After last week’s announcement that Rainbow Cinemas is set to close at the end of August, Beth Mairs, a local filmmaker, decided to call a public stakeholders’ meeting to explore available options.

"(The closure) is heart-breaking to me," says Mairs, cofounder of BAM North Productions, an independent film company specializing in adventure film. "Like many people who love independent cinema, and who have a vision for downtown Sudbury, I’ve really appreciated Rainbow Cinemas, in terms of being a business, but with a heart."

The cinema, which was "very community-oriented," Mairs says, regularly screened independent films and those beyond the Hollywood radar — films she says would not otherwise have come to Sudbury.

Tom Hutchinson, president of Magic Lantern Theatres, indicated in a recent interview with The Sudbury Star his company has chosen not to invest in the digital film technology it would need to continue operating Rainbow Cinemas, because of chronically low attendance at the theatre.

Mairs says the cost of conversion runs from $60,000 to $70,000 per screen; however, she notes new releases can be screened on Blu-Ray equipment and are relatively inexpensive to press. Rainbow Cinemas currently has two theatres outfitted to run Blu-Ray films.

There is still about a year left on the cinema’s lease and Mairs says she hopes she can galvanize support at Thursday’s meeting to use the space for film screenings and other events. Part exploratory surgery and part brainstorming session, at which stakeholders will discuss their ideas on ways to use the space, Mairs encourages all interested parties to attend.

She would like to see the theatre operate as a full-fledged art house complex and a bonafide alternative to SilverCity, but notes it could also house a restaurant, a live-entertainment venue or an art gallery.

"It’s a call to action of local stakeholders," she says. "I’m putting a call out to people who have been customers, people who appreciate independent film, as well as people who work locally in film."

Invitees include representatives from the city’s arts and culture department, Music and Film in Motion, Cinefest, local event promoters, as well as representatives from Downtown Sudbury, Laurentian University’s School of Architecture and the Rainbow Centre.

"The meeting is bringing together like-minded people who feel a personal investment in keeping a theatre down-town," Mairs says. "It’s a question of sharing information and perspective in a way that we could possibly move forward. If Rainbow is stuck with their lease, we can help them by aggressively programming interesting films downtown that truly is an alternative to what one would find at the Cineplex property."

Mairs says the meeting is intended as an informal feasibility study to determine whether the downtown core would support an entertainment venue.

Ian Carlyle, of Le Conseil de la coopération de l’Ontario (CCO), plans to attend. The CCO, which facilitates succession planning and promotes co-operative initiatives in Northern Ontario, believes there is potential for the cinema to operate as a social enterprise, possibly an "artists’ hub," which he says Sudbury’s creative landscape currently lacks.

One of the other possibilities includes operating the theatre as a democratically run, member-driven initiative, in which members make decisions collectively. Nothing has yet been formalized, but at Thursday’s meeting, "we’re going to present what can be done," Carlyle says.

"Can we take it over as a corporation, as a non-profit organization or as a co-operative? We’ll look at the most feasible option."

Thursday’s meeting is open to the public. It occurs at 2 p.m. in the party room at Rainbow Cinemas. Mairs has also set up a Facebook group, Support Rainbow Cinema Sudbury, at http://tinyurl.com/louolj5.