IFI vs The Lighthouse

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I've never been to the IFI, shock horror, but have been to The Lighthouse quite a few times. I really love it there, the seats, the service, the other cinema goers are so much better behaved than at the multi plex, the sound and visual quality is great etc. etc.

However.... the IFI would technically be handier to get to for me, so I was just wondering how it compares to The Lighthouse? I was looking at pictures online and it looked like the seats were all on the flat? That can't be can it?

The restaurant in the IFI certainly looks better than that at The Lighthouse.

Thoughts? (other than just go and see for yourself )

Rascasse

IFI has regular theatre seating, not flat. Personally I prefer the Lighthouse. The IFI desperately needs refurbishment. The seats are old and not particularly comfortable, I'm tall and find them too close together (knees against seat in front), the carpets in places are ripped, etc. It's not a bad place, just not as nice as the Lighthouse for me.

Passenger

The Lighthouse is a beautiful cinema. Every screen as very comfortable and roomy seating. The quality of the projections and the audio quality is also superb. The IFI seating leaves a lot to be desired. Screen 1 has a different layout to Screen 2 for example and both are tight in terms of leg room. Plus I think the screens in the IFI seem to be a lot higher up irregardless of where you are seated. Has anybody else noticed that? For me anyway, seating and comfort is of paramount importance in a cinema, just as important as the projection and audio quality and I think the Lighthouse surpasses the IFI in both those aspects.

Sad Professor

There's no comparison. The Lighthouse is easily the best cinema in the country and probably one of the best in Europe. It came 8th in this website's coolest cinemas in the world list and was recently featured in The Guardian as well. I love the IFI for its presentation and films, but of all the cinemas I regularly frequent I'd rank it second lowest due the terrible seating layout. They ran a survey recently asking which screen people felt was in most need of refurbishment, so they are obviously aware of their shortcomings.

johnny_ultimate

I don't think it's a case of "one or the other" as I attend them both as often as each other (perhaps the IFI a little more so). Don't get me wrong, the Lighthouse undoubtedly boasts a nicer layout and a high quality set up - it is the nicest cinema to attend in Dublin. But the IFI offers a very different programme, a 70mm projector etc... and cramped old cinema 2 is the only one I'd have any major issue with (cinema 3 is great, and 1 is a great quality screen if a little cramped when it gets sold out).

The Lighthouse has upped their game considerably in terms of programming, achieving a comfortable hybrid of multiplex and arthouse, with an increasing amount of exclusive content and themed seasons. Great to see them carve a niche I think they initially struggled with. It reminds me of the Prince Charles in London. But the IFI still takes on a lot of stuff you won't see anywhere else (Wadjda and the Big City at the moment, for example). It's simply impossible to ignore one or the other.

In ideal circumstances, both places showing the same film, which would I pick? It really just boils down to handiness and scheduling, although if I have enough time I do enjoy wandering down to the Lighthouse. Still, I don't think you're getting a particularly inferior cinema experience either way - unless you end up in IFI screen 2. With the possible exception of the Savoy, Id consider both better cinemas than any of the multiplexes.

Sad Professor

Even when it's quiet, I still don't like screen 1 in the IFI. The only way there's enough leg room for me is if I sit ramrod straight. Watching long films in there is very uncomfortable. I quite like screen 3, though, except when the film starts early and people keep wandering in.

The projection and presentation in the IFI is always excellent, of course, although I've occasionally had issues with them bringing the lights up too early - a pet hate of mine.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

Even when it's quiet, I still don't like screen 1 in the IFI. The only way there's enough leg room for me is if I sit ramrod straight. Watching long films in there is very uncomfortable. I quite like screen 3, though, except when the film starts early and people keep wandering in.

The projection and presentation in the IFI is always excellent, of course, although I've occasionally had issues with them brining the lights up too early - a pet hate of mine.

It's not just me so, saw Pacific Rim (not in either the IFI or Lighthouse) and the full houselights were banged on the second the end titles started.

Sad Professor

In fairness, it's often done for safety reasons. Many cinemas lack step lighting. All they have is the overhead cleaning lights which may not be dimmable. In some instances, though, I strongly suspect it's done to usher people out of the cinema as quickly as possible to make way for the next screening.

