City Cinema changes in the works

Charlottetown's independent movie theatre is goingnon-profit.

City Cinema, which opened downtown in 1993, has held more than 1,600 screenings.

Co-founder and manager Derek Martin told CBC News it is now time for a change.

"We're kind of like a non-profit already, in that we work with volunteers, we have a membershipthings that non-profits already do," Martin explained.

Martinalso said his research has revealed other cinemas in Canada have been successfulin taking this route.

''There are a few good examples of cinemas that have made a similar transformation and done very, very well," he said.

Martin is helping to work out the handing over of the cinema to a non-profit, community-run board.

The members of the Charlottetown Film Society will be elected at a meeting in September.

One of their first assignments will be to fundraise for new digital projection equipment.