At the Volta with James Joyce, GFT

Saturday 15th June, 2024 6.30 p.m.
As part of 19th International James Joyce Symposium, the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Film Theatre and the Irish Consulate are organising At the Volta with James Joyce: a showing of early films with musical accompaniment, inspired by the involvement of Irish author James Joyce with Dublin’s cinema Volta – one of the first cinemas in Ireland. The showing will be followed by a public discussion.
Towards the end of 1909, James Joyce, future author of Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, founded and managed the first ever permanent cinema in Dublin. Remarkably, scholars have been able to trace a number of the films that Joyce selected and screened there and copies of reels of those films survive.
This special programme organised by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Glasgow Film Theatre, the Irish Consulate and the International James Joyce Foundation, brings together a number of these rare short films from the collection of the British Film Institute. The showing will include little-known gems such as How Cretinetti Pays his Debts, Aviation Week at Rheims, A Glass of Goat’s Milk and The Way of the Cross.
John McCourt (University of Macerata) will introduce the programme with contributions from Keith Williams (University of Dundee) and Cleo Hanaway-Oakley (University of Bristol). The showing will conclude with opportunities to ask questions of this panel of experts on Joyce and film.
The films will be presented with live musical accompaniment from Forrester Clifton Pyke. As well as offering a varied and entertaining programme of early films, At the Volta with James Joyce will demonstrate how cinema influenced Joyce the writer.
Tickets: £6.50
Images
Percy Stow, ‘A Glass of Goat’s Milk’ (1909) – Courtesy British Film Institute
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