Hollywood’s biggest night—the 95th Academy Awards®—is Sunday, March 12, and there’s no better place to celebrate than at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The museum has pulled out all the stops for its second annual Oscars Night at the Museum to create a one-of-a-kind awards night experience. Put on your best Hollywood glam, get your picture taken on the red carpet, and watch the Oscars® live stream on the ABC television network in the David Geffen Theater. Visitors also get to enjoy Wolfgang Puck Catering, a hosted bar, two after-party areas, and multiple immersive photo experiences.
Admission to this specially ticketed event on March 12 from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. includes access to the galleries, so you can visit the Academy Awards History gallery and immerse yourself in Hollywood history before the big event. And what better time to check out its ongoing The Oscars® Experience exhibition and hold the coveted award yourself? Tickets are on sale now.
There’s plenty to do before the big night as well. During Oscar Week from March 8–11, explore this year’s animated, documentary, live action short, and international feature film nominees with special screenings and panels. Twice daily, the museum will screen the 2023 nominees in the Animated Short Film (March 8), Documentary Short Film (March 9), and Live Action Short Film (March 10) categories. There will also be daily panels featuring Academy Award–nominated filmmakers and creators discussing this year’s short film nominees, as well as the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature Film, International Feature Film, and Makeup and Hairstyling categories. If you can’t make the programs in person, you can catch the panels streaming live on the museum’s YouTube channel.
Planning to watch the 95th Oscars at home? Visit the Academy Museum Store in person or online for all your Oscar party needs. Pick up an Oscar Viewing Party Kit created for the 95th Academy Awards; grab a bag of Champagne-infused, white chocolate–covered kettle corn (with edible gold flakes!); or snag an Oscar statuette ice cube tray for a watch party your friends won’t forget. You’ll also find the perfect gift for the person who takes their morning coffee as seriously as their award shows. Shop the exclusive Pantone™ X Oscar® Gold Collection to find mugs, office supplies, umbrellas, and more in unmistakable Oscar gold.
And at any time, you can stop by Fanny’s to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a selection of cocktails inspired by this year’s Best Picture nominees. You can’t miss the Elvis, a peanut-bourbon and banana cocktail, or the Triangle of Sadness, a rum libation with notes of coconut and campfire. Just like the films that inspired them, these drinks will have you talking about them long after you’ve left.
FAMILY FUN
Keep the Oscars glow going by bringing the whole family to the Academy Museum for film-magic fun. As part of Family Matinees, the museum’s ongoing film series every Saturday at 11 a.m., come see Oscar-winning or nominated family favorites hand-picked by the museum’s staff: Shrek (2001) on March 11, Ernest & Celestine (2012) on March 18, and Singin’ in the Rain (1952) on March 25.
For Singin’ in the Rain, visitors can experience the Academy Museum’s Calm Morning program, which features sensory-friendly spaces with moderated sound and lighting displays. There’s also a free family workshop that morning where kids can explore Foley art—the everyday sound effects heard in movies—by using different objects to create sounds that match up with the actions on screen.
General admission to the Academy Museum is always free for visitors ages 17 and under, and spring is a great time to see a fresh redesign of the Inventing Worlds and Characters: Animation gallery. See real stop-motion puppets from Corpse Bride (2005) and Robin Robin (2021) alongside original Mary Blair illustrations for Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). Learn how your favorite animated films, from Pinocchio (1940) to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), came to be in this updated gallery that has something for everyone.
Families and teens can also enjoy the museum’s monthly education programs. On March 4, 11 and 18, Drop-In Workshops for Families explores costume design through Jeanne Walker Harvey’s book Dressing Up the Stars: The Story of Movie Costume Designer Edith Head. Learn how costumes play an important role in bringing moviegoers into different worlds and stories, and then create your own costume design illustration. On March 17, Drop-In Workshop for Teens explores Foley art in a sound booth and room inspired by the museum’s Stories of Cinema exhibition, focusing on how the audio was created and assembled during the boulder scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
OSCARS EVERY SUNDAY
Celebrate awards season year-round with Oscar® Sundays, the ongoing series every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy Museum featuring a different movie that has been honored at the Academy Awards. In March, the museum honors writer-director-producer-actor Mel Brooks with a trio of his Oscar-nominated features: Young Frankenstein (1974) on March 19, and Blazing Saddles (1974) on March 26. In April, come toast the centennial of Warner Bros. with the studio’s most beloved and iconic Oscar-winning or nominated films including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Purple Rain (1984), and The Dark Knight (2008).
GET LOST IN GALLERIES
Looking for something new and immersive? Get lost in Stories of Cinema, the Academy Museum’s ongoing core exhibition that presents the diverse, international, and complex stories of moviemakers and the works they create. In February, the exhibition’s Significant Movies and Moviemakers gallery reopened with a three-gallery experience showcasing acclaimed documentarian Lourdes Portillo, the classic drama Casablanca (1942), and the groundbreaking film Boyz N the Hood (1991).
Start by exploring the work of Mexican American filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, a documentarian, visual artist, journalist, and activist born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Los Angeles. The museum’s space highlights her documentaries, which blend experimental and traditional modes of storytelling to explore identity and social justice, including Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo (1985), La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead (1988), The Devil Never Sleeps (1994), and Missing Young Woman (Señorita extraviada) (2001). To complement Portillo’s vignette, the museum will present Lourdes Portillo: Una vida de directora, a film series that runs May 12–21 and offers the opportunity for visitors to experience key works from the gallery on the big screen.
Next, time travel to early-1990s South Central Los Angeles in the Boyz N the Hood vignette, where you’ll learn what made John Singleton’s coming-of-age drama so groundbreaking. See rare production photos, costumes, and props from the film; an original mural by Uber Lopez Enamorado; original location photos of South Central by Al Seib; and an immersive look at the influence the film would have on both Black Hollywood and culture at large.
Then immerse yourself in the Casablanca vignette, featuring original production objects like Sam’s piano and the diary of Ingrid Bergman, and learn how the iconic film’s onscreen narrative paralleled the offscreen experiences of many cast and crew members. Austrian actor Paul Henreid, who played resistance fighter Victor Laszlo, was declared an enemy of the Third Reich and ultimately, he had to escape to America just like the fictional character he portrayed. Henreid’s real-life immigrant identification card is displayed in the gallery alongside the production-made prop passport for his character, underscoring the film’s art-imitates-life aspects.
***
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is always humming, whether you want to deep dive into film history, catch a matinee with the kids, or experience the Oscars like you never have before. Visit academymuseum.org for a complete schedule of exhibitions, screenings, and programs, and to reserve tickets. 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036, (323) 930-3000, academymuseum@oscars.org.
