Description

This book is the second volume in a two-volume set on the history of cinema in Ireland (the first companion volume is titled Magic Lantern, Panorama, and Moving Picture Shows in Ireland, 1786-1909). From the opening of the first full-time cinemas in Ireland during 1909-1914 until the multiplex boom of the 1990s and 2000s, Irish cinema-going has been a complex intersection of social, cultural, and business practices. As well as providing an annotated listing of every known significant film venue that has operated in Ireland since the beginning of cinema in the late 19th century, the book traces in forensic detail the nature of the Irish cinema phenomenon, and, in utilizing a range of previously unexplored primary sources from film trade publications to cinema records, it provides the first extensive account of a whole Irish business sector, including the key personnel involved. In the process, issues of cultural and social geography are explored. The book's account of alternative film exhibition practices not only offers the first comprehensive histories of the competing cultural and moral agendas of the secular Irish Film Society and the National Film Institute of Ireland, but it also outlines the emergence of a dynamic film culture in the 1980s and 1990s, and includes the history of film festivals in Ireland.