Another day in Lyon - A visit to the Institut Lumière - A model for Sydney

If ever a model was needed for what Sydney needs it’s the Institut Lumiere in Lyon.

Institut Lumiere, Lyon

The Institut’s public face is a sumptuous historical location loaded up with cinema history, which serves as a magnificent museum paying homage to the cinema’s founders on the  very site where the very first film was photographed. The house that the wealthy Lumière family built is now the Museum and, in addition to artefacts and displays, houses the admin of the Institut. 

There the screenings in the cinema made from the converted film studio, and the nearby factory which now houses a book and DVD shop and space for educational initiatives all happen. The DVDs are arranged like books, by the ‘author’s’ name across all the various sections). 

Monument to the Lumiere brothers, outside the Institut Lumiere, Lyon

There also an outside square where a monument to the brothers backs on to an open air cinema currently operating during the holiday season.

Then the Institut is also responsible for the annual Lumière 2018 Grand Lyon Film Festival, shortly to have its 10^th edition. 

Jane Fonda, Prix Lumiere, 2018

Its anniversary will be marked by the annual Prix Lumière being awarded to Jane Fonda. A flyer in the Museum foyer tells us that Accreditations for young people are now on offer. They entitle the holder to a festival catalogue, reduced ticket prices, reduced prices on goods sold in the Museum shop and a 20% discount at a couple of nearby restaurants. 

The festival will run for nine days have 400 screenings of 180 films and it is anticipated there will be 171,000 admissions. Professionals are also invited to participate in the ‘Classic Film Market” to take place over four days during the festival.  

What more could you ask.

I have a feeling that if someone could convince Gladys Berejiklian to come to Lyon and see what’s been done so effortlessly then I’m sure some of that $9 billion, say a hundred million bucks or so, that the NSW government got from selling off the electricity poles and wires could be applied to the worthy cause of state-sponsored and supported cinephilia.