On September 30, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open in L.A. after a Covid-induced delay, and so will its first temporary exhibition. “Hayao Miyazaki” will explore the works of the anime filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder. It is billed as the first North American museum retrospective to do so.
Ahead of the exhibition’s launch, its curators have run through details of the event in an appearance on the Ghibliotheque podcast (listen here). The museum’s exhibitions curator Jessica Niebel and assistant curator J. Raúl Guzmán outline their vision for the retrospective, describing some of the 300-plus objects it will feature.
“Hayao Miyazaki” will unfold across seven sections, which range from the immersive to the informative. The former camp includes a passage inspired by the tree tunnel featured in My Neighbor Totoro and an installation featuring Ghibliesque clouds drifting across the ceiling. The clouds were designed by a Ghibli background artist who specializes in clouds, then animated in L.A.