Ciné-club

How does the film club spirit allow for mediation actions around classical cinema?

Sylvain Devarieux, journalist for Le Film Français, moderated the morning meeting of Fanny Beuré, Victor Bournerias, Manon Kerjean, Ramiro Ledo Cordeiro and Pierre Magne at the Karbone on Thursday, October 20, on the subject of the mediation of heritage works by film club.

The discussion, in collaboration with the ADRC and the AFCAE, opened with the testimony of Fanny Beuré, co-creator and host of the podcast and film club "All that Jazz". After recounting the creation two years ago of her film club, in the tradition of her podcast, born five years ago, the specialist of musicals at the University of Lorraine spoke about the successful challenge of transforming her listeners into spectators. She also talked about her work as a mediator, wishing to present films related to the current events of musicals, without always having all the keys in hand to do so: contrary to what one might think, it is not so easy to program very well-known films.

Victor Bournerias, programmer at the Grand Action in Paris, knows this difficulty and is aware of the supply of films getting smaller and smaller with digitization, especially when it comes to classic American films. Nevertheless, the Grand Action is not empty and hosts 12 film clubs, often linked to specific groups or communities: a scientific one, another on framing or on Greek cinema for example. It is then up to Victor to negotiate with the distributors the films to be shown, even if sometimes the film club’s organizers take care of this part of the screenings. He mentions for example the one dedicated to Greek cinema, for which the copies are imported from Greece by the network of spectators and organizers. Victor Bournerias, however, maintains his role as advisor, guiding each film club in inviting speakers, advising on the films to be seen and on the possibility of accessing them. In addition, the assistant programmer explains that the film club is an opportunity for spectators to discover Le Grand Action, and therefore to discover its programming and to return. By domino effect, a part of the audience will become loyal.

Pierre Magne addressed the issue of audience loyalty through his film club for young cinephiles, which was launched as part of the CNC's "Young Cinephiles" fund. Having brought together some twenty young people aged 15 to 25 to work on the Japanese director Kinuyo Tanaka, Pierre Magne realized that this action made it possible to spread the word about the cinema among the students' relatives: when they go to the screenings, they are accompanied by their family and friends, and they talk about it at school. The results speak for themselves: the program has been renewed for a second season, with 32 young people attending. And if the fund is uncertain for this new season, the film club will continue with the means available.

Similarly, Ramiro Ledo Cordeiro explains that he operates without support to run his film club in Spain. As an operator by profession, he had run a first film club when he was at university, before trying the adventure again twenty years later, with the same methods as at the time: without support from national institutions for theaters, he works on the releases of other film club and the archives of film libraries and associations, as well as with parallel circuits, to show different types of films. He specifies that digitization complicates the access to copies for exhibitors. He then details the editorial work put in place to attract and develop its audience: Ramiro Ledo Cordeiro works with associations and partner cinemas, proposes animations and recent releases to rejuvenate its spectators and attract more.

Manon Kerjean, creator of the film club "Lost in Frenchlation", is also concerned by the editorial issue, as her film club organizes events in connection with its programming. Launched in 2015, its weekly meeting dedicated to non-French speakers, with screenings of French films with English subtitles, has attracted 45 different nationalities and about 25,000 spectators for 280 works screened. These are often recent works, in their third or fourth week of release, but heritage films are also honored. The "Lost in Frenchlation" thus inaugurated in 2019 a Classics section.

And after a full discussion, it appears that the main problem encountered by the panelists is that of access to archives: the gateways are not natural to access them, explains Victor Bournerias, and not all institutions are willing to lend their material. To which Eric Le Roy of Bois-d’Arcy, present in the audience, replied that the problem often comes from the copies deposited as legal deposit, which cannot be released. Trying as much as possible to lend his copies to those who ask for them, he values the donation of copies from the rights holders, who facilitate the sharing of material. "The films are not in the collections to sleep on shelves" he summarizes.

The subject of remuneration was also raised by the speakers, who mentioned the lack of budgets for the film club, which makes it difficult to carry out the work of mediation and editorial work for each session. A problem that remains unresolved for the moment.