Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, today announced that Amy Homma has been appointed to the new role of Chief Audience Officer effective immediately. She previously held the role of Vice President of Education and Public Engagement at the museum.

As Chief Audience Officer, Homma will work to enhance, deepen, and evolve the Academy Museum’s overall public and community profile. In addition, she will develop internal and external strategies to affirm and actualize the museum’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Under her leadership, the museum’s Film Programs, Education and Public Engagement, Community and Impact, Digital Content and Strategy, and Marketing, Communications, and Group Sales teams will strategize and drive meaningful engagement with audiences of all backgrounds, abilities, and interests. 

Jacqueline Stewart said, “Amy has proven herself to be a skillful, forward-thinking, and inspiring leader since she began at the museum in 2019, and I look forward to seeing her and her teams thrive in this new capacity. As a seasoned programmer, educator, and administrator who brings a deep knowledge of audience engagement and museology, Amy is the ideal person to steer our museum’s next chapter of external relations.”

Bobbi Banks, Supervisory Sound Editor and Chair of the museum’s Inclusion Advisory Committee, said, “Amy Homma has been an integral part of the innovation, structure, planning, and execution for the Academy Museum’s Education Department.  She will undoubtedly bring that same fervor and dedication to this new role.”

“I am both thrilled and humbled to step into the role of Chief Audience Officer of the Academy Museum,” said Homma. “In its first year of public operation, the museum established itself as an essential destination to experience, discuss, and connect with cinema. I am eager to work across teams to further develop the museum’s impact and commitment to local, national, and global audiences through a visitor-centered approach.” 

Homma previously served as the Academy Museum’s inaugural Director—and then Vice-President—of Education and Public Engagement, during which time she developed a team to helm the museum’s K-12 programming, including the Shirley Temple Education Studio initiatives, as well as public programs ranging from lectures, symposia, and panels to in-gallery talks and online programming. Under her tenure, the museum hosted 147 education events; launched a robust school and teacher program and developed the museum’s first curriculum; collaborated with filmmakers, scholars, and activists to produce sold-out public programs such as Activism and Film with Dolores Huerta and Eva Longoria and The Art and Science of Cinema with Chloé Zhao, Mary Sweeney, and Jonas Kaplan; established key partnerships with the Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles Public Libraries, and numerous community organizations; and founded accessibility initiatives such as monthly ASL tours, visual description tours, and Calm Morning programs for neurodivergent visitors.

Before her time at the Academy Museum, Homma was the Acting Deputy Director of the Arts & Industries Building at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, where she created innovative pan-institutional and multi-disciplinary public programs, including a 12-hour conversation series that brought together noted writers, musicians, scientists, technologists, and other experts in numerous arenas. As Director of Digital Learning at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, she created a diverse range of education programs for all ages focused on learning, collaboration, and experimentation and established an internationally recognized education studio with distinctive arts programming, including the museum’s signature teen program. She also initiated a partnership with the National Museum of Natural History to demonstrate the power of teaching art and science together, and oversaw the development of education efforts for teachers, families, schools, youth, and adults.
 

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IMAGE: Amy Homma, Photo by Ye Rin Mok, ©Academy Museum Foundation

ABOUT THE ACADEMY MUSEUM 
The Academy Museum is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. The museum advances the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema through inclusive and accessible exhibitions, screenings, programs, initiatives, and collections. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, the museum’s campus contains the restored and revitalized historic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building (1939)—and a soaring spherical addition. Together, these buildings contain 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, two state-of-the-art theaters, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, and beautiful public spaces that are free and open to the public. These include: The Walt Disney Company Piazza and the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby, which houses the Spielberg Family Gallery, Academy Museum Store, and Fanny’s restaurant and café. The Academy Museum exhibition galleries are open seven days a week, with hours Sunday through Thursday from 10am to 6pm and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 8pm. 

This isn’t the first anamorphic glass from Moment, but it’s the first you can use on your camera.

In the early 2000s, shooting anamorphic would have cost you an arm and a leg. A few years later, you’d be duck-taping anamorphic projection lenses to your rig. Was it effective and affordable? Sometimes, but it was sketchy. 

Fast forward to 2023, and you can get a real anamorphic lens for under $1000 from the likes of Sirui and Venus Optics. If you had told me that back in the day, I’d have thought I was listening to a stand-up routine.

Before this anamorphic renaissance, dedicated anamorphic adapters (not the projection lenses) were a solid middle ground. While they did come with their limitations, the compositions that filmmakers could achieve on a budget were amazing.

Unfortunately, over time, they’ve somewhat fallen out of fashion even though companies like Great Joy and Sirui have found a use for them. 

