NEW YORK (AP) — Decades of success haven’t dulled Steven Spielberg's appetite for filmmaking. The excitement that first drew him to the camera is still very much alive.
Before being honored at the Museum of Modern Art’s film benefit, Spielberg looked back on his journey from an ambitious young filmmaker to one of Hollywood’s most admired directors.
Click to Gallery
Eve Hewson, left, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Tonya Lewis Lee, left, and Spike Lee arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Drew Barrymore arrives at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Honoree Steven Spielberg, left, and Martin Scorsese arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Honoree Steven Spielberg, left, and Martin Scorsese arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
“I still have the enthusiasm that I had when I was 12 years old making 8 mm movies, little Westerns at home. That has never gotten old. I’ve gotten older, but that hasn’t gotten old,” Spielberg told The Associated Press at Thursday’s gala.
Though Spielberg has received virtually every major honor in filmmaking, from Academy Awards to industry tributes, recognition from MoMA holds particular significance.
“The Museum of Modern Art was one of the first museums ever to recognize film back in the mid-’30s as an art form. Not just as a concession or some kind of a technological concoction, but a real art form,” Spielberg said on the black carpet.
One of the most successful and influential directors in film history, Spielberg has made more than 35 feature films. His work spans fantasy, science fiction, and historical dramas, along with deeply human stories that explore the world around us.
From “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park” and the “Indiana Jones” series, he has taken audiences to extraordinary places. He has also turned to history and human conflict in films such as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List.” The latter won three Oscars in 1994, including best director for Spielberg.
Spielberg rarely goes looking for a specific genre. More often, he says, the stories find him, sometimes arriving out of nowhere.
“Often the movies that I wind up directing are the films that sneak up on me from behind, like an idea, like ‘E.T.’ which just came out of the blue one day,” he said.
The 1982 film, about a boy who befriends a stranded alien, became a sensation and one of the most beloved films of its era. It also became one of Spielberg’s signature works.
That instinct to follow an idea wherever it leads speaks to the curiosity that continues to drive his work and his reluctance to repeat himself.
“I’m a bit like a chameleon. I kind of take the shape of the environment that I’m standing in front of. And so my favorite directors are the directors who were able to come out of a hole each time, a different hole each time, and didn’t make the same movie in the same style again and again and again,” he said.
Celebrity guests included Robert De Niro, Michelle Williams, Drew Barrymore, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Spielberg’s longtime friend Martin Scorsese was also there to celebrate the director. On a rainy New York Evening, Spielberg made his way to the entrance to greet Scorsese with a warm embrace when he arrived.
The evening opened with a surprise appearance by Tom Cruise, followed by a special tribute featuring Emily Blunt, Steve Martin and Martin Scorsese. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose performed “Somewhere” from “West Side Story.” Bruce Springsteen also performed an acoustic version of “Dancing in the Dark.”
The annual benefit raises funds for MoMA’s film collection, supporting the preservation and acquisition of important works of cinema, as well as the museum’s film exhibits. Chanel has sponsored the event since 2011.
In his acceptance speech, Spielberg reflected on the collaborative nature of the medium and people who have shared in his journey.
“Standing alone up here feels wrong. Filmmaking is collaborating. And when I get singled out on a night like this it reminds me that I have never stood alone,” he said.
Eve Hewson, left, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Tonya Lewis Lee, left, and Spike Lee arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Drew Barrymore arrives at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Honoree Steven Spielberg, left, and Martin Scorsese arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Honoree Steven Spielberg, left, and Martin Scorsese arrive at the 18th annual Museum of Modern Art Film Benefit presented by Chanel on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Thursday denounced widespread “machismo” and violence against women in Peru, demanding that women be protected and respected as he set out marching orders for his beloved Peruvian church and people.
After his emotional homecoming Wednesday, the Peruvian pope got down to business and turned to the challenges facing a church and country he knows well.
He called on the influential Catholic hierarchy to be models of unity and communion, and instructed Peruvian bishops to accompany their flocks and respond to victims of clergy sexual abuse with truth and justice. He also met with six survivors, including from an abusive sect-like group that Pope Francis suppressed last year.
But the 71-year-old pope also showed himself to be positively overjoyed to be home and as relaxed as he has been in public since his 2025 election.
Leo sang along enthusiastically as 40,000 people in Lima's Plaza Mayor serenaded him with “Contigo Perú,” a famous song from Peru’s Pacific coast that celebrates national unity. He sang along later to another hymn, Alma Misionera (Missionary Soul), in Lima's stadium during a vigil along with 60,000 people inside and another 300,000 outside, according to Vatican estimates.
“It’s a blessing not only for us Chiclayans but for all of Peru,” said Ángel Esquives, a craftsman originally from Leo’s former diocese in Chiclayo who now lives in Lima. He said he left his home at 3 a.m. to go to the historic center and stand in line to get as close as possible to the pope.
