On Saturday night in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and John Carpenter, the acclaimed filmmaker behind horror movies such as 1978’s “Halloween,” stopped and smiled on the gray and beige carpet at the sixth annual Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gala.

The evening, a fundraiser for the institution, one of the largest museums dedicated to the art and science of moviemaking, has become an increasingly starry West Coast fashion and celebrity jamboree.

Swift performed “I Knew It, I Knew You” — her original song for “Toy Story 5” — inside the gala for a crowd of celebrities, film industry professionals and academy voters, as well as “Blank Space,” “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Love Story.”

As the event kicked off, attendees, including Jacob Elordi, Odessa A’zion and Daniel Kaluuya, posed in front of sheer white curtains with jagged black shapes looming ominously behind them. The décor was inspired by the museum’s new exhibition, the Horror Show, which explores and celebrates decades of horror filmmaking, at a time when the genre has seen box-office and cultural success, especially among younger audiences. The gala raised more than $14 million for the museum and its initiatives.

“The German abstract expressionistic work of ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ was definitely on the mood board as we were thinking about this year’s gala,” said Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum and Academy Collection. “And to me, that’s such a great way for us to be honoring past, present and future film history.”

Carpenter, one of the night’s honorees, arrived promptly when the carpet opened at 5:30 p.m. and made his way to a couch during cocktail hour, where he talked with his wife, Sandy King, and Robert Rodriguez, a filmmaker and composer.

Though many attendees were eager to chat about newer, disquieting movies like “You Can See Everything” and “Obsession,” Carpenter said the last film he saw in theaters was probably “Sleepers” in 1996.

“I’m playing a lot of video games, and I’ve got basketball to watch, WNBA,” Carpenter said. “Today, the Valkyries won the first game in the finals.”

Outside the museum’s entrance, celebrities and Academy members grabbed drinks from a pop-up bar, which was serving strawberry negronis and chocolate old-fashioneds. Tiny bottles of Don Julio tequila sat on top of ice-block trays that servers carried around the space.

Conan O’Brien, who is hosting the Academy Awards again next year, said he felt a little star-struck after meeting the director and stars of “Obsession.”

“I love what that movie represents,” O’Brien said. “It was made for no money, very talented director, incredibly talented actors, great idea, and they just did it.”

“I root for anyone who can make a movie in their basement for $30 and stand up to a $700 million movie with AI,” he added.

Across the party, Curry Barker, director of “Obsession,” hung out with the film’s stars, Inde Navarrette and Michael Johnston.

“I’m really taking it all in,” Barker said of the gala. “It’s overstimulating.”

Navarrette mingled with comedian Cole Escola and actors Jessica Lange and Pamela Anderson. Escola, who wrote and starred in the Tony Award-winning play “Oh, Mary!,” has recently been watching all of Greta Garbo’s silent films.

“I’m just looking for a husband,” Escola quipped, “and I thought the Academy Museum Gala is the place to find love.”

As most of the crowd moved from cocktails to the seated gala around 7:30 p.m., late arrivals, including Kardashian, Teyana Taylor and Amanda Seyfried, continued to trickle in. As Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred in Carpenter’s “Halloween,” made her way inside, she said that her evening would be “short.”

“I’m only here for John,” she said. “It’s a fashion parade that I have no interest in.”

“When I was told they were giving something to John, I said ‘I want to stand up on that stage and say thank you to him in front of all these people,’” she added. “I would never have any of the creative life I have — I don’t think I’d have the family life I have — without John. I think that early success gave me a chance to be an artist.”

As Swift made her way into the party, she snapped photos with Colman Domingo, who was also being honored.

“I was feeling fine until I got out of the car, and then I got very emotional,” Domingo said. “The one thing I wanted to be was respected as an actor. That’s what was my driving force as a young actor, and this feels like the epitome of being respected at your craft — to be here and to be feted.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Juno Carmel & Alex Welsh
c. 2026 The New York Times Company