A global focus on film museums
No need to wait for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ and George Lucas’ movie museums to open in Los Angeles: Major cities around the world have their own such institutions, most offering screenings and permanent and temporary exhibits. In many places, film history is covered in depth. Take, for instance, the Institut Lumière in Lyon, France, where you can see an early motionpicture camera called the Cinématograph No. 1. You’ll also see an exhibit at the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin that pays homage to “film professionals who were driven into exile by the National Socialists.” A more lighthearted piece of movie history can be found at the London Film Museum, a repository of “creative action vehicles” driven by James Bond. Lights, action and lots of cameras.
Australian Centre for the Moving Image Melbourne
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne, the country’s arts and cultural capital, celebrates the moving image in its myriad forms. It describes itself as the “national museum of film, TV, digital culture and art.”
It offers both permanent and temporary exhibits that later tour. “Bombay Talkies,” for instance, which runs through July 2, uses letters, stills and other materials from the extensive collections of Melbourne brothers Walter, Peter and Paul Dietze whose grandfather, Himanshu Rai, was a cofounder of the Bombay Talkies studio, which produced more than three dozen films.
Info: Australian Centre for the Moving Image, www.acmi.net.au
Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin
The Deutsche Kinemathek, in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, has a collection of 26,000 films, a million stills and 30,000 scripts as well as projectors and cameras spanning all eras of German film history.
Perhaps its crown jewel is the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, which focuses on the multi-talented femme fatale who was born in what is now Berlin but became an American citizen in 1937.
She refused to work in Germany while Adolf Hitler was in power despite his requests. Her films included “The Blue Angel” (1930), “Destry Rides Again” (1939) with Jimmy Stewart and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961).
Through April 23, you’ll also find a special exhibition called “Things to Come: Science Fiction Film,” which focuses on whether the films’ predictions for the future have come true.
Info: Deutsche Kinemathek, www.deutsche-kinemathek.de/en
Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam
offers temporary and permanent exhibits, and it screens films 12 hours a day.
“Béla Tarr: Till the End of the World” introduces (or reacquaints) visitors with the Hungarian-born producer and director whose works include “The Turin Horse” (2011), “Satantango” (1994) and “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000). The museum describes this exhibit as “a cross between a film, a theater set and an installation.”
Eye also has special “listening benches” equipped with headphones where visitors can hear the perspective of the cameraman from “Jaws” (1975), the scriptwriter of “Chinatown” (1974) and the composer of “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968).
Eye is a star, albeit an architectural one, in its own right. It’s on the harbor, and its bar and restaurant have a waterside terrace with cinematic views.
Info: Eye Filmmuseum, www.eyefilm.nl/en
Institut Lumière Lyon, France
The Institut Lumière in Lyon has a museum, library and robust program of daily film screenings and film festivals.
The Musee Lumière occupies the family home of Lumière brothers Louis and Auguste, inventors of an early motion picture camera.
Their Cinématograph, which weighed about 11 pounds, was cranked by hand and could both record and project film.
Their first film, shown in 1895, was “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory,” and although it wasn’t exactly an Oscar contender (the Oscars didn’t come along until 1929), it is widely considered the first motion picture.
Besides giving us the moving picture, their Cinématograph also gave us the word “cinema,” History.com says.
Info: Institut Lumière, www .institut-lumiere.org
La Cinémathèque Francaise Paris
There’s a star that’s apparent the minute you set eyes on La Cinémathèque Francaise: The 2005 building in the 12th arrondissement was designed by Frank Gehry, known for such gems as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain; and the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis.
The museum features objects as diverse as 18th century imagemaking machines, magic lanterns, set drawings, storyboards and movie posters and photos.
Info: La Cinémathèque Francaise, www.cinematheque.fr
London Film Museum London
You can’t really talk about the film industry in London without talking about Bond. James Bond. The London Film Museum in Covent Garden is all about 007 and his cars.
Among the many Bondmobiles on display is the archetypical Aston Martin DB5 (it looks a bit like an older Jaguar E that’s had a nose job) from “GoldenEye” (1995).
All of the cars on display in the London Film Museum are original and were used in filming. Most are on loan from Eon Productions, the films’ producer, and the Ian Fleming Foundation.
Info: London Film Museum, www.londonfilmmuseum.com
National Museum of Cinema Turin, Italy
In 2000 the National Museum of Cinema in Turin opened in its home in the Mole Antonelliana, built in the 1860s as a synagogue for the city’s Jewish community. Items from the museum’s collection are displayed along the outer walls of each floor, opening up on to the spectacular, central, towering Temple Hall.
On display in the permanent exhibit are posters, film fragments and stage sets; its collection also includes movie advertising, brochures and magazines, audio recordings and musical scores.
The museum, which also projects sound and light shows onto its cupola, even contains a transparent elevator that takes visitors to a platform affording views of Turin and the nearby Alps.
Info: National Museum of Cinema, www.lat.ms/museo cinema