first memories

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Cine S. Pedro, Calheta, Ponta Delgada.

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Calheta was a small fishing port on the eastern side of the city of Ponta Delgada. Therefore, it was a poor people's zone. Next door, the Hotel da Boa Nova, the ironic name we called the city's Prison, a 3-storey building from the late 19th century.

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Right in front of the Prison was the Cine S. Pedro, each session always showed two films, after they premiered in Cine Vitória, a movie theater on the other side of the city, in a neighborhood of rich people, with streets lined with good houses.

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There, a 6-year-old child, in 1966, went to the cinema for the first time.

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There was no television at home, as it did not exist in the Azores in the 1960s. Soon, cinema was a great mystery.

 

And there began a big misunderstanding.

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The film told a story set in a theater company de puppets. There was a terrible drama, a threat whose contours I don't remember. They were puppets driven by countless vertical strings.

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During intermission, my father took me to the projection booth.

 

I saw the vas projectors and gigantic film reels. The projectionist showed me the strips of perforated film and even offered me a piece with two or three frames.

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Right there, the first mystery: how did those machines that were behind us, in the room full of chairs, make animated images appear on the other side of the room, on a white wall that was in front of us, when we sat down?

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At the end of the movie, I still remember asking my dad, "How did that move?"

 

I was obviously referring to the images that appeared on the screen.

 

To which my father replied that it was some dangling wires.

Of course, my father was referring to the puppets in the film, but my question was referring to the images on the screen.

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Anyway, I was fascinated, but completely baffled.