Elton John performed a five-song set, Billie Eilish made her red carpet debut with new boyfriend Jesse Rutherford, and director Park Chan-wook and artist Helen Pashgian were honored at LACMA’s 11e annual Art + Film gala on Saturday night.
Park – considered one of the top contenders for a Best Director Oscar nomination for his new film Decision to leave, which is South Korea’s submission for the best international feature film – garnered hearty laughter from the crowd as he accepted his honor. His speech played on the accepted norms for bragging about his achievements in Korea compared to the United States.
“I first wanted to be with the following words, ‘I don’t know how to thank you for such an award that is beyond me.’ But I remembered the advice of a friend who knows both Korean and American culture, she told me not to be too humble in America… So I will take this advice and say the following words instead: “I’m not at all surprised at the award I obviously deserve,” said Park, who noted that he’s celebrating 30 years as a feature film director.
Park was presented by squid game actor Lee Byung-hun who starred in the director’s film in 2000 Common security area, a career breakthrough for both men after each had a number of flops. (Lee had refused one of Park’s bombs.)
“Director Park and I experienced disastrous failures side by side on our separate paths. It was absolutely miserable,” Lee said. “At the time, we were both depressed, thinking either Director Park or I we could remake a movie. Then one day director Park offered me another role. A failed director and a failed actor come together to create a new project – what a perfect idea.
When they finally bonded over Joint Security Area, the film, Lee recalls, “broke box office records for Korean films. [and] changed the history of Korean cinema. Lee, along with LACMA CEO and Director Michael Govan, took note of the terrible Halloween tragedy in Seoul, South Korea, where more than 150 people were killed. “Please join me in keeping all of the victims and their families in our thoughts and prayers,” Lee said.
The evening, co-chaired by LACMA administrator Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio (who, for the first time in the event’s 11-year history, was not in attendance), raised more than $5 million. for the overall mission of the museum and for its program which highlights cinema. The LACMA Art + Film Gala, as its name suggests, honors not only a director, but also a visual artist each year. This year’s recipient, Helen Pashgian, is known as a pioneering member of the California Light and Space art movement of the 1960s. both in film and fine art.
“If you were to speak to a filmmaker today, he might tell you that light is both fascinating and infuriating. Exasperating [because] just as you set up the perfect shot, it floats. If you talk to a visual artist, they might tell you the flight is flat, it’s cool, it whitens the shadows. If you were to go to Caltech and talk to their atmospheric scientists, they would probably tell you that light photons mix with dust particles in the air to create what they call light scattering and that this diffusion phenomenon is unique to this region. . … I would like to think that in the end, this strange light of ours remains what it always was: elusive, mysterious, unknowable, and therein lies its magic.
The night began with red carpet arrivals where Eilish and Rutherford, lead singer of The Neighborhood, arrived in matching pajamas and a wrap blanket for two, all by longtime Art + Film gala sponsor Gucci. . Rutherford and Eilish, who also wore a Gucci sleep mask, held hands throughout the evening.
During the cocktail portion of the evening, DJ D-Nice played music in a courtyard adjacent to the location of the new David Geffen Galleries building designed by LACMA’s Peter Zumthor. Fifty percent complete, its outline could be seen up close, while a pair of cranes towered above the assembled guests.
Among those dressed in Gucci were Elliot Page (who walked the party with comedian Mae Martin), Olivia Wilde (in a herringbone sequin dress paired with bright red evening gloves), Janelle Monae, Lindsay Vonn, Salma Hayek and her husband François-Henri Pinault (president and CEO of Kering, owner of Gucci), Jodie Turner-Smith, Julia Garner, Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba, Carey Mulligan and Henry Golding.
Quinta Brunson, wearing a black and teal taffeta dress, carried a beaded beer can bag. “That’s my can of beer. For the Phillies,” the Philadelphia native told another guest. Jared Leto, dressed in a crystal-embellished velvet Gucci tuxedo, snapped some shots of Sydney Sweeney, who wore a Giambattista Valli’s pink dress brimming with romantic pink details Andrew Garfield chatted with gallerist Vito Schnabel.
Other celebrities spotted in the crowd were Heidi Klum, Sebastian Stan, Addison Rae (who had the most plunging cleavage of the evening), Diego Calva, Jude Law, Kathryn Hahn, Elizabeth Banks, Kendall Jenner, models Alessandra Ambrosio and Halima Aden, Blackpink’s Rosé, Sean Penn, Sandra Oh and Paris Hilton with husband Carter Reum. Last summer, Hilton offered LACMA an acquisition fund to acquire digital artwork by female artists.
Inside a purpose-built pavilion, guests dined on a menu created by Gucci Osteria in collaboration with Joachim Splichal that features beef tortellini in parmigiano reggiano sauce. At a long table, Kim Kardashian was deep in conversation with Bob Iger. Later, Kardashian and her sister Kendall Jenner posed for photos with Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele.
Representing the art and museum worlds, artists Henry Taylor, Catherine Opie, Charles Gaines, Lauren Halsey, Calida Rawles and Rashaad Newsome as well as Director and CEO of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Sandra Jackson-Dumont and Director and President of the Academy Museum Jacqueline Stewart.
At the end of the dinner – which was also supported by Audi – Idris Elba invited the guests to return outside for dessert and enjoy a special performance by Elton John, who, playing a large red piano, sang successes such as Your song, The Rocket Man and Don’t let the sun go down on mewhich he dedicated to party guest Taron Egerton, who portrayed him in 2019 Rocketman.
Spotted in the crowd, directors Chloé Zhao, Rian Johnson and Damien Chazelle; Rick and Kathy Hilton; new head of marketing at Amazon Studios Sue Kroll; designer Peter Dundas and her husband Evangelo Bousis; Christie Vice President Sonya Roth; Colleen Bell, director of the California Film Commission, and her husband Bradley Bell; Michael Ovitz and Tamara Mellon; Wendy Stark Morrissey; Linda May of Hilton & Hyland; the architect Kulapat Yantrasast; jewelry designer Loree Rodkin; and LACMA Board Co-Chairs Elaine Wynn and Tony Ressler.
After the performance, the crowd headed to the valet parking lot on Wilshire Boulevard, where a crowd of fans chanted Eilish’s name, trying to get her attention. The singer and Rutherford stood next to a large black SUV in which her brother Finneas was riding, along with his girlfriend Claudia Sulewski. It looked like Eilish and Rutherford were cooling their heels as they waited for their own transport to arrive. Eventually, as the fan chants of “We love you Billie” crescendo, Eilish stood up on the SUV racer and shouted back, “I love you too.” A few minutes later, a sprinter van arrived and took the couple away in the evening. (Many guests were heading to an after-party at Co-Chair Chow’s Holmby Hills mansion.)
To cap off the evening and its theme of bringing the worlds of film and art together, actor Simu Liu left the party by walking through Chris Burden’s large-scale lamppost sculpture Urban light while a friend took pictures of him.