Conversation with the CNC

The CNC is one of the topics of the discussions of this 8th edition of the International Classic Film Market. This is the opportunity to come back on their actions for the Heritage cinema during a conversation animated by Laurent Cotillon, Executive Director of French Film.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 4:30 pm, Salle Karbone. After a round table on the evolution of the ecosystem of the Heritage sector, the CNC was the subject of a discussion in order to extend the debate around heritage cinema as a whole. During this new meeting organized by the MIFC, we met Benoît Danard (Director of Studies, Statistics and Forecasting of the CNC), Vincent Florant (Director of Digital of the CNC), Laurent Cormier (Director of the Cinematographic Heritage Department of the CNC), Jean-Fabrice Janaudy (Manager of Les Acacias) and Sabrina Joutard (Co-Secretary of SCFP, Catalog Deputy General of Pathé).

First and foremost, Benoît Danard presented a comprehensive study on the consumption of Heritage films. Eloquent figures from a market study available in full on the CNC's official website (you can see it here). It should be noted that 93% of the spectators who consume cinema in theaters also consume Heritage films. Moreover, according to the figures of the Director of Studies, Statistics and Prospective Studies of the CNC, the reasons for purchasing physical media, such as DVDs, correspond to 34% of people who want to watch a Heritage film again, having seen it in theaters or on television. 29% of the people questioned also acknowledged wanting to own the object for the purpose of a collection. A symbolic percentage that corroborates the appetite for Heritage cinema explained at other MIFC conferences where video publishers stated that the physical medium was gradually becoming a beautiful collector's item. Benoît Danard also points out that "Heritage film screenings are more effective than unpublished film screenings". This can be explained, according to him, by the fact that there are fewer Heritage film screenings and that there is a lot of communication work around these releases by the Art et Essai theaters. Another edifying figure in Benoît Danard's study: Netflix would have 54% of Heritage films in its catalog against 76% for Disney. This comparative study tends to prove that dematerialized platforms are also interested in Heritage films, even if the definition of a Heritage film was still questioned during this discussion. A thorny question: How a film can be considered as Heritage? The CNC answers between 10 and 20 years since its release. A difficult choice that involves many factors such as the time when the film was made or the technical progress it brings to the cinema. If we learned earlier in the morning of October 14, 2020, during the round table on the changing heritage sector, that the age of spectators in French cinemas was constantly declining, the Director of Studies, Statistics and Forecasting of the CNC points out the difference between viewers and "SVODists". Indeed, the average age of a spectator is 54 years old against 34 for SVOD consumers. A gap that can be explained by the different approach of new technologies due to a generational gap.

Despite the debate on the age of a Heritage film, Laurent Cormier was keen to recontextualize the definition of a Heritage film. Jean-Fabrice Janaudy made a point of clarification: "We are not all talking about the same thing. Some films clearly have a stake while others do not. One of the stakes is to know how the CNC supports small films and then how the editors deal with their editorials afterwards". Vincent Florant recontextualized the work of the CNC over the past fifty years in the Heritage film industry, evoking, among other things, strategic movements that were reinforced and accelerated during the Coronavirus crisis to perpetuate the preservation of Heritage films. Notably at the level of the physical support whose importance is primordial in the diffusion of classic films. "We have a more structural will in the distribution [of Heritage films]", affirms the Director of Digital at the CNC. "Having a good catalog allows us to reach a larger audience, to develop a marketing aspect. Today, we have to exist in a land of choice and possibility." Vincent Florant also pointed out a crucial problem, according to him: some French Heritage movie titles are not available in SVOD in France compared to the United States (via Amazon, Criterion, HBO Max). An argument that was slightly rectified by Sabrina Joutard as well as Vincent Paul-Boncour, Co-founder and Director of Carlotta Films, who was present in the assembly during this discussion with the CNC. Sabrina Joutard, Co-Secretary of SCFP and Catalog Deputy General of Pathé, spoke about the drastic cuts in CNC funding and explained that physical and dematerialized formats needed to find common ground to coexist. "The Call of the 85 is a wonderfull initiative," says Sabrina Joutard. "But we have to stop opposing the different media and find solutions for cohabitation. You also have to believe in the public's appetite. Look at the vinyl records in the United States... It's the first time in 30 years that sales have exceeded those of CDs. We are, on our side, in a market in full mutation and we need money to digitize our works". Sabrina Joutard nonetheless acknowledged the CNC's assistance over the past two years and thanked Laurent Cormier for his offer to speak with him at this discussion organized by the MIFC.

Laurent Cormier: "It should be remembered that we had a fairly large budget until now but that we had to reduce it for reasons of financial capacity. It is a reserve constituted by the CNC at the time when we collected taxes that worked very well. The government asked us to reduce the rate of these taxes and to cap their profitability. We have used up this reserve, and today, as Olivier Henrard said this morning, the CNC is financing the digitization plan not from a reserve but from its own funds". Vincent Florant concluded by reaffirming the major strategic objectives that CNC has set itself, particularly support for video, which needs to be slightly adapted to better meet the expectations of publishers. "We didn't wait until 2021 to do so. We did it during the measures expected by the Heritage sector during the crisis, particularly by working with video publishers".