformed mainstream Hollywood, fueled and reflected sociopolitical movements, captured Black experience in all its robust complexity, and influenced generations to come. As harrowing as it is beautiful, this history of Black cinema and its legacy is often overlooked. 
Regeneration accompanies a first-of-its-kind exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures exploring seven decades of Black participation in American cinema. Amplifying this underrepresented history in colorful and striking detail, the book features an in-depth curatorial essay and scholarly case-study texts on topics such as early Black independent filmmaking, Black spectatorship during the Jim Crow era and home movies as an essential form of Black self-representation. The volume also makes meaningful connections to the present through interviews with award-winning contemporary Black filmmakers Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins and Dawn Porter. An extensive filmography and chronology offer an essential resource for anyone interested in Black cinema, while images of contemporary visual artworks further illustrate the volume throughout.

Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971

History & Criticism

A visual tribute to Agnès Varda's three lives as a photographer, filmmaker and artist, with previously unseen archival materials, texts and personal reflections from Jane Birkin, Martin Scorsese, JR and moreFrench filmmaker Agnès Varda was a trailblazer who broke new artistic and cinematic ground for nearly seven decades. Although closely associated with the French New Wave, Varda established her groundbreaking visual style in her 1955 debut film La Pointe Courte, well before other milestones such as François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless. Varda impacted cinema from her first feature film through her final works, with an expansive oeuvre that includes Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), Vagabond (1985) and the Academy Award-nominated Faces Places (2017). Agnès Varda: Director's Inspiration presents the first English-language visual showcase for Varda's inspirations, art and personal life, incorporating original materials from her personal archive on rue Daguerre. The book covers Varda's "three lives"--as photographer, filmmaker and visual artist--and features a previously unpublished interview Varda gave to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on the eve of receiving her Honorary Oscar in 2017. Essays by author Sasha Archibald and film critic Peter Debruge examine facets of Varda's creative lives, and personal reflections by friends and colleagues illustrate what it was like to collaborate with and be inspired by Varda. Agnès Varda (1928-2019) was a French filmmaker, photographer and visual artist, sometimes called the grandmother of the French New Wave. In 2018, her film with the French photographer and muralist known as JR, Faces Places, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, and that same year she received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.

Agnès Varda: Director's Inspiration

Irreverent, heartfelt, shocking and laugh-out-loud funny―a colorful celebration of the work of subversive auteur John Waters 
Known for pushing the boundaries of good taste, John Waters (born 1946) has created a canon of high-shock-value, high-entertainment movies that have cemented his position as one of the most revered and subversive auteurs in American independent cinema. Featuring misfit muses, tributes to his hometown of Baltimore and themes of fetish, obsession and celebrity culture, his renegade films―including Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), Hairspray (1988), Serial Mom (1994) and A Dirty Shame (2004)―are irreverent, laugh-out-loud comedies that lovingly draw inspiration from William Castle, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Andy Warhol and Pier Paolo Pasolini alike. John Waters: Pope of Trash accompanies a landmark exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the first dedicated solely to Waters’ films. The book presents costumes, props, handwritten scripts, concept drawings, correspondence, promotional gimmicks, production photography and other original materials from all of the filmmaker’s features and shorts. Spotlighting many of his longtime collaborators, it also features a new interview with Waters and texts by curators Jenny He and Dara Jaffe, film historian Jeanine Basinger, film critic and cultural theorist B. Ruby Rich, and author-writer-producer David Simon that explore how Waters’ movies have redefined the possibilities of independent cinema.

John Waters: Pope of Trash

Individual Artists

Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Product Description 
A richly illustrated journey through the extraordinary cinematic worlds of beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki 
For over four decades, Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting audiences of all ages. His animated films, often featuring children navigating unfamiliar and challenging worlds, offer timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Celebrated and admired around the globe for his artistic vision, craftsmanship and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki has influenced generations of artists. The universal appeal of his evocative natural settings and complex characters, many among them strong girls and young women, cuts across cultural boundaries.This book is published on the occasion of the 2021 inaugural exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. It accompanies the first ever retrospective dedicated to the legendary filmmaker in North America and introduces hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never before seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s archives. Concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds and production cels from his early career through all 11 of his feature films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), offer insight into Miyazaki’s creative process and masterful animation techniques. 
 Review 
A considerable work itself: a treasure for fans of the animator and Studio Ghibli, and a wonderful history, art, and reference piece for students of film and animation.-- "Anime News Network"\nWill satisfy all your Ghibli needs... Fans can piece together Miyazaki's aesthetic process from all 11 of his feature films.--Shawn Ghassemitari "Hypebeast"\nPublished in partnership with Studio Ghibli, "Hayao Miyazaki" will be available starting Sept. 7 and is set to include hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never seen outside of Studio Ghibli's archives--Pat Saperstein "Variety"

Hayao Miyazaki

Kothenschulte, Daniel

Niebel, Jessica

Pete Docter

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Books by DelMonico Books/Academy Museum of Motion Pictures