The transformation of the gymnasium at Ecole Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague is nearing its completion as Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op prepares to take up roots in their new home.
Board members of Sudbury Indie Cinema welcomed members of the community inside the school on Dec. 7 for an up close look at the work that is being done to turn what was once a school gym into a year-round theatre for screening a wide array of films that you won't catch at your local Cineplex.
The last time the public got a look at the organization's new digs was way back in January 2015 when it was nothing more than an old gymnasium.
"This has been a lot of years in the making," said Brad Robinson, board chair, Sudbury Indie Cinema. "We have our new modular risers in place that can be moved around to change the seating layout, and it's starting to look like a theatre."
When all is said and done, the theatre will seat 183 patrons, including four wheelchair accessible spots. Funding for the project was made possible through grants from FedNor, NOHFC (Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation), and CCO (Conseil de la Corporation de l'Ontario).
Those grant funds have been allocated to the construction of the building itself, which still has a few critical pieces to be installed.
"You can hear that there's quite a bit of an echo in here. We'll be installing acoustic treatments to dampen the sound, those are coming from the old Rainbow Centre Theatre and are being up-cycled," said Kate Bowman, capital projects manager. "We're having a concessions area built, washrooms, and the projector room at the back of the theatre."
Additionally, Bowman is debating over the signage for the building's facade.
Seats, concessions and a big screen are just the bricks and mortar of a theatre, and thanks to a generous grant of $174,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the theatre will be able to screen a wide array of movies, many with Canadian ties.
Beth Mairs is the managing director at Sudbury Indie Cinema and has been hard at work commissioning and curating the films that will be screened throughout the course of next year.
"Our aim for this project is how do we support our local film industry and how do we bring films in such a way that is engaging and participitory and responsive to the community," said Mairs.
"Just to give you an idea, in the last five years since we've incorporated we've brought you 250 feature films and more than 50 per cent of them would have bypassesd Sudbury. Also more than 50 per cent of them were Canadian and 10 per cent of them were zero budget, locally produced films. This is significant because if you look nationwide, the Canadian film box office only represents two per cent. And that's why there's a role for non-profit, independant cinemas who are going to go against commercial interest and show the people of Canada our stories."
Mairs has plans in place to introduce "Samedi Cinéma" which will feature French language films on Saturdays at the theatre. There are also plans in place to have First Nations films in the lineup.
Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas was one of the guests who got a sneak peek at the theatre on Friday and spoke excitedly about the city having its own independant cinema.
"Sudbury Indie Cinema has changed movie opportunities for all of us here in Sudbury," said Gélinas. "I know that there is a great future for indie cinema and I'm very much looking forward to what this is going to look like when it's all done, but we already have a pretty good idea that we have something that will help the arts and will be a positive addition to our city and the community."
