Originally built in 1939, The Royal Cinema is an historic Art Moderne movie house located in the heart of Little Italy. The 450-seat theatre was known as the Pylon when it first opened in 1939. Over time, it’s become one of Toronto’s most cherished landmarks.
With the threat of closure looming in 2007, Theatre D Digital moved in during the fall, seeing an opportunity to bring their unique business model to a second facility (the first being The Regent Theatre). The Royal continues to operate in the evenings as a second-run indie/art house cinema. However with extensive upgrades and renovations, it is now also a digitally-equipped screening and live event venue, adhering to the highest standards for picture and sound presentation. It is suited for live concerts, screenings, film festivals, corporate events, multimedia exhibition, and more.
During the daytime, Theatre D operates out of the Royal as a film and television post-production studio. The main theatre becomes a Dolby-approved 5.1 mix room and four picture editing suites are located upstairs. Esteemed Canadian directors such as Atom Egoyan (Chloe, Adoration), Deepa Mehta (Heaven on Earth), Bruce McDonald (PontyPool, The Tracey Fragments), Kari Skogland (Stone Angel) have mixed and/or edited their projects there.
Stacey Donen
Stacey Donen is the Director of Programming for The Royal, a programmer for Reel Canada and the Artistic Director of the Whistler Film Festival. With a long history in the film community, he has worked as an independent producer, programmed Canadian cinema for The Toronto International Film Festival from 1999 to 2006, coordinated Canada’s Top Ten, and served as a consultant for Film Circuit, programming a Canadian Short Film Showcase that toured to Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
Stacey was the founding director of programming for the Voices Forward Festival: film and culture from Israel and Palestine; programmer of a special Canadian sidebar at FebioFest in Prague and Les Rendez-vous du Cinema Quebecois. As the programmer for The Royal and Whistler’s Artistic Director, he divides his time between Toronto and Vancouver.
Coming Soon
