"We’re not tearing down walls and starting from scratch," says Alan Black about the Bloor Cinema renovations going on now until the end of the year. Black is senior manager of client services at
Hot Docs, which will be operating the cinema when it reopens. "The general idea is to embrace the curves in the building, embrace its heritage."
The words will come as a relief to the century-old cinema's fans, who may have been justifiably concerned, in light of the rash of rep cinema closings, that "closed for renovations" might be code for "going out of business," or "closed for transformation into a multiplex."
Hariri Pontarini are the architects in charge of the restoration and renovation. In addition to ground-up work like
783 Bathurst and
Great Gulf Dallas, they're the firm responsible for Atom Egoyan's
Camera and the proposed
Alliance Française expansion on Spadina Road.
In addition to a new and bigger screen, the seats on the lower level are being replaced with what Black describes as "bigger, more comfortable" ones, meaning the capacity will be reduced slightly, to 750 from 840. The balcony seats are being refurbished (and more importantly, retained), the concession stand is being redone and the façade is being extended to meet the street, bringing the box office indoors. Black says there will also be a complete technical overhaul, replacing the audio system and allowing the Bloor to show digital films.
The Bloor Cinema was bought several months ago by
Blue Ice Films, which in turn is owned by filmmakers
Steven Silver (
The Bang Bang Club) and Neil Tabatznik (
Shake Hands with the Devil).
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Alan Black
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