The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, increased her assistance to the Cinéma Impérial, by offering 3 million to the non-profit organization so that it “continues its renovation work and resumes its activities”.
Mme St-Onge made the announcement at the Outremont Theater on Wednesday evening, just before the presentation of the opening film of the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, Lucy Grizzly Sophieby Anne Émond.
The film – and most of the programming for this festival – was to take place at the Imperial, which suspended all its activities on January 31 following an ultimatum issued to the federal government, which had initially offered 1 million to the non-profit organization.
The amount granted to Imperial comes from the Canadian Cultural Spaces Fund. “A very limited program,” said the minister, who was pleased to have been able to increase the aid requested by the cinema on rue De Bleury in such a short time.
But the Minister of Canadian Heritage was alone during her short speech. The spokesperson for the board of directors of Cinéma Impérial, Benoît Clermont, was conspicuous by his absence. No representative of the Quebecor Group was present either. Earlier today, the cinema’s communications manager did not respond to our request for an interview.
No question of reopening right away
More than an hour and a quarter after the announcement, Mr. Clermont reacted by email to Minister St-Onge’s announcement.
“Cinéma Impérial is pleased to learn that following the performances held over the last few weeks, the federal government has agreed to grant funding of 3 million for its revitalization project. We are therefore continuing our efforts to provide a financial update of our project and its parameters, based on the public funding announced today. »
However, there is no question of reopening the Imperial, Mr. Clermont said. “Our operations must remain suspended during this process. » No reopening date has been mentioned. “We are continuing our efforts to get this done as quickly as possible,” he wrote to us.
The Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma has also had to redeploy in six distinct locations, while the other film festivals, normally presented at the Imperial, are all looking for new screening rooms.
It must be said that Mr. Clermont asked the federal government to increase the same amount paid by Quebec, i.e. 5.6 million. The City of Montreal, for its part, committed to contributing 1 million on February 6. In total, the NPO now has a budget of almost 10 million.
The Imperial, which is controlled by Quebecor, became a priority tenant in 2017 after purchasing the cinema’s mortgage debt, has invested 8.5 million over the last six years in safeguarding the heritage building built in 1913. New work was however necessary.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The facade of the Imperial Cinema, rue De Bleury
“A legendary place of Quebec cinema”
What will the approximately 10 million invested in the renovation work be used for? It’s not clear. When the imminent closure of the cinema was announced last December, the general director of the Imperial, François Beaudry-Losique (the son of Serge Losique, former founding director of the World Film Festival), had admitted in interview with The Press that cinema was in deficit and that the objective was to rethink its vocation.
“Basically, we would like the cinema to be able to transform into a multidisciplinary room, because at the moment, we are getting by,” he confided. In his message sent to The PressBenoît Clermont reiterates Imperial’s desire “to renovate the performance hall to broaden its vocation and accommodate all artistic disciplines”.
The work also includes “the restoration of certain heritage elements of the building”.
This change of vocation raises many questions. Isn’t this the project that the late Daniel Langlois attempted (unsuccessfully) with the Excentris Cinema? Why doesn’t the Imperial, which mainly hosts festivals (Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, Cinemania, Festival des films sur l’art, Présence indigenous, Rendez-vous internationals du documentary de Montréal, etc.), not screen movies on a daily basis?
Here are some questions that we would have liked to ask a representative of Imperial or Quebecor if our calls had been answered.
On the side of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Minister St-Onge indicated “that an agreement will be signed between the organization and the Department which will detail what the 3 million that we have agreed will be used for.” Despite the vagueness that reigns over the details of the work and the numerous questions linked to the future vocation of the theater, she insisted on the importance of saving the place. “It’s a legendary place in Quebec cinema, so it’s important to save this institution. »