An architecture student from the Glasgow School of Art campus at Altyre has ‘rescued’ the history of cinema in Forres, and will exhibit her findings at an event on Sunday 10 August – with popcorn!
Natália Toralles dos Santos Braga, who is 29, and originally from Brazil, is studying for a master’s degree in Design Innovation and Future Heritage, said cinema has always played an important role in her life, and in her last year of her degree in 2019, she wanted to do a project that connected architecture and cinema for her final thesis.
She said: “I haven’t stopped researching ever since. I completed a master’s degree at the same university where I graduated (Universidade Federal de Pelotas) and continued the same research focus from my undergraduate work.
Picture House
“When I moved to Scotland, I realised I could apply what I had learned here as well. I began
investigating the cinemas that once existed in Forres.
“I came across the Picture House and was completely enchanted when I visited the building. It currently belongs to White & Company, but the cinema is still there, the original ceiling, the projection screen, the doors, the staircase. I felt an immense desire to rescue that history.
“With this project, I aim to spark reflection on a type of architecture that is no longer built today, and on the strategies a town like Forres has found to keep a cultural habit alive. I’d like to finish by reinforcing my invitation to the event, I hope everyone enjoys it!”
The event is in partnership with Film Forres, and will take place on the afternoon of Sunday 10 August from 2pm to 6pm, in the car park of the White & Company building (formerly the Forres Picture House).
Popcorn
The exhibition will be open to the public, with no need to buy tickets, and offers a chance to learn more about the spaces that once operated as cinemas in the town, as well as explore new ways to keep this art form alive in the region.
The event will feature interpretive panels, audio-recorded memories, and a display of old photographs. In addition, popcorn will also be served.
Natália said that she had been to see a film at the Town Hall organised by Film Forres and had been captivated by the community that surround the cinema habits of the past.
She added: “Film Forres represents one of the ways the town has found to keep the habit of going to the cinema alive. In my first week living in Forres, I attended one of the screenings, it was packed!
“People were having fun, chatting about the film on the pavement afterwards. I thought this
habit had been lost, but not in Forres.
Volunteering
“A few months later, I became a volunteer with the group and made good friends. Some of the recorded memories in the project also come from Film Forres volunteers.
“Forres is an intriguing place to me, full of incredibly welcoming people. It reminds me a lot of
my hometown in southern Brazil.
“What I like most is that people here are very interested in their own history. They care, they want to remember and recover it. That really inspires me.
She explained how White and Company had also helped her research the building’s history.
“They gave me a guided tour, showing me every corner of the place, as well as old photos and newspaper clippings. And of course, they allowed me to use the car park for the event, which was very significant.”
We asked Natália to give us a little backgound to the history of the cinema in Forres for anyone unable to attend.
She said: “There were two cinemas in Forres. The first was The Lyceum (1913–1927). Like most cinemas of that era (1910s), screenings took place in an adapted building rather than a purpose-built one. In this case, it was a former Baptist chapel on Caroline Street, which was unfortunately demolished.
“The Lyceum closed in 1927 when a new purpose-built cinema opened on Cumming Street: The Picture House (1927–1964). This was the town’s second cinema and is the building now occupied by White & Company.
“This building was designed specifically as a cinema and adapted well to the arrival of the ‘talkies’ in 1929. The architects were R. Carruthers Ballantyne and Taylor of Inverness, and in 1938, an addition to the building was designed by Alister Gladstone Macdonald.
“I’ll be sharing more details about the building at the event.”
The exhibition and presentation takes place in the Car Park at White & Company on Cumming Street on Sunday 10 August from 2pm to 6pm.