Moving Pictures: Cork's Historic Cinema Walking Tour

Join Cork International Film Festival for a fascinating guided walking tour exploring the city's rich cinematic and architectural heritage.

Led by architectural historian Danielle O'Donovan, this 90-minute walk through Cork's VQ (MacCurtain Street area) will uncover the stories behind some of the city's best-loved cinemas and entertainment venues, revealing how they have shaped Cork's cultural life.

Using material from the Cork International Film Festival Digital Archive, alongside historic photographs, local stories and archival research, the tour will bring to life the people, places and events that helped establish Cork as a city with a remarkable cinema-going tradition. Stops along the route include iconic landmarks such as The Everyman, the site of the former Coliseum Cinema and The Metropole Hotel.

Participants will discover how Cork's historic streets have evolved alongside the development of cinema and learn about the origins and legacy of Cork International Film Festival, Ireland's first and largest film festival, which has been connecting audiences with world cinema since 1956.

Suitable for anyone with an interest in local history, architecture, heritage, film and culture. Advance booking is essential due to limited capacity.

For those unable to attend the guided walk, a self-guided podcast recording and route map will be available on the Cork International Film Festival website, enabling audiences to experience the tour in their own time during Heritage Week.

As part of Cork International Film Festival's Heritage Week programme, participants will also have the opportunity to explore Cork's film heritage beyond the walking tour through a special online showcase of the newly restored archive film Féile Scannán Chorcaighe, Cork Film Festival (1965).

Created to celebrate the Festival's tenth anniversary, this remarkable short documentary offers a rare glimpse of Cork city, its people and the Festival as they appeared in 1965. Following its restoration and digitisation in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute Irish Film Archive and UCC Department of Film & Screen Media, the film received its world premiere at Cork International Film Festival's landmark 70th edition in November 2025.

It will now be available to watch free of charge via the Cork International Film Festival website and YouTube channel.