The Projectionist'
Declan Collinge tells us the wonderful tale about his grandfather Lennie Collinge, the projectionist in Irelands first cinema The Volta in 1909, opened by a certain Mr James Joyce. Declan also recites his beautiful poem inspired by his grandfathers time spent working with Joyce in The Volta. You can check out an interview with Lennie, recorded just before he died in 1980, here at http://euscreen.eu/play.jsp?
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Joyce's cinema only lasted 7 months, as Dubliners shunned the Italian and French films screened there. Nonetheless Joyce's brief foray into cinema can be seen as having an influence on his work - with early reviews of Ulysses noting its 'being in the new kinematographic vein, jerky and elliptical style'. In particular the whirring transitions of the Circe chapter show the influence of editing on Joyce. The site of the Volta is now a Penney's department store.
