Home is where the art house is for Cinematheque

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This article was published 09/04/2020 (2376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cinephiles in town had reason to despair when Cinematheque closed its doors on March 13 right alongside the Cineplex and Landmark movie houses.

But Cinematheque is bouncing back into the game, while still keeping its doors closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tomorrow, the city’s art house cinema launches Cinematheque at Home, a video-on-demand service that will screen Cinematheque-approved titles for film fans to watch from the comfort their homes.

“We intend to keep screening with great new films on our new streaming service, as there are a lot of excellent films available to us,” says senior programmer Dave Barber. “The goal of Cinematheque at Home is to continue our programming mandate with innovative foreign and restored films and to keep in touch with our audience, as they miss us.

“We have had fantastic support from our members and the public donating to our organization through our website since we closed down,” Barber says. “The Cinematheque needs viewers and revenue support to keep us going.”

Available on Friday, April 10, through Cinematheque’s website (wfp.to/cinema) is a double feature that hews close to the cinema’s mandate. The Grey Fox is a rare classic piece of Canadiana, a 1982 movie by Phillip Borsos starring Richard Farnsworth as Bill Miner, a gentlemanly old outlaw who, upon being released after 30 years in prison, find himself back in the bank-robbing business.

The film is being released in a new 4K restoration, and will run with Borsos’s Oscar-nominated 1979 documentary short, Nails.

The other film is the genre-hopping Brazilian thriller Bacurau, which has elements of futuristic dystopian science fiction and a Magnificent Seven-style western. It stars Sonia Braga and Udo Kier.

Cinematheque promises to screen three programs (individual feature films and/or shorts programs) each week through Vimeo on Demand. Prices per screening may vary, says programming director Jaimz Asmundson.

“They will have a range depending on our distributor agreements, but typically around $8 to $12,” Asmundson says.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @FreepKing