The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has unveiled its first film program ahead of its September 22 opening, presenting a wide-ranging selection that connects early cinema with contemporary visual storytelling.
Announced during San Diego Comic Con, the lineup will run in two dedicated theaters designed for continuous, drop-in viewing. The format aims to give visitors a museum-style film experience that feels open, flexible, and discovery-driven.
One theater, the Robert Flaherty Theater, will focus on cinema as a way to capture reality and tell human stories. Its program includes the newly commissioned series Seeing is Believing: The Story of Narrative Art, episodes from The Power of Film, Comic Book Confidential, and documentaries centered on artists represented in the museum's collection.
The second venue, the Slavko Vorkapich Theater, will highlight motion, rhythm, and experimentation. Its selections include works by Man Ray, László Moholy-Nagy, Stan Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, Mary Ellen Bute, and Jordan Belson, alongside silent films, Busby Berkeley musical sequences, early animation, and a Star Wars: Visions episode.
The program also includes student films by George Lucas from 1965 to 1969, offering a look at the roots of his visual imagination. Curator Ryan Linkof said the museum wants to present cinema as a living art form that visitors can explore at their own pace.
With this debut, the museum positions film not just as screening content, but as part of a broader cultural journey that links heritage, experimentation, and creative innovation. It may help shape a more immersive future for museum-based storytelling.
