Once Upon a Time in a Cinema + Q&A w/ David Gleeson
- Thu, Jul 30
The Frida Cinema's seating is first-come, first-serve. For our Midnight Screenings, please plan on arriving by 11:30pm to ensure ample time for parking, picking up concessions, and securing optimal seats. Screening will begin promptly at midnight.
Director: David Gleeson Run Time: 92 min. Release Year: 2026
Starring: Calam Lynch, Clara Crichton, Colin Morgan, India Mullen, Niamh Cusack
Join us for a special Art House Theater Day 2026 screening of Once Upon a Time in a Cinema with a post-screening Q&A with the director of the film, David Gleeson!
Set in a small-town cinema during one eventful Friday night screening from hell, the film follows the travails of beleaguered cinema owner Earl Clancy (Colin Morgan) as he faces a myriad of disasters, any one of which could sink him.
Drawing from writer/director David Gleeson’s own experience growing up in a family of cinema owners where his father’s 78-year career marked the longest in the cinema business in Ireland, if not the world, this film is a love letter to a peculiarly Irish cinema experience, which was as much about connecting with people as it was about the movie.
Art House Theater Day (AHTD) is an annual program of AHC that brings audiences together to celebrate all that art house theaters, and independent film, contribute to our cultural landscape: ambitious and innovative art that provokes, challenges, entertains, and inspires.