Cinéma Du Village

Project description: Cinéma du Village (under development)

Lead researcher: Antoine Damiens, FRQSC postdoctoral fellow 2019-2021

Research team: Carl Therrien, Resat Fuac Çam, Alanna Thain, LaMathilde, and

With support from Hexagram, GRAFIMS, Light Leaks and the Yan.

This project will explore a disappeared space in a rapidly evolving neighborhood: le Cinéma du Village in Montreal’s Gay Village, rooted in original research by Antoine Damiens. One of the first gay film theatres in North America, le Cinéma du Village opened in 1984 in what was quickly becoming Montréal’s gay district – at a time when gay films were still rare and few. The theatre was the site of many community events. It also faced many financial difficulties, forcing it to constantly adapt its curatorial offers to new audiences: it screened francophone art-house filmmaking, gay films and videos, as well as pornographic fares. It closed in 1992. A couple years later, the site was turned into an art and performance venue – Le National. 

This project will take the form of an artistic intervention, using projection mapping to explore the transformation of this space from a community centre/theatre to its current use as a performance venue. We will make use of archival documents drawn from Archives gaies du Québec and of oral history interviews with members of the community who can speak to their lived memories of the space. The resulting video will explore queer memories of this space, highlighting the affective and political potentialities that were once associated with le Cinéma du Village in order to critically think about the disappearance or transformation of community spaces.

Workshop: Fourwalling Nightlife: Queer Cinema’s Elsewheres

This workshop looks at curatorial and exhibition practices that make use of non-cinematic queer spaces, such as nightclub, as alternative cinema and media venues. Each session puts speakers in conversation around or between queer curatorial projects and public space. The public session will be followed by a closed atelier based on the Cinéma du Village project.