Criterion has established a Canadian home in Toronto’s Entertainment District.
To coincide with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the New York City-based entertainment distribution company has opened its first Canadian brick-and-mortar store at home video retailer Cinema Cellar. Located on 129 John St. right by the TIFF Lightbox and Scotiabank Theatre, the new space offers a go-to place for Canadians to shop all kinds of beloved movies. Criterion is taking over the store for TIFF and will have a permanent section thereafter alongside other film companies.
Anne Kawalerski, Criterion’s chief marketing officer, says the idea for the new Toronto store came after the company saw over 1,000 cinephiles visiting the Criterion Mobile Closet during last year’s TIFF.
“We had this moment of like, ‘Oh my gosh, there is demand for physical media, and there’s demand for the Criterion Collection and there’s demand for community. So how do we think about this year, when we approach TIFF, doing something a little bigger?'” she says. “We’re going to be here after the festival, which we’re really excited about, to recreate that video store type of environment, because we know people are hungry to browse and discover, have a third place to talk to one another about the films that they love.”
Popping by the store on the first day of TIFF made it clear that Criterion’s passion for celebrating cinema could be felt throughout. In addition to walls of neatly organized shelves featuring everything from Martin Scorsese and Federico Fellini to Akira Kurosawa and Edward Yang, posters and special merch like t-shirts and hats can be found throughout. There’s even the opportunity to preview upcoming products, with Criterion offering an early look at The Complete Kubrick special boxset featuring 13 films, three shorts and over 20 hours of supplemental material.
The store also pays tribute to Criterion’s popular Closet video series in which filmmakers, actors and other guests discuss their favourite films, with a TV screen featuring highlights (Laura Dern during my visit). There’s also a cozy Polaroid wall featuring many of these guests, like Francis Ford Coppola, Toronto’s own David Cronenberg and even Charli XCX.
Kawalerski says the new Toronto location is a particularly good fit given “the passion” surrounding films here, with last year’s Criterion Mobile Closet being the perfect example.
“We were delighted by who showed up. Probably about 80 per cent of the people were under 30, so just a tremendous amount of younger folks coming out — the diversity was amazing,” she says. “So the idea of younger generations engaging with physical media and film was so powerful, and something that we definitely wanted to make sure that we were responding to and giving them more and more reasons to come out.”
Of course, these kinds of film preservation efforts are all the more relevant in the digital age, especially as we see companies like Sony planning to end PlayStation game production while simultaneously revoking access to hundreds of purchased movies due to expired licences.
According to Kawalerski, Criterion’s work is important not only for maintaining access to films, but to better capture the intentions behind these works.
“We want to make sure that we’re giving people the definitive piece of art, as the director and the filmmaker intended it to be. So that’s really important to us, particularly in this digital age and AI with things getting altered. [We’re] making sure that we really represent what this was as it was intended to be, and then we also obviously add to it,” she says, noting that there’s additional material like behind-the-scenes videos, director’s cuts, essays and more.
“So, what else can we actually surround the film with to make sure that we’re supplying that additional context to people, so they really understand the story behind the story and sort of how to think about the film?”
Admittedly, the movies can be a bit pricey. Since I always want to celebrate Canadian artists, I bought one of my favourites, Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, and it cost $46. (That said, it is 4K/Blu-ray combo with special packaging.) Still, the work that Criterion is doing is crucial from a preservation standpoint, and to Kawalerski’s earlier point, the sense of community can definitely be felt as people excitedly grab their favourite films and create makeshift “Closet Picks” videos.
Given that I often come downtown to see movies at TIFF or the Scotiabank, I, for one, am very much looking forward to adding Cinema Cellar to the rotation.
Update: 10/09/2026 at 2:54 p.m. ET — Clarified that Criterion is taking over the full Cinema Cellar for TIFF but will have a section alongside other film companies thereafter.
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