It's bad enough that everyone runs for the door the minute the credits start. Turning on the lights too soon only encourages it and forces you to leave as well.

krudler

Sad Professor wrote: »

In fairness, it's often done for safety reasons. Many cinemas lack step lighting. All they have is the overhead cleaning lights which may not be dimmable. In some instances, though, I strongly suspect it's done to usher people out of the cinema as quickly as possible to make way for the next screening.

It's bad enough that everyone runs for the door the minute the credits start. Turning on the lights too soon only encourages it and forces you to leave as well.

I hate it, I like to sit there and listen to the score or watch the credits if they're something more than just letters on black. Leaving even before the film finishes is something I genuinely don't understand, have seen it loads of times, people walking down the steps stopping at the end watching the end scene, grrrr.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Interesting.

I want to see What Maisie Knew next week and it's on in both places and times are similar, but I really want to see it, and I want to be able to enjoy it. I saw Man Of Steel in The Lighthouse and it was so comfortable, at 3 hours long I barely felt it. You can just concentrate on the film instead of having to readjust your legs every 5 minutes.

I might save my first visit to the IFI for something I'm not really really looking forward to seeing. At least that way if it's not that great an experience it won't have spoiled the film for me.

Thanks guys

e_e

I love the IFI but if the Lighthouse were closer to me and had a similar membership scheme I'd definitely frequent there more.

I've had my problems with fellow patrons in the IFI (even moreso than in several of the multiplex cinemas I frequent) and the seating in screens 1 and 2 really needs to be reconsidered. At least though they're aware of the seating problem and it was refreshing to see that they recently put up a message about etiquette before the film. Finally a cinema that acknowledges what a big problem phone glare is.

krudler

I wish there were more quirky cinemas in this country, if I ever won the lotto I'd build a proper old school art deco style cinema, show classic films all the time, emphasis on the cinema experience for film lovers not competing with the multiplex crowd.
There's a new enough cinemas in Limerick, Showtime, and its lovely, but soulless as most multiplexes are, the seats are really comfy and the sound/projection are all top notch though, and even the smaller screens are still big, the smaller screens in the Omniplex here are like a shoebox.

johnny_ultimate

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I might save my first visit to the IFI for something I'm not really really looking forward to seeing. At least that way if it's not that great an experience it won't have spoiled the film for me.

Honestly, you're just building it up for yourself. It's just another cinema, and very rarely less than a completely serviceable one. With the exception of Screen 2's cramped nature, any issue I'd have with the place is a minor irritant more than a genuine frustration.

Just go, there's genuinely nothing to be concerned about. That said, my cousin was always a little wary about the place just because it's perceived as being 'different' to other cinemas with all the arthouse nonsense. I eventually persuaded him to go see Amour one afternoon. Before the film, some lad stepped up in the middle of the screen and conducted an impromptu poetry recital in the middle of an awkward crowd. Instantly affirmed any concerns of pretentiousness my cousin had about the place, and literally the only such incident I've encountered in hundreds of visits.

Happy ending, though: he thoroughly appreciated the film and we've been back many times since

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

krudler wrote: »

I wish there were more quirky cinemas in this country, if I ever won the lotto I'd build a proper old school art deco style cinema, show classic films all the time, emphasis on the cinema experience for film lovers not competing with the multiplex crowd.

It's surprising there's not more. I'm always reading about how the Irish are among the most frequent cinema goers and things like that. I suppose it's competing with the multiplexes is the issue. As someone said already The Lighthouse seems to have struck a good balance of mainstream and less mainstream.

Ideally I'd like to support both the IFI and The Lighthouse as much as possible. The first time I went to The Lighthouse was because the film I wanted to see wasn't on in my local one but it was so lovely I swore I'd never go near a multiplex again.

There's quite a few films I want to see over the next while so I'll try and split them over both cinemas if possible.

I suppose it's the quality of the actual film would be my main issue as The Lighthouse seems quite high quality in comparison to my local Odeon.

krudler

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It's surprising there's not more. I'm always reading about how the Irish are among the most frequent cinema goers and things like that. I suppose it's competing with the multiplexes is the issue. As someone said already The Lighthouse seems to have struck a good balance of mainstream and less mainstream.

Ideally I'd like to support both the IFI and The Lighthouse as much as possible. The first time I went to The Lighthouse was because the film I wanted to see wasn't on in my local one but it was so lovely I swore I'd never go near a multiplex again.

There's quite a few films I want to see over the next while so I'll try and split them over both cinemas if possible.

