The Vogue Cinema is closed, but owner Jeff Coates is hoping for a community takeover
Downtown Sackville has suffered plenty of slings and arrows in the past few years. Between fires, structural issues, repeated COVID shutdowns, and an ongoing and painfully slow COVID recovery, the downtown core is radically different today than it was back in 2019. And the slings and arrows are about to strike again.
The 77-year old Vogue Cinema is closed, and owner Jeff Coates says he will not be able to reopen the historic theatre, due to debts that have become too large to handle.
“I’ve been fighting and struggling and clawing to stay above water, to keep the place open and functioning,” Coates told CHMA this week. “I never wanted to lose it, but now we’re there. We’re closed, and the place is for sale.”
Coates is heartbroken, but is trying to be realistic after years of taking on increasing debt to keep the cinema technologically up to date, and the building sound.
That said, he’s also still hopeful that the Vogue might have a future, even if he’s not at the helm.
The Vogue is “more than movie theatre,” says Coates. “It’s a cultural centre where so many other things happen than just Hollywood movies. And I think that’s the direction the theatre needs to go.”
Between the Sackville Film Society, concerts by Sappyfest and other local promoters, and Sackville’s vibrant theatre scene, Coates thinks the Vogue’s future might be as a community-run arts space.… Continue
Film Society opens another fall season Thursday with a Leonard Cohen biopic, ‘Hallelujah’
The story of a one-inch tall shell named Marcel. Documentaries exploring the musical lives of Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, and the little-known women of electronic music. An animated feature inspired by the life of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, and a fiery love story told through archival footage shot by late volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft. Plus feature films telling stories of inter-dimensional ruptures, three thousand year old genies, and the fate of a factory in a small Spanish town (starring the likes of Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, Michelle Yeoh, and Javier Bardem.)
It’s all packed into the new fall season of the Sackville Film Society, opening this Thursday at the Vogue Cinema in downtown Sackville.
The Sackville Film Society has been a stalwart of the local cultural scene for decades, even continuing to offer programming through difficult early pandemic years. CHMA called up director Thaddeus Holownia to ask what’s new:
After two years operating on a seasons pass system, the Society will be opening its box office for individual ticket sales, in addition to offering full season and six-pack passes.
“We’re cautiously going to reopen the box office, under guidance from people in the community saying that there are people who can’t afford a six pack” says Holownia. “And I’m sensitive to that.”
Holownia is still hoping for strong year in full membership sales, to put the Society on a solid footing.… Continue
Tantramar Report: vaccine passport in NS; three Amherst families lose homes to fire; film society kicks off next week
On Thursday’s Tantramar Report:
Fifteen people in Amherst are without a home after a fire overnight on Tuesday. Firefighters responded to a call at a two-story, three-unit apartment building on Gerard Avenue at about 7:20pm Tuesday. Six adults and nine children, as well as their pets, made it out of the building safely, according to Captain John Matthews of the Amherst Fire Department. A number of local efforts are underway to collect donations to support the displaced victims of the fire. Sackville resident Trish Wells and Amherst resident Marlene Clarke are gathering items like clothing, shoes, and cash donations to help the three families.
The town of Sackville will be recognizing a new federal statutory holiday at the end of the month. September 30th, widely known as Orange Shirt Day, has been named the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and declared a federal statutory holiday, meaning all federally regulated public and private employees will get the day off. Provinces are taking different positions on the holiday, with Nova Scotia adopting it, and New Brunswick not. The town’s collective agreement recognizes federal holidays, and town CAO Jamie Burke told council on Tuesday that employees were notified last week of the change.
Council and local Sackville firefighters will hear today from consultants hired to look into reports of bullying and sexual harassment within the Sackville Fire Department. Montana consultants have already delivered their report to CAO Jamie Burke, and will be presenting based on that report today.… Continue