Movie memories records oral and written memories of cinema-going and of cinema sites in Cork, presenting these in an open-access archive

Audience members at a Movie Memories event in Nano Nagle Place during Cork Lifelong Learning Festival, April 2019

The Challenge 

Conceived as a collaborative film project exploring memories of cinema-going in Cork, with funding by Cork County Council/Creative Ireland and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, Movie Memories issued a call for participants in Autumn 2017, through the channels of national and regional press and radio and social media platforms. A 40-minute documentary was premiered at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull in May 2018, in the revamped Cinemobile (travelling cinema) and introduced by award-winning filmmaker, Carmel Winters, who also chaired a Q&A. The decision to premiere the film at Fastnet was a strategic one, designed to ensure visibility within the international filmmaking community and to illustrate a commitment to an ethos, shared by the Project and the Festival, that gives voice to those that create and receive cultural production. 

Following its premiere, Movie Memories has screened at locations in Cork city and county; has been included on a nationwide Bealtaine tour (2019) organised by Access Cinema (the public body that works with film clubs, centres and libraries throughout Ireland); screened at the Chicago Irish Film Festival (Feb.2019); and has become part of the film programme at the Irish Community Services Centre in Chicago.   

Even as the film project developed, it became apparent that its potential far exceeded its initial remit. Consequently, the researchers expanded its parameters, developing an open-access archive, which hosts an array of video interviews, historical reproductions, written accounts, and scholarly analysis of the significance of cinema sites and of cinema-going to individuals and regional communities, as well as to Ireland’s cultural heritage.  

The Project’s blending of archive-based scholarship and creative practice (film and digital platforms) reflects the researchers’ expertise in these areas, but central too is the researchers’ extensive experience in community engagement and outreach initiatives. The research is not merely confined to primary and secondary print sources—though this forms a significant part—but draws from first-person accounts that have been provided by participants, across generations and from all areas of the county. Of significance, too, have been the collaborative links developed with cinema owners: the latter have contributed memories, material objects and filming spaces that have radically influenced the project content and furnished new understanding of the complexities of exhibition practices and the relation between cultural and commercial histories.  

This material, alongside research presented in custom-designed artwork and installations, has formed the basis for a series of exhibitions that we have organised, as part of Cork’s Lifelong Learning Festival (April 2019); National Heritage Week (August 2019); and Youghal “Movie Memories Day” (Nov. 2018). A major month-long exhibition on Cork cinemas took place in Cork City Library on Grand Parade from February 2020, launched by the Lord Mayor of Cork and featuring display boards of research and archival images of all Cork city cinemas and selected county ones, and memorabilia loaned from cinema owners and cinemagoers. The Exhibition has been visited by thousands of library users, received extensive coverage in national and local press, and extracts from the presented research have formed the basis for a Cork Cinemas section in the Cork City Libraries newsletter. A series of select “mini-exhibitions” are planned for Cork county libraries throughout 2020/1. 

Movie Memories has made a significant contribution to enhancing University College Cork’s commitment to bringing the University to the community; in turn, the community has helped to shape the project. We are especially proud that one of our participants, Mr. Michael Hussey, has been so inspired by the project that he has organised his own exhibition on Youghal cinema (Oct. 2019), the success of which has prompted the local Chamber of Commerce to investigate the feasibility of establishing a more permanent exhibition site devoted to the rich cultural history of the town. 

The Research   

Movie Memories is a multimedia research project, that combines archival research (print, photographic), filmed interviews with cinemagoers, and written accounts. The Project’s aim—of investigating patterns of cinema-going and cinema exhibition—aligns it with the international ‘new cinema history’ movement that emerged in film studies from 1990s and is marked by its commitment to shifting “focus away from the content of films to consider their circulation and consumption”, and to examining “cinema as a site of social and cultural exchange” (Biltereyst, Maltby, Meers , Explorations in New Cinema History 2011:3).

Movie Memories turns the spotlight on the history of cinema and cinema-going in one county, Cork, thus ensuring that the research is both extensive—encompassing urban and rural areas—and intensive. With an ethos rooted in principles of inclusion and collaboration, both at the research/collation and the presentation/ dissemination stages, the researchers work with individuals and local communities, gathering data from historical sources, individual memory accounts, and even material objects (such as cinema-going memorabilia; architectural drawings; exhibitors’ paraphernalia etc.). With its user-friendly, open-access archive, its schedule of exhibitions, screenings, community-based events and scholarly presentations, Movie Memories maps out Cork’s cinema history, in real and imagined terms, to national and international audiences.

The Impact

Conceived as a collaborative film project exploring memories of cinema-going in Cork, with funding by Cork County Council/Creative Ireland and the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, Movie Memories issued a call for participants in Autumn 2017, through the channels of national and regional press and radio and social media platforms. A 40-minute documentary was premiered at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull in May 2018, in the revamped Cinemobile (travelling cinema) and introduced by award-winning filmmaker, Carmel Winters, who also chaired a Q&A. The decision to premiere the film at Fastnet was a strategic one, designed to ensure visibility within the international filmmaking community and to illustrate a commitment to an ethos, shared by the Project and the Festival, that gives voice to those that create and receive cultural production.

Following its premiere, Movie Memories has screened at locations in Cork city and county; has been included on a nationwide Bealtaine tour (2019) organised by Access Cinema (the public body that works with film clubs, centres and libraries throughout Ireland); screened at the Chicago Irish Film Festival (Feb.2019); and has become part of the film programme at the Irish Community Services Centre in Chicago. 

