Sligo Film Society was featured in Access Cinema’s Members Spotlight, committee members Jack Lynch and Hans Wieland wrote this piece on the society, covering our long and storied history, dating all the way back to 1944.
Take #1:
On Saturday, 20 April, 1996, the Federation of Irish Film Societies (now access CINEMA) celebrated the century of cinema by arranging ten simultaneous screenings of the best of European cinema in ten towns and cities around Ireland. The date selected marked the century of the first public film shown in Ireland at the Volta Theatre, Dublin on the 20th of April, 1896.
For the occasion, SFS selected the Italian classic Padre Padrone made in 1977 by the critically acclaimed Taviani Brothers. The film focuses on the life of a Sardinian shepherd, who was forced by his father to live in solitude and isolation with his flock in the mountains until he is twenty. Subsequently, the boy of silence rebels against his father, studies by himself, gets a degree in linguistics and becomes a successful writer.
Sligo Film Society was particularly happy to be included in the century celebration as the previous season 1994/95 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Society. The Sligo Champion dated 21st October 1944 records the launching of Sligo Film Society with a monthly screening of six titles during the months November through to March. The original founders were inspired by ideals that later became the concern of government and national planners:
“Film is best known as a form of entertainment, but the Society intends to foster its employment in other spheres, for example, in education, national planning, public instruction etc.”
Padre Padrone is about the power of knowledge, dominance and control, youth and age, concerns that appropriately touch on the focus of the original founders fifty years earlier.
Take #2:
Today, Sligo Film Society is guided by less ambitious and more modest objectives. Since its rebirth in the early 1970s at Sligo Regional Technical College (now ATU), SFS has provided an uninterrupted programme each year at various venues throughout the town and has been based at the Model and Niland Gallery since the mid-nineties. Initially, commencing with a fortnightly programme of eight films, the Society has become a staple in the life of local film buffs with a screening each week during the September to April period each year.
Zoom #1: Highlights
Screenings at the Gaiety Cinema as part of Sligo Arts Festival were big hits in the late eighties and early nineties. Two highlights from the early days come to mind: Bob Quinn’s controversial film Budawanny (1986) (years before the exploits of bishop Eamonn Casey became public knowledge) and Reefer and the Model (1988).
For the last five years SFS has been successfully participated in the touring programme of the Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) with a notable screening of the Irish Language film Arracht (March 2020) and more recently an unexpected high turnout for the Short Film Programme on a Saturday afternoon (March 2024).
Zoom #2 -Technical Advances:
Up until 2001 films were projected on 16mm with 2 projectors operated from tables at the back of the venue, between 2002 to 2008 we progressed to 35mm reels and from 2009 we have digital, state of the art projection.
Outtake #1:
Under the leadership and direction of Nuala Moloney and Hans Wieland the Red Rainbow Film Club was launched on the 6th September, 2003 with a screening of Dead Bodies, attended by Bob Quinn (Director) and David McLoughlin (Producer). Sligo’s first ever Youth Film Club ran until Spring 2006 and was programmed by a committee of students from all of Sligo’s secondary schools. The positive impact of this initiative is reflected in the fact that many of these young students are now regular adult attendees at SFS screenings.
Zoom #3:
The national Viewing Sessions (VS), a gathering of all film societies under the access umbrella has been hosted by SFS on three occasions in 1995 (at the Downhill Hotel, Ballina – to mark the fifty-year existence of SFS), 2002 and 2015 (both at The Model) – picture below includes the late Tony Toher, Guest of Honour, at VS, Sligo 2015.
SFS has consistently been represented by one of the larger delegations at VS over the past four decades. Regular attendee, Jack Lynch has observed: “SFS has participated gamely in every NVS Quiz Night with very limited success. However, back in the day, we were top-drawer performers when it came to the Singing and Dance Competitions”.
Take #3: Committee and Audience Development
SFC through their committee members has always been very active in connecting with all Sligo film enthusiasts and very proactive in developing an audience for international arthouse film. Promoting films through social media has become more prominent in the last 10 years, but we have great success using traditional media like our weekly email updates and most importantly through the personal contact with the audience on the night, before and after the film, where our reaction sheet with feedback in the films gives us great insight what our audience likes. It can be said that many members trust our programme choice and will attend films they probably would not outside their film club. The satisfaction rate for the 2023/2024 season was 77.48% and 85.95% respectively. In recent years, SFS has moved from seasonal membership mode to a ‘Pay-As-You-Go ’operation and now cater for well over 2,000 attendees annually.
Zoom #4: ‘Foot Soldiers:
The success of SFC owes as much to the longevity of its core members and also the ability of “the old guard” to recruit “new blood” with a nearly equal split of male and female members. We remember also the contribution of our dear friends and colleagues, the late John Gault and Bairbre Ferguson.
Zoom #5: Engagement with Local Film Makers:
Sligo Film Society also has a very healthy relationship with many local filmmakers like Marian Quinn and Tommy Weir from Janey Pictures and Johnny Gogan from Bandit Films collaborating with the Adaptation Festival Manorhamilton.
Take #4: Epilogue and The Future:
SFS acknowledges the sponsorship and support from local business and public agencies including the expertise and direction from access CINEMA and its predecessors, and, of course, our friends at the The Model & Niland Gallery – míle buíochas
New recruits appear to continue and develop the SFS legacy. The late Tony Toher, who placed the notice in the Sligo Champion in 1944, and was the guest of honour at the last VS gathering hosted by SFS in 2015, commented at the opening: “1944 is not entirely accurate, my father started it all in the back of his shed in Wolfe Tone Street sometime in the 1930s”.
SFS Chair, Hans Wieland, is confident about the future of worldwide cinema exhibition in Sligo: “SFS is rooted in the past with a strong presence and relevance in the here and now, and that experience would suggest, the history of commitment and dedication to a particular art form by locally based enthusiasts augurs well for the future. We want to bring our audience along on a challenging and stimulating journey and art house films give us the opportunity to open windows into a world we often don’t see.”
