Martin Heath's
CineCycle 12/17/24

Underground Cinema
Coffee Bar & Bicycle Repair Shop
Programming & for hire since 1991 - 33 years!
Many film projection formats, from
8mm to 35mm, including 9.5mm!
Accessible rear entrance. Movable chairs.
2 washrooms (1 accessible). No smoking.
Proprietors: Martin Heath and CFMDC.

Location & Contact | Services

Upcoming Events | Past Events

Niagara Custom Lab at CineCycle! Film processing, transferring.

Facebook Group | History | Film Collection | Scopitones

flickr Photos | Projectors | Links | Press | Pianist Wanted

Location & Contact
CineCycle, in the old coach house down the lane behind 129 Spadina Ave.,
on the east side between Richmond St. W. and Adelaide St. W., Toronto. Map
Contact: phone 416-971-4273, or cinecycle-bookings@googlegroups.com
Mail: Box 45, 401 Richmond St. W., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 3A8

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The sign above the entrance at CineCycle's first location (1991-1995),
behind 317 Spadina Ave., Toronto. (Photo by John Porter)
The bicycle was conceived and built by Leo Slonetsky
using 16mm film reels for the wheels and chainring.

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CineCycle
behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto, 416-971-4273

UPCOMING EVENTS

500 PAST EVENTS

Watch here for upcoming events at CineCycle.

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

CINECYCLE SERVICES

Cinema Rentals - projection on 35mm, 16mm, 9.5mm,
8mm, super 8, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray or mp3! Projectors

Mobile Cinema Service - Project any format, anywhere!

DIY Music Venue - Voted favourite by Eye Weekly readers!

Films for Rent - Features and Shorts on 16mm and 35mm!

Performances - Exhibitions - Parties - Meetings - Shoots

Bicycle Repairs & Rentals: by appointment

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

CINECYCLE HISTORIES

Two-Page Profile of Martin Heath
Published in the FALL 2024 issue of 401 UPDATE,
quarterly newsletter of arts building 401 Richmond,
including 4 photos of Martin! Online and in print.

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Martin Heath's CineCycle: A History
by John Porter, published in Lola #10, Fall 2001, Toronto

Martin Heath has been committed to film and bicycling ever since he was a teenager in England in the early 1960s. He has worked as a film print handler, projectionist or cinema builder for many notable organizations in London, UK and Toronto. His personal projects have included: his 100-minute film “The Son of Tutti Frutti” which played weekly at the Roxy Cinema in Toronto in 1972; his and Chris Clifford’s inflatable Mobile Cinema which toured Ontario for 3 summers (1976-1978); and collecting 2,000 films and 50 projectors. But Martin Heath is probably best known as the owner and operator of CineCycle, an underground cinema and bicycle repair shop in Toronto since 1991.

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The creation of CineCycle has taken several forms, initially in the late 1970s when Heath was working with a group of artists in a space at 466 Bathurst St. They built an art gallery with a projection booth and folding risers where Heath and Tom Dean presented Sunday night film screenings for A Space gallery. They had an espresso bar and darkroom, and Heath provided a bicycle repair service. He also built a bicycle-powered, super 8 projector for a Western Front performance at A Space.

In 1979 Heath and artist Chrysanne Stathacos rented 11 Grange Ave., an abandoned factory in the lane behind #13, and formed Grange Arts and Performance ("The GAP") with a board of directors. They were public for 7 months but after a loud New Years party their neighbours got a court injunction against them. Heath remained there for 9 more years, fixing bicycles and working at the Toronto International Film Festival since it began in 1976, Marc Glassman’s 1984 Forbidden Film Festival, and the Macadamian Film Society screenings every Sunday night at the Rivoli 1982-1987. At the same time in Toronto, alternative screenings and performances were plentiful at the The Funnel Experimental Film Theatre, 1977-1988, and at the Euclid Theatre for Independent Film and Video, 1989-1993, which Heath had helped to build. But both those theatres were publicly funded, while Heath prefers more spontaneous and underground programming that he can only achieve with self-financing.

