HotDocs: Revision + Other Tidbits

May 6, 2012 | By

Just uploaded is another HotDocs capsule review: Philip Scheffner’s experimental documentary Revision [M] (2012) which is pretty bold in its stripped-down realism format but might prove tough for traditional crime doc fans.

Today marks the last day of HotDocs, and the festival winners have been posted at the official website, as well as info on encore presentations.

This Sunday also marks the last day of operations for the Cumberland Cinemas, which will shutter forever after the last HotDocs films – Colombianos and Buzkashi! – are screened later this evening.

Reports of the cinema’s closure went out to its employers earlier this week, and BlogTO has a piece on the closure, but like the old Uptown, this marks another cinema shuttered after the end of a film festival. Must be a curse for the Bloor strip between Yonge & Bay.

The info is still minimal at this stage, but instead of another badly needed luxury condo, the building may house another badly needed upscale coffee shop, because as many who traverse the area know, Bay & Bloor has a terrible paucity of java outlets, and I’m frankly sick of pushing away doe-eyed caffeine addicts wanting a sip of my coffee.

In any event, it’s worth checking out the reader comments at the end of the piece which pretty much sums up the love/hate relationship for the vintage 1981 cinema that used to specialize in foreign & indie films and slowly lost its luster. I always loved its convenient location, but maybe all those reports of its imminent demise and poor marquee signage on Bloor made most people thing the cinema was shuttered eons ago, as with most vestiges of Cineplex’s compact movie houses of the era.

Lastly, the Hollywood Reporter posted Fox will stop distributing 35mm prints  to cinemas, becoming the first major studio to go fully digital.

What follows over the next year – in terms of other studios – will be intriguing, but I wonder what’ll happen to prints of classic films. Will they be withdrawn? Will they be allowed to disintegrate and never be replaced by a new one? Will there be a specialty division devoted to the distribution of classic titles for festival outlets? Will cinematheques be stuck with projecting up-res’d DVD or Blu-rays? Or will Fox and others provide 2K transfers of existing classic films so their beloved CinemaScope catalogue, for example, isn’t restricted to specialty channels and 3rd party licensed home video discs.

Coming shortly: reviews of Twilight Time’s Desiree (1954) and Bell Book and Candle (1958) on Blu.

And not far off: Editor’s Blog on this afternoon’s 35mm print screening of Planet of the Apes (1968) and maybe, if I have time, some snapshots of the Cumberland. Yes, it’s old, boxy, and has little luster, but I don’t like it when a cinema closes, and festivals may have to extra scrambling to get needed screen time.

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Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com ( Main Site / Mobile Site )

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Category: EDITOR'S BLOG, FILM REVIEWS

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