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“Do you recognize these two people? This happened today from 5:38-5:42 p.m. and we are devastated,’ Film.ca Cinemas tweeted Feb. 23, along with security footage showing two individuals crossing more than half a cinema screen with a knife.Cinemas Film.ca
Last month, two men went to the cinema. Dressed in black hoodies and face masks, they walked into a Landmark Cinemas movie theater in Kitchener, Ont., and walked into an empty auditorium. One of them slashed the cinema screen and sprayed a noxious substance in the air before fleeing. The theater had to play Palthu Janwara film in Malayalam.
Eight days later, someone walked into a Landmark theater in Calgary and dropped a pepper spray bomb in the concession area, forcing its evacuation. Around the same time that day, some 300 kilometers away, at a Landmark in Edmonton, another individual sprayed pepper spray inside the theater, police say. A Tamil movie, Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaaducreated a few days earlier.
The incidents – the first on September 10 and the other two on September 18 – were just the latest in an ongoing campaign of vandalism at cinemas. showing films in South Indian languages, such as Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. The Globe and Mail has confirmed that about 20 theaters, including Cineplex Inc., Landmark and other owners, have been hit in at least 22 incidents since 2015.
This year has seen more vandalism than any other, with 10 cinemas targeted so far, and across a much wider part of the country. Previous incidents have been centered in southern Ontario, but vandals slashed a screen at a theater in Montreal and slashed two others at a movie theater in Surrey, British Columbia, earlier this year, in addition incidents in Alberta.
Film distributors say a turf war is underway, with criminals using vandalism and the prospect of harming moviegoers to intimidate rival cinemas into not showing South Indian-language films – thus cornering a lucrative market where popular films regularly sell out. The tactic seems to be working: Cineplex and Landmark refuse to screen certain films for security reasons. Distributors say it’s difficult to find theaters ready to host certain films, and theaters require large deposits and extra security before showings.
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Even after two recent arrests, the vandalism hasn’t stopped. “I’m glad at least two suspects have been arrested,” said Saleem Padinharkkara, a film distributor whose business is based in Kitchener. “But there is definitely a conspiratorial side to it that requires further investigation.”
Who exactly is responsible is a mystery. In July, the Halton Regional Police Service, which covers an area west of Toronto, arrested and charged 38-year-old Mohammad Yousafzai with five counts of mischief over $5,000 in connection with a series of incidents in February of this year, and two more in November, 2021. In February, vandals cut through three movie screens at a multiplex in Burlington, Ontario, two screens at a theater in Oakville, Ontario, and another at a cinema in Waterloo, Ontario, all on the same day. Each theatre, police later said, was showing a Telugu-language film titled Bheemla Nayak.
Police have also charged Dean Priestley, 30, in connection with incidents in November 2021 in which movie screens were cut out at two different Cineplex theatres.
A Halton Police spokesperson said the force will work with departments in other jurisdictions to investigate any new incidents, but added that they were unable to establish a motive.
After the three Landmark sites were targeted last month, a spokesperson told the Globe that the company believes the incidents are linked to similar acts of vandalism that have occurred in recent years and are intended to deter the chain from cinema to present certain films. Landmark has therefore opted to stop playing certain Tamil and Telugu films, the spokesperson added.
Vandalism began in the Greater Toronto Area around 2015. In previous years, theater chains had begun to expand into more international fare. Cineplex, for example, has added Tamil films to its list. The GTA is home to a growing number of South Indian language speakers, a demographic that movie exhibitors were eager to exploit. According to the 2021 census, a total of 220,300 Ontario residents listed Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam as their mother tongue.
Cineplex’s foray into the market was short-lived. The company has not screened Tamil films in the GTA since 2016, after vandals slashed screens and sprayed harmful substances at three of its sites in connection with an action movie titled Theri. “We made the decision years ago to suspend screenings of Tamil titles due to very real threats and incidents in our theaters,” Cineplex vice president of communications Sarah Van Lange said in September. . “We recognize this is disappointing…however, our unwavering commitment to the well-being of our customers and our team is paramount and will not be compromised.”