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In 1989 he rented 317 Spadina Ave., an abandoned factory in the lane behind #321. It had a lot of potential which was never realized because the landlord was unsympathetic, and the rent was high. Heath formed Access Bicycle Works - an ambitious plan for a bicycle repair co-op, and in March 1991 he opened CineCycle with a series of parties. The front half was a bicycle repair shop and espresso bar which guests walked through to the 80 seat cinema, which he rented out, and the whole space was crowded with old bicycles and equipment, and over-run with cats. Its projection formats include 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, 9.5mm and super 8 film, and video, the only such cinema in Toronto. It was featured in the press, quickly became popular and was busy for 4 years with regular or special screenings, performances, parties and meetings by a variety of groups and organizations, many of them publicly funded, and independent filmmakers.

Heath’s “Silent Sundays” presented weekly screenings of classic “silent” films from his collection, with live piano accompaniment by John Henry Nyenhuis. Some of the feature-length films were 8mm copies for which artist Petra Chevrier custom-built Toronto’s only Xenon-lamp 8mm projector, with 2,000 foot reels. Toronto’s film co-op L.I.F.T. used CineCycle for its monthly screenings of members’ films, and the Innis Film Society (later Frames Per Second) used it for some of their screenings and guest appearances by “avant-garde” filmmakers. Pleasure Dome Artists’ Film Exhibition Group has used CineCycle regularly since it opened, bringing many notable film and video artists from around the world. CineCycle had a small stage in front of the screen which was used often by stand-up satirist Sheila Gostick and by the Shake Well Performance Art group. In 1994 the Inside Out Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival used CineCycle for many of its screenings.

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In 1995 Heath moved CineCycle to its present location - the former coachhouse of 401 Richmond St. W., in the lane behind 129 Spadina Ave. The landlords are sympathetic and the “401” building is occupied by many alternative arts groups. The old coachhouse required a lot of major work which is still continuing, but CineCycle has attracted many regulars who have volunteered to help over the years. The space is smaller so Heath must clear the cinema to repair bicycles, and there is no stage but Heath says one is possible.

In 1996 fellow film collector Reg Hartt brought his twice-weekly Cineforum screenings to CineCycle for 6 months. L.I.F.T.’s monthly members’ screenings were again held at CineCycle 1998-2000, the Toronto Animated Image Society began using CineCycle for screenings in 1998, and Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists began in 2001. Pleasure Dome continues to use CineCycle regularly, including for its annual outdoor Open Screening in the “401” parking lot or courtyard, which can run on for hours. Pleasure Dome co-founder Jonathan Pollard has screened films and videos from his own collection at CineCycle several times, and since 1999 he and Heath have organized Home Movie events including repair clinics, open screenings and screenings of the 90-minute, 16mm home movie “The Catherine Films” (1937-1952) which they had found and returned to the original owner after it had been lost for 45 years. The story of “The Catherine Films,” a complete list of Pleasure dome programs, and many photographs of CineCycle appear in Pleasure Dome’s 10th anniversary book “Lux” (2000).

Now in his 50s, Martin Heath is bicycling more than ever. In 1998 he became the world distance record holder for Brevet de Randonneur Mondiaux (BRM) bicycle rides, cycling 9,780 kilometres in one year.

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

16mm Projectors Available for Screenings

- a Phillips Kinoton FP16 Professional Pedestal 500W Xenon

- a portable Eiki 300W Xenon silent speed

- a portable Elmo CX-350 Xenon slot-load

- two other portable Eikis

- a portable Bell & Howell

- two portable Pageants

(more details, including other film formats, to come)

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

CineCycle
Underground Cinema
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 416-971-4273

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PROGRAM YOUR OWN SHOW!
Show any of CineCycle's films for FREE
when you rent CineCycle.
16mm & 35mm! 100 Features! 100s of Shorts!
Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Experimental!
See List of Feature Films on 35mm

