Shining a light on The Salvation Army’s movie-pioneering past
BY ANTHONY CASTLE
Limelight is a new feature documentary that tells the story of The Salvation Army’s Limelight Department, an innovative production studio founded in Australia in 1891.
Directed by Eddie Beyrouthy, an Australian cinematographer and filmmaker, the documentary shines a light on one of the world’s first film studios, once operated in The Salvation Army’s attic on 69 Bourke Street in Melbourne.
“People come up to see The Salvation Army Museum here,” explains Lindsay Cox, museum manager. “Eddie was brought here by a friend, and I gave him the tour of the museum in the attic studio. Eddie was gobsmacked. He saw The Salvation Army’s impact on Australian cinema and said, ‘I want to make a movie about this’.”
“It’s important for people to understand that there was a film industry here [at The Salvation Army in Australia] before Hollywood.”
The Salvation Army’s Limelight Department was one of Australia’s first film production companies. From 1891, the Limelight Department produced and toured magic lantern exhibitions throughout Australasia.
In 1896, the Army got its first movie camera and started producing motion-picture films. The film Soldiers of the Cross, produced in 1900, contains 15 90-second sections and 200 lantern slides. While some Lumiere footage was used in the opening passion sequence of the film, the majority of the footage was filmed at various locations around Melbourne.
“Over the years, we’ve been accumulating a lot of information, and we have all the publications from back then,” explains Lindsay. “The Salvation Army documented everything it did. The story is all there; it just all needs to be gotten out.”
The award-winning documentary Beyond the Wasteland was Eddie’s feature as a director. It covered the history of the Mad Max franchise. Eddie is drawn to the untold stories of Australian cinema and found a surprising subject in a part of The Salvation Army’s history.
“A good friend of mine from The Salvation Army gave me a call and said, ‘Come down to The Salvation Army, I want to show you this’,” Eddie recalls. “I basically stepped into this museum; it was a time capsule. I learned about The Salvation Army and the Limelight Department. They were pioneers of the industry.”
The original magic lantern glass slides created by the Limelight Department have recently been submitted to UNESCO to be internationally registered for their historical significance (the original magic lantern slides are still kept in the attic studio space).
Shot over nine months, Eddie interviewed historians and searched The Salvation Army’s extensive archives. The 100-minute documentary details how the Limelight Department used light and imagery to share The Salvation Army’s message, touring its productions and even introducing electricity to some towns to make the screenings possible.
“The main focus was to tell the story of the Limelight Department over those 20 years, from the 1890s to when it closed down,” Eddie says. “You can imagine there’s a mountain of information with all the old publications. The documentary is a drop in the ocean of how the Limelight Department influenced the film industry around the world. It’s important for people to understand that there was a film industry here before Hollywood.”
The picture has finished post-production and will be available to stream later this year. The film’s world premiere, sponsored by the Crown Resorts Foundation, is at The Palms, Crown Melbourne, on 21 August with a red carpet. There will be a live 1890s-inspired magic lantern show and a silent auction with proceeds donated to The Salvation Army Australia Museum.
“What we are today is the sum total of everything that’s happened in the past,” Lindsay says. “The creativity of The Salvation Army was innovative, using the popular music and songs of the time. The Limelight department was one form of its creativity. The whole place has so much history about it. If we do forget our history, we tend to forget who we are.”
The Palms at Crown Melbourne on 21 August for the World Premiere of Limelight Documentary. Tickets are available exclusively at Ticketmaster:https://www.ticketmaster.com.au/limelight.../artist/3155505
Click on the video below for a preview:
