Join the Call to Champion the Future of Independent Cinemas • CICAE

Today, 130 years after the invention of cinema, as global crises, political upheavals and growing uncertainty continue to shape our decade and the advent of artificial intelligence raises the question of what remains fundamentally human, we – The International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE), Art House Convergence (AHC) and Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE), representing over 5,000 independent exhibitors and arthouse institutions worldwide – gather at the Toronto International Film Festival to assert the cultural, social, and economic imperative of independent cinemas.

- Cinemas give life to films as they were meant to be seen. They are where memories are made, minds are changed, and crucial conversations spill out from the screen into the street.

- Cinemas are essential pillars of the audiovisual ecosystem, combining cultural and economic value. Cinemas drive box office, support long-term success for diverse films across platforms, foster meaningful audience connections, strengthen local economies and lead innovation across the audiovisual industry.

- Cinemas remain the heart of free culture and society. Cinemas amplify new and courageous voices who confront their world with honesty and imagination; especially where filmmakers are at risk of being silenced. While cultural and media power becomes increasingly concentrated, independent cinemas remain crucial local hubs accountable to their communities, not to shareholders.

- Cinemas curate with passion and responsibility. In a content-saturated digitized landscape increasingly shaped by corporate interests and artificial intelligence, the mission of independent cinemas remains to guide audiences with thoughtful and diverse programming.

Today, we call on political decision-makers, our colleagues across the film value chain, and communities everywhere to recognize and protect independent cinemas as critical infrastructure, to invest in the cultural and audiovisual ecosystems that create lasting value, and to defend the values of pluralist democracy, equity, and diversity for which they stand.