I suppose it's the quality of the actual film would be my main issue as The Lighthouse seems quite high quality in comparison to my local Odeon.

I go a lot during the week, nice and quiet then, nothing worse than going to some big release on a Friday or Saturday night and it being ruined by mouthbreathers who don't understand that watching a film is meant to be done quietly.

I was in a cinema in the States once, can't for the life of me remember what it was called, but it was really nice, instead of standard lights on the wall inside the screen they had a big mural like a filmstrip and the lights were built into the pictures, the moon from E.T etc. Was really cool.

delbertgrady

For me, it's no contest. I haven't a bad word to say about the Lighthouse, which I support as much as possible, but I stopped going to the IFI years ago, due to several bad experiences. One was when I saw Le Cercle Rouge in the old Screen 2 and the conditions were completely unacceptable. The amount of noise that was seeping in from outside was ridiculous. Anyone familiar with that film will know that a significant portion of it is effectively conducted in silence, so to have it ruined by ambient sounds was inexcusable.

Sad Professor

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It's surprising there's not more. I'm always reading about how the Irish are among the most frequent cinema goers and things like that. I suppose it's competing with the multiplexes is the issue. As someone said already The Lighthouse seems to have struck a good balance of mainstream and less mainstream.

It's totally unnecessary, though. It's an "arthouse" cinema, it should show arthouse films and leave the mainstream stuff to the multiplexes. If somebody wants to see Alan Patridge there's no shortage of places showing it. The growing number of mainstream showings comes at the expense of foreign language and independent films, many of which aren't getting a theatrical release at all in this country. The IFI can't show everything.

The Lighthouse is owned by Element Pictures, who based on their Twitter feed are obviously involved in the distribution of Alan Partridge and no doubt ensure that their own films get a good run. Running an independent cinema isn't easy and I can understand why they might be little risk averse, but their current half-and-half or whatever approach isn't helping independent cinema.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Sad Professor wrote: »

The Lighthouse is owned by Element Pictures, who based on their Twitter feed are obviously involved in the distribution of Alan Partridge and no doubt ensure that their own films get a good run. Running an independent cinema isn't easy and I can understand why they might be little risk averse, but their current half-and-half or whatever approach isn't helping independent cinema.

Would they be able to survive financially though if they were only showing independent arty type film? Is there enough demand for it that two cinemas in the city centre could survive solely on showing these kinds of films?

Sad Professor

Maybe, maybe not. As I said, it would be difficult. Those facilities aren't cheap to run and maintain.

It's not just an Irish problem. The same thing is happening to arthouse cinemas in the UK. It's all well and good to justify it on financial grounds, but less than 10 years from now there may be no market left for independent distributors. At which point the Lighthouse will be in trouble again. Unless the multiplexes implode first (Hollywood really doesn't know how to compete with home video), but by the time that happens independent and foreign language cinema will probably have already been relegated to VOD.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

It would be interesting to see how much money The Lighthouse brings in from films like Man of Steel or Partridge compared to the more arty ones. Is it a case of the blockbusters being the main income, or do they even out.

They're showing Blackfish at the moment, and are one of very few cinemas showing it. I tweeted them a few weeks ago to see how long they'd be showing it because I had a lot on at the time and couldn't get in to see it. They said it depended on demand really. It's still showing a few times a day, and that's three weeks ago. So maybe they would survive with a more IFI program.

johnny_ultimate

The cinema business here and, to a much more pronounced degree, the UK has separated into three main strands.

The multiplex - self-explanatory, although perhaps we could group smaller rural cinemas in here.

The arthouse - the IFI or - much more effectively, because basically they have more money - the BFI, typically at least partially public funded and therefore support less financially viable features. I'd expand it to include groups like Access Cinema as well: not-for-profit and supporting a very wide range of films from around the world, and whose work is often under-appreciated or even unknown. But even with the IFI, it's bleeding into...

The hybrid - the Lighthouse / Screen, or, on a much larger scale, Picturehouse and Curzon in the UK. This is where things get a bit complicated, trying to achieve a compromise between arthouse fare and commercial cinema. I wouldn't completely shoot down the Lighthouse for going this route - they've had quite a few worthwhile exclusives, perhaps most importantly The Act of Killing (Element definitely seem to lend a helping hand with documentary more than anything else). There's undoubtedly something to be said for a cinema that mixes the programme up and earns a sort of cult audience. And it's nice to have a friendly, independent alternative to faceless old Cineworld, even for more mainstream titles. Although it's worth a read up about how Cineworld bought Picture House in the UK, and the competition authority are having a few issues with it, as basically Cineworld now 'control' one of the biggest arthouse chains alongside the multiplexes. That's not really good news for anyone...