Ciné Starz owner Bruce Gurberg, who operates six theaters in Ontario and Quebec, is prepared to pull films from South India if his theaters are targeted again. Its theaters have already been visited three times since 2020, with screens cut in Mississauga, Burlington, Ont., and Montreal. After the most recent incidents in February, Mr. Gurberg asked his officials to deliver a message to distributors: “The next time my screen goes blank,” he said, “I won’t show any of their films “.
Mr. Gurberg now requires substantial deposits for all films shown at Ciné Starz, and has distributors sign contracts stipulating that they will cover the costs of any damages. He does not know who is behind the vandalism campaign, he said, but notes that numerous charges are pending.
Indeed, after several incidents in 2016, rumors circulated on social media that people connected to three independent cinemas in the GTA were responsible. The cinemas – Woodside Square Cinemas in Scarborough, Albion Cinemas in Etobicoke and York Cinemas in Richmond Hill – released a statement denying any connection to the vandalism and told The Globe last year that any allegation of their involvement was ‘categorically untrue’ .
Woodside has long screened Tamil films, while Albion stopped showing mostly Hindi films to add more Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films after it was sold off about a decade ago. York Cinemas, meanwhile, began operating in 2012. Records show that all three cinemas are currently operated by Yalini Manoharan, who also runs two cannabis stores in the GTA.
“No one connected to our theaters has ever been involved in attacks on rival theatres,” said Brian Shiller, Ms Manoharan’s attorney. “Any repetition of the false allegation would be a repetition of a defamatory statement.”
Asked whether Ms Manoharan’s cinemas were targeted, Mr Shiller said that “cinemas have been targeted repeatedly in the same way as other cinemas. There were several incidents and the police were notified. Pushed for more details, Mr Shiller cited an incident of vandalism fitting the pattern of others, when a screen was “ripped out” at York Cinemas in October 2019 and the theater released a Telugu film. (Theaters in Kitchener and Whitby were targeted around the same time.)
York Regional Police confirmed the incident was investigated, but no suspects were found. A Toronto Police Department spokesperson said there have been no reports of vandalism involving torn movie screens or pepper spray at the Woodside and Albion movie theater addresses since the problems began in 2015.
Ms. Manoharan recently expanded her theater business by taking over a former Starz Cine location in Mississauga, where four screens were cut in 2020. It now operates as Central Parkway Cinema.
Mr Padinharkkara, the film distributor, said a number of cinemas had recently received email threats related to Ponniyin Selvan: 1an adaptation of a popular Tamil historical epic published in the 1950s. (His company, KW Talkies, paid around $200,000 for the Canadian distribution rights.) Cineplex decided to screen only the Hindi and Malayalam versions of the film – even though the original is in Tamil – while Landmark does not broadcast any version.
Some cinemas that have received threats have withdrawn from screening the film, which premiered on September 29. The sender of the email threatened to tear up screens, release ‘toxic’ substances and send employees to hospital unless cinemas stop showing films from The Company of Mr Padinharkkara. York Cinema, which does not show the film, received a similar threat, a copy of which Mr Shiller provided to The Globe.
Jeff Knoll, whose theater Oakville, Ontario also received the email and opted not to remove the film. “If I have an audience that wants to see a movie, especially in a time when Hollywood movies are rare, we’ll play the movie,” he said. “I’m not going to be threatened or frightened.”
Two screens were destroyed in his cinema, Film.ca, in February. Mr Knoll said he now expects distributors to cover the costs of any damage and contribute for added security.
The continued bullying tactics are frustrating for Mr. Padinharkkara. He first entered the film distribution business in 2019 because he wanted to see South Indian films in a wider variety of venues, including big chains such as Cineplex and Landmark. . The outlook looks bleak, however, as the vandalism shows no signs of abating.
“They really want to inflict financial damage on me and restrict my ability to get movies,” he said of the perpetrators. “More than us as a company, I think the biggest victims are the community.” Until the issue is resolved, moviegoers will have fewer choices about what they can see in cinemas – and in what languages.
With reporting by Stephanie Chambers
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