The centre-piece of the new Irish Film Centre will be the two cinemas, a 250-seater and the smaller 100-seater. Cinemas Director Mick Hannigan, former Programme Director of the Cork Film Festival, explains how he hopes the cinemas will succeed.

In outlining one's vision of the Irish Film Centre and in particular of the cinemas I am conscious of the danger of offering hostages to fortune. I am uncomfortably reminded of the scene in Citizen Kane where Kane begins to compose his 'Declaration of Principles'. The reader will remember that years later the original copy of that high minded text was returned by his former friend, Jedediah, torn into little pieces.

However, at this stage, as the final elements of our opening programme are being confirmed, the Wellesian story I most relate to is his comment on arriving at the RKO studio that he had been presented with 'the best train set a boy ever had'. As I leaf through distributors' catalogues and recall wonderful films seen at festivals, I share that sense of exuberance at cinema's possibilities. Having access to the world of contemporary cinema and to the richness of cinema's past is deeply exciting. There is also the hope, or rather the expectation, that one's enthusiasm for the medium in all its variety will be shared by the Film Centre's audience.

There is also the sense of vertigo occasioned by the imminent realisation of a long held collective ambition. It seems like decades ago when David Kavanagh, Director of the Irish Film Institute, told us that he had found the perfect building in Temple Bar. It should be said that this was before the area was profitable or popular! It is no overstatement to say that arriving at this final stage has been a long financial, political, and administrative struggle.

The brief entrusted to the cinemas is easily expressed - to enlarge the range of cinema available to Irish audiences on a financially sound basis. The first half of that task is relatively easily achieved, given that the market, with the honourable exception of the Light House, is dominated by Hollywood blockbusters. Despite some trepidation we have confidence that the second can also be realized; confidence that there exists in Dublin a large audience whose interest in film is not being sufficiently catered for.

Our ambition, however, is greater than this and underlying that ambition is a belief in the power of cinema to make a difference to people's lives. A belief that film has the capacity to entertain, to enthral, to offer diverse pleasures. For many, and not just Film Ireland's readers, film serves as a vehicle for exploring the world, the social and political world, but also that of myth, of the imagination.

Our audience will, I hope, have a shared belief in the limits of contemporary Hollywood filmmaking; that there are great pleasures to be garnered from the cinema of other countries; that there are neglected directors to be discovered; that there are genres and styles at the margins of the industry which will repay exploration; that, for example, independent American filmmakers are creating, on budgets which are minuscule in relation to those of Hollywood, vital and exciting cinema.

I am enthused at the prospect of seeing the beauty and power of Paradjanov's images on the screens of the Centre and speculate on the effect they will have on audiences and on those filmmakers who will see them. I delight at the anticipation of experiencing on the big screen the wit and the style of Billy Wilder, and wonder if the image of Phyllis Dietrichson's ankle strap or Norma Desmond's cry in Sunset Boulevard that 'it was the pictures that got small' will create a greater frisson when viewed on film than on video tape. Will the integrity of John Cassavetes' films touch Irish hearts and minds? What light will the early short films of Martin Scorsese cast on Taxi Driver or on Cape Fear?

There are other questions which cause, perhaps needless, concern. Will audiences come out for the films of Tarkovsky? Will the Trilogy of Bill Douglas be appreciated or dismissed? Will people wish to see the classics of the 30s and 40s? Will people take risks with programmes of animation? Is there a market for 'cult movies' in Ireland? Finding answers to these questions will be exciting of course but, it will also be vital if the project is to succeed. We do not have the safety net of Arts Council funding. We, like to her cinemas, will live or die by our box office takings.

However, we have no wish to impose a particular film aesthetic on a reluctant audience. We wish to develop, right from the beginning, a dialogue with our audience, or rather audiences. This will be done formally be initiating a series of 'open forums' where people will have the opportunity to respond, to question, to request other forms of programming. In addition, I hope that the pages of Film Ireland will be a forum for dialogue and debate about the work shown and about work which should be shown in the Cinemas.

I remember Bob Quinn, when presenting Budawanny to Dublin audiences, informing the film reviewers that they would not be welcome and inviting instead the art critics. While I wonder at the effect of such a stance, the statement was an important one, that film is an art form deserving of considered critique. Film Ireland will, I hope, take on this role. The Cinémathèque Française of Henry Langlois impulsed the coming together of those critics who founded Cahiers du Cinéma and who were later responsible for the Nouvelle Vague. This interrelation of exhibition, writing and then production occurred in a specific moment in the political and cultural histoy of France. Is it unreasonable to hope that an enriching of Irish filmmaking and Irish film culture can be occasioned by the Film Centre and through the organisations housed there? I hope that the Cinemas can be part of this process.

The world of cinema is not delineated by the sensibilities of those satired in The Player. Our intention is to present the best of international cinema in its many forms, feature films certainly, but in addition, documentaries, short films, animation, revivals, repertory, midnight movies. The programming should also represent those filmmakers on the cutting edge of cinema, those breaking new ground and advancing the art of film. I once had the privilege of meeting the late Michael Powell. I remember the excitement I felt on hearing him, then in his eighties, remark that filmmaking had as yet merely scratched the surface of its potential. I hope that in the coming years we may see that potential expressed on Screens One and Two of the Film Centre.

If we are to achieve this level of turnover of titles we will not be able to do so by screening prints which have gone through the Censor's office - the cost of 'certification' is based on the running time of the film and is therefore the same for Basic Instinct, which will run for months in a large number of theatres, as it is for film of similar length which will run for three days in the Centre. To circumvent these costs, screenings will be organised on a 'club' system similar to that of the Dublin Film Festival, the Cork Film Festival and so forth. Patrons of the Centre will be obliged to take out membership, Annual or Weekly, the latter to facilitate visitors to the Centre from abroad or from outside of Dublin. The cost of membership will not be prohibitive but will be struck at a rate which will cover the administration costs. In addition we will produce a bi-monthly illustrated brochure with details and reviews of all the films in our programme. These will be freely available in the Centre and in a large number of location throughout Dublin.

One of the roles of the Cinemas is to serve as the public interface with the Centre and hopefully the public expression of the activities of the constituent organisations - the Archive and Cinema Education policies of the IFI, the productions of Film Makers Ireland and of Film Base. I hope that the Cinemas can become a forum where Irish filmmakers - established and (terrible word) 'emerging' - can meet with their public in a supportive context.

That is the plan at any rate. I hope it tallies with your expectations of the Cinemas and that we achieve some of it at least. No doubt I will hear about it if we're not! Penny Thompson, the Director of the Edinburgh Film Festival, tells a story which goes as follows: If you are intent on exploring the jungles of the world be sure to pack a lemon, a bottle of gin, a bottle of vermouth, and a cocktail shaker, these being the ingredients for a Dry Martini. When inevitably you find yourself hopelessly lost, the solution is to begin making a Martini. At this point you can be guarantied that a dozen people will emerge from the undergrowth to tell you that you're doing it wrong! I look forward to many discussions on how to make the perfect Martini.

This article was printed in Film Ireland 31 (Sep/Oct 1992).