Co-founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has debuted in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park in a 300,000-square-foot building designed by Ma Yansong of MAD with Stantec. Covering an 11-acre campus with a park designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, the new museum promises to deliver an experience expressing the emotional power of narrative art.

“We wanted to offer an alternative to the traditional museum film program and create a dynamic, open-door experience designed for discovery, allowing audiences to encounter cinema as a living, breathing art form at their own pace,” said Ryan Linkof, senior curator and head of Film Programs, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. “Our inaugural programming will shed light on the evolution of film form and the creative process more broadly, tracing a direct line from early innovators to the modern masterworks of visual storytelling that shape our culture today.”

The museum contains two state-of-the-art theaters providing non-stop, drop-in experiences encompassing a broad spectrum of film, ranging from early silent pictures to documentary, animation and experimental film creations. These venues — Robert Flaherty Theater and Slavko Vorkapich Theater —offer visitors an immersive film experience that can be enjoyed in their own time.

“George Lucas named the theaters to honor two innovators of cinema: Robert Flaherty and Slavko Vorkapich,” said Tracey Bates, CEO, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. “The theaters will be spaces to connect with moving images as one of the most transformative modes of visual storytelling, making the Film Program an essential component of a visit to the Lucas Museum.”

In Robert Flaherty Theater, sample screenings include episodes of a new documentary series commissioned for Lucas Museum, Seeing is Believing: The Story of Narrative Art, directed by Robin Dashwood; episodes of the 2024 television series The Power of Film, created by Howard Suber and directed by Laura Gabbert; Comic Book Confidential, directed by Robert Mann; and documentaries about artists whose work is exhibited in Lucas Museum, including Norman Rockwell, Jim Lee, Charles Schulz, Maurice Sendak, Diego Rivera, J.C. Leyendecker and Weegee.

Among the many presentations in Slavko Vorkapich Theater are montage sequences by Vorkapich for films such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; early silent films by Georges Méliès, Émile Cohl, W.K.L. Dickson, Edwin S. Porter and others; early animations by Winsor McCay; the experimental films of Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy and others; early sound animations by Walt Disney Studios and Fleischer Studios; experimental films by Canadian animator-director Norman McLaren; Looney Tunes; anime from Cowboy Bebop; an episode of Star Wars: Visions; and student films created by George Lucas from 1965 to 1969.