Nearly 50 years ago, Mario Fortin was hired as an assistant director for Seville Cinema in downtown Montreal. The tune of bliss Is on display. In December 2022, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Fortin Bubian will step down from the regular management of cinema, which helped him discover the beginning of the millennium.
Posted at 6:00 p.m.
“I look like a follower with all those who have been announcing their departure for a few weeks! He laughs.
Mario Fortin is the jack of all trades in Quebec movies. After Seville, he worked at Famous Players headquarters, programming, marketing, administration and acquisitions. “I installed the first cash registers on the Famous Players Circuit across Canada,” he said.
He later appeared at Telefilm Canada, the World Film Festival, the Montreal International Children’s Film Festival and various distributors, threatening to close until Dauphin was forced to defend the film.
Thanks to the initiative of the citizens, Bubian cinema was born in September 2001 in the form of an NPO, with a socio-economic model. In 2013, Mario Fortin was also entrusted with the general management of Cinema du Park, which in 2018 was added to the new movie theater at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
“I did in the last 20 years what I learned in the first 30 years of my career,” said the eldest of five children who grew up in the Rosemont district where Bubian cinema is located. . “I started in a hall and I ended in a hall. ⁇
Take the washing machine Popcorn, Take it apart and put it back together, I have done this often for 50 years. I know less about digital projectors these days, but I can work with a 35mm projector.
Mario Fortin, director of Bubian, du Park and MMFA Cinemas
A sympathetic decision-maker in Shadows, Mario Fortin was an indispensable cog in Quebec film distribution and was revered from the beginning in Bubian cinema. It also earned him the Jutra Award for Best Film Operator in Quebec for 2014.
Le Beaubien is the health barometer of Quebec cinema, which accounts for 40% of its programming, another 40% for French cinema and the rest for international film or family films. “In 2013, when Quebec cinema experienced its annual panic, we experienced it,” says Mario Fortin.
We can currently see it in five rooms in Bubian and Quebec pictures Noemi says yes, Baby sitter, There is no chicken in my cabin, Coda, Gabor, Norborg And, as of Friday, excellent Arsenal & Sons.
Symbolic anniversary
“Fifteen years ago, Philippe Flardo, a member of the Board of Directors, told us to start thinking about succession. It’s too late!”E Anniversary.
Since Roland Smith Park gave the keys to the movie on his 70th birthday, the date has a symbolic meaning to him. He left the management of these three neighborhood films with peace of mind, confidence in their stability and good financial health.
However, in the first year of the epidemic, when government aid came late, he feared for the survival of Bubian cinema. “It’s tough,” he said. Never in the last two years have so many budgets been made and applications granted. But since February, it has come back. We have about 75-80% attendance in 2019 for a comparable period and we are getting about 5% per month. So by the end of the year, I expect we will be back to the good old days! ⁇
From the beginning of the Bubian cinema to the epidemic in 2001, great consistency was known. Cine audiences are always there. And contrary to popular belief, it was created by only a quarter of the people living within a radius of five kilometers.
“Twenty years ago, we conducted a survey and found that the average client age is 50 years, higher than the average of education and income. To this day it remains the same! “, Said Mario Fortin, who saw the public constantly renewing himself.
He left Bubian, but did not want to retire. “No! No! No! I’ve seen 200 movies a year for 20 years. I can not stop! He says.
If there is no intention to interfere in the new management affairs that will be announced soon .. they are guaranteed not to go too far if necessary. “It simply came to our notice then Break Must be turned off! “The word of a maid.
