The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be presenting an exhibit for John Waters: Pope Of Trash.

Co-curators Jenny He and Dara Jaffe shared this: “Known for pushing the boundaries of ‘good taste,’ Waters has created a canon of high shock-value, high-entertainment movies that have cemented his position as one of the most revered independent auteurs in the history of American movies. A massive inspiration to other artists who rebelled against the mainstream, Waters’s renegade films are replete with muses and themes derived from obsession and celebrity culture. They lovingly draw inspiration from Herschell Gordon Lewis, Russ Meyer, Andy Warhol, and Ingmar Bergman alike, and are also tributes to his hometown of Baltimore.”

This will be the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the artist’s contributions to cinema. On view September 17, 2023–August 4, 2024, the exhibition will explore Waters’s process, themes, and unmatched moviemaking style. Works on view will include costumes, props, handwritten scripts, correspondence and memos, scrapbooks, photographs, moving-image material, and more. Pope of Trash opens to the public one day before John Waters receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, organized by Outfest, on September 18, 2023.

John Waters is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker: writer-director-producer-cinematographer-editor-actor, as well as an accomplished visual artist and author. Aimed at skewering traditional institutions, his work led novelist William S. Burroughs to anoint Waters as the “Pope of Trash.” His transgressive approach has spawned paragons of cinematic originality—movies that revel in irreverence, laugh-out-loud humor, and heart.

The exhibition reveals the nuance and detail of how independent films are made and how Waters’s movies have redefined the possibilities of independent cinema. His daring dismissal of social norms and the status quo has been celebrated and adored by audiences for more than fifty years—for films including Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974), Desperate Living (1977), Hairspray (1988), Serial Mom (1994), and A Dirty Shame (2004). Pink Flamingos was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2021. The following year, Hairspray was also named to the list by the Librarian of Congress, in recognition of its significance to American cinematic heritage.