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Twin Filmmakers Create Their Own Cinemas

Joshua Liu05 mins

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Moviemaker Twins Who Built Their Own Cinemas

Published 5:29 AM EDT, Fri September 1, 2017

<strong>Legacy:</strong> The brother's archive of some 50 or 60 film shorts are now in the care of the Irish Film Archive. Says Noel: "To have produced the things we did under the conditions that existed then and using the equipment that there was at the time, it's miraculous that we got so much stuff done. Nobody would attempt it now."
<strong>Legacy:</strong> The brother’s archive of some 50 or 60 film shorts are now in the care of the Irish Film Archive. Says Noel: “To have produced the things we did under the conditions that existed then and using the equipment that there was at the time, it’s miraculous that we got so much stuff done. Nobody would attempt it now.”
<strong>The Spence brothers:</strong> Twins Roy (left) and Noel Spence are Northern Irish amateur filmmakers and collectors of memorabilia. They both have hand-built Art Deco cinemas outside their homes in the countryside outside Comber.
The Spence brothers: Twins Roy (left) and Noel Spence are Northern Irish amateur filmmakers and collectors of memorabilia. They both have hand-built Art Deco cinemas outside their homes in the countryside outside Comber.
<strong>Tudor Cinema: </strong>Noel Spence converted the Tudor Cinema from a henhouse in 1974. He has expanded it since, doing all the work by hand, using original 1950s fittings. Roy's cinema, the Excelsior, is two minutes down the road.
<strong>Tudor Cinema: </strong>Noel Spence converted the Tudor Cinema from a henhouse in 1974. He has expanded it since, doing all the work by hand, using original 1950s fittings. Roy’s cinema, the Excelsior, is two minutes down the road.
<strong>B movies: </strong>The men's do-it-yourself ethos extends to their love of B movies from the 1950s and '60s, a period they have emulated in their own filmmaking. Says Noel of genre movies such as "The Fly" (1958), "They were cheaply made but they had a great deal of imagination."
<strong>B movies: </strong>The men’s do-it-yourself ethos extends to their love of B movies from the 1950s and ’60s, a period they have emulated in their own filmmaking. Says Noel of genre movies such as “The Fly” (1958), “They were cheaply made but they had a great deal of imagination.”
<strong>Home cinema: </strong>The phrase "home cinema" has come to mean a plasma screen and surround sound, but "that's not really a home cinema," says Noel. "A home cinema's the curtains and the folding seats, the slanted floor, all those things." Adds Roy, "And you must have the picture projected."
<strong>Home cinema: </strong>The phrase “home cinema” has come to mean a plasma screen and surround sound, but “that’s not really a home cinema,” says Noel. “A home cinema’s the curtains and the folding seats, the slanted floor, all those things.” Adds Roy, “And you must have the picture projected.”
<strong>The Creature from the Black Lagoon: </strong>The 1954 film "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" is one of the twins' favorites. The first film to be screened at the Tudor in 1974 was another monster movie from that year, "Them!," about giant mutated ants.
<strong>The Creature from the Black Lagoon: </strong>The 1954 film “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” is one of the twins’ favorites. The first film to be screened at the Tudor in 1974 was another monster movie from that year, “Them!,” about giant mutated ants.
<strong>Traveling craftsmen:</strong> "We went through a phase of building home cinemas for people," says Noel. "We built them in England, we built them in the south of Ireland, people heard about us and we went through a kind of phase, and then we got too old for it."
<strong>Traveling craftsmen:</strong> “We went through a phase of building home cinemas for people,” says Noel. “We built them in England, we built them in the south of Ireland, people heard about us and we went through a kind of phase, and then we got too old for it.”
<strong>Jukeboxes: </strong>The twins have a love of all things 1950s, including jukeboxes and doo-wop music. Noel has 11 jukeboxes in his collection, including some he built himself. <br />
<strong>Jukeboxes: </strong>The twins have a love of all things 1950s, including jukeboxes and doo-wop music. Noel has 11 jukeboxes in his collection, including some he built himself.
<strong>A lifetime's work: </strong>"Sometimes I look at my cinema, I look at all the things I have and think all this is going to be dust some day," observes Roy. "But that happens. It happened to Ozymandias, it happened to the great kings of Egypt, it happens all the world over. So I don't worry."
<strong>A lifetime’s work: </strong>”Sometimes I look at my cinema, I look at all the things I have and think all this is going to be dust some day,” observes Roy. “But that happens. It happened to Ozymandias, it happened to the great kings of Egypt, it happens all the world over. So I don’t worry.”

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