Anime Pictures: High Art & Pop Culture + Academy Documentaries

Wedding Peach.

ANIME! High Art – Pop Culture

“ANIME! High Art – Pop Culture,” a multimedia exhibition spotlighting the art of Japanese animation, will have its American premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday, May 15, in the Grand Lobby and Fourth Floor galleries in Beverly Hills. ANIME! will be on display through August 23. Admission is free.

Featuring nearly 400 cels, clips and character models, “ANIME!” will be organized thematically: boys’ anime (Shonen), girls’ anime (Shojo), early anime, Studio Ghibli, science fiction and fantasy, in addition to an adults-only area dedicated to erotic anime.

As per the Academy’s press release, “the exhibition will explore anime’s history, aesthetics and production from its beginnings in early 20th century films through its current television and video game manifestations,” in addition to looking into “manga (comics) and its relationship to anime, providing a historical overview of the development of this comic book art form from 19th century Japanese woodcuts and book illustrations to the mass-produced manga of the present.”

Among the cels and/or clips to be found in ANIME! are those from Akira, Dragon Ball-Z, Ghost in the Shell, Pokemon: The First Movie, Princess Mononoke, Sailor Moon and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

The Deutsches Filmmuseum, based in Frankfurt, is presenting the exhibition in partnership with the Academy. Support has been provided by the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles.

The Academy’s galleries are located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and are open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The galleries will be closed for the Memorial Day and Independence Day holiday weekends, May 23 through 25 and July 3 through 6, respectively.

For more information call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

Photos: Courtesy of Frostrubin (Wedding Peach, Sailor Moon), Courtesy of Mike and Jeanne Glad (all other images)

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (top photo) and Body of War (bottom photo) will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 27th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.

Directed and produced by Richard E. Robbins, the Academy Award-nominated Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience presents letters written by US military personnel and their families who have been involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Directed and produced by Ellen Spiro and former talk-show host Phil Donahue, Body of War tells the story of 22-year-old Tomas Young, who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan but ended up being sent to Iraq. Three days after his arrival, he was hit by mortar fire, suffering serious injuries. Upon returning to the US, Young tries to understand the rationale – or lack thereof – for the US invasion of Iraq.

Both Robbins and Donahue will be present to take questions from the audience following each screening.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.

Photos: Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library

‘Salim Baba’ & ‘Please Vote for Me’ Screening

Salim Baba, Please Vote for Me and My Kid Could Paint That will be screened as the final installment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.

Salim Baba tells the story of 55-year-old Salim Muhammad, who, with the help of a hand-cranked projector inherited from his father, has made his living screening discarded film scraps for kids in North Kolkata, India, for 45 years. Directed by Tim Sternberg and produced by Francisco Bello, Scott Mosier and Raja Dey, Salim Baba earned an Academy Award nomination for best documentary short subject of 2007.

Directed by Weijun Chen and produced by Don Edkins, Please Vote for Me (above) follows a third-grade class in Wuhan, China, holding an election to select its Class Monitor. As per the Academy’s press release, Chen’s documentary “is an inquiry into how democracy might be received if it ultimately came to China, and whether democracy is a universal value that reflects human nature.”

Directed and produced by Amir Bar-Lev, My Kid Could Paint That chronicles the rise and fall of four-year-old Marla Olmstead, a media darling heralded as a prodigious artist – until her family is accused of fraud. Bar-Lev will be present to take questions from the audience after the screening.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.