A not-for-profit cinema offering budget-priced movies prepares to celebrate its 45th anniversary in a new, east-end location
A community screening of Sugarcane, with members of the Odawa Native Friendship Centre. Photo Courtesy Ottawa Family Cinema
After immigrating to Canada in 1971, he wanted to replicate that experience for Ottawa families.
“I thought, ‘a lot of kids and parents can’t afford the movies, and they’re missing out on something really wonderful and inspiring,’” says McNeill.
In 1977, the Ottawa Family Cinema was born, with McNeill as director and general manager.
Jim McNeill and his daughter, Jen McNeill, in the Ottawa Family Cinema’s first year of operation. Photo Courtesy Ottawa Family Cinema
“Everyone is welcome,” says McNeill. “We cater to absolutely everybody.”
With the help of McNeill’s wife, Anne, and friend Dorothy Stoiber, McNeill initially used his own 16mm projector to offer movies at the Alexander Community Centre, followed by several schools over the decades, including nearly 30 years at Notre Dame High School.
Following a three-year pandemic shutdown, the cinema reopened in December 2023 at the Rideau Community Hub (formerly Rideau High School) located at 815 St. Laurent Blvd.
“The aim is to give [patrons] a good experience like they’d have in a regular theatre, but at a much lower cost or free,” explains McNeill, adding that fees from movie tickets are used to subsidize tickets for underprivileged families, distributed through community centres and schools via Kids Up Front.
“This location, there are a lot of families in need there — even more so than our previous location (at the St. Laurent Shopping Centre).
As the cinema prepares to celebrate 45 years in the community, the new location features a fully-equipped facility with a 38-by-16-foot screen and comfortable seating.
Susan Wheatley has been a patron of the Ottawa Family Cinema for 40 years. She recalls many joyful moments at the cinema with her son, Joel Attfield, who has Down syndrome.
“A group of his friends would come every Saturday, and they would sit in the second row,” says Wheatley. “Joel would go and sit with them, and they would have fun… if they were playing music, they’d be up in the aisles dancing,” she adds.
Ottawa Family Cinema volunteers in costume for a Halloween show. Photo Courtesy Ottawa Family Cinema
“Where else can you do that? Regular theaters are kind of dark, unfamiliar and expensive. The contrast is stark. It’s just not the fun, family atmosphere that you get when you walk into Ottawa Family Cinema.”
Since Day 1, the cinema has been a charitable operation run solely by volunteers.
One such volunteer is Carl Kiiffner, who has volunteered at the cinema’s snack bar since 2016.
“I’ve made a ton, probably literally, of popcorn in that time,” says Kiiffner, adding he and his family frequented the Ottawa Family Cinema over 20 years ago.
“I wanted to support Jim because he’d become a friend at that point; both Jim and Anne are just salt-of-the-earth people.”
After covering costs, the cinema donates any surplus to community charities, including food banks, the Children’s Wish Foundation and the Boys and Girls Club.
The McNeills received the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award in 2003 for providing “affordable entertainment and a sense of community to many families in Ottawa,” the Governor General’s website stated.
“I think it changes the way you see and you perceive the world,” says Kiiffner of his volunteer experience, adding he’s at the cinema two or three times per month.
“We’re so focused on ourselves and our phones,” he says. “When you step away from that and your focus turns outward towards the people around you and the task at hand, it’s very cathartic.”
-30-