SUDBURY -- During this latest lockdown, Sudbury's Indie Cinema is finding ways to forge ahead, setting itself apart from much of its competition. 

Sudbury's Indie Cinema is once again offering virtual programming. It’s one of very few cinemas that is currently taking this approach.  

"This was something that was initiated by a couple of art house distributors in New York City and Sudbury Indie Cinema was one of the first Canadian cinemas that they reached out to, to participate and so last spring we were able to bring 20 or 30 titles to people to watch at home," said Beth Mairs, lead programmer with Sudbury Indie Cinema. 

One of the films that will be airing is 'Sound of Metal'. It’s about a heavy metal drummer who begins to lose his hearing. 

"His girlfriend is the singer who is the other person in the band and they have a relationship together and they’ve been together for about four years," said the Indie Cinema's Stephanie Doventon. "They were both were addicts of one sort of another and he’s playing the drums very loudly as you can imagine and what they story is about is him loosing his hearing, and coming to terms with that."

Doventon said that some of the actors in the film are hard of hearing, noting that this film is open captioned. 

There are ten films that are scheduled to run until the middle of February, and officials with Indie Cinema said that depending on whether the stay at home order is still in place, the virtual offerings will be extended. 

"The films that we are releasing right now are films that we would be showing here that we had booked with distributors to show, they are all films that have been short listed they are in the top ten list," said Mairs. "For example, with Mayor and with Blizzard of Souls that we’ve released this week, we are literally the only cinemas in Canada showing these films and it’s the only way you can access it."

Indie Cinema says the virtual screenings are available to people all across Canada. 

Tickets for virtual films can be purchased on the Sudbury Indie Cinema website.