Feature Films on 16mm
A Bigger Splash (2015, drama film) dir. Luca Guadagnino
A New Leaf (1971, black comedy) dir. Elaine May
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 American drama) dir. Elia Kazan
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944 American biographical film) dir.Irving Rapper
Anatomy of a Murder (1959) dir. Otto Preminger
AGE OF CONSENT (Michael Powell, Australia; 1969)
ALEXANDER NEVSKY (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR; 1938)
BEAU SERGE (Claude Chabrol, France; 1958)
(From A ?) Bird's Eye View (1969-71 British TV?)
Big House, U.S.A. (1955 American crime film) dir. Howard W. Koch
BLACK FOX (Steven Hillard Stern, USA/Canada; 1995)
BLACKMAILED (Marc Allégret, UK; 1951)
Boots Malone (1952 drama film starring William Holden) dir. William Dieterle
Born Losers (1967 action film and the first of the Billy Jack movies) dir. T.C. Frank
Boys in the Sand (Wakefield Poole, USA, 1971, landmark gay porn film)
BONNE ANNEE (Claude Lelouch, France/Italy; 1973)
Breathless (1983 American drama) dir. Jim McBride

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CALCUTTA (Louis Malle, France; 1969)
CALL OF THE WILD (Ken Annakin, UK/France, 1972) [French, no subtitles]
CHARIOTS OF THE GODS (Harald Reinl, West Germany; 1970)
LES CHOUANS (Philippe de Broca, France; 1988)
CONCRETE JUNGLE aka: THE CRIMINAL (Joseph Losey, UK; 1960)
CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT (Tay Garnett, USA; 1949)
DARK WATERS (Andre De Toth, USA; 1944)
DIESEL (Gerhard Lamprecht, Germany; 1942) [no subtites]
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (Rouben Mamoulian, USA; 1931)
Elmer Gantry (1960 American drama film, w. Burt Lancaster) dir. Richard Brooks
EXCALIBUR (John Boorman, UK/USA; 1981)
EXECUTION NIGHT (1957 episode of TV programme Conflict) w/ Virginia Mayo
ECSTASY (Gustav Machaty, Czechoslovakia/Austria, 1933)
FANNY (Marc Allegret, France; 1932)
Farewell to False Paradise (Tevfik Bas¸er, Germany, 1989)
FILLE DES MARAIS (Augusto Genina, Italy; 1949) [no subtitles]
FLUTE AND THE ARROW (Arne Sucksdorff, Sweden; 1959)
Für immer und immer (Hark Bohm, 1997, film about children aka For Ever and Ever)

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Gene Autry (x2 American Westerns)
High Noon (1952 American Western, starring Gary Cooper) dir. Fred Zinnemann
Home of the Brave (1949 American war film) dir. Mark Robson
I Am a Camera (Henry Cornelius, UK, 1955, comedy-drama based on The Berlin Stories)
IVAN THE TERRIBLE parts 1 & 2 (Sergei Eisenstein, USSR; 1944/1958)
Jewel De'Nyle (American porn)
JUDGE ET L’ ASSASSIN (Bertrand Tavernier, France; 1976)
KIDNAPPED (Alfred L. Werker, USA; 1938)
LEO THE LAST (John Boorman, UK; 1970)
LEEDS UNITED (British TV mockumentary; information pending inspection)
LES GIRLS (George Cukor, USA; 1957)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962 British) dir. Tony Richardson
Long Day's Journey into Night (Sidney Lumet, 1962, USA, adapted Eugene O'Neill play)
The Long, Hot Summer (1958 American) dir. Martin Ritt

