Almost 50 years ago, Mario Fortin was hired as assistant director of the Seville cinema in downtown Montreal. The melody of happiness was on display. In December 2022, on the eve of his 70th birthday, Fortin will leave the general management of the Beaubien cinema, which he helped to found at the turn of the millennium.
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“I look like a follower with all those who have announced their departure for a few weeks! he laughs.
Mario Fortin is a jack of all trades in Quebec cinema. After the Seville, he worked at the Famous Players headquarters, in programming, marketing, administration and acquisitions. “I installed the first cash registers throughout the Famous Players circuit across Canada,” he says.
He subsequently found himself at Telefilm Canada, the World Film Festival, the Montreal International Children’s Film Festival, and various distributors, until he was pressed to save what was then the Dauphin cinema, threatened with closure.
Thanks to a citizens’ initiative, the Beaubien cinema was born in September 2001, in the form of an NPO, with a social economy model. In 2013, Mario Fortin was also entrusted with the general management of the Cinéma du Parc, to which was added in 2018 that of the new movie theater at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
“I did in the last 20 years what I learned to do in the first 30 years of my career,” says the eldest of five children, who grew up in the Rosemont district, where the Beaubien cinema is located. . “I started in a hall and I will end up in a hall. »
Take a washing machine pop corn, take it apart and put it back together, I’ve done it often for 50 years. I know less about digital projectors these days, but a 35mm projector I would be able to make it work.
Mario Fortin, director of the Beaubien, du Parc and MMFA cinemas
A sympathetic decision-maker in the shadows, Mario Fortin has been an indispensable cog in the distribution of Quebec cinema, honored since the beginning at the Beaubien cinema. Which also earned him the Jutra prize for the best cinema operator in Quebec for the year 2014.
Le Beaubien is a sort of barometer of the health of Quebec cinema, which makes up 40% of its programming, another proportion of 40% being devoted to French cinema and the rest to international cinema or films intended for the family. “In 2013, when Quebec cinema experienced its annus horribilis, we felt it,” says Mario Fortin.
We can currently see, in the five rooms of the Beaubien, Quebec films Noémie says yes, Baby sitter, No chicane in my cabin, Coda, Gabor, norbourg and, as of Friday, the excellent Arsenault & Sons.
A symbolic anniversary
“About fifteen years ago, Philippe Falardeau, who was a member of the board of directors, said that we had to start thinking about succession. It has been postponed several times! “, says Mario Fortin, who announced, when he turned 65, that he would leave his functions on December 17, 2022, the day before his 70e anniversary.
The date has a symbolic meaning for him, since it was on his 70th birthday that Roland Smith gave him the keys to the Parc cinema. He leaves the management of these three neighborhood cinemas with peace of mind, confident about their sustainability and their good financial health.
However, he feared for the survival of the Beaubien cinema, in the first year of the pandemic, when government aid was slow to arrive. “It was tough,” he said. I have never done so many budgets and grant applications as in the past two years. But since February, it’s back. We are at around 75-80% of attendance in 2019, at a comparable period, and we are picking up around 5% per month. So I predict that by the end of the year, we’ll be back to the good old days! »
The Beaubien cinema had known, until the pandemic, great stability since its beginnings in 2001. The cinephile public has always been there. And contrary to popular belief, it is only made up of a quarter of people who live within a radius of five kilometers.
“Twenty years ago, we did a survey and the typical client was 50 years old, with an above-average level of education and income. Today, it is still that! “, notes Mario Fortin, who has seen the public renew itself constantly.
He leaves Beaubien, but does not intend to retire. ” Nope ! Nope ! Nope ! I’ve seen 200 films a year for 20 years. I can not stop ! he says. He will continue to go to the cinema – he does not subscribe to any digital platform, as a matter of principle – and to attend festivals.
If he does not intend to interfere in the affairs of the new management, which will be announced soon, he will not be far away if he is needed, he assures us. “Of course they will call me if they don’t know what break must be turned off! “Word of a handyman.