Watch the trailer for Paul Butler Lennox’ new Irish documentary The Picture House.
The film will be a retrospective documentary that will serve as a love letter to Dublin and its forgotten picture houses, through the eyes of some of Dublin’s original patrons
Lennox works with editor and DoP Stephen C. Walsh on the project, which includes archive footage and interviews with Dubliners to find out what the capital’s cinemas mean to them. The film will include original music composed by Pat O’Connor.
The Feature documentary will be based on Lennox’ short, which was made as part of KinoD’s international Kaberet Festival. The production team hope the strength of this will be evidence that the ability is there, and that the success of recent documentaries like His and Hers and Older Than Ireland means that there is a desire for more historical/nostalgic documentaries of this type.
As director Paul Butler Lennox says:
In the mid 1950’s there were 56 separate cinemas or Picture Houses in the County of Dublin. 56… They were privately run cinemas. No chains. As of 2016 most have been demolished or redeveloped. Is this something that would happen in London? Or Berlin? Has the modernisation of cinemas radically changed the experience of going to the pictures? How did the vast majority of these structures come to be mishandled? The closure of the Screen Cinema recently yet again highlights that the government have an obligation to cherish the structural amenities of this city. Are we in danger of losing our identity? Shouldn’t we more socially conscious? Where boys meet girls now, who knows?
For more information on the project check out their Facebook page.