Preview

Preview: Reel Stories exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool

By March 21, 2016

Liverpool.

reel-storiesLIVERPOOL has always had great artists, actors, writers and musicians; now the city itself is taking a starring stage in the movie business.

A new exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool features posters from dozens of iconic films with links to the city, including Letter to Brezhnev, Educating Rita and Of Time and the City.

The exhibition tells the story of the city’s cinematic past, present and future, from the heyday of neighbourhood picture palaces and its impressive roster of home-grown stars such as Genda Jackson and Paul McGann, to a bright future as a first choice filming location for modern-day blockbusters.

Paul Gallagher, acting senior curator of urban history adds: “There are three main themes: Liverpool as Liverpool; Liverpool as elsewhere; and Liverpool cinemas. There are also strong themes of ‘power to the people’, faith and youth sub-cultures. Liverpool is known for its wit and humour and hopefully you can see that in the films that are made here.”

The city region has doubled up as Victorian London (Sherlock Holmes), wintry Russia (The Hunt for Red October) and 1920s Paris (Chariots of Fire).

This success in attracting film crews in recent years is a testament to the hard work of the Liverpool Film Office in selling the city’s grand buildings and atmospheric settings to the world’s top TV and movie-makers; not to mention the powers-that-be in making these sites accessible.

And next up it’s Liverpool as New York City in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel and spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, coming to a cinema near you later this year.

Reel Stories is running at the Museum of Liverpool until September 2017.

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