Courtesy of Marc Brenner
A bunch of new blockbusters are coming to a cinema near you but they have nothing to do with Hollywood — these blockbusters are from the worlds of dance opera and theatre.
Filming live productions from the world’s most prestigious performing arts houses and then showing them in movie theatres around the globe is part of a growing trend that bears the rubric “alternative programming.” It’s something New York City’s famed Metropolitan Opera started doing a few years ago. “That’s been the benchmark going forward for alternative programming” says Thomas Miller the founder of MEI (Media Events International) Group a Vancouver-based company that started up in January 2014 to facilitate the distribution of other alternative programming to movie theatre across Canada.
MEI Group offers several series including: the Royal Opera House Cinema Series featuring opera productions from London’s Royal Opera House; Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen series featuring the Bard’s works staged at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre; and most recently a ballet series courtesy of London’s Royal Ballet.
“We’ve been planning this for a couple of years because Canada needed an alternative to Cineplex and the Met programming” Miller says of his “alternative cinema network.” That network now includes “64 and counting” theatres across Canada. In fact the country’s second largest chain Landmark Cinemas came on board this fall a move that brought an additional 30 theatres into the distribution network. In Calgary one can catch these screenings at the Landmark cinemas in Shawnessy and Country Hills.
Miller says not only are viewers benefiting from seeing the “incredible caliber” of these productions but the theatres also benefit from access to the content because “it’s taking longer and longer to get studio releases.”
Miller says digital technologies have allowed for superb quality to these filmed productions. “With the current digital situation 35mm film has taken a backseat to digital projection. It opens up the possibilities of high-class presentations on screen….
“Stellar technologies take you away so you can lose yourself in that theatre. All of a sudden you’re in London and watching it live with all these people” he adds.
And lest anyone think opera ballet and Shakespeare have a limited cinematic audience base think again. According to Miller alternative programming is growing each year in terms of popularity. In fact he says it’s outpacing the live performances in London. “For the first time in history the live satellite and distribution on digital is exceeding the revenue flow of live performance.”
Besides the aforementioned series MEI will be distributing several documentaries exploring the lives of artists and musicians as well as documentaries on the Hermitage Pompeii and the Vikings. MEI has also partnered with a film company out of Toronto A71 Productions to offer a Canadian indie film series starting in Spring 2015. “It will give people a chance to check out some cool Canadian films they wouldn’t see otherwise” says Miller.
The next screening in Shakespeare’s Globe on Screen series will be Jeremy Herrin’s production of The Taming of the Shrew starring Olivier Award-winning stage and screen actor Roger Allam as Prospero on Saturday January 10 at the Landmark Country Hills and Shawnessy Theatres. More upcoming productions in that series include Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Upcoming productions in the Royal Opera House Series that will show in Calgary include L’Elisir D’Amore and Andrea Chénier and in the Royal Ballet Series Manon and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are on the bill for January.
For a detailed listing of dates and times go to meigroup.ca.
