July 11,  2001

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                         lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - The life and work of visionary film director Fritz Lang will be the focus of a new exhibition at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, beginning August 3. Like all exhibitions at the Academy, "Fritz Lang: Vienna - Berlin - Paris - Hollywood" is free and open to the public.

A success in both his native Germany and his adopted Hollywood home, Lang's films were populated by criminals, misfits and victims. The visual means by which he brought them and their worlds to life on the screen made him a creative master in the history of cinema. "Metropolis" (1927), "M" (1931), "You Only Live Once" (1937), "The Woman in the Window" (1944), "Ministry of Fear" (1944), "The Scarlet Letter" (1945), "Clash By Night" (1952), "Rancho Notorious" (1952) and "The Big Heat" (1953) are but a few of Lang's enduring contributions.

Produced by the Berlin Film Museum and presented in association with the Goethe Institut - Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Film Department, the Academy's comprehensive installation will include documents, scripts, photographs, set designs, sketches, costumes and original props, as well as an audio-visual display of never-before-seen footage and interviews with Lang colleagues such as Billy Wilder, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Bennett, Glenn Ford and Charles Boyer. Materials for the exhibition have come from the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library, the Berlin Film Museum, the Bibliothèque du Film in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art, the MoviePoster Archive in New York and a number of private lenders.

In conjunction with the Academy's exhibition, the LACMA Film Department will be screening 20 Lang films as part of its "The Minister of Fear: Lang in America" series beginning August 3. It will be followed by several additional titles to be presented under the banner "Lang in Germany," for which the Academy will host the series' kick-off on September 28 with a screening of "Spies."

Support for the exhibition has been provided by the Los Angeles Movie and Broadcasting Office of the French Embassy; the Austrian Cultural Forum, New York; the Austrian Consulate General, Los Angeles; the Berlin Senate; and Lufthansa Cargo.

"Fritz Lang: Vienna - Berlin - Paris - Hollywood" will continue in the Academy's Fourth Floor Gallery through October 14. Gallery viewing hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, noon to 6 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information about the exhibition, call 310-247-3600. For information about the screening series at LACMA, call 323-857-6010.