A light in the dark goes out...

It was with some sorrow that Dubliners and cinephiles across this woe-begotten country received the news on April 15th that Smithfield’s Lighthouse Cinema was officially ordered to wind up operations by Ms. Justice Mary Laffoy. After opening its doors in 2008, this art house cinema was a beacon of cultural light in the then blossoming borough of the city’s Northside, treating audiences to alternative, independent, documentary, classic and foreign language cinema often neglected by the bang-for-your-buck multiplex chains. An architectural treat of multi-coloured subterranean minimalism and plush vaudeville ruby red theatres, the Lighthouse employed 20 people and was witnessing a growing audience when the figurative and literal economic depression that continues to kick us in the balls on a daily basis resulted in this loss of cultural capital in our capital city.

Irish people love cinema, a statement I make with unwavering certainty. According to Carlton Screen Advertising, as many as 1.6 million Irish movie-goers went to the local picturlann in the month of February alone, representing an 11% increase on the preceding February and 1 in 3 people in this country.  This makes the loss of Smithfield’s signature cultural outlet even harder to swallow, as its closure is now entirely attributed to a doubling of its annual rent to €200,000, in an effort by the building’s beleaguered owner John Flynn to pay off his NAMA debts. In deference to Mr. Flynn and to present a balanced commentary, it should be noted that this increase in rent was a contractual imperative agreed upon by the Lighthouse’s directors back in 2008. Of course, this was based on the unquestionable belief that the area would become increasingly affluent when the Celtic Tiger cubs moved in, fat from the creamy teat of property development.

Well, three years on it’s curtains for the cinema. But what of the developers and bankers, you ask? Well it’s child’s play for them, and they’ve somehow defied the rules of Monopoly. They’ve not gone to Jail, but they have passed Go, and they have collected about €80bn. And Smithfield, well it’s not that up-and-coming neighbourhood anymore. It’s not where you go when you want to watch a subtitled film. It’s where you go when you want to buy a horse and hack someone with a tire iron.

I am not an economist, and I clearly did not start this blog to comment on the financial stresses of my homeland. Instead, it was to wax lyrical on one of the things I love the most, escaping to the cinema and losing myself for a couple of hours in visual storytelling. It is with great regret that I lost one of my great escapes.