Sabbatical 8/25 - Film Museums of Lyon
I only had one particular plan for my time in Lyon. To film lovers, Lyon is famous as the site of Workers leaving the Lumiere factory, which is often cited as the first motion picture ever made. Here it is:
It's not much by today's standards, but it spawned a revolution. In fact, just a few weeks before I left for Europe I attended the opening of the Cleveland Cinematheque's new theater, which was held as a special event titled "Lumiere" in part to honor the Lumiere brothers.
Therefore, after a nice breakfast at the hotel I walked to the Institut Lumiere, which covers the career of the Lumiere brothers and the early age of movies in a small but well done museum hosted in the old Lumiere mansion, on the same grounds that used to host the factory immortalized by that first film. They have any number of old cameras on display, with excellent materials in English for tourists like myself. There's an excellent short documentary on loop in one of the rooms. I particularly liked that the Lumiere's sent people with cameras all around the world to film whatever looked interesting, because in the days before cinema developed around stories, short clips of unknown cultures were a huge draw. As a cinema buff, I found it to be very interesting. Those with a less keen interest in movies may not.
Having exhausted the Institut Lumiere, I walked the other direction and crossed both of Lyon's rivers to reach the old quarter. This was my first European experience with an old quarter, which basically refers to the parts of the city that are so old that the streets only barely can accommodate a single automobile and were never reworked to modern standards. In my admittedly limited experience (four cities total) the bottom most floors are full of shops, and the upper floors are apartments. The upside to narrow streets is that there is some degree of shade, even in the afternoon, but it was still ridiculously hot.
At this point, I was looking for some a/c so I could relax and rest up for the walk back to the hotel. Then I walked past the Musee Miniature & Cinema, which started as a collection of miniatures by an artist named Dan Ohlmann, but later grew into a collection of movie special effects, particularly in costuming and puppetry. Even better, it was air conditioned! Space ship models, alien puppets, creative ways to distribute fake blood and movie weaponry all vied for space, culminating in a full size Alien Queen used in AVP: Requiem. This museum was a little more accessible than the Institut Lumiere since it referenced many popular recent films, but ultimately was a bit of a special interest destination.
From there I wandered around town some more, had some pizza for dinner and went to bed. I had a train to catch the next morning.
Photos seven through fifteen in this set are from August 25.
Click to viewIt's not much by today's standards, but it spawned a revolution. In fact, just a few weeks before I left for Europe I attended the opening of the Cleveland Cinematheque's new theater, which was held as a special event titled "Lumiere" in part to honor the Lumiere brothers.
Therefore, after a nice breakfast at the hotel I walked to the Institut Lumiere, which covers the career of the Lumiere brothers and the early age of movies in a small but well done museum hosted in the old Lumiere mansion, on the same grounds that used to host the factory immortalized by that first film. They have any number of old cameras on display, with excellent materials in English for tourists like myself. There's an excellent short documentary on loop in one of the rooms. I particularly liked that the Lumiere's sent people with cameras all around the world to film whatever looked interesting, because in the days before cinema developed around stories, short clips of unknown cultures were a huge draw. As a cinema buff, I found it to be very interesting. Those with a less keen interest in movies may not.
Having exhausted the Institut Lumiere, I walked the other direction and crossed both of Lyon's rivers to reach the old quarter. This was my first European experience with an old quarter, which basically refers to the parts of the city that are so old that the streets only barely can accommodate a single automobile and were never reworked to modern standards. In my admittedly limited experience (four cities total) the bottom most floors are full of shops, and the upper floors are apartments. The upside to narrow streets is that there is some degree of shade, even in the afternoon, but it was still ridiculously hot.
At this point, I was looking for some a/c so I could relax and rest up for the walk back to the hotel. Then I walked past the Musee Miniature & Cinema, which started as a collection of miniatures by an artist named Dan Ohlmann, but later grew into a collection of movie special effects, particularly in costuming and puppetry. Even better, it was air conditioned! Space ship models, alien puppets, creative ways to distribute fake blood and movie weaponry all vied for space, culminating in a full size Alien Queen used in AVP: Requiem. This museum was a little more accessible than the Institut Lumiere since it referenced many popular recent films, but ultimately was a bit of a special interest destination.
From there I wandered around town some more, had some pizza for dinner and went to bed. I had a train to catch the next morning.
Photos seven through fifteen in this set are from August 25.