Toronto’s latest public art project might be easy to miss at first glance. The “Little Free Cinema” sits near Wychwood Barns, and looks a bit like a Little Free Library, but instead of paperbacks, it offers something much rarer: a tiny public venue for experimental film! Passersby can look through a peephole and watch a silent short playing on a miniature screen inside.
This microcinema was installed in January by the BUS Collective, an arts and design group made up of architects and filmmakers committed to creating public art interventions across Toronto. The group was founded by Wyatt Armstrong, Noah Gotlib, Ian Pica-Limbaseanu, Rennie Taylor and Abhishek Wagle.
Head over this month from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, and you can see the looped silent film diario de verano (summer diary) (2025) by Cristal Buemi and Franci Duran, a work that uses local plants in the film-development process. Previous programming has also included Tape-stry (2023), which is a 16 mm experimental animation video by Rennie Taylor, as well as Sugar Beach (2011) by Mark Loeser and Through and Through (1992) by Barbara Sternberg.
According to a recent Toronto Star article, The Little Free Cinema was inspired by New York’s Peephole Cinema, but the Toronto version has been adapted to feel right at home. While its form may look like a Little Free Library, its iconic painted eye is meant to recall the city’s Neighbourhood Watch signs, so passersby can stop and look rather than simply monitor.
BUS’s ambition is to eventually create a mobile gallery. The collective has already said it wants to build 10 more of these Little Free Cinemas across Toronto and is actively looking for more sites, including front lawns, parks, cafés and restaurants!
But for now, the Little Free Cinema in Wychwood is the first step.
Follow @buscollective for more info and the exact location of the cinema.
