Ghent cinema culture is ready for its close-up
A research project is seeking 1950s cinema-goers to talk about the atmosphere and film communities in cities around Europe – including Ghent
Time is of the essence
“The project will explore the role cinema played in the social and cultural life of seven mid-sized European cities in the 1950s,” explains Lies Van de Vijver of Ghent University, who is managing the project. The research is funded by the British Arts and Humanities Research Council, and is co-led by Oxford Brookes, Ghent and De Montfort universities.
In addition to Ghent, memories will be collected from Bari in Italy, Leicester in the UK, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Brno in the Czech Republic, Magdeburg in Germany and Gothenburg in Sweden.
“On a historical level, these studies concentrate on a period of time in which cinema is an essential and extremely popular leisure activity for millions,” Van de Vijver goes on. “It's a period before the arrival of the television, of the multiplex, videos, home cinema and other changes in modes of film consumption.”
There is also a certain urgency. “This generation, who actively lived through and can remember 1950s cinema-going, is already of a certain age, and so collecting their oral histories is needed now!”
‘Unique audience’ in Ghent
Ghent's vibrant film culture (then, as now) will make it an interesting case study, Van de Vijver thinks. “Historically it has a unique combination of majestic film palaces, such as Rex and Capitole, popular and long-running neighbourhood cinemas, such as Ideal and Metropole, but also film venues with a stronger political and religious background, like the successful socialist Vooruit and parish cinemas,” she says. “This makes for a unique and very heterogeneous cinema-going audience.”
It has a unique combination of majestic film palaces and venues with a stronger political and religious background
The memories sought will not be about facts and figures, but the broader experience of cinema-going. “We will question people about what going to the movies was like, what they did before, during or after the screening, what it meant for them in their everyday lives and what cinema-going meant for the community.”
The researchers are also interested in memorabilia, both to jog people's memories and to enrich the digital archive that the project will put together.
A public event to launch the project's digital archive and reach out to possible participants is due to take place in October, during the Ghent Film Festival. Naturally, a film from the 1950s will also be shown.
“So, if you were born between 1925 and 1945 (or know someone who was), lived in Ghent in the 1950s and are willing to talk to us about this in the autumn, do get in touch.”
Photo: The old Capitole cinema in Ghent is now a modern concert hall
