A still from the Kalem Company's 'Colleen Bawn'

Once upon a time, (and a long time before Once), there was the germ of an Irish film industry. In his new book, Early Irish Cinema 1895-1921 (Irish Academic Press, €24.95), Maynooth lecturer Denis Condon presents a comprehensive history of the period when we began falling in love with watching, and making, movies.

The image here is a still from the Kalem Company's Colleen Bawn, a US silent movie of Dion Boucicault's play shot in Killarney around 1911. Many of the British films made in Ireland at the time also showed a preference for Killarney as a setting, "frequently because a rail company has paid to have its tourist route publicized," Condon observes. Somers Town director Shane Meadows would understand…