Dr Denis Condon

English, Media Studies,

Lecturer/Assistant Professor

0.25 Iontas Building
(01) 708 6212

Biography

I am the lecturer in Irish Film at the departments of English and Media Studies, where I have been teaching since 2008. Prior to this I completed a research MA at Dublin City University, before coming to Maynooth University, where I was a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar (2001-04) and subsequently a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2007-08).

In academic year 2024-25, I will be teaching BA modules and supervising  dissertations at BA and MA  levels. My BA teaching will be on the second-year English and Media Studies module MD240/EN241: Film and Screen Studies, the third-year Media Studies and English module  EN341/MD330: Global Cinema: Ireland and the World, and the third-year English module EN388: Contemporary Irish Cinema. I will also be  co-teaching the Media Studies module MD224: Media, Society and  Politics. I am the second-year coordinator in Media Studies and the international coordinator for English.

I also supervise PhD and postdoctoral projects, and welcome both formal and informal contacts to discuss potential projects – please see my Research profile on this page for more information on my own research and also my areas of research supervision.

Consultations: I have drop-in office hours during the first semester on Mondays and Fridays 12-1pm or by appointment ([email protected]).

Research Interests

My main research interests lie particularly in cinema, film and audiovisual culture, most often considering these from a historical perspective and exploring their intermediality or how approaches such as audience studies, the new cinema history or reception studies complicate received narratives. I have a particular interest in Irish cinema, both contemporary and historical. The relationship between music and image in screen media is an abiding concern, which I have most recently pursued in highlighting the careers of Irish women silent cinema musicians.

My first substantial research work was an MA major thesis on East German cinema (DCU, 2000). My PhD (NUIM, 2005) focused on cinema in Ireland up to the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1921. This work formed the basis of much of my subsequent research, most obviously my first book Early Irish Cinema, 1895-1921 (Irish Academic Press, 2008). It also led to my pursuit of Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2007-08) to study the interrelationships between the various kind of popular visual culture that made up the entertainment world of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Ireland.  This has included publication on such areas as popular theatre, tourism, and spectatorship.

My research on early Irish cinema continued through the period of the Irish Decade of Centenaries (2013-23), during which my publications included a research blog charting the rise of cinema as the new media of the Irish revolutionary period: https://earlyirishcinema.com/. I have found particular inspiration from scholars of Domitor: the international society for the study of early cinema and the HoMER (History of Moviegoing,, Exhibition and Reception) Network. I have had the privilege of supervising PhD students working on Irish actors in contemporary cinema, representations of motherhood in Irish and German cinema, and the novelist Teju Cole. 

I have very much enjoyed substantial research collaborations with a number of colleagues. As part of Sarah Culhane's postdoctoral project Irish Cinema Audiences(1950-60), we produced a collaborative website called Irish Cinema Histories: https://irishcinemahistories.maynoothuniversity.ie/. With Antonio Cascelli, I edited the 2021 collection Experiencing Music and Visual Culture: Threshold, Intermediality, Synchresis (2021). I warmly welcome further collaborations. 

Research Projects

Title Role Description Start date End date Amount
Irish Cinema Histories Co-Investigator Through a series of case studies, Irish Cinema Histories uses archival materials and oral histories to provide a snapshot of some of the different types of cinema-going experiences available to Irish audiences in the period from 1900 to 1960. While the cinemas themselves may be gone, the aim of Irish Cinema Histories is to help their stories live on. 19/10/2020 05/09/2022

Post Doctoral Fellows / Research Team

Researcher Name Project Funding Body
Sarah Culhane Irish Cinema Audiences (1950-1960)

Book

Year Publication
2021 Cascelli A.; Condon D. (2021) Experiencing music and visual cultures: Threshold, intermediality, synchresis. [DOI]
2008 Condon, D.J. (2008) Early Irish Cinema, 1895–1921. : Irish Academic Press.

