A new cinema for Galway, showing the best in international movies, experimental films, and Irish made features, took a step closer to reality this week when the first ‘sod was turned’ on the site.
On Tuesday, Labour Party president and former arts minister Michael D Higgins performed the ‘turning the sod’ at 15 Lower Merchants Road, to mark the beginning of construction and development at what is to become a new ‘art-house’ cinema for Galway.
The design is for a three-screen cinema (165, 69, 80 seats ) with a ground floor café, first floor bar, and book/videoshop. There will be one below-ground cinema, two screens on the upper floors, offices in the restored old building in front, and a communal meeting space with ticket booth between the old and new buildings. It is expected to open in 2010.
The cinema will screen Irish-made films, films in the Irish language, independent worldwide feature and documentary films, classic as well as thematic, archival, and retrospective cinema. It will also cater for schools, youth, student, and senior audiences.
It will employ three fulltime staff (manager/programmer; administrator; projectionist ) and seven part-time cinema staff, and part-time cleaning and catering staff.
The group behind the cinema is Solas Galway Picture Palace Teoranta. Its members include Lelia Doolan, (chair ), actress Fionnala Flanagan; the Galway Film Society’s Joe and Bridie McMahon; Galway Film Fleadh managing director Miriam Allen; Galway Arts Centre operations manager Norma Flaherty; solicitor/playwright Henry Comerford; chartered engineer Michael Mooney; and Tracy Geraghty, formerly manager of the Galway Film Centre, and now Solas project manager.
