Sunday, May 16, 2010

CITY OF CULTURE

LODZ – A

Saturday 15th May

A grey day and cool as most days seem to be in Poland so far.

I headed off on a fairly long walk to the Museum of Cinematography. It sounded
like a lace that I would be interested in. Walking along the fairly empty
streets – it was only 10:30am and a Saturday, I came across a neighbourhood
market in progress. There were some stalls with a permanent hut with goods on
tables in front. These were mostly vegetables. Customers took their selection
to a counter in the hut for weighing and payment. There were several meat
sellers but in those cases the meat was displayed behind glass at the window.
There were bakers and clothing and trinkets and several stalls or tables
selling women's bras of seemingly extra large size. All up it was a very busy
market and lots of local folk coming and going.

I got to the museum to find it closed, but with a large tour party outside with
their guide. But they didn't get in either. This weekend many of the museums in
Lodz are holding a Museum Night from 6pm to 1am and that is why this one was
closed. I found another museum later which was also closed.

I went off around the corner and down the road a bit to the famous Polish Film
School. I wandered around the outside of buildings a bit and thought of the
famous film makers who had begun here. Some lovely old buildings and some more
modern of course.

Next followed a long walk back to the main street which I wandered up, although
there was not a lot happening at that stage. The Polish towns seem to come
alive in the late afternoons and evenings. Noticeably cold though when I was in
the wind. Not a strong wind but enough to increase the chill factor a bit.

I ended up in an area where a series of old buildings had been turned into a
very large shopping centre, cinemas restaurants children's activities and a
large square. There were rows of fountains, classical music playing on the
speaker systems. Here as down the main street, clowns on stilts were walking
around. In one area the local owners of Harley Davidson motor bikes were having
a gathering before riding off in convoy.

In the shopping centre I discovered a large and buys food hall. So I had a big
sausage, potatoes and a self serve and mix salad. A small mix as they sold it
by the 100gm weight. Even lettuce soon builds up the 100gms.

Amazingly, it was soon time to head back to the Cinematography Museum. Even when
I got there around 6:40 there were crowds of people arriving and this continued
steadily all the time I was there with more arriving as I left. One advantage
of the evening, was that it was free, they also allowed me to photography and
film free as well. Normally that combination would have cost 50 zty or NZ$25.
The museum is set in an old grand building or small palace. So besides the
exhibits there are rooms with great wooden panels and furniture, painted
ceilings and mirrors. Elsewhere the walls were lined with pictures of early
projectors and Polish film posters. Posters for every Polanski movie ever made
were there with different language versions. In the cafe there was a continuous
showing of clips from his early Polish films, some of which he was acting in.

There were lots of 35mm projectors around on display and a number of 35mm movie
cameras. Mostly Arriflex. I spotted just one 16mm Arri. There was one room with
more projectors but also a cabinet displaying a collection of magic lanterns of
various sizes, also some slides for them.
Another couple of cabinets displayed home movie projectors some of which I
recognised. One was a 9.5mm Pathe Ace and another a Pathe 28mm projector.

The attendant could speak English and we had a good discussion about the various
items, then he took me upstairs by a back way to miss the queues going into the
3D display. The main attraction here was a stereoscope viewing system identical
to the one I saw in Warsaw. But there were a few stereo cameras and viewing
devices. Interesting but small and crowded. Another floor up and there was a
very exhaustive display of puppets used in the various animated films several
sets – one with a camera set on a dolly and tracks to move around it. There
were storyboards and a multiplane cell animation camera unit. I have never seen
one of these in real life before.

There was also a photo exhibition, part of Photo Month, on display in several
rooms which showed mostly photos made by old developing methods.

Outside was an old Stone Age village which I assume had been a film set at some
stage. In particular there was a large round house with old clay pots and
implements inside.

By now it was 9:00pm and pretty much dark. I walked through the underpass which
took me to the other side of the 8 lane and two tram tracks of highway. Then a
20 minute or so walk to the main street.
Here I was able to join the crowds at one gallery viewing local photographs as
part of Photo Month. Seems amazing that you almost have to queue to get in to
view at 10pm. A second exhibition was just a large wall photo of a forest and a
very shaky video of walking through a forest, projected onto a screen of the
same size and the photo.

A street display on bill boards of more photos this time of the old power plant
which is being transformed 'Tate like" into a modern exhibition and studio
complex.

Down one end of the street there was a loud fireworks display, but I was off to
the hostel and a cup of tea. Then the 100 step climb to my room. Al l the
walking has given me some very tired and stiff feet and legs.

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