Saturday, 19 July 2008

Projecting again

My time in New Zealand has allowed my to indulge in a hobby of mine, mucking around with old 16mm prjectors and films. My trusty old Elmo projector finally gave up the ghost so I got hold of an Eiki to run a few old reels through at a couple of friends houses. I'd love to take one of these babys to Taiwan with me but they are heavy old beasts and shipping costs more than they are worth. When I do find one in Taiwan the asking price is inevitably stupidly high. In most countries they are rare but quite cheap as there is no demand for them. In Taiwan they are rare but people think that makes them expensive, especially if a foreigner wants to buy one! The films are still around if you look hard enough, but time takes it's toll on some, some old colour films have faded so that red is the only colour remaining, but it's still great fun finding old newsreels, documentaries and educational films from the 40's to the early 80's.