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2021 Condon, Denis and AntonioCascelli (2021) 'Introduction' In: Experiencing Music and Visual Culture: Threshold, Intermediality, Synchresis. London : Routledge.
2021 Condon, Denis (2021) 'The Allowable Voices of Silent Opera Films in 1910s Ireland' In: Experiencing Music and Visual Culture: Threshold, Intermediality, Synchresis. London : Routledge.
2018 Condon, Denis (2018) 'Players Must Be of a Good Class: Women and Concert Musicians in Irish Picture Houses, 1910-1920' In: Music and Sound in Silen Film: From the Nickelodeon to The Artist. New York, London : Routledge. [Full-Text]
2018 Condon, Denis (2018) 'Falling Desparately in Love with the Image on Screen: The Flictoflicker Girl (1913) and Cinematic Structures of Fascination' In: The Image in Early Cinema: Form and Material. Bloomington : Indiana UP. [Full-Text]
2018 Condon, Denis (2018) 'The Taste of the Moment Seems All for Pictures: Irish Historical Bodies before the Early Cinema Screen' In: Corporeality in Early Cinema: Viscera, Skin, and Physical Form. Bloomington : Indiana UP.
2014 Denis Condon (2014) '‘Offensive and Riotous Behaviour’? Performing the Role of an Audience in Irish Cinema of the mid-1910s' In: Kaveh Askari, Scott Curtis, Frank Gray, Louis Pelletier, Tami Williams, Joshua Yumibe(Eds.). Performing New Media, 1890-1915. New Barnet, Herts : John Libbey. [Full-Text]
2013 Condon, Denis (2013) 'Temples to the art of cinematography: The cinema on the Dublin streetscape, 1910-1920' In: Justin Carville(Eds.). Visualizing Dublin: Visual culture, modernity and the representation of urban space. Bern : Peter Lang. [Full-Text]
2012 Condon, Denis (2012) ''Baits to entrap the pleasure-seeker and the worldling': Charity bazaars introduce moving pictures to Ireland' In: Marta Braun, Charles Keil, Rob King, Paul Moore and Louis Pelletier(Eds.). Beyond the screen: Institutions, networks and publics of early cinema. New Barnet, Herts : John LIbbey. [Full-Text]
2010 Condon, Denis (2010) 'Limelight on the Colleen Bawn: Resisting Autoexoticism in Provincial Irish Picture Houses in the Early 1910s' In: Franois de la Bretque, Angel Quintana and Pierre Vronneau(Eds.). Peripheral Early Cinemas; Domitor 2008. Perpignan : Presses Universitaires de Perpignan. [Full-Text]
2009 Condon, Denis (2009) 'Irish Audiences Watch Their First U.S. Feature: The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897)' In: Ruth Barton(Eds.). Screening Irish-America: A Reader. Dublin : Irish Academic Press. [Full-Text]
2005 Condon, Denis (2005) 'Spleen of a Cabinet Minister at Work: Exhibiting X-Rays and the Cinematograph in Ireland, 1896' In: John Hill and Kevin Rockett(Eds.). Film History and National Cinema: Studies in Irish Film 2. Dublin : Four Courts Press. [Full-Text]
2005 Condon, Denis (2005) 'Cinematographing Killarney' In: Jim Larner(Eds.). Killarney: History and Heritage. Cork : Collins.
2004 Condon, Denis (2004) 'Filming the Story of Ireland: The Yoking Together of Historical Drama and Contemporary Newsreel in Silent Irish Films' In: Kevin Rockett and John Hill(Eds.). National Cinemas and Beyond: Studies in Irish Film 1. Dublin : Four Courts Press.
2004 Condon, Denis (2004) 'Rebels and Redcoats: Political Melodrama in the Kalem Company’s Irish Films' In: Neal Alexander, Shane Murphy, and Anne Oakman(Eds.). To the Other Shore: Cross-Currents in Irish and Scottish Studies. Belfast : Cló Ollscoil na Banríona.
2021 Condon D. (2021) 'The allowable voices of silent opera films in 1910s Ireland' In: Experiencing Music and Visual Cultures: Threshold, Intermediality, Synchresis.
2018 Condon D. (2018) '‘Players must be of a good class’: Women and concert musicians in irish picture houses, 1910-1920' In: Music and Sound in Silent Film: From the Nickelodeon to The Artist. [DOI] [Full-Text]
2014 Condon D. (2014) 'Offensive and riotous behaviour? Performing the role of an audience in Irish Cinema of the mid-1910s' In: Performing New Media, 1890-1915.

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2021 Condon, Denis (2021) 'Seáinín Tom Sheáin: From Árainn to the Silver Screen'. Estudios Irlandeses, 16 . [Link] https://doi.org/10.24162/EI [Full-Text]
2017 Condon, Denis (2017) 'Film: A New Form of Propaganda and Entertainment'. History Ireland, 25 (Ireland 1916-18):62-66. [Full-Text]
2014 Condon, D. (2014) 'Film exhibition and distribution in Ireland, 1909-2010'. 11 :444-446. [Full-Text]
2013 Condon, D (2013) 'Brightening the dreary existence of the Irish peasant': Cinema transforms leisure in provincial Ireland'. Early Popular Visual Culture, 11 :126-139. [DOI] [Full-Text]
2011 Condon, D (2011) 'Receiving news from the seat of war: Dublin audiences respond to Boer war entertainments'. Early Popular Visual Culture, 9 :93-106. [DOI] [Full-Text]
2016 Condon, Denis (2016) ''Pictures in Abeyance': Irish Cinema and the Aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising'. Moving Worlds: A Journal of Transcultural Writings, 16 (1):30-43. [Link] [Full-Text]
2013 Condon, Denis (2013) 'Brightening the Dreary Existence of the Irish Peasant: Cinema Transforms Leisure in Provincial Ireland'. 11 :126-139. [Full-Text]
2013 Condon, Denis (2013) 'A Taste in Pictures: The Second Birth of Cinema in Cork'. 6 . [Full-Text]
2012 Condon, Denis (2012) 'Pointing a Topical Moral at the Present: Watching Knocknagow in 1918'. SCREENING THE PAST, 33 . [Full-Text]
2011 Condon, Denis (2011) 'Receiving News from the Seat of War: Dublin Audiences Respond to Boer War Entertainmetns'. 9 :93-106. [Full-Text]
2008 Condon, Denis (2008) 'Politics and the Cinematograph: The Boer War and the Funeral of Thomas Ashe'. Field Day Review, 4 :127-139. [Full-Text]
2003 Condon, Denis (2003) 'Touristic Work and Pleasure: The Kalem Company in Killarney'. Film and Film Culture, 2 . [Full-Text]

