I was walking down Bank St. the other day when, to my surprise, I saw an endangered species.
The Mayfair Theatre at the corner of Bank and Sunnyside is a local institution. It’s been sitting on that corner for the better part of a century and has maintained the original architecture that first made it a beauty when the fedora was still cool and talking pictures were all the rage.
But over the past year, the Mayfair has been taking a hit unlike ever before — the move to digital — and it might not survive.
The trend of smaller movie houses closing across the country isn’t new. It’s been happening with increasing frequency as the move to video-on-demand and 3D video has eroded audiences. Apparently, it’s easier to turn a theatre into a condo than to coax people away from Netflix.
But, according to an article on Toronto.com, this year, more movies will be shown digitally in cinemas than in the standard 35mm film format.
In some ways, the move makes sense. Digital movies are typically delivered on a hard drive that can be held in the hand. That means theatres can ditch heavy 35mm film canisters and the salary of movie projectionists, who are needed to thread spools.
But, it also means that neighbourhood movie theatres such as the Mayfair must find another $50,000 or so to buy new equipment to replace aging projectors. If they don’t, they’ll join the 20 per cent of theatres across the country that the National Association of Theatre Owners say will go extinct this year.
If the Mayfair isn’t able to bring its fundraising total to $45,000 by February, it will be one of the unlucky ones.
While it’s easy to say the money troubles plaguing the Mayfair are a result of changes in the cinema industry, I see a different issue — I think it’s an Ottawa problem. Our city must be among the least likely places to support anything that differentiates it from anywhere else. If it wasn’t before this happened, it’s quickly becoming an unimaginative, uninspired, boring, big-box city.
And there’s only one reason why: there aren’t enough people who care.
Here is an excerpt of an opinion piece written by Carleton professor Andrew Cohen, published in the Ottawa Citizen last summer: “There is an absence of belonging here [in Ottawa]. Former mayor Larry O’Brien referred to ‘the citizens of Ottawa,’ but citizenship implies loyalty and responsibility, of which there is little. At heart, Ottawans are tenants of this city, not proprietors, and their detachment undermines a sense of community.”
I didn’t agree with that article when I first read it, but now it’s hard for me not to buy into it at least a little. It’s true. Lansdowne gets run down? Let’s keep it closed for years and then sell it off to a developer who plans on making the cheapest, most generic stadium possible. Look at other markers of Ottawa: Sparks Street Mall is an afterthought. Nothing new has happened on the canal in decades. What even happens in the old train station?
Although Ottawa’s inhabitants will support local (it is Support Local month for Ottawa blog Apt 613) the focus of support seems to be new local businesses like breweries and restaurants and artists, not local heritage sites with decades of history.
The Mayfair may just be a movie theatre, but it’s also a microcosm of what’s wrong with this city. It’s been in our community for 80 years. It supports the arts community, the Old Ottawa South Community and, yes, the Carleton community. Why is it too much to ask for people to throw them $5 for decades of good service and better times?
Now, admittedly, recent reports do say it looks like the Mayfair will be able to raise enough money. But they had to go global. About two weeks ago, the Mayfair started an Indiegogo online fundraising campaign, and raised $10,000 in 10 days — one-third of the total amount raised after many months.
Not every local institution will be that lucky.
So do what you can. Buy local. Go to Sparks Street. Volunteer. Donate to causes that are worth it.
There’s no way another Cineplex Odeon will make it any better.
— Margaret Campbell,
fourth-year journalism
