Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema is officially on the market. Arlin Markowitz, executive vice president of the urban retail team at global real estate giant CBRE, posted the availability on the social media platform LinkedIn. Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail first reported the news, offering details that seem to have been removed from Markowitz’s post. (The cinema does not yet appear in listings by CBRE or other Toronto commercial real estate boards.)
The current post simply offers the cinema’s address with an all-caps sale pronouncement, accompanied by a graphic that resembles a Photoshopped movie poster to echo the building’s cinema origins. No price is included, although Hertz noted on Twitter/X that the post (previously) touted the site’s viability as a location for yet another condo: “site is strategically located on land that may form part of an assembly for a future condo.” The Annex neighbourhood recently experienced a spurt of condos that grew where iconic department store Honest Ed’s used to be across the street from the cinema.
Hot Docs announced plans to put the landmark 650-seat cinema on the market when it shared news of its reopening last month. The organization paused operations at the cinema over the summer to help manage a growing deficit and to focus on planning/rebuilding following a cavalcade of challenges and financial difficulties.
The documentary festival bought the old Bloor Cinema in 2016 with a gift from the Rogers family after several years operating the location via Blue Ice Docs. At the time of its opening, it was the largest free-standing documentary theatre. Hot Docs shared its hopes that any sale would see the building transfer to an arts-oriented individual or entity that would work with the festival to continue its operations and programming at the cinema. Plans are underway for a slimmed down version of Hot Docs in 2025 with the cinema sale offering one route to saving the festival.
Hot Docs has been rolling out programming news for its reopening in December. Updates include the premiere of the music doc Play It Loud as the kick-off for the Doc Soup series on Dec. 4 and 7. The documentary directed by Graeme Mathison of musician Jay Douglas and the impact of Jamaican music on Canadian culture. The Doc Soup series also includes The Cowboy and the Queen in January. Andrea Nevins’ doc chronicles the friendship between Queen Elizabeth II and horse trainer Monty Roberts. Other events on the cinema’s schedule run the gamut from Reel Asian’s opening night, a retro screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a panel discussion on misinformation and ethical programming, and a third party “Golden Showers” double-bill of The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man and The All Golden.
