SIFF DocFest: The Movie Man
October 6, 2024
In this love letter to independent movie theaters, director Matt Finlin introduces us to an eccentric entrepreneur and his life’s work—owning and operating an idiosyncratic multiplex in the woods of Northern Ontario.
Director Matt Finlin scheduled to attend.
Join us Sunday, October 6th from 5:00-7:00PM at The Traveling Goat for the DocFest Happy Hour, sponsored by Seattle Documentary Association.
Individual Tickets: Select showtime to purchase
Passes: $100 | $75 Members - Provides access to all DocFest screenings
SIFF year-round passes are not valid for DocFest screenings.
Tickets
Select showtime for pricing and tickets.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
The small hamlet of Kinmount, Ontario only has about 500 residents. It no longer has a gas station or a school. What it does have, however, is a five-screen cinema palace and movie memorabilia museum, thanks to the singular vision of its colorful, cantankerous founder, Keith Stata. Keith opened Highlands Cinemas during the summer of 1979 as a single screen movie theater, but after multiple renovations and additions, he had transformed it into a unique five-screen movie mecca that not only screens first-run films, but also showcases thousands of pop culture artifacts, houses Canada’s largest projector collection, and provides a habitat for dozens of cats. Shot over five eventful years, director Matt Finlin provides an affectionate and richly detailed portrait of Keith—now in his 70s—as he confronts his dwindling health and a global pandemic. In faithfully capturing Stata’s highs and lows as he struggles to keep the Highlands open, Filnlin reveals the theater’s irascible impresario to be the embodiment of the grand passions that movies have long inspired.
- Director: Matt Finlin
- Country: Canada
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 88 min.
- Producer: Ed Robertson, Karen Barzilay, Paul Atkinson
- Cinematographers: Matt Finlin
- Editors: James Yates
- Music: Kevin Drew
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Debut Feature Film
- Language: English
- Format: DCP