June 2026
Like many cities across North America, the small, single-screen independent movie theatres have been disappearing over the decades in favour of corporate-owned multiplex theatres, with double-digit screens and stadium seating. The few remaining independents survive as second-run theatres, or art-house theatres.
Now known as the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, the small theatre on Bloor Street opened on 23 December 1913 under the name Madison Theatre, 650-seat century-old theatre located in the heart of Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, one of the first picture palaces in Toronto.
By the end of the decade, the Madison was joined in the Annex neighbourhood by Allen’s Bloor Theatre (now Lee’s Palace) and the Alhambra Theatre, both opening in 1919 near the Bloor and Bathurst intersection.
It is a year-round home for first-run Canadian and international documentary films, as well as special presentations and showcases. Continuing its longstanding role as a community cinema, it also hosts many of the city’s independent film festivals, and offers some specialized fiction film programming.
In 1940, new owners 20th Century Theatres demolished most of the original theatre, removing all but the two side-walls. When rebuilt the following year, the cinema was renamed the Midtown Theatre, becoming a popular neighbourhood cinema that featured weekend matinees and horror double-bills, playing to packed houses.
By 1967, the theatre was re-named the Capri, amidst declining attendance. Six-years later, the theatre was once again re-named, now known as the Eden, and its programming switched to heavily-censored adult films.
The theatre returned to showing first-run films in 1979, now under the name of Bloor Cinema, but a year later it was sold again and became an independent repertory-style theatre.
Owned by the Hot Docs Festival since 2016, the cinema today features a regular selection of documentary films, along with serving as a venue for other smaller film festivals and cultural events, like the annual Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Sources: https://hotdocs.ca/about/hot-docs-ted-rogers-cinema/about-the-cinema, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema – Wikipedia.