Anyway, I have no problem with this three-tier model in theory - they all have their place. The problem is when films start getting lost in the crowd. As hard as the IFI try - and in fairness to the Lighthouse, they do what they can too, even if they've grown more and more commercial - they only have three screens and limited time a week. Films get lost - unfortunately, very often very worthy films from Asia, The Middle East and South America (let's not even get started on Africa) are the victims. Regrettably, the IFI have had to get a tad more commercial as well to support themselves, which again just takes up space a lot of the time. Even the 'arthouse' stuff they get is very often 'middle-of-the-road arthouse' - mediocre and instantly forgettable French dramas and the like. Even in the UK, you see a sort of homogenising sneaking in, huge amounts of excellent films denied anything but one-off festival screenings.

When you look at Sight & Sound every month, there's huge amounts of films that never get anywhere near Irish screens until their home release. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what we have, and I can already sense the rest of the country cursing us lucky enough to have access to Dublin cinemas. But the grim reality is that maybe, depressingly, we're just too small a country to support a proper arthouse cinema of nowt but experimental, foreign, noncommercial fare. IFI do a decent enough job with what they have when they can (although visit the BFI to see how it should really be done), but there's only three screens serving an entire country, and that's not nearly enough. At least Access try, with their dreadfully limited resources, to pick up some of the slack and get stuff into smaller screens nationally.

I've heard the head of Curzon / Artificial Eye speaking before, and he's absolutely unapologetic - time after time (and Artificial Eye have a strong track record of supporting a wide variety of releases), when he programmes genuine independent and offbeat fare, it's rarely worth the effort as audiences flock to see the latest films from well-known directors instead. It's no wonder they're going to fill screens with prestige films, and sneak in alternative programming where and if they can: arthouse cinema, even in the West End, is incredibly unprofitable (the miserable performance of Himizu still depresses me). Audiences have built the current model, and alas it's the true arthouses getting left behind. And, worst of all, we're all just missing a tonne of good films because of it.

Tar.Aldarion

I like both but much prefer the lighthouse, when I go there I'm not just looking forward to the film but also the cinema itself.

Still enjoy both and looking forward to this in the ifi: http://www.ifi.ie/stf

corcaigh07

Couple of questions:

Is Screen 2 in IFI still rubbish?

Also, which screen is the 70mm one?

e_e

corcaigh07 wrote: »

Is Screen 2 in IFI still rubbish?

Also, which screen is the 70mm one?

1. Yep.
2. Screen 1

Sad Professor

Wasn't there an audience survey a couple of years ago in which it was strongly implied they were planning a refurbishment of the one of the screens? I wonder what happened with that...

Noise Annoys

Whatever about Screen 2 in the IFI, Screen 3 is a disaster. It practically slopes upwards towards the front, so if anyone even slightly tall sits in front of you in any other row your view of the screen is significantly compromised.

Lighthouse beats the IFI hands down. I had membership of the IFI for about 15 years but let it lapse because I found myself going to the Lighthouse way more, simply for the superior experience.

The atrium/central hall in the IFI is chaos whenever there is a busy screening. The seats in both Screen 1 and 2 are awful for leg room (and I'm not particularly tall). They do need an overhaul, although I guess they are restricted by the nature of the building and what they can do with it.

Hrududu

The Lighthouse itself is a much nicer cinema and I love some of the stuff they've chosen to put on. But I hate Smithfield.

I was thinking if Screen cinema had been more adventurous with their programming the way The Lighthouse have been it might not be closing.

Lavinia

Of course the two are incomparable simply because Lighthouse is a new built cinema with all the latest standards while IFI is old and so not up to "our current expectations".
However I love them both as each has its own unique atmosphere, different but both for "cinema or art lovers".
I love to go to IFI bit earlier and sit in a foaye have a cup of tea with a friend before the movie as that space is really enjoyable. I also like how close to screen it feels when watching a movie so it has something "intimate" in it.
Lighthouse is a different story, it is very cosy and posh in a way so it gives a certain vibe to it.
I'm defo happy the both places exists also as they have different repertoire.