SP0119: Cinemas out of the Box

Our media today is defined by mobility, and for some this means that a "cinematic specificity" has been lost. What the 'Cinemas out of the Box' project aims to prove is that, contrary to this, we now have the means to enjoy cinema in new and unexpected ways. One of the biggest challenges of the McGill downtown campus is the lack of space for media arts, with no art gallery or campus cinema theatre, and this project will provide the means to transform any space into a temporary cinematic experience.

Resources from the SPF are being used to: design portable infrastructure for a mobile cinema that can take the capacity to project audiovisual materials anywhere on campus (in unexpected locations such as the mountain or in the pool); develop a year-long screening series which experiments with the potential of this new mobility; and find the most ecological and sustainable ways to run the equipment such as bicycle-powered generators, low-energy projectors and passive sound amplification. They will also be used for student salaries.

Each month the team will alternate between a conventional mobile screening with sites relevant to the films screened, and a more experimental and collaborative screening where the focus is not on working with a found environment, but with creating a popup, curated  experience.

This project is run with participation from the Moving Image Research Laboratory (MIRL), the Student Association of World Cinemas, TV McGill, Cinema Politica,, and the Minor Program in World Cinemas.