Posts Tagged ‘David Burns’

The Picture House Screening

Posted: April 23, 2019 in Film, live Event, post-production
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Radio Appearance

Both Director, David Burns and myself will be on Limerick Today, Wednesday morning (24th April) on Limerick’s Live 95FM to chat about this project in advance of the screening on Thursday 25th April at 7:30pm at LIT’s Millennium Theatre.

Press Release 

April 12th 2019

New film documentary on the history of Limerick cinemas

A new documentary film, ‘The Picture House’, will be screened in the Millennium Theatre in LIT at 7.30pm on Thursday 25th April.

Next to sport, cinema has always been Limerick’s main cultural pursuit.  Even today, without a city centre cinema, almost a million cinema tickets are sold in Limerick every year. 

The Picture House looks back at the glory days of the single screen city centre cinema and features archival footage and photographs of 10 of Limerick City Centre cinemas and the memories of former cinema workers and cinema-goers.  

The hour long film revisits the stories of the different cinemas such as the Savoy, Lyric and Tivoli, the 1953 Cinema workers strike, the censorious attitude of the local authority and the Church, and the slow and inevitable decline of the single screen cinema. 

The film was produced and directed by Dave Burns in association with Paul Lynam, Declan McLoughlin and Joe Coleman, filmed by Paul Lynam, Keith Bogue and Jim Pidgeon, edited by Simon McGuire and presented by Mike Finn.  Dave Burns is active in the planned redevelopment of the Royal Cinema in Cecil Street and in Fresh Film Festival.   

 

Trailer

https://vimeo.com/316371307

Director Bio

Dave Burns, former lecturer in computer science at UL, has made another documentary film on local history.  After completing ‘Kemmy’ – a look at Jim Kemmy’s life and work –  in 2017, Dave wanted to place on record some of the past glories of the city centre cinemas.   He has also driven the projected  redevelopment of the old Royal cinema as a four-screen studio cinema.  Dave also chairs the board of Fresh Film Festival, which showcases the works of under-18 film makers, nationally and internationally.

 

The Picture House – Teaser Trailer

Posted: February 10, 2019 in Documentary, Editing, Film, Technology, Television
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The Story of Limerick’s Cinemas

Following the first documentary Kemmy (2017) (on the late Limerick Politician Jim Kemmy), comes David Burns’ second factual feature, ‘The Picture House‘. This hour long film documentary tells the story of the glory days of Limerick’s one-screen cinemas until their demise in the late 1980s.

We see how the cinema screen was, and is, the biggest cultural outlet for Limerick people, and look at the various venues that thrived in and around the City Centre. We get the idea of how most theatres mainly screened films but also mounted variety shows, concerts, operas, plays, and talent shows.

The documentary has three main threads:

• The main cinemas, the films, shows and their market. How the venues came and went.

• The people who worked in the cinemas, from manager to page boy. Their struggle for a proper wage.

• The cinema-going public and their stories.The attitudes of the authorities – mainly the Church.

At its height in the sixties, Limerick had seven or eight cinemas of various standards, and the documentary looks at them with regard to their history, and their impact on Limerick’s cultural social and economic life.  We see the slow demise of the city centre cinemas due to neglect, competition from television and VHS, and the rise of the profitable suburban multiplex.

The documentary uses a presenter to tour the main cinemas.  At each venue, we get a potted history of the cinema, together with photographs and adverts from the Leader, background material –reminiscences from the staff who worked there, stories about the behaviour of the clientele, the kind of films that were shown together with film posters and snatches of music, the controversies which arose, and reminiscences from patrons.

The Picture House seeks to give an overarching flavour of the history of Cinema from the first cinema in La Ciotat in 1899, the advent of talking pictures, colour, the evolution of digital cinema and the return of the city centre cinema in the 21stCentury.

Simon was on board as Editor again and screening will take place in April 2019.

See the Teaser Trailer below.

 

 

City Centre Cinema Return? Hopefully

Posted: February 6, 2019 in Film
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Director David Burns outside the Royal Theatre, Limerick.

In another article in this weeks Limerick Post, the idea of a city centre cinema is under discussion again. As a member of the steering group for The Royal project, I am still hopeful that funding can be found to get this multi-purpose project realised.

 

The Picture House

Posted: June 24, 2018 in Documentary, Editing, Uncategorized
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The Story of Limerick’s Cinemas

Director David Burns outside the Royal Theatre, Limerick.

Following the first documentary Kemmy (2017) (on the late Limerick Politician Jim Kemmy), comes David Burns’ second factual feature, ‘The Picture House‘. This hour long film documentary tells the story of the glory days of Limerick’s one-screen cinemas until their demise in the late 1980s.

We see how the cinema screen was, and is, the biggest cultural outlet for Limerick people, and look at the various venues that thrived in and around the City Centre. We get the idea of how most theatres mainly screened films but also mounted variety shows, concerts, operas, plays, and talent shows.

The documentary has three main threads:

  • The main cinemas, the films, shows and their market. How the venues came and went.
  • The people who worked in the cinemas, from manager to page boy. Their struggle for a proper wage.
  • The cinema-going public and their stories.The attitudes of the authorities – mainly the Church.

At its height in the sixties, Limerick had seven or eight cinemas of various standards, and the documentary looks at them with regard to their history, and their impact on Limerick’s cultural social and economic life.  We see the slow demise of the city centre cinemas due to neglect, competition from television and VHS, and the rise of the profitable suburban multiplex.

The documentary uses a presenter to tour the main cinemas.  At each venue, we get a potted history of the cinema, together with photographs and adverts from the Leader, background material –reminiscences from the staff who worked there, stories about the behaviour of the clientele, the kind of films that were shown together with film posters and snatches of music, the controversies which arose, and reminiscences from patrons.

The Picture House seeks to give an overarching flavour of the history of Cinema from the first cinema in La Ciotat in 1899, the advent of talking pictures, colour, the evolution of digital cinema and the return of the city centre cinema in the 21stCentury.

Simon is on board as Editor again and post production will take place over the summer of 2018 with a projected release in Autumn 2018.

The Royal to feature on Lyric FM Today

Posted: July 27, 2014 in Radio
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Maeve McGrath, Diarmuid McIntyre, David Burns, Simon McGuire

Maeve McGrath, Diarmuid McIntyre, David Burns, Simon McGuire

Lyric FM to broadcast Episode 6 of Cultural Passions by Grey Heron Media Sunday 27th at 5:40pm

A couple of months go Maeve McGrath (Producer/Actor), Dave Burns (The Royal) and myself were interviewed by Grey Heron Media’s Diarmuid McIntyre for their Cultural Passions Radio programme. This episode was recorded at the Theatre Royal Site which is the location of the future Royal Project for Film and Visual Arts.

The episode concentrated on the venue as well as the ever growing film industry in Limerick. A number of areas of the industry were discussed while also taking a walk through and around what was one of the finest examples of the vintage cinema spaces Limerick had.

The radio programme is on at 5:40pm Sunday 27th on Lyric FM and is on Limerick’s Live 95FM durning the week.

Well done to Diarmuid and the team at Grey Heron Media.