A free exhibition in a town centre car park will celebrate the history of local cinema<\/p>\n
Glasgow School of Art design student, Nat\u00e1lia Toralles dos Santos Braga, is organising the event at White and Company Removals on Cumming Street, from 2-6pm on Sunday, August 10.<\/p>\n
Nat\u00e1lia with some of the historic objects to feature in her exhibition.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI would like to extend a warm invitation. It will be a unique opportunity to share stories and memories, and to learn more about local cultural heritage together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brazilian Nat\u00e1lia is completing a master\u2019s degree in Design Innovation and Future Heritage at The Glasgow School of Art Altyre Campus. She moved to Forres last September.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been pleasantly surprised by the town,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on here. I\u2019ve made good friends and been impressed by how engaged people are with local history. This has inspired me to deepen my research.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nat\u00e1lia has been researching the relationship between cinema and architecture since 2019, with a focus on Brazilian cinema. When she moved to Scotland, she decided to explore cinema history here.<\/p>\n
Her research focused on Forres Picture House as part of her final master\u2019s project.<\/p>\n
Nat\u00e1lia making a panel for her exhibition.<\/p>\n
Her art installation on Sunday will feature information, photographs and interviews about the local community\u2019s relationship with cinema, as an art form and as a space.<\/p>\n
The exhibition offers a chance to learn about buildings that once operated as cinemas in the town, as well as explore new ways to keep the art form alive. It will feature interpretive panels, audio-recorded memories and a display of old photographs showing scenes from the Forres cinemas, as well as community life related to them. There will also be a space at the event where people can share new memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were two cinemas here,\u201d explained Nat\u00e1lia. \u201cThe first was The Lyceum on Caroline Street from 1913 to 1927. Mains electricity supply did not reach the town until the 1930s, so the cinema installed a generator driven by a petrol\/paraffin for the projectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like most cinemas of the era, the screenings took place in an adapted building rather than a purpose-built one: in this case, a former baptist chapel that was later demolished.<\/p>\n
The Lyceum closed when a new purpose-built cinema opened on Cumming Street; The Picture House, open from 1927 to 1964. The building now occupied by Whites Removals adapted well to the arrival of the \u201ctalkies\u201d in 1929. It still features distinctive Art Deco characteristics, particularly its staircase, main hall ceiling and window frames.<\/p>\n
Nat\u00e1lia hopes anyone interested in local history will attend her exhibition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I visited the interior, I was completely fascinated,\u201d said Nat\u00e1lia. \u201cEven though the building has not functioned as a cinema for over 60 years, it still holds a very clear architectural typology.\u201d<\/p>\n
A nationwide closure of cinemas in the 1960s to \u201970s was mainly due to the rise of television, however, previously the arrival of sound films created acoustic challenges and fire risks were high due to flammable film reels; then came the popularity of VHS cassettes and DVDs in the 2000s; and now streaming.<\/p>\n
\u201cCinema halls have faced multiple crises throughout the 20th century,\u201d said Nat\u00e1lia, \u201cThe ways we consume films has changed dramatically and cinema halls feel this impact directly. The challenge is finding ways to adapt and not letting this history be lost. That is one of the main goals of my research.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nat\u00e1lia conducted interviews with Film Forres volunteers and residents who remember The Picture House.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the people I\u2019ve met in Forres are from different parts of the world,\u201d said Nat\u00e1lia, \u201cand some had never heard of the Picture House. But those who have lived here since the 1950s and \u201860s remember it very clearly! I\u2019ve heard some amazing stories, which has been wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The flier for Nat\u00e1lia\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
Film Forres development manager, Ruth Whitfield, confirmed Nat\u00e1lia has been a volunteer for the group over the last year.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been helping her make contact with local people for her Master of Arts project.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone who remembers attending Forres Picture House, or has an interest in seeing what looked like before it closed in the 60\u2019s, is most welcome to come along on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A free exhibition in a town centre car park will celebrate the history of local cinema Glasgow School…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,5554,2266,918,4884,1501,712,5006,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-327068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-glasgow","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-tourism","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114991472557564759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}