Le Balzac is a cinema in Paris, opened on 6th May1935 on 1 rue Balzac (8th arrondissement). Naming after the great French poet Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) there is the idea of a cinema "like a literary salon, where people can discuss and imagine changes in society". These words are from
Jean-Jacques Schpoliansky, the director of this cinema since 1970.
The cinema shows above all independent arthouse movies.
On salles-cinema.com you can find more information about this art temple and an interview with Jean-Jacques Schpoliansky (in French).
I got this postcard via Postcrossing swap from Aldo. It was drawn by Francois Avril, in honor of Jean-Jacques Schpoliansky voted in 2002 to best operator of the year by Le Film français. I love this winter scene with so many people they want to enjoy a good movie (In the mood of love by Wong Kar-Wei is posted), some good hours in a friendly atmosphere.
Merci Aldo!
On Sunday I was in cinema and I was very lucky finding this postcard. KIF - means Kino in der Fabrik.
The house was built in 1950 as a factory for tool engeneering. In 1990, the factory was closed - like many others in East Germany. From 1993 till 2005 here played a theater called TIF (Theater in der Fabrik). And on 16th March 2006 the cinema started after reconstruction work.
The cinema isn't big, it has three halls: Hall K with 158 seats, hall I with 101 seats and hall F with 49 seats and the so-called Black Salon for special events, among them Junk Room - Do You Know Cinema? (Together with friends, I won the very first of many Junk Rooms.)
The postcard shows hall K at the big picture and some details from the cinema in six little pictures. Notice the little picture top right with the room for the film projector, and the little picture bottom left with the toilet rooms. Never seen on any cinema postcard before.
Now we have Corona times, cinema has closed since March 2020. Worse than this, owner Frank Apel died on March 18th. A cinematographer with a big heart. It was ever so fascinating listenting him talking about movies and actors and cinemas. He could turn any venue into a culture palace.
