Copyright tab ends free movies for public

Hintonburg group faces $2,000 bill for showing nine films

Outdoor movie nights in Hintonburg have been cancelled indefinitely after the discovery that a local community association has been ignoring copyright law for the past four years.

The Hintonburg Community Association is facing a bill for just over $2,000 after not paying licensing fees for nine movies they’ve shown at outdoor public screenings since 2009.

Audio Ciné Films, a company that represents the film rights of major movie studios in Canada, informed the HCA three weeks ago that their public screenings infringed on protected copyright.

“They caught wind that we were showing them,” said Jeff Leiper, president of the HCA. “And now that we’re on their radar we are going to have pay the licensing fee moving forward.” The fee to publicly display most major studio movies is $200 per showing,

Leiper said the association never charged people to view the films and because the movies were not being used to make a profit the HCA thought it was acceptable.

“Clearly, we’ve been told that it’s not,” he said. “I don’t want to turn it into an us-versus-them thing. They have the right to get paid so we will settle up with them and then take a look at how we’ll continue moving forward.”

Leiper explained that the licensing fee was too steep for the association to continue showing movies for free.

To cover future fees, he said the HCA might look at asking for donations, which is how Centretown Movies helps cover its licensing fee. Centretown Movies, which shows movies Friday and Saturday nights throughout the summer in Dundonald Park, also raises funds and gets financial support from sponsors.

In Barrhaven, the Sequoia Community Church has been running a free outdoor movie night for the past five years, showing about five movies a summer. It doesn’t ask for donations as the church covers the licensing cost.

“Our motivation is to get into the community and build relationships,” said church pastor Ryan Dawson. “Really for us, our motive is that everyone matters to God, so this is just one of the things we do to show that everybody matters. It’s a fun way we can give back to the community, get people together and something that families can enjoy.”

Despite the setback, Leiper expects the HCA to devise a way to bring outdoor movies back to the west-end neighbourhood next year. Along with donations he said they’ll explore showing films from the National Film Board, which has a cheaper licensing fee, or showing movies by independent filmmakers.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “But I’m reasonably sure we’ll find a way to make sure it continues next year.”