How the Madison became Hot Docs
Annex theatre site at Bathurst and Bloor Sts. has 100-plus years of history
The site of the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema opened Dec. 23, 1913 as the Madison Theatre, one of Toronto’s first movie houses. In the 1950s, there were more than 75 independent movie houses in Toronto, but today it’s one of only eight remaining and is the world’s only free-standing documentary cinema.
Here’s a look at more than 100 years of history on the site.
1913 The Madison Theatre opened first at Bloor and Bathurst Sts., followed by two other movie theatres six years later: Allen’s Bloor Theatre (now Lee’s Palace) and the Alhambra Theatre.
1941 The Madison was torn down to make way for the Midtown in 1941. Only two side walls were retained for the new structure. Architects Kaplan & Sprachman designed the theatre showplace.
1967 After briefly coming under the Famous Players banner as the Capri, the theatre was rebranded as the Eden. It showed soft-core “adult” movies, which was then code for porn.
1979 Famous Players reopened the theatre as the Bloor, putting mainstream Hollywood family fare on the bill.
1980s The Bloor Theatre was taken over by brothers Carm and Paul Bordonaro. Carm departed and the theatre was run by the Festival Cinemas chain.
1999 Carm and Paul Bordonaro returned to manage the Bloor. In 2010, the family bought the building to make sure it would continue its movie house tradition.
2011 Toronto film financing and production company Blue Ice Group, led by Neil Tabatznik, partnered with Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to buy the cinema. The Hot Docs festival got a perma- nent home.
2012 The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema underwent extensive renovations and technical upgrades, reopening in March 2012.
2016 The Rogers Family contributes $4 million to Hot Docs to purchase the building, along with $1million for the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund to support filmmakers. The theatre is renamed the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Source: Hot Docs