Keith Stata (courtesy of Scott Ramsay). Keith spoke to us about 3 decades ago.
Toronto. My good friend and fellow photo historian, George Dunbar, sent me a note the other day about Keith Stata and his Kinmount theatre/museum.
George writes, “A wonderful documentary featuring Keith Stata, a movie fan who built his own cinema and movie museum in a small Ontario town (Kinmount, Pop. 300). Great story of Canadian cinema and entrepreneurial spirit. It’s now available online and at some theatres [This is the YouTube link to the movie trailer].
Keith built his complex to house various artifacts he acquired over the years. Back in November of 1995 Keith spoke to us about his hobby of collecting old movie theatre gear. At the time, the late Larry Boccioletti (a PHSC founder) was both a member of the PHSC and the Movie Machine Society (MMS). Larry had Keith speak with us and he arranged for interested PHSC members to join the group of MMS folk visiting Keith’s ‘museum’/theatre in Kinmount. George mentioned to me that he joined that trip to Kinmount.
I remember Keith saying at the time, his biggest challenge was getting the movie gear from closed theatres before the wrecking crew turned it to junk. Theatres were failing en mass at the time and the buildings were demolished. The huge projectors were of little value and too big to move so they were simply trashed in place.
Today we have large screen flat TVs, TV programs delivered over fibre, and either a PVR or a variety of streaming services. Some channels, like TCM, are devoted to old movies. Our society favours stills and the associated technologies, but a small contingent of members are also devotees of movies and the projectors, cameras, etc associated with that art form.
Remember to visit our auction this May 5th – there are already lots for both the stills and movie folk – be they film oriented or digital!
