Movie theatres weren’t the only place to catch a flick at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Toronto collective Pleasure Dome commissioned the making of The Situated Cinema Project, a portable theatre experience that travelled throughout downtown Toronto during TIFF.
Curated by York art history and visual culture PhD student Melanie Wilmink, the project sees filmmakers Solomon Nagler and Alexandre Larose, along with architects Thomas Evans and Jonathan Mandeville. The cinema looped pilgrimage, a four minute, 8mm film of Nagler’s voyage in crowded urban Sydney on his way to a temple. Constructed in the shape of a rectangular box, the project created a faux-room to raise feelings of an indoor theatre ironically set in the outdoor environments of King Street West, Shaw Street and Spadina Avenue.
Through small, telescope-like openings, pedestrians could view both the running film and the others participating in the exhibition watching the film inside. The film, projected using mirrors and angles, was completely silent, allowing for the city streets of Toronto to be the soundtrack.
The Situated Cinema Project is intended to break traditional understanding of cinema, its space, and its audience. “The mobile cinema reframes the presence of the spectators; watching while watched in an experimental architecture and in urban space,” said Nagler and Larose in a joint statement.
Much like print media, analogue films are considered to be a dying breed, with more filmmakers opting to go digital for the benefits of quality, accessibility, and transportation. Through the use of handmade editing and production techniques, pilgrimage is a rare species in the film industry.
[su_quote]“The film revolves around this idea of being in public and experiencing something you don’t have to experience, but you want to,”[/su_quote] said Nagler. The responses were quite positive. Originally meant to facilitate three to four people, the portable cinema received positive responses and attention.
“We didn’t think that a whole of school of cinema goers were going to go up to it. It’s not designed to facilitate that,” added Nagler.
The Situated Cinema Project pulled the curtains a few days short of its schedule. According to the Pleasure Dome website and Facebook page, the project was shut down a few days early due to unforeseen circumstances. Pleasure Dome could not be reached for comment.
Victoria Goldberg, Arts Editor
Rishi Syam, Contributor
Featured image courtesy of Pleasure Dome
