Highlands Cinemas
L to R: Keith Stata Filming for Fenelon Falls District High School Film Club | Keith and Roland at the Opening of the Movie Man at Highlands Cinemas | The Movie Man Opens at Highlands Cinemas | The Museum at Highlands Cinemas
As Keith Stata was growing up in Kinmount in the 1960s, film was a relatively new media to the area. Though Kinmount did not have a theatre—there were cinemas in Lindsay, Fenelon Falls and Kinmount—kids from the region loved to go to the cinema, in an era when televisions were not yet common. Keith dreamed of moving to Hollywood and becoming a film producer. While attending Fenelon Falls District High School (later Secondary School) he was a founder of the film club, where he and his friends shot their own motion pictures. Though his dreams of making it big in Hollywood would not come true, he would devote his life to sharing his love of film with others.
As a young man, Keith Stata operated a construction business, while showing films in his family home. After trying the Community Centre and Anglican Church as venues, his family welcomed visitors to their basement to watch movies, with a bed on the floor as seating. Popcorn was served out of the kitchen, as visitors chatted with his mother on their way out of the ‘theatre.’ In 1975, Keith took the leap of faith, beginning work on a purpose-built cinema attached to his home. By 1996, he completed five, each with their own unique design. Who would have believed that Kinmount, a village of 300 people could support a five-screen theatre with 550 seats!?
Called “the most UNIQUE multiplex in the world,” Keith built Highlands Cinemas in an era when theatres were closing across North America. As theatres were shutting down in larger centres, Keith collected the projectors, film reels and parts from more than 450 theatres. He used all of these artifacts to build a theatre and museum that is more of an attraction than the films it shows. Located in the woods north of town, it is not uncommon for visitors to encounter wildlife as they visit. As of 2025, Highlands Cinemas also cares for 58 abandoned cats.
In 2024, Highlands Cinemas showed a very special documentary. Matt Finlin’s The Movie Man tells the history of this theatre and the story of how Keith Stata managed to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. As he was starting out, many film distributors were put off by this unconventional cinema, but in an era when the movie industry as a whole is in peril, critics suggest The Movie Man is the kind of story that might help revive interest. If you would like to see The Movie Man or any other motion picture, there is no more interesting place to see it than Highlands Cinemas.