But now, a quiet player in the smartphone anamorphic space has made a move to play in the big leagues. Moment, a gang of hip content creators who run a camera and camera accessories marketplace, has taken all its experience from iPhone anamorphic adapters and made the Moment 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter for full-size lenses. 

Is it good? Is it a few years too late? And why would you even get one?

I bought my own to find out. 

The Moment 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter

Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, Moment’s first full-size anamorphic adapter felt like a blast from the past. I had used the SLR Magic Anamorphot-40 1.33x back in 2016, and the whole concept was all too familiar. 

But I was intrigued; maybe I was swayed by the cool marketing or the beautiful images the Moment team had captured with the pre-production model—in either case, I purchased one

In early February, it was at my door. The packaging for the adapter was solid, with padding on the inside to protect the lens. There are some dividers that held three separate step-up rings to match your chosen lens.

​The first thing that surprised me was the weight. This thing was heavy, coming in at 880g (which is just under 2lb). For comparison, the Anamorphot-40 weighs about half a pound. 

Weight aside, the build quality was impressive, with an all-metal design and a nice rubber-like focus ring that had 180 degrees of rotation. Unlike the adapters of yesteryear, Moment’s anamorphic adapter utilizes only one focus ring. While SLR Magic has the same feature, Moment built one in right from the start, which offers a close focus distance of 0.7 meters (27 inches). 

The front filter thread is 82mm, and while it’s a bit larger than my usual 77mm. With the massive piece of glass it has up front, that makes sense. The filter threads on the back were only 67mm, and with the included step-up rings, I was able to get the adapter onto my Cine-Modded Zeiss ZF.2 primes without any issues. 

Here is where I was impressed. Moment’s anamorphic adapter comes with a special locking rotation mechanism. This allowed me to push one button and align my lens in a matter of seconds.

Then, it would lock into place and stay rock solid throughout my time shooting with it. By comparison, it took me a few minutes to get the Anamorphot-40 properly aligned, and even then, the alignment was iffy at best.

So how was it to use during my test?

An Unwieldy Yet Beautiful Beast

Honestly, it was a dream, even with the weight.

Initially, I put this on my Blackmagic Micro Cinema Camera rig that had lens support. Getting it set up and aligned took no time at all, and made me consider using this on a fast-paced project. With how rear-heavy my rig is, the weight at the front balanced everything perfectly, and I could trust the alignment without ever looking at the image.

The image was amazing, even though a bit subtle. Built with six glass elements altogether and a Gold Flare coating, the lens produces understated anamorphic characteristics with its 1.33x squeeze factor while allowing me to use the full resolution of my sensor. Sure, I could just crop the top and bottom in post-production, but it just doesn’t look the same. 

I even brought the anamorphic adapter on a trip to use on my Fujifilm X-H1, a Metabones Speedbooster, and my 135mm Zeiss ZF.2. Unfortunately, the 50mm had some vignetting, and I forgot to bring the 85mm.

This is where things became unwieldy.

The whole setup was heavy enough to give me a workout, and I was worried about how much stress the adapter was putting on my lens. While I loved the photos I took, using lens support with this adapter is a must at any focal length, even with well-built lenses.

However, I did eventually use the 85mm, which was a perfect sweet spot with Fuji’s APS-C sensor. 

With that in mind, going handheld with this setup requires some forethought. You’ll need a taking lens that is light enough to reduce your overall weight but also telephoto enough to not vignette. Here’s a chart from Moment to give you an idea of what focal ranges you can use.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I’ve already mentioned the weight. While that’s definitely a con in some books, I’m finding it to be more useful than I thought I would. While it works for my rig, not everyone will be able to deal with the heft, especially on those long shooting days. 

Another thing that stuck out to me is the rotation mechanism that aligns the lens. Right out of the box, it was way too stiff. Trying to align the adapter for the first time was a struggle, as the internal lubrication felt slightly stiff. However, after a few lens swaps, it started to loosen up.

Beyond that, there were no glaring issues. Once I set the focus on my taking lens just a hair off the infinity, focusing the adapter was a breeze and tack sharp. Having said that, I would have loved to see some focus gears and a screw mount on the bottom for lens support. 

While I see myself putting on my personal focus gears and using a manual follow focus, I’m not brave enough to use a motorized wireless unit. The fit of the adapter has been rock solid so far, but I don’t trust it with the torque of my wireless follow focus. Having this adapter unscrew on me during a focus pull is the last thing I want. 

Why I Chose the Moment Anamorphic Adapter

The past month I’ve spent with this adapter has been a unique experience. Since I shoot on a 1920 x 1080 Super 16 sensor, my goal with my compositions has been to get a wide-screen image without sacrificing my sensor resolution. 

I had tried the Sirui anamorphics but found that the quality control was a bit all over the place. Some lenses would fit on one MFT camera but not the other, even though they had the same mount. What if I wanted to shoot on my Fujifilm camera with these lenses? Well, that just wasn’t in the cards. 

The Moment 1.33x Anamorphic Adapter was attractive to me because it gave me what I wanted and then some. I got my widescreen image without compromising my sensor resolution, and I’m able to use it with any of my vintage lenses on any camera I choose. All I need is the right adapter. Years from now, I will still pull this out of my bag and use it. For the price I paid, that was worth it.

Is the Moment Anamorphic Adapter Too Late?

So, is it a little too late to release something like this? Well, it’s definitely a unique piece of gear, but I think it’s about time we got a refined adapter that’s well-built and easy to use. So, no, I think it’s just right on time.

I’m finding myself reaching for this adapter more often than I thought I would, even with the weight. It’s super easy and fast to set up, and I get to keep all the character of my vintage Nikon glass. Overall, I’m happy I gave the Moment anamorphic adapter a chance. 

Is It Worth It for You?

If you’re comfortable staying in a single mount and want a dedicated anamorphic lens, this adapter may not be for you. 

However, if you want a real anamorphic image with subtle anamorphic characteristics that you can use on any lens in your kit (and on any camera), then this adapter is a strong contender. 

Sure, it’s not as cheap as other offerings on the market, but the locking feature alone makes up for it (at least to me). I know this adapter will stay in my kit for the foreseeable future.

What do you think? Would you want this adapter in your kit? Let us know in the comments!     

Divian Ladwa is a British actor who gained notable international attention for playing the psychologically troubled character in the Oscar nominated film LION (2016). He is popularly known for playing Hugh in the BAFTA winning comedy series DETECTORISTS (2014-2022). Further work in film includes playing a timorous Dev King in the British feature film 8 MINUTES IDLE (2012) and a vengefully hot-tempered Rahim Begum in the EIFF best drama winner SAXON (2007). He has an extensive theatre background working with a wide range of companies including Tamasha Theatre Company and Fluxx Improvised Theatre, early in his career.

Divian and I had an in depth interview about his experience being a working actor in England. Here is what he had to say:

How long have you been an actor and how did you get into it?

DIVIAN: Within a year or two after I left secondary (High) school, I did my first professional gig. I was trying to get into drama school but couldn’t manage to get into one. I did however start working with an improv group called Fluxx and a new writing theatre company called Tamasha. This was during a time when I was finding as many places as I could for acting lessons and classes, including at The City Lit, The Precinct, Impulse, workshops with various theatre companies and Fluxx Improv. We ran classes at Fluxx as well as doing shows.

What were some of the roles you have seen that inspired you to be an actor?

DIVIAN: As a kid, I loved watching films so much. I watched everything. It was a different time so you could watch the type of movies that parents now won’t let their kids watch. Even though they were the ones watching them when they were kids. I loved watching ALIEN, TERMINATOR, THE GOONIES, BACK TO THE FUTURE, mostly films from the 80s. During school holidays or when I pretended to be sick, I’d watch black and white films during the day and sometimes my Dad’s Spaghetti Westerns. It would take about four years for a movie to go from cinema to terrestrial TV, so as kids, we’d anticipate movies eagerly and it always felt like a big event when a film premiered on TV. We would all be speaking about the movie at school the following day. Now everything is a screen tap away.

To be a working actor, it is one of the hardest jobs in the film business. How hard is it to get acting roles today?

DIVIAN: You go from wishing you had an agent, to wishing you can be seen for projects, to wishing you’ll land one of those projects, to wishing one of those projects will bear fruit and you’ll work more regularly. Sometimes you can get close to that last stage and within a few months, feel like you’ve ended up back at the beginning. It’s like Sisyphus. You get this self-tape request which is like his boulder but first it’s square shaped. You spend time crafting it into the sphere you need it to be and push it up a hill, at which point its gone, disappeared into the abyss. You’ve sent in your self-tape and now you are at the bottom of the hill again, waiting for the next opportunity for another boulder to arrive. That would be a very generalized view for most actors, I think. That boulder can represent tapes, invites, agent submissions, your own writing, funding applications, etc. It can feel tedious and like an ouroboros cycle of no escape but as covered by Camus, if you enjoy crafting the sphere and view the hill as an opportunity to exercise those acting muscles, you are in a better place than when you were not seen at all.

DIVIAN CONT’D: More personally, when I started acting in theatre, there were not many companies that would see me or employ me or respond to my invites to shows so my work was very limited. I would often take jobs where we would tour plays to schools or prisons. Once I did a play in an old home. I did have a good run of commercials for a couple of years but when I did Detectorists, it felt like I was being taken a bit more seriously and I was being seen for more TV and film. It’s not a fairy tale with a big payoff for everyone. It’s more like a game of snakes and ladders with peaks and troughs. A journey through choppy waters. Some people you see out there, seem to start that journey on a cruise ship and sail by quite smoothly. Then, there are dopey dreamers like me who jump into the ocean with nothing but a homemade rubber ducky and hand-me-down speedos, flapping around with loads of energy but not really going anywhere until you tire out and just float. The waves seem to take you forward yet backward. You can’t stop. It’s not a train. You can’t get off. You’ve been in it too long. You still love it when you get it. It’s sink or swim. Sink or swim.

For you, what have been your biggest challenges in your career thus far?

DIVIAN: Apart from the up and downs adventure I mentioned above, I’d say working on stories that are based on real people. I did a headphone verbatim theatre play for Theatre Royal Stratford East called Mad Blud. The technique for verbatim theatre requires the actor to listen to an interview and perform the person they are listening to. This play dealt with issues of knife crime in London. One of the interviews we performed was of a family who had lost their son. That already made it difficult but one night, the family came to see the show and they were sat in the front row. I could feel them there whilst we spoke their words of loss. They were very nice to us after the show, but I recall being quite silent in the post show Q&A. I also remember crying when trying to answer a question when I was being interviewed for a book about devised plays. A researcher on behalf of an author and I were discussing a solo performance I did for an old home and this emotion just flooded out when I tried to answer one of her questions. I don’t think we realize what we carry with us, subconsciously, and sometimes it comes out and you’re like, “oh wow… I didn’t know that time was so challenging for me.” Also, dealing with loss when you are working is a hard one. Not being present to support your family can make you feel like you are making selfish choices. It’s my worst fear.

You played Mantosh, Dev Patel’s brother in LION. Can you tell us about that experience?

DIVIAN: It was quite possibly the most amazing experience of my life. You may gauge an idea of where I was at in life and my career from what you’ve read so far to then get a job with Nicole Kidman was out of this world. On top of that, she was going to play my Mum. HAHAHA!!! Sometimes it feels like it didn’t happen. I had done some small budget films in the UK, but I never thought I’d actually end up in a film that would go on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The story was incredible, the cast was sensational, and the director’s vision was superb. We also had Greig Fraser, quite possibly one of the best DoPs out there. Normally, an actor like me is kept a little separate from the big actors but on this job, I was treated the same as everyone else. The director really embraced me. I met his family, and he took me and Dev Patel out a few times, even cooked for the cast and the Brielery family, whose story we tell. Being in Australia was an amazing experience as well. Melbourne is a great place for food and Tasmania is wild. I’d go back in a heartbeat. Everyone I met out there was awesome.

You are also in the series DETECTORISTS. And you are quite funny in it. Do you prefer comedy to drama?

DIVIAN: I love both and I’d like to continue doing both. I think comedy can feel quite rewarding on the day and in the moment. The cast and crew all seem to be in good spirits when working on comedies. Drama is also rewarding but in a different way. The rewarding feeling is not instant but comes gradually. You feel like you’ve done something more cinematic regardless of the scale.

Having worked on big budget films like ANT-MAN AND THE WASP and DAVID COPPERFIELD, as well as multiple indie films, do you like working on indie or commercial films more?

DIVIAN: They are both fun to work on. I think indie films are a little harder because the turn-around is so quick. With more money backing the project, you can play more and try different things. With ANT-MAN AND THE WASP for example, we could continue ad-libbing after the scene had ended. My last line in the film was made up on the day. I asked Payton Reed, the director, if I could say it, and he was like, “yeah, why not”. We don’t really get that luxury on an indie unless you can work it into a setup early enough. When I did MR MALCOLM’S LIST, I’d ask director Emma Holly Jones in advance if I could try stuff and she would find my suggestions funny. She was working on the script anyway so she would add any of my silly bits that she liked into the script so when we came to film, those beats were already there on the day’s set ups. That’s quite a specific example though, as Emma was already planning to get my character more involved than what was originally scripted. That said, there is a discipline that comes with indies. Coming in, knowing you only have a few takes to get it right, before they need to move on can be something to relish as you utilize more of your craft and approach, coming in prepared with the openness to play and the ability to adapt to direction.

