While it is now well known that James Joyce managed Ireland’s first dedicated cinema, the Volta Cinematograph, which opened in Dublin’s Mary Street in 1909, very little is generally known about the films that screened there and what influence early cinema might have had on Joyce’s art. We are delighted to present here seven short films that have been identified as Volta material, and preserved by the British Film Institute.  The programme, featuring comedies, religious and historical dramas and news films from 1909, includes Une Pouponnière à Paris; A Glass of Goat’s Milk; The Way of the Cross, and Pêche aux Crocodiles.

The programme will be introduced by Joycean scholar Dr Keith Williams (Dundee University) and early cinema historian Dr Denis Condon (Maynooth University), with live piano accompaniment by Morgan Cooke and will be preceded by a Writers’ Tears drinks reception.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn.

See the rest of the Bloomsday Festival lineup here.