Going to the pictures: The influence of cinema going on creative artists in the border regions of Ireland

This article investigates the extent to which going to the pictures influenced the imaginative lives of creative artists (artists, novelists, poets, directors, playwrights) from the border regions of Ireland. Through analysis of the responses of creative artists (including Paul Muldoon, Deirdre Madden, Lucy Caldwell and Patrick McGinley) to an online questionnaire on how they engaged with their local or hometown cinema, from the 1940s through to the 1990s. The article identifies the ways in which cinema going may have opened up the universe for the respondents and in some cases made a significant impact on their artistic output or their desire to be a creative artist. This discussion is set within the context of the much foretold death of cinema.