MONTREAL — Cinephiles are breathing easier after Quebec’s culture minister kicked in $175,000 to help the venerated rep theater Cinéma Parallèle settle into a new home in downtown Montreal.

Quebec’s culture minister, Cinema Parallel and a non-profit corporation, the Angus Development Corp., announced recently that they will work together to move Cinéma Parallèle to a new complex in the heart of Montreal’s red-light district. The new complex is set to go up at the corner of De Maisonneuve and Saint-Laurent Boulevards over the next two years.

‘Placing Cinéma Parallèle in this building will be a major step towards revitalizing this entire section of Saint-Laurent Boulevard. It will help make this area a real center for independent cinema,’ said Angus’ Christian Yaccarini in a statement. The National Film Board and Cinémathèque Québécoise theaters are just down the street.

In January, fans and distributors of independent film panicked when Softimage founder Daniel Langlois announced that he would stop showing films at his three-theater Ex-Centris complex on St. Laurent, which until recently was home to Cinéma Parallèle and two other screens that showed predominantly rep-house films. Distributors of Quebec independent film said they obtain between 30% and 50% of their box office from Ex-Centris.

In February, Langlois said that although he was shutting his other two screens, Cinéma Parallèle could stay at Ex-Centris and make use of its box office and staff.

The new building will be at the heart of what Angus hopes will be Montreal’s new Quartier des spectacles performing arts district. Arts organizations and major corporate players such as Équipe Spectra — which puts on the Montreal Jazz Festival — have been lobbying various levels of government for help to spiffy up this rundown section of St. Laurent. between Ste. Catherine Street and René Lévesque Boulevard. Business owners have been selling their much-coveted real estate to Angus, which wants to transform the neighborhood into an eco-friendly showcase of art and socially responsible retail.

The Montreal Gazette reported in March that Angus is trying to acquire Montreal institutions such as Café Cléopatre, Main Importing Grocery and the Montreal Pool Room.