Bong Joon Ho to Be Honored by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with ‘Director’s Inspiration’ Exhibit

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is celebrating filmmaker Bong Joon Ho with a new exhibition dedicated to his creative development.

IndieWire can announce that starting March 23, the Academy Museum will exhibit Bong as part of the “Director’s Inspiration” gallery. Agnés Varda was the previous auteur honored with the museum series.

The Director’s Inspiration gallery “focuses on the filmography and cinematic influences of a director who has established a narrative and visual style that is unmistakably their own, traceable through bodies of work that become touchstones for other filmmakers,” according to the Academy Museum site.

“Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho” will highlight the “Mickey 17” director’s creative process, filmography, and cinematic influences. The exhibit will include more than 100 original objects from storyboards and research materials to film posters, concept art, creature models, props, and on-set photographs, all from Bong’s archive and personal collection.

“Whether set in 1980s Korea or an imagined future time and space, Bong Joon Ho’s films address issues that are transnational and universal: class disparity, social injustice, the environmental crisis, and political and moral corruption. His protagonists are everyday people — unlikely heroes — who confront the absurdities of modern life,” the description reads. “From his earliest short films to his international breakthrough, ‘The Host’ (Republic of Korea, 2006), through the Oscar-winning ‘Parasite’ (Republic of Korea, 2019), Bong Joon Ho’s work defies simple categorization, embedding social critique into deeply humorous, unexpected, and thought-provoking stories.”

“Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho” is curated by Exhibitions Curator Michelle Puetz, with the support of Assistant Curator Nicholas Barlow, Research Assistants Josue Lopez and Jeongsil Yoon, and former Getty Marrow Curatorial Intern Janice Kim.

The exhibition will run from March 23, 2025 to January 10, 2027, and will be accompanied by a screening series that launches the weekend of March 22 with “Parasite” (2019) and “Okja” (2017). Bong will be in attendance.

The spring 2025 season at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will also host exhibit “‘Barbie’ to ‘Anna Karenina’: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer.” Greenwood and Spencer famously designed the story, directorial vision, and characters of films such as “Barbie” (2023), “Anna Karenina” (2012) and “Beauty and the Beast” (2017). The duo have worked together for more than 25 years on over 20 feature films. Together, they have been nominated for seven Oscars for their films starting with “Pride & Prejudice” in 2005, followed by “Atonement” (2007), “Sherlock Holmes” (2010), “Anna Karenina” (2012), “Beauty and the Beast” (2017), “Darkest Hour” (2017), and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” (2023).

“‘Barbie’ to ‘Anna Karenina’: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer” is curated by Exhibitions Curator Michelle Puetz, with the support of Curatorial Assistants Simran Bhalla and Alexandra James Salichs and former Curatorial Assistant Manouchka Labouba. The exhibition will run from May 23, 2025 to October 25, 2026.

“These exhibitions showcase how the Academy Museum collaborates with world-renowned filmmakers to bring insight and deepened understanding to their creative processes,” Amy Homma, Academy Museum Director and President, said. “I am so excited for the public to celebrate and explore the imaginations and brilliance of Bong Joon Ho, Sarah Greenwood, and Katie Spencer. These exhibitions will showcase the incredible diversity of voices, stories, and cultures that have shaped the movie industry and the global film community.”

Exhibitions Curator Michelle Puetz added, “Through unprecedented access to materials from his personal archive, ‘Director’s Inspiration: Bong Joon Ho’ invites visitors to explore his creative process through production materials and the films that most inspire him. ‘”Barbie” to “Anna Karenina”: The Cinematic Worlds of Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer’ provides a firsthand look into the duo’s artistic vision and uniquely collaborative creative process — showcasing how they bring cinematic worlds to life, from concept to reality.”