The Forum rebirth by MATTHEW HAYS After years of anticipation, the Forum will reopen next week as a multimedia complex. The building has been reinvented as a 22-screen cinema, one that will also include shops and restos. The opening comes at an odd time in Montreal's movie milieu. Two months ago, as part of its economic restructuring, the Cineplex chain shut down several of its cinemas, including the Faubourg, Atwater and Egyptian. Competition for downtown filmgoers had been steep, after the launch, some two years ago, of Famous Players Paramount. The question will be, can Montreal's market fill another 4,400 seats? It's a tall order, but American Multi Cinemas (AMC) spokesman Jack Gardner says it can be done, "absolutely--downtown Montreal has a real shortage of screens." Gardner notes that the Forum will distance itself from the loud, arcade-like atmosphere of the Paramount and will work to showcase smaller, independent films that might not otherwise get screened due to overbearing big-budget Hollywood blockbusters. AMC will also be competing on another level: tickets will be cheaper. Though it's funny that we now think of it as a deal, tix cost a mere $10.50, $9 for students. AMC also has a frequency program--much like a frequent-flyer deal, it allows people to rack up points which can be used towards movie tickets and concession items. Hopefully, competition in the market will mean cheaper ticket prices, which are currently out of control. Local merchants took a severe hit when the Forum closed down and undoubtedly its rebirth will be a welcome thing for the neighbourhood which, quite frankly, isn't terribly pleasant (I lived there for four years). But a 22-screen complex like this one, for whatever good things it will bring, will almost certainly also mean death for smaller cinemas about town. Montreal will have its first ever Jewish Student Film Festival this Saturday and Sunday, April 28-29. On Saturday, the shorts begin at 9:30 p.m., at noon on Sunday. Awards for the winners will be announced on Sunday at 5 p.m. Mazel tov! The Jewish Public Library will present a screening of Just a Wedding, Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Beverly Shaffer's sequel to her documentary about a young girl living with spina bifida, I'll Find a Way. The screening takes place Sunday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the library. Info: 345-2629 Ext. 3017. On Saturday I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down to watch my fave John Boorman film, Deliverance. It helped that the film was screening on PBS and thus was commercial-free. But I know the film well enough to be dismayed that all sorts of things were hacked out of it. One would have hoped that the highfalutin types over at PBS would have the smarts not to mess with a movie this great. If you don't want to screen it in its entirety, fellas, do us all a favour and don't bother showing it at all. COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com