Think Bradford, Think Film – Bradford, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 47.078 W 001° 45.317
30U E 582009 N 5960278
Bradford became the first UNESCO City of Film in 2009 and this welcome sign celebrates the fact.
Waymark Code: WMDB2R
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/17/2011
Views: 1
The city of Bradford is perhaps most often associated as being a major woollen town and at one time was known as the ‘Wool Capital of the World’. However that industry has declined in the U.K. and Bradford now has only a relatively few specialist factories left.
This heritage is celebrated in Saltaire which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
However the city has had to reinvent itself, and has many connections with the film industry. Some of the early pioneering photography and film techniques were developed in Bradford. The area around Bradford has also been regularly used in films.
In 1983 the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television moved to Bradford from London. Now known as The National Media Museum, it attracts over 700,000 visitors a year, one of the most popular museums outside London. The museum installed Europe’s first permanent IMAX cinema, and is also the only place in the world that regularly shows old Cinerama films using the original 3 projector system.
On top of this Bradford also hosts 3 annual film festivals, and due to its large Asian population has many links with Bollywood film makers.
All of this was taken into consideration when UNESCO created their first City of film in 2009, beating such places as Hollywood, Venice and Cannes.
The sign celebrates Bradford's film connections and incorporates a strip of film in the design.
There are a number of the welcome signs and this is on Manchester Road (A641) which approaches the city centre form the south west.
The full text of the sign is...
BRADFORD
CITY OF FILM
a UNESCO Creative City
WELCOME TO BRADFORD
CITY CENTRE
think bradford | think film
Details of the UNESCO award can be found here http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-industries/creative-cities-network/film/bradford/
Details of the National Media Museum can be found here http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/