TORONTO – On Monday, September 8 at 3:30pm ET at Rivoli Toronto, 334 Queen St W, Toronto, representatives from the International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE), Art House Convergence (AHC) and Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE) joined together on stage to call political decision-makers, colleagues across the film value chain, and communities everywhere to recognize and protect independent cinemas.
Following the launch at TIFF 2025, this call will continue to be shared at film festivals and other industry events around the world.
Below is the statement in full:
Join the Call to Champion the Future of Independent Cinemas
Today, 130 years after the invention of cinema, as global crises, political upheavals and growing uncertainty continue to shape our decade and the advent of artificial intelligence raises the question of what remains fundamentally human, we – The International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE), Art House Convergence (AHC) and Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE), representing over 5,000 independent exhibitors and arthouse institutions worldwide – gather at the Toronto International Film Festival to assert the cultural, social, and economic imperative of independent cinemas.
We stand united in our commitment to a diverse, equitable, and peaceful world based on free exchange across borders, cultures, and differences of opinion. Across the globe, we affirm that:
- Cinemas give life to films as they were meant to be seen. They are where memories are made, minds are opened, and crucial conversations spill out from the screen into the street.
- Cinemas are essential pillars of the audiovisual ecosystem, combining cultural and economic value. Cinemas drive box office, support long-term success for diverse films across platforms, foster meaningful audience connections, strengthen local economies and lead innovation across the audiovisual industry.
- Cinemas remain the heart of free culture and society. Cinemas amplify new and courageous voices who confront their world with honesty and imagination; especially where filmmakers are at risk of being silenced. While cultural and media power becomes increasingly concentrated, independent cinemas remain crucial local hubs accountable to their communities, not to shareholders.
- Cinemas curate with passion and responsibility. In a content-saturated digitized landscape, increasingly shaped by corporate interests and artificial intelligence, the mission of independent cinemas remains to guide audiences with thoughtful and diverse programming.
Today, we call on political decision-makers, our colleagues across the film value chain, and communities everywhere to recognize and protect independent cinemas as critical infrastructure, to invest in the cultural and audiovisual ecosystems that create lasting value, and to defend the values of pluralist democracy, equity, and diversity for which they stand.
Please join our call by adding your name here: https://form.jotform.com/252402629009351
– 30 –
About Art House Convergence (AHC)
The Art House Convergence (AHC) is a coalition of independent exhibitors that connects, amplifies, and advocates for the art house cinema community. With over 2,000 members across North America and Western Europe, AHC provides networking opportunities, resources, and best practices to exhibitors at large. These members collectively serve over 30 million patrons annually. Founded in 2006 as a Sundance Institute Project, AHC recently established itself as an independent organization in 2021. AHC is committed to championing a diversity of voices and promoting inclusivity, sustainability, and equity within the art house cinema industry.
About the Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai (CICAE)
Founded in 1955, the CICAE (Confédération Internationale des Cinémas d’Art et d’Essai) is a non-profit association and the global representative of arthouse cinemas; bringing together over 2400 independent movie theatres with more than 4400 screens in 45 countries through the collaboration of twelve national and regional arthouse cinema networks (in France, Germany, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela and the Network of Arab Alternative Screens), as well as individual cinemas, not yet represented by a national network, and festivals across the world.
About the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE)
The Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE) is an alliance of Canadian independent exhibitors offering curated film programming to public audiences. NICE acts as an industry body on behalf of and in the interest of Canadian independent film exhibitors, and facilitates a network for information and resource sharing. nicecinema.ca
For more information, beautiful NICE venue photography and interview opportunities, contact Sonya Yokota William sonya@nicecinema.ca.