Criterion has spent decades curating some of the world's best movies and turning them into collector’s items. Now, the influential home-video label is putting down permanent roots in Canada.
The Criterion Collection will establish a physical presence in downtown Toronto in partnership with its Canadian distributor, Cinema Cellar. The store is scheduled to open during the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, which runs September 10 to 20.
The location on John Street will sit close to TIFF Lightbox, placing it right in the middle of the action for the popular festival. Cinema Cellar will also stock releases from other labels. Up to now, Criterion maintained a largely online relationship with Canadian collectors. Cinema Cellar currently serves as the exclusive Canadian distributor for the Criterion Collection, offering its releases on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD.
Criterion had previously tested the waters, having brought its Mobile Closet to TIFF last year, a truck which gave festivalgoers a chance to browse its catalogue of physical media in person. It also arrives at an interesting moment for physical media. As we can see in the music world, streaming has made also accessing movies easier than ever, but it has simultaneously created a new collector culture around discs, restorations, packaging and the preservation of works that can otherwise become difficult to find. Criterion has long occupied the centre of that culture, treating its releases as objects of film history as much as home entertainment.
Criterion has over the years released and restored many prominent and important Canadian films, but no word yet on whether Canadian movies would have a special place in this new physical store.
McCollough in Los Angeles, 2023 Pete Lee
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McCollough with sister Colleen Courtesy of Colleen McCollough
