CIFF Announces Bold New Vision for the Future of Cinema in Downtown Calgary Including Details of CIFF 2024 and 25th Anniversary
Calgary, AB | CIFF Announces New Vision for Calgary Cinema
As the Calgary International Film Festival approaches its 25th anniversary, the organization is unveiling a three-year strategic plan designed to secure and energize cinema activity in downtown Calgary. In response to shrinking screening infrastructure, CIFF will introduce a new “Constellation” of venues and programming that connects existing arts spaces, theatres, public plazas, and partner sites to create a flexible, mobile and collaborative cultural corridor through the city core and adjacent districts.
[Press release from the Calgary International Film Festival]
The festival faces one of its greatest operational challenges with the recent closure of the Cineplex Eau Claire Market Cinemas, which for more than a decade served as CIFF’s central hub. This closure compounds a long-term trend: downtown Calgary has lost a significant portion of its cinema-ready screens over the past 25 years, and CIFF cites that more than 85% of such screens in the core have closed. These shifting conditions, combined with technological change and evolving audience behaviours, have pushed CIFF to rethink how cinematic experiences are delivered in the city.
At the same time, Alberta’s film industry is experiencing notable growth and investment, creating new opportunities for screenings, partnerships and audience development. CIFF’s Constellation model is intended to respond to these shifts by activating a distributed network of venues that draws Calgarians back into a lively downtown cultural experience.
The Constellation is built around three guiding principles: flexibility, mobility and collaboration. “Downtown” is conceived broadly to include the core and adjacent neighbourhoods such as Kensington and East Village. Together, the Constellation venues will form a continuous cultural corridor that can host festival screenings, year-round film programming and community events.
“This plan has been in development for over two years, and I’m so thrilled to finally be able to share it publicly. It’s bold, it’s audacious, yet it’s incredibly realistic and attainable,” said Katherine Penhale, CIFF’s Acting Executive Director. “What I think makes this project so exciting is that it’s not a monolith — this isn’t a plan that focuses on any one space or a single solution. This approach is exciting to me because, at its core, it centres on community and collaboration.”
Penhale emphasizes that the Constellation strategy changes the infrastructure for media arts in Calgary by creating shared access to essential exhibition equipment. By centralizing and managing a fleet of modern cinema projectors and support gear, CIFF aims to mitigate the risks that can suddenly reduce screening capacity and to remain agile in deploying equipment across diverse sites. This approach also creates natural partnerships with venues that host the technology and opens opportunities to collaborate in new spaces and formats.
NEW VENUE CONSTELLATION
The rollout begins in 2024 with the West Constellation, anchored by Contemporary Calgary, the Globe Cinema and the Plaza Theatre. Cineplex Scotiabank Chinook Theatre will join as a fourth venue in 2024 to provide the screening capacity needed for CIFF’s 25th anniversary celebration.
CONVERTING EXISTING SPACES INTO NEW SCREENING VENUES
CIFF plans to acquire a fleet of six DCI-compliant (Digital Cinema Initiatives) projectors and related exhibition equipment. DCI-compliant projectors are essential for presenting modern cinema to festival and paying audiences. CIFF already has experience operating this technology, retaining one such projector currently housed at the Globe Cinema and deployed as needed to venues such as the Jubilee Auditorium and Jack Singer Concert Hall.
The new fleet will be designed to redeploy across a variety of indoor spaces and in partnership with local arts and community groups. CIFF intends the projector fleet to become a managed community resource, accessible year-round to a wide range of arts organizations and non-profits. From 2025 through 2027, the festival will focus on acquiring additional projectors, building new venue partnerships, and expanding collaborations to amplify Calgary’s profile as a festival city.
CIFF’s three-year plan aims to grow a collective sense of place by repurposing and revitalizing spaces across downtown, creating more opportunities for community connection, shared ideas and diverse cinematic experiences.
“This strategic plan is bold and will require massive change and we need support from our community and audience members to execute it effectively,” Penhale added. “Calgary’s arts community has always demonstrated an incredible willingness to come together, and this strategy imagines how that collaboration can look on a truly grand scale.”
“When we talk to people about this plan, it prompts big excitement, and inevitably, a lot of big ideas — seeing how readily people understand the potential of this approach really speaks to how ready we are for this. This plan lays out a roadmap for how to support media arts in Calgary and how to continue to invest in our burgeoning screening industry and infrastructure.”
CIFF will acquire the projectors gradually over the next three years so that the Constellation expands in step with venue availability. By 2026, CIFF expects to operate a linked string of venues across downtown in a configuration not seen before in Calgary.
“Since joining forces on May 1, Connect First and Servus Credit Union Ltd. is now the largest credit union in Alberta. We’re inspired to dream big and reimagine what’s possible, much like the talented folks who will be celebrated at CIFF this year,” said Ian Burns, President and CEO of Connect First and Servus Credit Union. “We’re excited to be back as presenting partner for CIFF, to support local filmmakers and artists in telling their stories and honouring their successes. As an Alberta-grown credit union, we’re proud to welcome the world to our local stage and pave the way for our homegrown talent to shine as brightly as we know they can.”
MORE INFORMATION: CIFFCalgary.ca/Constellation
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About the Calgary International Film Festival
Running annually since 2000, the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a registered charitable not-for-profit organization that brings international and Canadian films and filmmakers to Calgary for its fall festival and year-round programming. CIFF is the largest festival of its kind in Alberta and the Prairies, offering audiences curated cinematic experiences that showcase diverse voices and foster cultural exchange.
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