Irish Cinema: The Early Years

The first Irish cinema in Ireland was The Volta and it was opened by James Joyce. Before this time, cinema in Ireland was mainly part of variety shows, were the novelty of moving clips, and not the actual story telling aspect, was the main attraction.

Ireland became a relatively popular location for American movie-makers in the early years of cinema. Ireland was the first location American movie-makers travelled to to film on-location outside of the USA. The Kalem production company took a particular interest in Ireland as a location for filming.

Films such as The Lad from Old Ireland and Rory O'Moore were filmed in Ireland to cater for the large numbers of Irish diaspora living in the USA.

It was not until 1916 that the Film Company of Ireland was set up. Although it did not have the budgets of its Hollywood counterparts, it worked furiously and created nine films in a three year stint such as Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn.

These early Irish films, including American productions in Ireland, were linked to radical nationalism. As a result, many of these early productions such as Bold Emmet, Ireland's Hero and Irish Destiny, were banned by the ruling British authorities of the time.