Rita Moreno, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Mescal to Be Honored at Academy Museum Gala

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures today announced details of its annual fundraising gala, to be held on October 19, 2024. The Academy Museum Gala will celebrate the acclaimed museum’s third anniversary and will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Paul Mescal; EGOT-winning actress, singer, and dancer Rita Moreno; and two-time Academy Award-winning and six-time Academy Award-nominated writer and director Quentin Tarantino.

The evening will help raise vital funds to support museum exhibitions, education initiatives, and public programming, including screenings, K– 12 programs, and access initiatives in service of the public and the local community of Los Angeles. Supported by Rolex, the official watch partner and founding supporter of the Academy Museum, the Gala is being co-chaired by Academy Museum Trustee, physician, producer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur Dr. Eric Esrailian; Academy Award-nominated actress, producer, director, and activist Salma Hayek Pinault; Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman; Academy Museum Trustee and actress, director, producer, and activist Eva Longoria; and Academy Museum Founding Supporter, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner, and actor, filmmaker, and studio founder Tyler Perry.

“The Academy Museum Gala celebrates the power, global impact, and indelible importance of cinema, and I am thrilled we can gather for a fourth year and honor these three amazing artists—Rita Moreno, Quentin Tarantino, and Paul Mescal—whose groundbreaking achievements, filmmaking influence, and demonstrated versatility will continue to inspire generations of artists and filmmakers,” said incoming Academy Museum Director and President, Amy Homma. “We are profoundly grateful to Rolex for their continued support of the museum and cinema worldwide, our co-chairs Dr. Eric Esrailian, Salma Hayek Pinault, Nicole Kidman, Eva Longoria, and Tyler Perry for hosting this special evening.”

The three awards presented at this year’s Academy Museum Gala reflect the museum’s continued mission to advance the understanding, celebration, and preservation of film and to contextualize and challenge dominant narratives around cinema. The awards presented at this year’s gala include: 

• The Vantage Award, presented to Paul Mescal, honoring an emerging artist or scholar who is helping to contextualize and challenge dominant narratives around cinema.
• The Icon Award, presented to Rita Moreno, celebrating an artist whose career has had a significant global cultural impact.
• The Luminary Award, presented to Quentin Tarantino, given to an artist whose singular contributions have expanded the creative possibilities of cinema.

The 2024 Academy Gala Host Committee, also announced today, includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amy Adams & Darren Le Gallo, Jon Bernthal, Orlando Bloom, Sterling K. Brown, Ruth E. Carter, Jon M. Chu, Kieran Culkin, Willem Dafoe, Ariana DeBose, Colman Domingo, Winston Duke, Kirsten Dunst & Jesse Plemons, Cynthia Erivo, Emerald Fennell, Sally Field, Nicholas Galitzine, Jennifer Garner, Ariana Grande, Ludwig Göransson, Regina Hall, Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson, Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Cord Jefferson, Dwayne Johnson, Rashida Jones, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Jessica Lange, Jude Law, Jennifer Lawrence, Greta Lee, Demi Moore, Niecy Nash-Betts, Josh O’Connor, Ke Huy Quan, Questlove, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Eddie Redmayne, Saoirse Ronan, Meg Ryan, Celine Song, Denis Villeneuve, Lulu Wang, Jeffrey Wright, Letitia Wright, Steven Yeun and Hans Zimmer.

The 2023 Academy Museum Gala honored Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, and Sofia Coppola. The 2022 Academy Museum Gala honored Julia Roberts, Miky Lee, Sir Steve McQueen, and Tilda Swinton. The 2021 Academy Museum Opening Gala honored Haile Gerima and Sophia Loren as well as Academy Museum Campaign Leaders Annette Bening, Bob Iger, and Tom Hanks.

Image credits: Paul Mescal, photo by Christian Tierny; Rita Moreno, photo by Mark Hill; Quentin Tarantino, photo by Art Streiber

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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