#16 Cinerama
April 21, 2025
One thing you’ll know by now, is that I do love a good theme. So how could I resist the chance to make a cinema-themed Glass Cathedral collection? Not just a once-off, but every year.
Since 2019, the supremely wonderful MiXX gallery in Telluride, Colorado, has been host to Cinerama – my collection of cinematic worlds in miniature, from Amelie to Vertigo.
Every Labor Day weekend, megastars flock to this tiny but mighty town to immerse themselves in the magic of film during The Telluride Film Festival. Making miniature movie stars is such fun, especially knowing they may catch a glimpse of themselves during the festival…before you ask, no recorded instances… :)
To lead you through the collection highlights, today you’re invited to The Cinerama Awards, where (spoiler) I win every category. It’s my favourite night of the year, so put on a fancy gown (or a dressing gown), put your feet up and enjoy the show.
On to The Cinerama Awards!
The Best Film to Make into a Glass Cathedral
Any Wes Anderson film! Born to be miniaturised and popped into a box, don’t you think? I chose my favourite, Moonrise Kingdom from 2012.
The Most Difficult Haircut to Pull off Personally
You know when you go to the hairdresser with a crumpled photo and say – ‘Can mine look just like this please?’ and they stare at you in anguish…Spare a thought for my hairdressers through the ages, but especially just after I’d fallen in love with Audrey Tautou in Amelie (Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2002).
The Best London Landmark You’ll Never Visit
I’m not assuming that all of my readers are Muggles, but I don’t know anyone personally who’s embarked upon a magical journey from Platform 9¾ in Kings Cross, as in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Dir. Chris Columbus 2001)
Best Foot in a Supporting Role
You know how sometimes you suspect they just created the role with the awards season in mind…? Think, Steve Buschemi’s foot in Fargo (Dir: The Coen Brothers 1996). A bloody tour de force.
* The Most Satisfying Coup de Foudre
Ah, Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (Dir. Peter Weir 1998). Who can forget that moment when you discovered the door, Truman? Then you turned to face us. You smiled and took your final bow, as you opened the door to reality and the possibility of truth and love. I couldn’t decide which state of mind better encapsulated the movie and so I ended up making a Truman version of each – The Innocent and The Director, as the aficionados say.
Twenty seven years later, as many of us feel trapped in reality shows of our own, the movie’s message is more resonant than ever.
* Do look up the meaning of “Coup de Foudre” if you’re curious, and even if you look up “Fou de Coudre” as I did, you’ll still get to this inimitable French phrase. Enjoy! Use!
Best Movie Posters Transformed into Dioramas
It’s a bit of a cheat, the graphic appeal & drama having already been distilled by minds much more creative than mine. But still, sooo satisfying! And the joint winners in this competitive category are…
Free Solo (Dir: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin 2018)
Manhattan (Dir: Woody Allen 1979)
Vertigo (Dir: Alfred Hitchcock 1958)
Song Cover that is Better than the Original
Sweet Child o’ Mine cover in Captain Fantastic (Dir. Matt Ross 2016). I do like to cry, don’t you?
Best Kept Secret Embedded in a Movie
Secret kept by Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in Fight Club (Dir. David Fincher 1999)
“The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.”
Best Social Critique in the Horror-Survival Genre
I don’t actually like jump scares or suspense (well, maybe I actually love them, even though I don’t like them) but Get Out (Dir. Jordan Peele (2017) blew my mind, it’s the film I recommend to everyone. And the Sunken Place made a brilliant Glass Cathedral.
Most Beguiling Dance Moves
Jean Rochefort danced through life in The Hairdresser’s Husband (Dir: Patrice Leconte 1990) and has danced in my mind for the 35 years since. I think of him dancing, often.
The Scene Guaranteed to Make You Weep Even if You are on a Train
Even from the flickering confines of a tiny i-phone screen, the enormousness of the Cave of Swimmers scene with *Ralph Fiennes and Kirsten Scott Thomas in The English Patient has me in a blubbering puddle every time (Dir: Anthony Minghella 1996). HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? NOOOOOOooooo.
* Fun fact! The only two actors I have made twice are Ralph Fiennes (The Deadly Hallows, The English Patient) and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Out of Africa)
Best Film
No list of awards would be complete without a simple best of the best, and at some stage you gotta commit, so I’m going for….Portrait of a Lady on Fire starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel (Dir. Céline Sciamma 2019)
Héloïse: When you’re observing me, who do you think I’m observing?
While I’m on the theme of fame and glory, I’m often asked which famous people I’ve made Glass Cathedrals for, I mean, in real life. I usually demur to answer except in one case – JAMES CORDEN! This is because James and his wife Julia have been such passionate and vocal collectors, in fact James described Glass Cathedrals as “little conversation pieces, pockets of joy around the house”.
But here, just the once, I will quickly allude to some of the many starry stars who have Glass Cathedrals in their homes. It’s fun to know and it’s fun to tell!
AdeleJamesTaylorLoadsofKennedysJoanCusackJenniferAnnistonJustinTherouxKateWinsletHarryStylesPrincessRaniaofJordanPortiadiRossiEllenDegenresChrisODowdDawnO’PorterJoannaGainesHilarySwank!
I’m excited to say that Cinerama is coming to London this very week, when Glass Cathedrals from the collection are exhibited at The Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley, North London.
I’m always after film recommendations, so do drop me a line with some of your favourites and who knows, one may be the next Cinerama Glass Cathedral I make.
Love to all,
Lisa