Even as the film project developed, it became apparent that its potential far exceeded its initial remit. Consequently, the researchers expanded its parameters, developing an open-access archive, which hosts an array of video interviews, historical reproductions, written accounts, and scholarly analysis of the significance of cinema sites and of cinema-going to individuals and regional communities, as well as to Ireland’s cultural heritage.

The Project’s blending of archive-based scholarship and creative practice (film and digital platforms) reflects the researchers’ expertise in these areas, but central too is the researchers’ extensive experience in community engagement and outreach initiatives. The research is not merely confined to primary and secondary print sources—though this forms a significant part—but draws from first-person accounts that have been provided by participants, across generations and from all areas of the county. Of significance, too, have been the collaborative links developed with cinema owners: the latter have contributed memories, material objects and filming spaces that have radically influenced the project content and furnished new understanding of the complexities of exhibition practices and the relation between cultural and commercial histories.

This material, alongside research presented in custom-designed artwork and installations, has formed the basis for a series of exhibitions that we have organised, as part of Cork’s Lifelong Learning Festival (April 2019); National Heritage Week (August 2019); and Youghal “Movie Memories Day” (Nov. 2018). A major month-long exhibition on Cork cinemas took place in Cork City Library on Grand Parade from February 2020, launched by the Lord Mayor of Cork and featuring display boards of research and archival images of all Cork city cinemas and selected county ones, and memorabilia loaned from cinema owners and cinemagoers. The Exhibition has been visited by thousands of library users, received extensive coverage in national and local press, and extracts from the presented research have formed the basis for a Cork Cinemas section in the Cork City Libraries newsletter. A series of select “mini-exhibitions” are planned for Cork county libraries throughout 2020/1.

Movie Memories has made a significant contribution to enhancing University College Cork’s commitment to bringing the University to the community; in turn, the community has helped to shape the project. We are especially proud that one of our participants, Mr. Michael Hussey, has been so inspired by the project that he has organised his own exhibition on Youghal cinema (Oct. 2019), the success of which has prompted the local Chamber of Commerce to investigate the feasibility of establishing a more permanent exhibition site devoted to the rich cultural history of the town.

Figure 2: Launch of ‘Cork Cinemas Exhibition’, Cork City Library, February 2020. L-R: Dan O’Connell, Gwenda Young, Councillor John Sheehan, Lord Mayor of Cork A Movie Memories ‘Memory Booth, where members of the public can record their memories of movie-going and cinemas in Ireland, Youghal October 2019

With an open-access archive, screenings, events and exhibitions, the outreach impact of Movie Memories is assured. However, the researchers have also developed links with other scholars in the field, nationally and internationally. In October 2018, the Irish Audiences Research Network was founded, in collaboration with researchers in Maynooth University. In less than 12months, the Network has organised three international symposia: an inaugural symposium on research methodologies in Maynooth in December 2018; a Symposium on Cinema-going histories at University College Cork, with Keynotes by Professor Daniela Trevari-Gennari and Dr Pier Ercole (of the AHRC-funded project, ‘European Cinema Audiences’) and Jamie Terrill (researching Welsh cinema histories), took place in UCC in April 2019; a third Symposium, “Mining Memories”, on cinema and memory, with a Keynote by Professor Annette Kuhn (Queen Mary University London), was hosted in UCC in November 2019.

Presentations of Movie Memories research have been delivered at Maynooth University; at UCC; and at the ECREA Film Studies Conference in Ghent, Oct. 2019; and it is envisaged that a research paper will form part of an Ireland & Cinema panel at the next HoMER [History of Moviegoing, Exhibition and Reception] Conference. These, along with the development of our Network, an emerging association with the prestigious HoMER network and various media appearances and articles (for local radio; print media; for the RTE Culture site), ensure that the project continues to gain national and international visibility.

Future outputs:

• An issue on Cinema and Memory, edited by Gwenda Young for Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media, is currently in development.
• Further expansion of online archive
• The research conducted on this project will feed into PhD research that is currently being conducted by Mr. Dan O’Connell

The possibility of a short monograph on Cork cinema histories is being investigated, with one major Press consulted.

For More Information

Principal Investigator: Dr. Gwenda Young, Department of Film and Screen Media (g.young@ucc.ie)

Associate Investigator/Practitioner in Residence: Mr. Dan O’Connell, Department of Film and Screen Media (danieloconnell@ucc.ie)

moviememories.ie

irishaudiences.com

Twitter: @corkmoviememory

“Similar to libraries, cinemas are truly democratic spaces, appealing to people of different backgrounds and interests. For this reason it was our great pleasure to host Cork Cinemas Exhibition in The City Library, Grand Parade during February/March 2020. With a footfall of over 23,000 people during the month, the exhibition was viewed by many who would not attend other cultural institutions to see an exhibition. It afforded them the opportunity to see original posters and ticket stubs, signed photographs by Laurel and Hardy during their visit to the city in 1953, souvenir programmes from the 1940s,general tools of the trade and a wonderful documentary. It was a pleasure to bring Cork’s rich cinema history to the wider community in association with the Cork Movie Memories Project, UCC and we look forward to many more collaborations in the future”

Patricia Looney, Senior Executive Librarian, Cork City Library