Cinema du Parc has closed

One Fewer Place to See Good Movies
Posted by Slavito in Montreal; Film on 13/Sep/2006

Even though I walked by Cinema du Parc just a few days ago, I had no idea it had been closed. The neon signs were still on and I thought of grabbing this month's program, but for some reason, didn't see any.

http://www.sitebits.com/2006/one_fewer_place_to_see_good_movies.html

that's too bad , I love cinema du parc ...

I heard that AMC played its part on darkening the screens of CduP but I dont think that was The cause .The owners could have done better

Alban, I am going to steal one of your pictures and add it as illustration to the note, ¿vale?

I agree that blaming AMC is pointless. AMC is just doing their job and if they feel they can play a few independent titles in between blockbusters - good for them.

As for CdP... For starters, why the fuck did they put in this ugly mall? That pretty much killed the "casual passer-by" audience. Sorry, but passer-bys shopping at Metro is not the right crowd... The theater was great, but from the outside, only the most informed would have guessed that Cinema du Parc had anything to do with movies.

Also, I think the selection of the movies was great, but some were played for far too long. It would be better if they would have made the runs shorter and played move titles.

i think i have only been there once or twice, but i found the place a bit dirty and claustrophic, so it doesn't bother me that they shut down.

i'm not really into independent films though....

what movies are you into ?

it's cool , Slava

i think Cinema du Parc's downfall was trying to imitate the big theaters, by having mostly new movies, and running them for a long time. I remember that they used to show old/older movies that were worth seeing on the big screen, and had a different one every few days. That way people could go there almost every night (it also used to be cheaper) and it was sort of a social event as well.

since CDP can't compete for clean/comfortable status (at least without a huge remodel), i hope if someone reopens it (and i really hope they do) that they will focus on what the big venues lack- the social aspect and the freedom to show lots of lesser-seen films.

hey marushka, isn't Napoleon Dynamite considered an independent movie?

Damn - which reminds me that I still haven't watched that DVD. It's somewhere around my apartment.

Back to CDP:

I think it's a shame that in our day and age when more and more movies are made by independent producers they couldn't find a combination of audience and schedule that would work for them...

I agree with the "social" aspect idea, but also, couldn't they just focus on foreign movies, playing them in mini-festivals every other week? They would be guaranteed at least a few days' worth of audience from every nationality that lives in Montreal (of which there are over 100, perhaps over 50 from movie-making countries).

Another case in point (NY'ers will understand me) - how the hell does ANGELIKA on Houston Street surivive? They have smaller screens, worse sound, even dirtier theater and, to top it off, every once in a while the movie is interrupted by the rumbling of the 6 train underneath (it's not funny - you can sometimes miss a dialogue).

Yet, they survive and even thrive!

May be there are more pretentious fucks living in New York... Going to Angelika and being seen there is a must. There's another, relatively new theater on East Houston (Sunshine, I think).

I think it sucks they shut it down, I really liked it, I liked the movies, the posters they have everywhere, the fact that it was cheaper that all the other movie theaters.

Too bad.

I don't know if you guys heard but Cinema du Parc is coming back on October 27 ..(http://www.canada.com/cityguides/montreal/story.html?id=1eabe9c4-c417-4d49-8169-5cd0f5d89bfb&k=64869)

Yep, I was just going to write a note about it.