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MA NUIT CHEZ MAUD (Eric Rohmer, France; 1969)
Macbeth (1948 American) dir. Orson Welles
MAGICIAN (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1958)
MARIE ANN (Martin Walters, Canada; 1978)
MAYERLING TO SARAJEVO (Max Ophuls, France; 1940)
METHADONE: AN AMERICAN WAY OF DEALING (Jim Klein, USA; 1974)
MODERATO CANTABILE (Peter Brook, Italy/France; 1960)
Morgan! – A Suitable Case for Treatment (Karel Reisz, UK, 1966, comedy-drama)
MY SISTER, MY LOVE (Vilgot Sjoman, Sweden; 1966)
MYSTERY OF MILLION DOLLAR HOCKEY PUCK (Jean LaFleur, Canada; 1975)
Night Watch (1973 British-American suspense-thriller) dir. Brian G. Hutton
NO PLACE TO HIDE (Robert Allen Schnitzer, USA; 1970) w/ Sylvester Stallone
No Way Out (1950 American crime, drama) dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Notorious (1946 American spy thriller, film noir) dir. and prod. by Alfred Hitchcock
NUIT DE VARENNES (Ettore Scola, France/Italy; 1982)
ONIBABA (Kaneto Shindo, Japan; 1964) French subtitles
OTLEY (Dick Clement, UK; 1968)

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PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (Henry Cornelius, UK; 1949)
PERIL FOR THE GUY (James Hill, UK; 1956)
The Phenix City Story (1955 American film noir) dir. Phil Karlson
PIRANHA PART TWO: THE SPAWNING (James Cameron, USA; 1981)
Pleasure Palace (1973 Canadian)
PRAZDNINY S MINKOU (Josef Pinkava, Czechoslovakia; 1963)
PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN (Alexander Korda, UK; 1934)
PROPHET FROM PUGWASH (Carole Moore-Ede Myers, Canada; 1978) CBC TV doc
RASHOMON (Akira Kurosawa, Japan; 1950)
RED DRAGON (Hong Kong kung fu movie; information pending inspection)
Repulsion (1965 British psychological horror) dir. Roman Polanski
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958 British horror) dir. Terence Fisher
RULES OF THE GAME (Jean Renoir, France; 1939)
SACCO AND VANZETTI (Giuliano Montaldo, Italy; 1971)
SECOND CHORUS (H.C. Potter, USA; 1940)
SECRETS OF WOMEN (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1952)
SEVENTH SEAL (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1957)
SILENCE (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1963) [dubbed]
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Henry King, USA, 1952, w/ Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner)
The Summer of the Hawk (Arend Agthe, West Germany, 1988, adventure)
SUDAN (John Rawlins, USA; 1945)
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959, USA, Southern Gothic mystery)

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TEOREMA (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy; 1968) [colour fading]
THINGS TO COME (William Cameron Menzies, UK; 1936)
This Sporting Life (1963 British drama) dir. Lindsay Anderson
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1961)
THUNDER OVER ARIZONA (Joseph Kane, USA; 1956)
TWENTY SEVEN-A (Esben Storm, Australia; 1974)
THE VANQUISHED (Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy; 1953)
VOGUES OF 1938 (Irving Cummings, USA; 1937)
THE WAR GAME (Peter Watkins, UK; 1965)
White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932, USA, pre-Code horror, starring Bela Lugosi)
WILD FRUIT (Herve Bromberger, France; 1954)
WILD STRAWBERRIES (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1957)
WINTER LIGHT (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden; 1962)
Witchfinder General (Michael Reeves, UK, 1968, horror, aka The Conqueror Worm)
The Wolf Man (George Waggner, USA, 1941, horror, w/ Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains)

back to top of 16mm Films

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Feature Films on 35mm
AIDA (Clemente Fracassi, Italy; 1953)
ASK THE DEAD ABOUT THE PRICE OF DEATH (Kaljo Kiisk, Estonia; 1977)
THE BRIDGE (Bernhard Wicki, West Germany; 1959) dubbed
CAT AND MOUSE (Claude Lelouch, France; 1975) dubbed
ENDLESS SUMMER (Bruce Brown, USA; 1966) [colour fading]
GRAPES OF WRATH (John Ford, USA; 1940) [missing final reel]
GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY (Lamont Johnson, Canada/USA; 1972) [colour fading]
HINDENBURG (Robert Wise, USA; 1975)
HOLLYWOOD BABYLON (Van Guylder, USA; 1972)
KING OF HEARTS (Philippe de Broca, France; 1966)
LIFE AT THE TOP (Ted Kotcheff, UK; 1965)
LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (Billy Wilder, USA; 1957)
LUTHER (Guy Green, UK/USA; 1974)

