Plot

LIMELIGHT is a feature documentary directed by Eddie Beyrouthy (Beyond the Wasteland) that tells the story of The Salvation Army's Limelight Department, founded in Australia 1891. Specialising in what were revolutionary magic lantern shows and early film projection, music and performance, the Limelight Department became one of the world's first functioning film studios, paving the way for the birth of the Australian film industry, until it was forced to close its doors in 1910, ending a never-to-be-repeated chapter in The Salvation Army history.

The documentary uncovers how Salvationist and showman, Captain Joseph Perry, with the support of Commandant Herbert Booth, augmented the army's finances and established one of the world's first film studios, and how a handful of Salvation Army officers, working out of a small attic space in The Salvation Army's building on Bourke Street, ended up producing over 400 films, including the Inauguration of the Commonwealth, the Departure of Australian troops for the Boer War, and the largest production of any narrative drama in the world at the time with Soldiers of the Cross.

Limelight brings to life the stories of the first Australian pioneers of the moving image and restores an iconic piece of Australian history, and a cherished part of The Salvation Army's rich history with unseen original footage and archives, transformed using today's digital production techniques, with the addition of sound design and original music. Moreover, it examines the extraordinary and innovative lengths the church aspired to in spreading the word of the gospel on a global scale.

Few people know that Melbourne had one of the world's earliest film studios and if it hadn't been forced to close in 1910 the history of Australian, and even world cinema might have been very different.