Luke Fandrich has completed a documentary of the Monarch Theatre called "Your Cinema Needs You" and is hoping the doors to the historic theatre will open once again to premier the film.--PHOTO SUBMITTED EDITING LUKE
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Your Cinema Needs You, a documentary about the Monarch Theatre, is now complete.
Creator of the film, Luke Fandrich of Editing Luke, is hoping the film will preview at the Monarch, which has been closed since 2021.
“Now it’s about figuring out release and getting it out there. We wanted to show it at the Monarch Theatre,” said Fandrich. “From the beginning, that was always the plan.”
During the project, Fandrich worked with a large group of people. At least 30 people were interviewed for the project, in addition to musicians, artists and others who contributed. Most of the interviewees were local, but a few who no longer live in Medicine Hat but had ties to the Monarch were also interviewed. “I think it’s a bigger story than people realize,” stated Fandrich.
While the Monarch hasn’t been a continuously running theatre since it opened, it has aspects that set it apart. Many theatres from the same era – the Monarch was built in 1911 – were either vaudeville or a live theatre space that were later converted into a movie theatre. “From day 1 the Monarch was always a movie theatre and that’s what makes it really unique,” explained Fandrich. “There are so few that were built that way at that time and the vast majority are gone.”
The film is a full feature length documentary – running just over two hours – that spans the entire history of the Monarch. As it covers 112 years, condensing all the information became a challenge.
“It’s a story about compartmentalizing all these eras the theatre has gone through that take you from the silent era up until digital projection, so there is an element of film history to it,” said Fandrich. “The goal was always to make the documentary that was focused on Canadians as the target audience, not just Hatters.”
The story told is about why the building is significant, whether the claim of it being the oldest movie theatre in Canada true, while also examining film history. Fandrich is optimistic the premier will happen at the Monarch this fall and hopefully the film will run for multiple nights following the main event. The documentary should have a wider release online for streaming before the end of the year.
Funding came through in June 2021, right at the time the Monarch closed its doors. Originally, funding was secured on the story about a theatre that is still running and Fandrich had to go back.
“The theatre isn’t running anymore so now it’s this question mark of am I making this big epilogue for this theatre people can’t go to anymore or is there potential that me doing the documentary will inspire other people to want to take it over again and reopen it.”
The announcement that production was beginning was made in December 2021 and filming took place throughout 2022, with the city being helpful by providing keys for Fandrich to film in the theatre when needed. Editing began in 2023 and was completed last month.
A few teasers have been released over the past couple of years to keep people interested and to let them know the project was continuing. There was concern the theatre would open before the film was complete, but now the documentary is complete, the timing couldn’t be better for the Monarch to reopen its doors.