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MAROONED (John Sturges, USA; 1969)
MODEL SHOP (Jacques Demy, France/USA; 1969) [colour fading]
MONTEREY POP (D.A. Pennebaker, USA; 1968) [colour fading]
NINE VICTIMS TO A MURDER (information pending inspection)
PASTOR AND VIRTUOUS (Hong Kong kung fu movie; information pending)
SONG SOAR (Ukrainian ; information pending inspection) no subtitles
STAVISKY (Alain Resnais, France/Italy; 1974) [colour fading]
SUSAN KELLY (Maria Sarat, Philippines; 1977)
TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (Jonathon Miller, UK; 1970)
TWO WOMEN (Vittorio De Sica, Italy; 1960) dubbed
WILLY BUSCH REPORT (Niklaus Schilling, West Germany; 1979)

back to top of 35mm Films - 16mm Films

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

CineCycle's
Annual Outdoor Screening
Every year since 2006, during Toronto's annual, city-wide,
all-night art event Nuit Blanche, CineCycle projects
Scopitones outdoors at 401 Richmond St. W.

Scopitones
Projected on 16mm film by Martin Heath,
film collector and proprietor of CineCycle,
an underground cinema and bicycle repair shop since 1991,
located in the coach house of 401 Richmond St. W., Toronto.

Scopitones were short, 1960s music films, the forerunners of
modern music videos. They were viewed on specially designed,
coin-operated jukeboxes with a movie screen, and set up in
nightclubs and bars, so their content was often adult. The first
and most Scopitones were produced in France but expanded
to other European countries and the USA. The European
Scopitones were very low budget, shot on 16mm black & white
film or cheap colour film which has since faded, but many USA
Scopitones were shot on 35mm Technicolor film then transferred
to 16mm Kodachrome, so their colours remain beautifully vibrant
today. Today, the original Scopitone 16mm films and jukeboxes
are sought by collectors, but many are available on YouTube.

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CINECYCLE LINKS

- Photos of Bike Week 2007 at CineCycle, by Martin Reis! -
(That's John Porter in the Janet Bike Girl "SUPER 8" t-shirt!)

- CineCycle story by Erin MacKeen, w/ a photo of Martin -

- 401 Richmond Street West, arts building with CineCycle -

- CineCycle t-shirts by CineCycle partner Janet Bike Girl -
Photos - CineCycle logo

- Pleasure Dome Artists' Film Exhibition, most often at CineCycle -

- Photo and review of CineCycle -

- R.I.P. cat Timmy 1992?-2007 -

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

WANTED!

Pianists to accompany

Bicycle-Powered Festival of Silent Film Classics!
A new invention by CineCycle's Martin Heath and
Petra Chevrier, using bicycle-riders from the audience!

DESCRIBED IN A

TORONTO DAILY NEWS STORY
The National Post, Saturday, December 1, 2007

>>> You've earned a large popcorn! <<<
Bike-powered projector soon to get its own filmfest
by Sarah B. Hood

A review of Pleasure Dome's premiere of Liss Platt's
performance, riding a bicycle-powered 16mm projector
designed by Petra Chevrier and Martin Heath of CineCycle,
Saturday, November 24, 2007 at the Latvian House, Toronto.

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CineCycle, behind 129 Spadina Ave., Toronto 416-971-4273

Location & Contact | Upcoming Events | Past Events

Facebook Group | Facebook Page | Services | History

at CineCycle - Underground Cinema & Bicycle Repair Shop in Toronto since 1991 - 33 years! Down the lane behind 129 Spadina Ave., between Richmond and Adelaide. http://www.super8porter.ca/CineCycle.htm

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