Academy Museum x Ghetto Film School


Academy Museum and Ghetto Film School present
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES:
VERTICAL CINEMA
Open Now - August 4, 2024

Shifting Perspectives: Vertical Cinema reorients standard perceptions of making and watching movies. Located in and inspired by the museum’s double-height Hurd Gallery, Shifting Perspectives offers a unique vertical cinema viewing experience and honors the spirit of experimentation in cinema.

This exhibition features works by 15 Los-Angeles-based filmmakers from Ghetto Film School, who documented the city’s diverse and thriving tapestry through their lived experience. Works by Alyse Arteaga, Ciara Zoe, Jessica Muñoz, Octavia Anderson, Diego Aquino, Aidan Bae, Niko Baur, AhaNah Chapman, Kian Cloma, Matthew Cotom, Sundiata Enuke, Xochilt Garcia, Memo Mora, O.C., and Ogechi Onyenechehe.

The exhibition overall explores the roots of the vertical format dating back to the 1890s, the ways in which filmmakers optimize the format to create experimental work, and the contemporary proliferation of vertical filmmaking using portable smart devices. The exhibition also debuts three works by Southern Californian filmmakers: a desert dreams in red by Zaina Bseiso, Dusty Tapes by Fox Maxy, and black man fly by Walter Thompson-Hernández. Commissioned by the museum for this exhibition, these films use a vertical format to explore the topography of a region that is generally perceived to be horizontal—much like cinema itself.