Feature : French cinema: the comeback

France has one of the most concentrated cinema networks in the world. A wealth which is enriched by its programming to which the Art and Experimental Movement contributes. Quality, diversity and independence are on the programme.

Here we have the retrospective of Julien Duvivier, Director of Pépé le Moko and Carnet de bal (Dance Card), with debates, and there the festival of memory, organised by the local cinema action group with authors present. In France, despite the spread of multiplexes and the influence of programming chains (Gaumont, UGC, Pathé...) accounting for over half the admissions, independent cinema owners maintain a concern to diversify what they offer and to pass on their passion for the cinema by keeping it alive.

The French cinema stock (around 5000 cinemas) is actually still made up in particular of small cinemas with one to three screens. Paris, notably, has a unique heritage, both in its diversity and in its programming. Out of its ninety-five establishments, six have over ten cinemas and one cinema in five is classed as Art and Experimental. There are therefore around 900 screens which belong (alongside some 250 unclassified) to the French Association of Art and Experimental Cinemas (AFCAE).

Represented at the National Cinematographic Centre (CNC) and at the head of the International Confederation of Art and Experimental Cinemas, the AFCAE considers that it is one of the cinemas’ duties to help cinemagoers become film buffs and sharpen their critical understanding. They therefore receive a personal welcome, information about the films (of yesterday, today, from here and elsewhere), or meet the directors there. And the driving force behind this? It is the preservation of the film industry "both as original artistic expression, in a spirit of independence from the diktat of market criteria alone". In the same vein, the National Group of Research Cinemas unites two hundred and fifty cinemas concerned about promoting and distributing innovative, contemporary and stock works.

Towards another type of film industry

Demanding film buffs, professionals, researchers and amateurs will also be able to meet up in Paris soon, in an innovative arena at the Parc de Bercy. Entirely dedicated to films, it will include cinemas equipped for screening films of every format, a multimedia library, a video library, a museum, exhibitions... it will organise educational activities and will become a remote resource centre through its web site.

Conducted in part by the CNC, the project is notably associated with the Cinémathèque française (French Film Archive). The latter, which houses one of the richest collections of films and archives, is making the most of its film collection by organizing educational and restoration activities and by showing its films in the cinemas of the Palais de Chaillot and of the Grands Boulevards.

Another major forum for exploring the film industry, still in Paris, is the Forum des Images (Picture Forum) at Les Halles. Originally devoted to the audiovisual memory of Paris, it has actually become a hub for planning programmes around social and urban themes, and its 6400 films are available for individual consultation.

However, the film industry is not limited to the capital. In fact, cinemas are still generally well distributed over the entire country. "This development is unique to France and is due to the authorities’ voluntarist policy", assures Nicole Delaunay, Operations Manager at the CNC. In several towns, initiatives (widely supported by the local authorities) are being taken to keep local cinemas going.

In the Lyons area, for example, a community network linking thirty cinemas has been formed to "preserve some degree of quality and independence" and to reach a varied audience. Finally, even in remote rural areas, enthusiasts manage to organise screenings, through a touring bus, and they play to packed houses!

In order to support cinema operations, the CNC provides specific grants: for setting up and modernising cinemas in inadequately served areas; for Art and Experimental cinemas; for independent cinemas maintaining a complex programme scheduling in the face of competition, and a subsidy for encouraging cultural activities for the small cinemas.