Cinemobile keeps on trucking as it celebrates 10th birthday

For the past 10 years in villages and towns throughout Ireland, the Galway based Cinemobile has rolled into town, providing film fans in rural areas with an opportunity to catch a movie in most unusual surroundings.

When it arrives, it’s a large truck, but within 45 minutes that truck opens out to become a 100 seater-state-of the art cinema, fully heated, air conditioned and with Dolby Surround Sound.

Ireland’s first travelling cinema, which is described as by manager Noreen Collins as “a beautiful mix of high tech and Victorian fit-up theatre” was the brainchild of Film Fleadh founder Lelia Doolan, who first saw these machines in France and figured they’d be perfect for rural Ireland, where so many small cinemas had closed down during the 1970s and 80s.

The machine, which was built in France, went on the road in May 2001, funded under the Millennium Project. It was the second largest Millennium scheme after Dublin’s Spire, says Noreen.

“Initially it went all over the country; then more Omniplexes opened in different areas, so we have refined what we do,” says Cork-born Noreen, who has managed the not-for-profit Cinemobile for nearly six years.

Prior to that, she worked with Collins’ Press in Cork and before that again, with Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in Galway’s Middle Street for seven years.

“A couple of years ago we started coming up with new programmes and instead of just visiting places once a year, we have started going once a month to places such as Portumna in Galway, Waterville and Cahersiveen in Kerry and Castletownbere in Cork,” she explains.The Cinemobile’s remit is to bring film to towns without access to a cinema and towns like these are some distance from an Omniplex, she says.

For these visits, mainstream films are popular among viewers and The Guard has proven to be a huge Cinemobile hit this summer. Similarly with The Wind the Shakes the Barley a few years ago.“We took the film to all the locations where it was shot in West Cork and everyone loved it, especially the older people.”

During the summer months, the mobile cinema travels to seaside resorts such as Lahinch and Kilkee in Clare and Ballycroy and Achill Island in Mayo, again showing popular films.

In its early days the Cinemobile was a month behind mainstream cinemas in the films it screened, now it’s just two weeks, says Noreen.

That’s because the mobile cinema has to wait for an available copy of a film to become available from distributors such as Buena Vista, Eclipse, Warner and Twentieth Century Fox, which own the rights to screen films.

In those places it visits monthly, the Cinemobile crew is also working with film fans, setting up film clubs to offer a greater choice.“Because we are going every month we are building up a relationship with people. It’s about letting them decide what they want to see and then sourcing it for them,” explains Noreen.

The second aspect of the Cinemobile’s work involves visiting schools. Between 8,000 and 10,000 students a year use the venue, either for educational or entertainment purposes, depending on a school’s requirements.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.