What a delight it was to take part in a screening and art exhibition event in Glasgow recently (7th October to be exact). There were 3 main attractions: a screening of the 1937 French film, Un carnet de bal (directed by Julien Duvivier) at the Glasgow Film Theatre; the ‘Seeing in the Dark’ viewing boxes designed by the imitating the dog theatre company were on view at the Glasgow Film Theatre and the Glasgow School of Art; and an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Thomas McGoran was opened at the Glasgow School of Art.

McGoran worked as a cinema projectionist for many years in mid-twentieth century Glasgow. He recently completed a series of drawings of classic cinemas in Glasgow. These were on show along with a range of paintings of historic Glasgow landmarks. You can read more on McGoran in this news article from the Glasgow Times.

The screening of Un carnet de bal was a hit! A packed theatre was treated to the first film ever shown in this cinema space when the Cosmo cinema opened in 1939. The event was hosted by Professor Sarah Neely from the University of Glasgow, with assistance from Professor Annette Kuhn from Queen Mary University of London. Both are working with me on the AHRC-funded project, Cinema Memory and the Digital Archive.