The National Media Museum – Bradford

The name The National Media Museum has never really stuck with me.  I’ll always know it as the National Museum of Photography Film and Television or the NMPFTV.  It’s a simply fantastic museum set in the heart of Bradford and is soon approaching it’s 30th Birthday.

[map address=”National Media Museum, Bradford, UK” width=”100%” height=”150px” zoom=”15″ ] I can remember visiting many many times as a child.  One of my most vivid memories was the first ever IMAX film I saw.  The five storey high IMAX screen in Bradford was way ahead on any in the capital or elsewhere in the UK.  The film was “To Fly“.  A short half an hour documentary about the history of flight it began with a hot air balloon lifting off and flying over amazed crowds below.  The films started as a small square in the centre of the huge screen before suddenly filling out the the massive IMAX size to reveal a huge vista.

I was hooked.

I visited many more times, saw more IMAX films, the news room was amazing, even the Play School Toys moved in.  Later on in high school I took photography courses there and developed black & white prints in their dark rooms.

As well as having the first IMAX screen in the UK the Museum was home to one of the very few working Cinerama installations in the world.  Cinerama uses three projectors to create a wrap-around image on a carefully constructed louvered screen.   The screen itself is a work of art.

The Museum is truly a national treasure and a great asset to the City of Bradford.  It’s the kind of place you would expect to find in London but for once the powers decided to build elsewhere.  I for one am very glad they did.  It inspired me into studying Film & Television, then onto a job in the Cinema Industry and ultimately to where I am today.

It seems that UK Government austerity measures may be putting the future of this wonderful and free museum at risk.  Take a look at this petition if you are so inclined to try and do your bit to save this amazing museum.

http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-national-media-museum-bradford

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