The eagerly awaited rebirth of Dublin's Light House cinema is now confirmed for May 9th.
The new Light House at Smithfield is a custom- built, four-screen cinema with a 614-seat capacity - 277 in the largest auditorium, and seating for 153, 116 and 68 in the others.
"The four screens will allow for enormous flexibility in terms of programming, delivering a greater choice and diversity of films to invigorate the cultural cinema landscape in Ireland," promise Neil Connolly and Maretta Dillon, who also ran the original Light House on Middle Abbey Street until it closed in 1996. The new venue promises "stunning, imaginative architecture, making Light House at Smithfield the most unique of cinema spaces".
Says architect Colin Mackay: "The organisation and distribution of screens will allow patrons to walk over, under and around the forms, affording an alternative and dramatic cinema experience."
Two of the opening presentations are set. Honeydripper, the new John Sayles film, is set in 1950s Alabama, when a roadhouse owner (Danny Glover) hires a young blues guitarist (Gary Clark Jr) to revive business.
Argentine director Lucía Puenzo's XXY deals with a 15-year-old hermaphrodite, whose parents try to avoid the problem, before a series of events finally forces them to confront it in this subtle yet unflinching film. www.lighthousecinema.ie
