The Museum is located in the
Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens.
It occupies one of the thirteen buildings that comprised the former
Astoria Studio complex. Originally built by Famous Players-Lasky in
the 1900’s, later known as Paramount, the studio was the site
of hundreds of silent and early sound era film productions. The Astoria
Motion Picture and Television Center Foundation, established in 1977,
restored the facilities to produce feature films. In 1982, the City
of New York set aside one of the original studio buildings to become
the Museum of the Moving Image, which opened in 1988. The film production
facility, known today as Kaufman Astoria Studios is one of the largest
and most sophisticated film and television production centers on the
east coast.
A $67 million museum expansion and renovation project, designed by Leeser Architecture was completed in January 2011. The Museum’s new look provides awe-inspiring, surrealist interior features designed with spacious, flowing, silent white spaces, accented by luminous blue lighting - brought to life with spectacular multi-media exhibits and intriguing film screenings that range from early movies to contemporary high-budget special effects productions.
Among the museum’s fascinating film industry collections are early flip card movie machines, a collection of movie cameras, projectors, television cameras, audio and editing equipment and other technical and studio apparatus that have been part of movie production throughout the years.
Contemporary exhibits include special effects creatures and sets, such as examples from the movies “Star Wars” and “Tron.” Also included are historical still photographs, design materials, costumes, fan magazines, marketing materials of all types, and movie theater furnishings. There is even a small fanciful theatre interior decorated with a colorful ancient Egyptian decor and a decorated refreshment counter serviced by a life-size female mannequin.
The museum’s core exhibition - "Behind the Screen" - explores how films and television shows are created, marketed, and exhibited.
The museum offers changing exhibitions and numerous screenings of various films in its multiple theatre and viewing areas. Each year the Museum screens more than 400 films with a scope that ranges from classic to contemporary productions. Included are silent films, restored film prints from the world's leading archives, plus outstanding new films from the international festival circuit.
The Museum’s inaugural exhibition in its new changing exhibitions gallery is "Real Virtuality," showcasing six experiments in art and technology. The exhibitions have been created by artists and technologists with backgrounds in architecture, painting, filmmaking, video art, and software engineering. They employ video game engines, motion and position-tracking, stereoscopic (3-D) digital video, and sophisticated image processing software - to create simulated worlds that extend, augment, or disrupt the real physical environment..
Edited by
Mel Fenson from information derived from the Museum's website and other
web
sources.
For more information
visit
the website
for the
Museum of the Moving Image at: