The revival of Kilcullen cinema
Joe O'Connor and Conor Williams in the projection box.
TWO years after the idea was first mooted, a Kilcullen Lions Club initiative to bring back a public cinema to Kilcullen has been an absolute success. The signature project for club member Teresa Nurse when she was elected president for 2023, Kilcullen Bridge Cinema has brought to life again a big-screen facility in the Town Hall which had been dark for almost five decades.
In retrospect it was a no-brainer. Kilcullen had its Town Hall Theatre, fully fitted out for plays by the Kilcullen Drama Group. There was also a strong cinema tradition there going back to 1939, which had ended in the mid-1970s.
"There was this beautiful space, leather seats, with a full-size screen and computer projector for illustrated talks already installed," Teresa recalled.
"As a Lions club we used to hold a couple of film nights for our members during a year, but doing them for the public was difficult because of licensing requirements. Then we heard about Access Cinema, which negotiates cultural movie licensing on behalf of non-profit community groups and clubs."
The organisation is funded through the Arts Council and is associated with Europa Cinemas, the international network of cinemas for the circulation of European films, and with the International Federation of Film Societies.
After setting up a dedicated team within Kilcullen Lions, they completed the process to make Kilcullen Bridge Cinema a member of the network.
Access Cinema provides seasonal lists of available films to the network membership, under broad headings of documentary, artistic, and crossover-mainstream.
The service includes write-ups of the films, to help with selection and promotion.
Getting things going took a fair degree of time and effort, and the first screening didn't happen until September of 2023.
A commitment by cllr Tracey O'Dwyer to provide a portion of her LPT funds allocation helped with the startup costs.
“But it was more than just the money, it was the morale support it gave us that someone thought we were doing the right thing," said Teresa.
Teresa recalled that it was a "scary" time, especially during the summer holidays months, with the launch looming at the end, when it was difficult to get the cinema team members together.
“I remember walking into the Town Hall on my own and wondering how things worked and not having the expertise about operating the video system, or even how to turn on the lights.”
There was also the matter of choosing the films for the opening months, for an audience that they didn't know.
“I watched a lot of movies. We needed ones that would have a broad appeal, and we got a lot of help from Michael Ryan, film programme adviser at Access."
The eventual choice of , based on the early life of Steven Spielberg, proved a successful opener, bringing in a full house and an after-movie buzz that fulfilled the big prior expectation.
Since then there have been screenings in a range of genres, as well as Halloween, Christmas and children's films, and a special season of five movies in February selected on themes associated with Brigid.
That last season was particularly well received, and is going to be repeated for February 2025.
Fostering inclusion and diversity is an essential component of the initiative, and a number of films have dealt with this directly or peripherally.
“I remember someone saying to me the day after one film, about a person they saw in the street, that they were seeing them in a different way and they hoped their settling in Ireland was OK for them.
"That's what film does, it allows you to see the world in somebody else's eyes. It challenges your own perspective.”
The Kilcullen Bridge Cinema team is seven strong, and Teresa says that is both fortunate and essential.
“There is such a good group of us, to make sure everything is ready to go, the technology, the heating on the night. It all works only because we are people working together.”
People coming together as an audience is also the attraction of cinema, she said.
"It is just a more fulfilling experience to watch on a big screen with other people. The auditorium is comfortable and welcoming, and nobody's a stranger there."
It can also encourage a collective participation, such as during the screening of during Cheltenham Week 2024.
"Everyone in the cinema was cheering on the horse, it was really fun."
There's interaction too in the chats afterwards, sometimes exchanging differences of opinion.
"It doesn't have to be long conversations, just a few words going out the door, that makes it a shared experience."
That experience is so much different than the individual 'solo' consumption of entertainment that the smartphone generation has, and the team are aware of the challenges in attracting that cohort to the space.
"We can't neglect the young people, we have to find ways to get them in. Our family and children's shows have always been sell-outs, so we're getting to the under-10s.
"As for the teen and young adults audience, a Movie Marathon, with three films running on the same night into the early hours has been suggested and we might try that down the line."
A summer-break upgrade of the projection and sound systems, have made a very real difference to the Kilcullen Bridge Cinema experience. "There's now surround sound, and a laser projector, and you can really feel the improvement."
The initiative won a Kilcullen Community Award last November. Woodbine Books are the local ticket agent for Kilcullen Bridge Cinema, and tickets can also be bought on EventBrite.
