'I think we made history here': Movie screens in Limerick venue where it was once filmed 

Once Upon A Time In Cinema was screened at the Royal Cinema on Cecil Street

Producer Nathalie Lichtenthaeler, director David Gleeson and founder of the Catalyst Film Festival Susan Liddy. Picture: Brian Arthur/PA

A packed audience in Limerick had the unique experience of watching a film that was set in the very cinema in which they were sitting.

Directed by Limerick native David Gleeson, Once Upon A Time In Cinema was screened on Thursday at the Royal Cinema on Cecil Street as part of the Catalyst International Film Festival.

The long-derelict theatre had been partly restored to serve as a movie set and for the play Connie.

Founded in 1852, the building was damaged by a fire in 1990, reopened in 1991, but closed by the end of the decade.

Set in the 1980s in Limerick, Once Upon A Time In A Cinema follows Earl Clancy, a manager who is doing his best to save his single-screen theatre from closing.

The film mirrors David Gleeson’s own childhood, whose family owned a cinema. In 1942, his grandfather opened a cinema which was taken over by his father. 

In 1970, Mr Gleeson's father opened another cinema in Kilmallock, Co Limerick. And 16 years later, another in Nenagh, Co Tipperary — one of the first twin cinemas in the country.

For Mr Gleeson, watching a movie shot in Limerick on screen in the Royal Theatre felt "incredible". 

“I've been racking my brains trying to think of another movie where that could possibly have happened. I think we made history here tonight. To make a movie and then screen that movie here, I feel like I've closed some mystical loop.

“I don’t know what we've achieved, but I feel we achieved something very special,” he told the Irish Examiner after the premiere.

In the late 80s, Mr Gleeson lived in the “crappiest bedsit you can imagine”, just across the road from the theatre.

He said it “only took me 39 years to cross this street”.

“So many mystical elements came together to find that cinema in the city where I'm from. For it literally to be across the road from where I started my life as an independent adult, I think it's going to be a few years before the significance of everything we've achieved with this film hits me,” he said.

The director, who lives in Los Angeles, is currently working on his next movie which is set to be filmed in Ireland.

He compares the movies to a roller coaster. For him, movies are meant to make you feel three things: Fear, sadness or joy.

"You go on a roller coaster to feel intense emotion," he said.

Going to the movies is not an intellectual exercise. If you can make an audience cower in terror, if you can make them cry or make them laugh, you will have a film that resonates and will be a hit. If you can do all three, you have a blockbuster.

Once Upon A Time In A Cinema felt extra special for Mr Gleeson, as one of the scenes reminds him of his father, who passed two years ago.

Speaking of a scene when the main character walks down a corridor, he said: “He moved like my father. For me, that was him turning off the lights and going to heaven. My father died two years ago. Every time I watch that, it brings a lump to my throat.” 

There is one thing he wishes cinema-goers will take away from his film — a renewed appreciation for the cinema experience.

I hope they will take away the joy of watching a movie as a community, because that is the essence of cinema. 

"It's not about watching a movie on a big screen. It's about experiencing emotion in the company of strangers - and there's a real magic in that.”