Illustration by Maeve Breathnach.

In March, for the first time in decades, the screens went dark in cinemas across the world and film productions ground to a halt. The subsequent seven months have been especially hard for the arts, with many of those working in film finding themselves suddenly out of a job. One of the more shocking of these incidents was Cineworld announcing on the 5th of October their decision to close their cinemas across Ireland and the UK due to the upcoming James Bond film No Time to Die (Cary Joji Fukunaga) being delayed until April 2021. Trinity students will most likely be familiar with their cinema on Parnell Street with its screens spanning 4 floors, but as it stands it is unlikely that we’ll be able to return to that cinema even after lockdowns are lifted. What’s most disappointing about this decision however, is that the Cineworld employees were made aware of this, not through any official communications, but rather the leaked front page of The Sunday Times. 

This closure is only one example of the many ways the business of cinema is changing as distributors and audiences respond to social distancing and lockdown measures. Many releases have been delayed, but others have been changed to digital only with differing amounts of success. Trolls World Tour (Walt Dohrn and David P. Smith, 2020) did phenomenally well, raking in over $90 million through digital rentals of the film in the first nineteen days of release and estimates now put it at well over $150 million. However Mulan (Niki Caro, 2020) was beset by multiple controversies, including having a $30 premium access fee alongside the typical Disney+ subscription fee, and has subsequently done much poorer online than it would have with a typical cinema release.

 

Changing Viewing Habits

With cinemas closed, and more and more films going for digital only releases, what does this mean for how we watch films? As a film student, defending the merits of seeing a film on the big screen is a hill I will fight and die on, as, for me, the collective experience of being alone together with your fellow viewers in a dark room all getting lost in the world of a film is unparalleled. Lockdown has now removed the choice between communal and individual viewing and forced us into increasingly isolated viewing patterns. Rather than the big screen of the cinema, or even the television screen in the sitting room, more of us are watching from our phone, tablet or laptop screens, and with the algorithmic recommendations of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, everybody’s viewing experiences have become more individualised and, as a result, more isolated. 

This is not to say however that communal viewing is dead and gone, the success of apps like Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party) and Kast have shown us that there is still an appetite for watching films together with our friends and family despite being separated. Although, while these sites have undoubtedly seen more use in the last 7 months than ever before, I will say that some films are more suited to this kind of viewing than others, as it is often the so-bad-it’s-good genre (take for example the films of Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen) that make for the most enjoyable watching experience as you can riff on the film and chat over it, as opposed to more ‘good’ films that demand more of your attention and only amplify the silence and the distance between you.

 

What Can We Do To Support Cinemas Right Now?

So while the cinemas that are near and dear to our hearts are closed for the moment, and we must continue to do our viewing from home, here are a handful of ways to help support our local cinemas so that they can stay afloat now and be there for us when it is safe to return.

Despite not being open physically, the IFI in Temple Bar is continuing to operate their Film Shop, which can be found at http://ifi.ie/shop/ or by emailing bookshop@irishfilm.ie, and as always the membership programme continues with student rates starting at €20 a year. Most excitingly however, in July they launched their video on demand service IFI@Home https://www.ifihome.ie/. Here the IFI are hosting their festival films (GAZE, the Documentary Festival and the Horrorthon so far, with the French Film Festival now in November) along with a handful of new releases, such as Rialto (Peter Mackie Burns, 2019) or And Then We Danced (Levan Akin, 2019).

The Light House and Pálas Cinemas, both helmed by Irish production company Element Pictures, have also moved to offering new ways of supporting them online. They are continuing their membership service, with student membership starting at €25, but have recently opened an online shop at https://www.lighthousecinemashop.ie/shop selling film themed posters and greeting cards which seem like a nice way to stay in touch with your film loving friends who are outside your 5km limit. If you’re still hungry for films, Volta.ie, Element Picture’s video on demand service has a wonderful selection of Irish films along with other independent films for your perusal. Notably, they currently have both the original and black and white versions of Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019), and the Irish language film on the sean nós singer Joe Heaney, Songs of Granite (Pat Collins, 2017). 

So as the big screens remain dark for the time being, our own small screens continue to shine brighter than ever as we wait for our beloved cinemas to return.