cinema for all
 

PostED ON 20.10.2024

Rachida Dati, the French Minister of Culture, made her first visit to the Lumière film festival to announce the second volet of a major distribution plan focusing on heritage works and film libraries. 

© Sandrine Thesillat

“I've announced a major plan to promote the distribution of films, because it is an area of cinema that receives less financial backing”, began Rachida Dati, designating film libraries as the first line of actors in distribution. She continued, “We will be giving special support to the film libraries in Toulouse and Marseille, as well as those in Grenoble and Saint-Etienne in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region.”

Rachida Dati also indicated that she intends to support local festivals, including the Lumière film festival, “a Mecca for cinephiles”, as well as itinerant cinemas - screenings organised in rural areas.  The Minister announced an additional €3 million in annual funding for cinemas, starting in 2025. 

She mentioned asking the CNC for financial support. “Funding has been divided up and will be guaranteed for three years. Operating support will rise from €900,000 to €1.5 million, an increase of 67%, to fund the most relevant investment projects. Extraordinary aid of €1.4 million is scheduled for 2025. The objective is to make cinema as accessible as possible to everyone.”

Still referring to the cinematographic sector, the Culture Minister expressed her commitment to “supporting the digitisation and restoration of films shot on film, with €75 million earmarked for the digitisation of 1,400 films. As of 2025, the CNC's dedicated budget will increase by 40%, from €2.6 million to €3.6 million”, added the Minister.

She placed great importance on outreach programmes and coordination, particularly image education. “You can't have culture without coordinators. It's wonderful when young people can go to the cinema, the museum or the theatre, sometimes for the first time in their lives. We also need to be able to explain the works to them, which helps reduce the risk of radicalisation. But we need to give teachers more availability and training, so I'm asking the Ministry of Education, which also has its share of responsibility, to do its part.” In the same vein, the Minister said that she had introduced pilot schemes on mobility, to improve the system of buses that take children to the cinema.

Rachida Dati has not forgotten the project for a National Cinema Museum, put forward by Costa-Gavras, filmmaker and president of the Cinémathèque française. “I have lots of ideas, but I haven't spoken to members of the government about them yet. I'm thinking about funding, especially since the last Cannes Film Festival. Costa-Gavras is very persistent in this request, and he knows his field very well,” concluded the Minister. 

Interviewed by Fanny Bellocq