I’ve always been fascinated by Paris France. For ages I’ve longed to travel the world and Paris was the first place on my list. I have been there twice and I am already longing to go back. I love the historic architecture, the rich history, the excellent food and of course the cinema! The French are major cinephiles and I was delighted to discover a ton of places all over the city where I could see old movies!
Below is a photo of the Cinemathque Francaise, which is an amazing archive of films, research materials and information. I was stunned to find out they are fully funded by the French government!! They have 3 different levels with exhibits and three different sized theatres inside. This building was designed by famed architect Frank Gehry. If you want to learn more about the Cin?math?que, then make sure to rent the documentary film Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque. I went to all three exhibitions including the one about silent film pioneer Georges Melies and another big exhibit about Dennis Hopper. They day of my visit, they were showing a rare Dennis Hopper film called The Trip made by Roger Corman in 1967. In the film Peter Fonda decides to drop acid and experiences visions of sex, death, strobe lights, flowers, dancing girls, witches, hooded riders, a torture chamber, and a dwarf. He also runs naked through part of West Hollywood. It was lovely!
I also stopped by the Cine Tamaris display at Rue Daguerre in Montparnasse. This is the headquarters of filmmaker Agnes Varda’s production company. She directed numerous films (several available from Criterion) including La Pointe Courte, Cl?o from 5 to 7, Le bonheur and Vagabond. Note the Jacques Demy DVD box sets in the window display. They were married and he directed numerous French classics including The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort. I was freezing cold when this photo was taken!
There is a section of Paris called “The Latin Quarter” that I really enjoy visiting. There are tons of small theatres in the area and almost all of them are showing old Hollywood classics. I couldn’t resist coming in from the cold and watching a Hitchcock matinee. The theatre was nice and warm, the seats were very comfortable and the print of Rebecca was stunning!
I took many long walks through the city and saw a great shop that carried old Hollywood posters.
Since I have a huge passion for historic cemeteries, I managed to visit several graves of French film legends including: Henri Georges Clouzot and his wife Vera, Francois Truffaut and American actress Jean Seberg.
Stay tuned for more of my film related travels.