This team up with Cinema Cellar will be right around the corner from the TIFF Lightbox and Scotiabank Theatre
Having brought the Mobile Criterion Closet to TIFF last year, Criterion is now establishing a fixed location in Toronto in the form of a brick-and-mortar store in downtown Toronto.
The shop will open at 129 John Street in collaboration with Cinema Cellar, which is Criterion's Canadian distributor. That's just around the corner from both the TIFF Lightbox and Scotiabank Theatre.
The store will be open for TIFF, when Criterion will offer an early look at the upcoming box set The Complete Kubrick, as well as what a press release calls "a Polaroid wall featuring filmmakers, artists, collectors, and movie lovers passing through the shop." The story will carry Criterion films, along with titles from other companies.
Criterion exec Anne Kawalerski said in a statement, "Canada has always been an important part of Criterion's community, and Cinema Cellar is our way of making that concrete — a meaningful and lasting place, not just a presence, and not just for the festival," Anne Kawalerski, Chief Marketing Officer, Criterion. "TIFF is one of the great film moments in the world, and we wanted to show up in a way that reflects what Criterion is — a place to discover, to be transported, and to belong to something. We hope people find films they love here, and find each other."
A press release also notes that Criterion's store responds to a rise in physical media. Exclaim! recently did a story about the CD resurgence. "I've just started getting into buying 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays," Neptoon Records manager Ben Frith said. "That's another format that is rapidly growing as well. It feels like they can't make enough of them to meet demand."
