Despite the fact that the last show in Buddies in Bad Times Theatre’s 2012/2013 season is titled Of a Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical, Lady Gaga herself takes a secondary role. There are no homages to raw-meat dresses and gold-plated wheelchairs here. Instead, writer and director Alistair Newton uses the House of Gaga as a pathway into the history of the notable performance-art stars that came before her in the pantheon of queer iconography, and how she is and isn’t a construct of all of them put together.

It’s entirely possible that an early work by the next Atom Egoyan or David Cronenberg will screen on Wednesday night at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. With the 2013 Student Film Showcase featuring the best from post-secondary schools around the country and the Jump Cuts Young Filmmakers Showcase kicking off the evening with Toronto-area high-school students’ films, the night will be a coming-out party for a new crop of talent. Judging by the polished creativity of some of the entries, it’s safe to say that young people are more prepared than ever to start telling stories on film from an early age.

To provide diverse programming, Bourgette and the Revue Film Society wanted both socially-conscious programming and works from within the community. “A lot of independent films from Toronto never get screened,” says Bourgette. The Revue Film Society welcomes programming suggestions from the community and just started Drop Your Shorts, an opportunity for filmmakers to show their short films to the public, which Bourgette describes as open and democratic. The first screening occurred on January 30, 2007 and was attended by over 70 people. (It was such a success that a second Drop Your Shorts will occur on March 6.) Bourgette is also excited about Dion Conflict presenting the film Only One New York, a film from 1964 with eerie prescience to 9/11. (Sample dialogue: “How beautiful these shining towers are. It occurs to me that people who expect a bomb to fall don’t build their walls of glass. A city of glass is like a declaration of peace.”) The programming at the Revue will still include standard Hollywood films, especially movies for children, which are popular and help pay the bills. (The cost of covering rent and utilities for the Revue alone is $11,000.)
The second mandate, financial viability, meant changing the business model to a non-profit, which Bourgette believes is the future for rep cinemas. The Revue has taken advantage of its non-profit model to have sponsored screenings, such as those by local MP Peggy Nash. In December, Nash commemorated the National Day of Remembrance and Action by paying for a screening of Killer’s Paradise, a documentary about the blind eye turned to the murder of thousands of women in Guatemala. The Revue also hopes to expand the traditional role of a rep cinema by branching out into fundraising and educational programs.
A large part of the Revue’s fiscal sustainability will depend on the involvement of the community. Local merchants aided the Save the Revue campaign, such as the donation of one day’s worth of profits to the Revue by Sue’s Thai Food during the fundraising drive. The Revue website lists over 50 businesses that supported the return of the Revue financially or through materials and supplies. The symbiosis between theatre and community businesses makes sense, says Charlie Keil, program director of Film Studies at the University of Toronto. “Restaurants benefit inordinately as a theatre helps define a community and draws people in. There’s nothing like a theatre to define a block because of its front space: the physical presence of a theatre announces itself in an assertive way and makes people more receptive to the community than a store does.” Bourgette agrees: “The surrounding restaurants and stores were really happy to see the Revue back.”
The Revue is also reaching out to its virtual community, and has increased its online presence. The website has been re-designed twice in an effort to provide easy access to special events and screening times. A Facebook group has also been set up that to date has over 700 members. Members can speak to the staff at the Revue and get answers to their burning questions. Also in the works may be a forum for people to discuss the films they’ve seen at the Revue—all in an effort to keep people returning to the theatre.
Bourgette says attendance and memberships have been rising, and is relieved that interest didn’t flop after the initial month. (It takes an attendance of 100 people on a single night to make that night a success.) As long as each of those Facebook friends brings a date (or two) and visits the theatre twice a month, the Revue won’t have to worry like Marilyn about getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.
Photo of the old Revue marquee by 416style.

Have you heard the great news about the Revue Cinema? Local residents Danny and Letty Mullin are in the process of buying the building and will be leasing it to the not-for-profit Revue Film Society, the organization we established last summer. We are ecstatic! Last year, the community responded enthusiastically and helped us raise $30,000 [And they only asked for $20,000—Ed.]. This gave us confidence that our vision was a shared one and kept us working towards our collective goal. It has been a long and exciting journey and we are now planning to re-open the Revue Cinema in the very near future.

Yay!
No…wait, shit, there’s more.

Though it may look like the hard part of this adventure is over, the work to reopen the Revue Cinema has really just begun. Right now, we need money – urgently. Just to open the doors and get the cinema running, we need another $60,000 for operational and capital needs. Rest assured, the Revue will operate on a non-for-profit model.

$60,000? Yikes. If you’d like to be Daddy Warbucks to the Revue’s Annie, you can donate online at their website or send a cheque to the Revue Film Society at 365 Roncesvalles, Box 139, Toronto, M6R 2M8. They’re also looking for “volunteers…canvassers…help in forging our local partnerships, and more.”
In spite of the need for cash and help, the Revue Film’s Society website nonetheless proclaims: “West-end Toronto residents and cinephiles, get ready for the August reopening of the Revue Cinema.” And goddamn if we didn’t get shivers when we read their e-mail body’s last lines: “Thank you in advance for your support of our efforts to restore a piece of our collective history to its former glory. See you at the movies.”
And as for the marquee? Quoth the RVS: “We managed to salvage the distinctive “R” and the two neon “Revue” signs. It is our hope that a marquee will once again adorn the front of the Revue.”
One question remains, then: will the community that poured $30,000 into the theatre last summer be willing to do it—two times over—again?
Photo by gak from Flickr.