“Voltaire and Rousseau - Then and Now”
In 2012 a group of us made a short documentary about Voltaire and Rousseau, a second hand book shop in Glasgow. We were introduced to Eddie and Ian McGonigle and heard about them, the shop, the proposed development on their lane and their hopes and thoughts for the future. Ten years later we visit them again to see how things have changed and how things have stayed the same.
Director Biography
Michael Egan is an award winning short film maker who has been working in the industry for ten years. His work includes short films, documentaries and music videos.
Director’s Statement
I'm always keen to explore creative ways of telling stories whether they be fiction or non-fiction. This year (2022) I realised it had been ten years since I'd made the original Voltaire and Rousseau film, a short piece I was proud of. To mark this I returned to the shop to catch up with the McGonigles who run the shop.
The result is a series of videos that I believe really capture character of the shop and it's owners. It's otherworldly, calm, and perhaps touched with melancholy. Their victory against the land developers is contrasted with the sense of an inevitable march of time. The shop appears unchanged in 50 years, but is adapting constantly to a changing world.
Voltaire and Rousseau is an institution in Glasgow's West end, and hopefully this short documentary does it justice.