Do you have a project you have worked on that you are most proud of?

DIVIAN: I guess LION would be the most obvious one, but I think I’ll go with a short I did with Film4 called NAPTHA (dir. Moin Hussain). It’s available on their website. It’s a drama about a father and son with a sci-fi undertone. I’ve always wanted to work on projects that require that sort of naturalistic performance where it doesn’t look like the actors are acting like SO LONG MY SON or a Hirokazu Kore-eda film, but that class of film rarely presents itself. Especially in the UK where the variety feels limited to comedy or procedural TV with scenes full of exposition. NAPTHA allowed me to play a lead role and to work on a tone for a film that I would like to do more of. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I was particularly good at it but it was the first time I got to do the type of acting that I’ve always longed for.

Do you have a funny anecdote you can share with us from one of the sets you have worked on?

DIVIAN: Ha. I can’t think of one. I must not be any fun to work with if I don’t have any. Being on set is a genuinely fun place to be. You are with likeminded individuals and can quickly bond and banter with people from different departments like the make-up team or the unit drivers. The only thing that comes to mind now was when I was doing ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, where people kept telling me you’re paid to wait. One day, I was on second unit and this phrase really rang true. I was sitting on those wooden chairs but alas, I still haven’t had one with my name on it, and the lovely PAs (runners) would check I’m ok and offer to get me anything like coffee. Filming in a big studio, it was tricky to just walk over to a table like we do in the UK, where a tea and coffee set up is present. In the States, first and foremost, you can’t even get a cappuccino at the hotel you’re staying in as a barmaid explained to me on my first day in Georgia, “They don’t do that here.” “But this is America!!!” was my response. “They drink it in the movies all the time.” I did not get my cappuccino that day. Or any day during my time at that hotel. Back on set, I did have a small window to get one before crafty decided to send the coffee machine into the abyss along with my self-tapes. I also didn’t know what ‘crafty’ was. I kept being told that “crafty can’t do that for you” and I thought whoever it is who can’t do it, certainly sounds crafty to me.

DIVIAN CONT’D: BUT…. There was a coffee machine somewhere cos the amazing Dante Spinotti of HEAT was getting espressos whenever he wanted. I just needed the right people on the inside to sort me out. One day, on second unit, when one of the PAs asked if I wanted anything, I said that I’d love an espresso, but they don’t have that machine. She said she knows of one and she’d be happy to get me one and that she’d like one too but isn’t allowed. So I said, “Cool. Can I have TWO espressos?” When she came back, I took one and told her I didn’t want the other one so she could have it. She left happily. A little while past. I was still being paid to wait and another PA came. This is another big difference between big budget and indie. Big budget in the States has like a hundred PAs whilst an indie in the UK just has one runner. If you’re lucky. Anyway, she’s like “Can I get you coffee?” and I’m about to say no as I have one in my hands until something twigs in my brain so I ask, “What sort of coffee should I get?” She recommends a latte. “Ok. I’ll have a latte.” She returns with the latte, but I just so happened to change my mind, so I tell her to have it if she wants. She’s very grateful. I was sorting out coffees for these kids all day. I’m essentially making people happy by listening to what they want and then letting them do the work they need to do to get it. This is what it must be like to be God. All is going well until the Big Boss PA arrives on our sound stage. A devilish, 4’10” veteran of the game. Now the PAs can’t get themselves, I mean, can’t get me a coffee as I now have to ask the Big Boss PA, but I can’t let my new pals down especially as the PAs in main unit, my buddies for weeks have found out that I’m getting orders in and have been visiting from the neighboring sound stage just to check in on me. So, I find out what people want and order them one at a time one. I can hear the Big Boss PA over the radio as she goes to get my latest order of frappa-dappa-dingleberry mocho-choca-la-la-da-da say, “if he asks me to make him a coffee one more time…” and when she comes back, I have one more request for an Americano… with cream. I never did any work that day. Just sat in my nameless chair. Caffeinated as fuck.

What’s next in the pipeline for you?

DIVIAN: I did do another sci-fi short that should hopefully come out this year. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & YOU! is written and directed by Charlie Brafman and Magnus McCullagh. They made an exceptional short western called RABBIT’S FOOT, which is available on Omeletto. In this AI based sci-fi, I play another lead and my character has a break-down about 30 seconds into the film and then we go on one hell of an adventure. It required me to play comedy, drama and romance and should be quirky and fun for audiences that get to see it, which I hope will be lots and lots of people. I’m sure it will hit the festival circuit later this year so keep an eye out for it.

Interview by Vanessa McMahon