Los Angeles' long-awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will tackle the Oscars' "problematic history", from racism over Gone With The Wind to the recent #OscarsSoWhite campaign and the snubbing of female directors, officials said on Wednesday.
The Oscar-awarding Academy first envisioned a museum dedicated to the magic of movies almost a century ago, and its doors are finally set to open in September after numerous delays, most recently caused by the pandemic.
We will not shy away from problematic histories, including #OscarsSoWhite
On the day voting for this award season's Oscar nominees closes, 2020's best supporting actress winner Laura Dern took journalists on a virtual tour of the museum.
"We will not shy away from problematic histories, including #OscarsSoWhite, the lack of female representation and Hattie McDaniel's mistreatment at the Oscars ceremony," said Dern.
McDaniel became the first black to win an Oscar, for Gone With The Wind in 1940, but was forced to sit at a segregated table away from her white fellow nominees.
Other controversies to be addressed include the harassment of actress Sacheen Littlefeather when she accepted Marlon Brando's Oscar as a protest against Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans, and the casting of white actresses to play Chinese characters in 1937's The Good Earth.
"We didn't want to erase films and artists and moments that may be uncomfortable. We wanted to confront them and contextualise them, throughout all of our core gallery spaces," said museum director Bill Kramer.
The 4,645-square-metre museum is set to host iconic Hollywood treasures, from Judy Garland's The Wizard of Oz ruby slippers to Dracula's cape, as well as a giant orb-shaped theatre designed by Renzo Piano for premieres and screenings.
'Introduced to cinema'
Spike Lee and Pedro Almodovar will be among the first directors to curate temporary galleries devoted to the works of individual filmmakers.
"I want to see yellow school buses double-parked in front of the museum, and these young, beautiful minds get introduced to cinema," said Lee.
In the Oscars history section, 20 statuettes awarded from silent-era classics such as Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) through to Barry Jenkins' shock 2016 winner Moonlight will go on display.
Other galleries will honour crafts from animation and directing to hair and make-up, where the exhibition will "talk about black face and yellow face make-up, specifically designed for white actors to play certain roles", Kramer said.
A section devoted to costume designs will feature the African-inspired outfit worn by Danai Gurira in 2018's seminal superhero movie Black Panther.
"The inclusion of Okoye's uniform in the Academy's museum is incredibly powerful because the history of Hollywood doesn't look like the cast of Black Panther," said Gurira.
"But through the immortalisation of this iconic film, and this iconic character at the museum, it gives me hope that the future of Hollywood will."
Kramer admitted the museum "will not open if it's not safe" but said the building was now fully ready to receive visitors, and expressed optimism that California's vaccination roll-out and decline in Covid-19 cases would allow the museum to meet its Thursday, September 30 date.
Until then, the museum will run virtual pre-opening events, including talks with women who achieved historic Oscars milestones such as Sophia Loren, Whoopi Goldberg, Marlee Matlin and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
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Tiger%20Stripes%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amanda%20Nell%20Eu%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zafreen%20Zairizal%2C%20Deena%20Ezral%20and%20Piqa%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204.5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Gifts exchanged
- King Charles - replica of President Eisenhower Sword
- Queen Camilla - Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch
- Donald Trump - hand-bound leather book with Declaration of Independence
- Melania Trump - personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
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South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
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Fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit
As he spoke, Mr Aboul Gheit repeatedly referred to the need to tackle issues affecting the welfare of people across the region both in terms of preventing conflict and in pushing development.
Lebanon is scheduled to host the fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in January that will see regional leaders gather to tackle the challenges facing the Middle East. The last such summit was held in 2013. Assistant Secretary-General Hossam Zaki told The National that the Beirut Summit “will be an opportunity for Arab leaders to discuss solely economic and social issues, the conference will not focus on political concerns such as Palestine, Syria or Libya". He added that its slogan will be “the individual is at the heart of development”, adding that it will focus on all elements of human capital.
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
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Tamkeen's offering
- Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years