Zozimo Perez came in a self-designed costume he named “the Inca Warrior,” with the pontiff’s image on his chest and back. He was in tears as he saw Leo stroll around the square. “This is a gift from heaven,” said Perez.
As he showed in the first two legs of his South American trip, Leo was in fine form despite having undergone lung cancer surgery last month. He bounded up a steep flight of stairs Thursday morning without any apparent problems and joked with the bishops that some “doubting Thomases” had predicted he wouldn’t be able to come.
“But God is great and his grace is bigger than all of us and I’m very happy to be here with you,” he said to applause.
In a speech to Peruvians in the plaza, Leo denounced the culture of “machismo” and violence against women that is prevalent in Peru, saying it went against the Christian teaching that proclaims men and women share equal dignity.
“It pains us to see that violence against women — who could be our grandmothers, mothers, sisters or daughters — continues to be a reality that wounds all of humanity,” he said. He noted that poor, Indigenous and Afro-Peruvian women are doubly penalized, and called for all women to be valued, protected and respected.
Gender-based violence is an urgent social issue in Peru, which recorded 1,261 femicide victims between 2016 and 2024, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics. During that period, the number of women killed because of their gender rose by 44%, suggesting the problem is only getting worse.
“While we’ve made progress with women’s suffrage and in being heard more, femicides are still on the rise — or at least they’re receiving more attention,” said Nicole Cruz, who was in the Plaza Mayor for the pope’s speech Thursday.
Cruz said she hopes the pope’s words will help unite women and help “men understand that we’re not complaining, but that we want help and to be loved and heard.”
The former Robert Prevost spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru and credits the place with teaching him how to be a shepherd. He in many ways has modeled his vocation as a bishop on the 16th century St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, the first archbishop of Lima.
Mogrovejo is revered for having traveled long distances to be with his flock and for having defended the rights of Indigenous and enslaved peoples. He studied Quechua and Aymara and oversaw the printing of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in these Indigenous languages, because he believed the faith had to be transmitted in a language people could understand.
Leo urged bishops on Thursday to model their vocation on his example. Being a bishop, he said, means “entering people’s homes, accompanying the sick, meeting young people and reaching out to communities which, due to their geographical remoteness or social vulnerability, are rarely able to make their voices heard.”
While the clergy sexual abuse scandal hasn’t exploded publicly in Peru as it has in other Latin American countries, Leo identified it as a “reality that has caused us so much pain.”
“We must respond as Jesus would, with truth, justice, forgiveness, making amends and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention and protection for the weakest in light of such crimes,” Leo said.
He later put that into practice by meeting with six victims for an hour, listening to their stories and “reflecting with them on how to foster a change in mindset by listening to the victims, seeking the truth, pursuing paths to healing, and committing to creating safe environments,” the Vatican said.
Among the six were former members of the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a once-powerful movement.
Leo, who was the Peruvian bishops' point-person to welcome Sodalitium's victims while he was Chiclayo bishop, knows the case well.
In 2011, former members complained to the archdiocese in Peru’s capital, Lima, about abuses by its founder, Luis Figari. But neither the local church nor the Holy See took concrete action until one of the victims and a journalist, Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, wrote a book in 2015.
After attempts at reform, Francis sent his two most trusted investigators to look into the Sodalitium abuse allegations. Their report uncovered “sadistic” sect-like abuses of power and spirituality, and financial abuses in administering church funds. Francis suppressed it shortly before he died, but it still wields economic power in Peru.
On Thursday, José Escardó, the Sodalitium's first whistleblower who wrote about the abuses he suffered in 2000, said the church's rhetoric has been empty when it comes to punishing clergymen who commit crimes.
Outside the house where Leo is staying, Escardó complained that Leo has not responded letters from victims for over a year. “These are not sins, they are not a mistake, that is an offense. These are crimes, and as such they must be punished,” Escardó said.
Beyond the Sodalitium case, the online database BishopAccountability has identified 77 priests, brothers, seminarians and laypeople consecrated in Peru who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors. But based on trends in other countries, the organization said that number is a “small fraction” of the total, arguing victims simply haven’t come forward yet in the overwhelmingly Catholic country where the church wields significant influence.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for a prayer vigil with young people and students at the National Stadium in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
Pope Leo XIV catches a stuffed lion as he arrives to lead a prayer vigil at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Faithful cheer during a prayer vigil led by Pope Leo XIV at the National Stadium in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Faithful cheer as Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during a meeting on the challenges and hopes for the future of the Peruvian people in the square outside Lima's cathedral, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The faithful wait to greet Pope Leo XIV as he makes his way to the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Paredes)
The faithful pray in Plaza de Armas as they await Pope Leo XIV's arrival at the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
Pope Leo XIV arrives for a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)
The faithful greet Pope Leo XIV as he arrives for a meeting with Peru's bishops at the archbishop's residence in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)
Pope Leo XIV attends a meeting with the bishops of Peru at the chapel of the Archbishop's Residence in Lima, on the seventh day of his twelve-day apostolic journey to South America, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)