Other Journal

Year Publication
2007 Condon, D.J. (2007) 'The Volta Myth' Film Ireland, 116 . [Full-Text]

Book Review

Year Publication
2021 Condon, D (2021) Seainin Tom Sheain: From Arainn to the Silver Screen. BARCELONA: [Book Review] [Full-Text]
2020 Condon, D (2020) Gaelic Games on Film: From Silent Film to Hollywood Hurling, Horror and the Emergence of Irish Cinema. BARCELONA: [Book Review]
2015 Condon, Denis (2015) Review: James Naremore's An Invention Without a Future: Essays on Cinema. [Book Review]
2012 Condon, D (2012) MAGIC LANTERN, PANORAMA AND MOVING PICTURE SHOWS IN IRELAND, 1786-1909. DUBLIN: [Book Review]
2013 Condon, D (2013) Film exhibition and distribution in Ireland, 1909-2010. ABINGDON: [Book Review] [DOI] [Full-Text]
2009 Denis Condon (2009) Irish Films, Global Cinema. [Book Review]
2004 Denis Condon (2004) Legitimate Cinema: Theatre Stars in Silent British Films, 1908-1918. [Book Review]
2003 Denis Condon (2003) Young and Innocent? The Cinema in Britain, 1896-1930. [Book Review]

Conference Contribution

Year Publication
2023 Denis Condon (2023) HoMER 2023 Irish Cinema Music’s 'Hopeless Grooviness' in the 1920s Barcelona, 04/07/2023-07/07/2023.
2019 Condon, Denis (2019) Beyond Living Memory: Researching Ireland’s Historical Audiences ECREA Research Methods in Film Studies: Challenges and Opportunities Ghent, Belgium, 18/10/2019-19/10/2019.
2019 Condon, Denis (2019) Stealing Cinema: Juvenile-Delinquent Media in 1910s Ireland 15th Irish Screen Studies Seminar NUI Galway, 09/05/2019-10/05/2019.
2018 Condon, Denis (2018) The Film Company of Ireland’s Distribution and Exhibition Strategies, 1916-21 HoMER@NECS 2018: Media Tactics and Engagement Amsterdam, 27/06/2018-29/06/2018.
2018 Condon, Denis (2018) Early Irish Ciema Audiences Inaugural Irish Audience Research Network Seminar Maynooth University, 08/12/2018-08/12/2018.
2017 Condon, Denis (2017) “The Taste of the Moment Seems All for ‘Pictures’”: Irish Historical Bodies before the Early Cinema Screen NECS 2017: Sensibility and the Senses: Media, Bodies, Practices Sorbonne, Paris, 29/06/2017-01/07/2017.
2017 Condon, Denis (2017) “The Wonder-Seeking Mind of the Peasant”: Cinema’s Emergence in Rural Ireland Rural History Leuven, 11/09/2017-14/09/2017.
2016 Condon, Denis (2016) Pictures in Abeyance: Irish Cinema and the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising 1916, Cinema and Revolution NUI Galway, 25/05/2016-27/05/2016.
2016 Condon, Denis (2016) Complementing or Competing with the Images on Screen? Irish Cinema Music in the 1910s Music and Visual Cultures Maynooth University, 21/07/2016-23/07/2016.
2016 Condon, Denis (2016) “The Taste of the Moment Seems All for ‘“Pictures’”: Irish Historical Bodies before the Early Cine Viscera, Skin and Physical Form: Corporeality and Early Cinema, 14th International Domitor Conference University of Stockholm, 14/06/2016-17/06/2016.
2015 Condon, Denis (2015) Commemorating Irish Cinema of the 1910s What is Cinema History? A HoMER Network conference University of Glasgow, 22/06/2015-24/06/2015.
2002 (2002) The Kalem Company in Killarney Muckross House Autumn Illustrated Talks Muckross House, Killarney, Co, Kerry, .

Editorial

Year Publication
2021 Cascelli A.; Condon D. (2021) Introduction. [Editorial]

Working Paper

Year Publication
2002 Condon, D.J. (2002) The Colleen Bawn Rock and Daniel O’Connell’s Bed: Sights on the Kalem Company’s Virtual Tour of Killarney. [Working Paper]

Webinar

Year Publication
2020 Rita Sakr and Denis Condon (2020) Gaza: A Conversation With Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell. [Webinar] [Link]

Web Page

Year Publication
2023 Denis Condon, Sarah Culhane (2023) Irish Cinema Histories. [Web Page]
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Honors and Awards

Date Title Awarding Body
01/01/2007 Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Research Fellow Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences
01/01/2001 Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences