Toronto-based Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro has expressed his support for an online campaign to save Canada's Revue Cinema, which is more than 110 years old.
It was built between late 1911 and early 1912, and has great heritage importance, and is the oldest existing cinema in Toronto used to show films.
When news spread of the heritage cinema's closure, a grassroots community movement arose to save it. After much effort, the movement eventually succeeded and the Review Cinema reopened in October 2007, under the management of the non-profit Film Review Society, but has recently encountered new problems.
The new crises that threaten the continued operation of the cinema prompted the Mexican director to declare his solidarity with the campaign, and he wrote on his social media accounts, directing a message to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow: “Can you help save Cinema Review, one of the most famous non-profit cultural monuments in Canada? If not you, who can help or how can I help?”
Del Toro also linked to an online petition calling for Cinema Review to be saved, and the petition currently has 21,461 signatures, deadline reported.
The future of the iconic movie theater was in question last week, after its board announced it was unable to renew the theater's lease beyond the end of June. According to the petition, the building's owner plans to dissolve the Theater Film Association, increase the rent by 50%, and convert the non-profit cinema into a private movie theater.
The petition calls on local officials to “intensify support for the cinema to ensure that the non-profit house does not close.”
“Not only is the Revue Cinema Theater a vital part of Toronto's cultural fabric because it shows films, it fosters a sense of community, provides a venue for countless film festivals and local events, and employs a team of hardworking and dedicated cultural workers who would lose their livelihoods if Nothing has been done."
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