MONTREAL – Art-house fans in rural Quebec can breathe a sigh of relief. Cineplex Entertainment and a Quebec distributor have worked out a way to ensure that foreign and auteur films make it to this province’s small-town Cineplex screens.

In early April, a highly public dispute broke out between the exhibitor and Quebec distributor K-Films Amérique, after Cineplex cancelled the May debut of Un baiser s’il vous plait in its downtown Montreal and Quebec City cinemas. Cineplex said K-Films broke the chain’s unofficial ‘first-run-only’ rule by also programming the film on the publicly subsidized Réseau Plus circuit, a network of 40 outlets set up to bring auteur films to people living outside urban centers.

Last week, Cineplex invited K-Films’ Louis Dussault to discuss the issue. ‘We decided to speak to each other and clear up any misunderstanding,’ Cineplex spokesperson Pat Marshall tells Playback Daily.

The two sides worked out an agreement whereby K-Films must give right of first refusal to Cineplex theaters before it programs a flick on the Réseau Plus circuit. It’s a ‘temporary’ solution, says Dussault. ‘This is an agreement with Cineplex, not the whole network of commercial theater owners in the province.’

There are 22 Cineplex theaters in Quebec.

In an open letter in Montreal’s Le Devoir newspaper on Tuesday, the president of the APCCQ, which represents more than 70 commercial theater owners in Quebec, repeated his allegation that the Réseau Plus network represents unfair competition for the province’s private theaters.

Quebec Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre has set up a working group with K-Films, the APCCQ, Réseau Plus and SODEC to resolve the issue. A spokesman for SODEC says the first meeting will likely take place in May.