There has been a positive welcome for the news that final approval has been given to the €4.4 million project to provide an Art House cinema for Galway. However one local election candidate said the move “prioritises film buffs ahead of families and children”.
At Monday’s city council meeting, a motion was put before councillors seeking permission for City Hall to give land it owns at Lower Merchants Road, Galway to Solas, Galway Picture Palace Teoranta, 15 Lower Merchants Road.
If passed, Solas would then be able to use the site (which is across from the Galway City Museum ) to build the Art House cinema.
Art house films are generally those made outside Hollywood, and the English speaking world in general. Often they are surrealistic or experimental in their approach such as Luis Buñuel’s Belle Du Jour.
Other art house films have more conventional narratives, including the popular Amélie, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy, and Jean-Luc Godard’s Au Bout De Soufflé, but are still unorthodox and challenging by general standards. It can also include cult films and those which do not receive wide distribution.
Councillors voted to approve the plans and some final changes to the proposed cinema’s facade. Work will start in June this year and be completed in spring 2011.
The decision has been welcomed by Green Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin. “This is a fantastic project which will add enormously to the somewhat deficient arts infrastructure in the city,” he said.
Independent Cllr Catherine Connolly said the new cinema is “very positive news”.
“It will add to Galway’s reputation as a city of culture,” she said. “Even more importantly it will allow access by a much wider public to films which would not normally be available in the commercial cinemas.”
However Independent Galway City West candidate AJ Cahill was dismissive of the news, saying it “prioritises film buffs ahead of families and children”.
“Knocknacarra is still without a community centre or sufficient schools after years of waiting but we have the money and will to build a cinema for film buffs,” he said. “Galway has had a 74 per cent increase in unemployment but we have the money to build a cinema but not to fund new businesses.”
