Case studies : european film librairies

Lisbon, Milan, Paris: examples of innovative initiatives by European film libraries. 

During this 8th edition of the International Classic Film Market (MIFC), Portugal and Italy will be at the heart of a discussion on heritage cinema through the work of their film libraries. A meeting moderated by Eugénie Filho, Director of Publication - Revus et Corrigés.

Thursday, October 15, 2020, 3:45 pm, Salle Karbone. As part of the Europe and Heritage session, MIFC welcomed José Manuel Costa (Directeur de la Cinematica Portuguesa), Mateo Pavesi (Director, Cineteca Milano) and Emilie Cauquy (Head of Access and Development of Film Collections, La Cinémathèque française). The three interlocutors came to discuss their respective work in the framework of the Lisbon, Milan and Paris cinematheques. In particular during the period of containment linked to the health crisis and the launch of internal streaming platforms.

José Manuel Costa opened the discussion: "We understood that we had to prepare for the future of the cinema. To what will happen afterwards. The Lisbon film library has found a new place during the containment and especially on the Internet". Directeur de la Cinematica Portuguesa explained that his work was part of an identity approach to Portuguese cinema and transmission of Heritage cinema to the younger generation. And this transmission goes through digital technology which, according to José Manuel Costa, has become "one of the legal challenges of the cinematheque since 2014". Thus, Cinematica Portuguesa has put online about 1,000 heritage films in free and open access. It has also launched its own streaming system with 25 feature films available, in addition to short films, commercials and other animated films. "All this is surrounded by a pedagogical accompaniment that contextualizes these films for young audiences," concludes José Manuel Costa.

For her part, Emilie Cauquy came to talk about the streaming platform of La Cinémathèque française "Henri". The development of this initiative was done in only ten days. "We are currently federating the services to perpetuate the platform. We have also contacted the rights holders of the works broadcast". The person in charge of access to and development of film collections at the Cinémathèque française gave some figures on the success of “Henri” platform, in particular the 77,000 people who have watched The Fall of the House of Usher. An Heritage film directed by Jean Epstein in 1928 and for which the Cinémathèque française holds the rights. "In 2012, the catalog of restored films was one of our first initiatives. We also tried to create a showcase of the restorations and safeguards of the cinematheque accompanied by ambitious publications of written texts to return to the importance of a film or a director. As José Manuel Costa said just now, it is important to create and bring a pedagogy to the public around the cinema of Heritage.” 

Mateo Pavesi, Director, Cineteca Milano, was present at this discussion via the Zoom application and spoke about his institution and the work done in the confinement of the Heritage Cinema. "In January, we had 350 subscribers to the film library. Then, the confinement linked to the health crisis arrived faster than in France", explained Pavesi. "In May, we recorded more than 5,000,000 visits to our site. Our approach is mainly supported by heritage cinema with silent films as well as short films with a strong sense of identity, based on Italian history and more particularly that of Milan." The Director of Cineteca Milano also raised the question of the age of the viewer in cinemas, which was on the decline in Italy. A step backwards that corroborates the CNC's recent study of French theaters, which Benoît Danard, Director of Studies, Statistics and Forecasting at CNC, mentioned during the Conversation with the CNC on the sidelines of this eighth edition of the MIFC. However, Mateo Pavesi said that the audience following the streaming service of the Cineteca Milano represented a range between 25 and 34 years old. The Director concluded with some satisfaction with two symbolic figures: The Cineteca has 35,000 users of the platform per week and 200,000 subscribers to the Cineteca Milano newsletter.