France's cinema directors left hanging with no end to Covid closures in sight

Cinemas have been closed for more than 100 days in France for the first time in history. France’s culture minister has said that cinemas are not a priority for reopening even if the Covid-19 health crisis improves. Faced with uncertainty, cinema directors are frustrated but remain optimistic audiences will rush back when theatres reopen.

The Ciné 104 in Pantin in the north east of Paris, had been closed for more than 100 days by the time the second Covid-19 lockdown started in France in October. © Est Ensemble/Antoine Dumont

The Ciné 104 is a cinema in the north east of Paris, part of the Est Ensemble cinemas network. This local cinema welcomes a large cross section of the public and in 2019 sold 90,000 tickets. 

Apart from a brief reprieve over the summer, cinemas have remained under orders to stay closed to the public to curb the spread of the coronavirus, along with restaurants, museums and concert halls. 

But the time is proving to be very long, and the economic pressure is building up for the culture industry.

Anne Huet has been the Ciné 104 director since 2016. In a phone interview with RFI, she explained how the Ciné 104 has been operating during the Covid-19 health crisis.

RFI: Cinemas have been closed in France for more than 100 days now. France’s culture minister announced that cinemas won’t be a priority for reopening. What is your reaction to this?

Anne Huet: What is very hard is that this is the first time we have no perspective.

It's really difficult psychologically for me and all the people who work with me and everyone else to really know nothing, to have an infinite amount of time where the cinema is closed.

It's indisputable and undisputed that we have perhaps the most rigorous and strict protocols for health care.

But that is not the problem. It is not in cinemas, I think as everyone agrees, that people get infected. It is the question of the flow of people who move around to go to the places... I hear that very well...

In any case, at the Ciné 104, we're very up to date on the whole health protocol.

Listen to the interview in French

RFI · "Le cinéma est essentiel à nos vies, c'est notre poumon": Anne Huet

RFI: Cinemas and other cultural places were called as 'non essential' for people during the first lockdown in France last year? How did you react to that?

AH: It is something that struck me. Even though I am the director of a cinema, I am very attached to words and I fell immediately assaulted by them, as words are symbolic.

From the second lockdown and the total closure of all the places of culture, it happens that we are going crazy! We just worry about our work, our family and the pandemic so obviously cinema is essential to our lives, it's our lung!

Cinema is also the art of the outdoors and abroad.

Cinema, compared to all other forms of art, is the only way to travel and see how things are going thanks to a documentary in a factory in China, in a rural family in Iran etc., which really gives us a very precise understanding of it.

And then all of a sudden, everything closed up.

A banner reading "Essential" is seen on the Ciné 104 sign in Pantin in the north east of Paris. © RFI

I think that if we feel so bad and so claustrophobic, it's partly because of that, because we can't see any more paintings in museums or watch movies in the cinemas. There are no more concerts or bodies moving to music or in the gym, we are reduced to so little.

We are like automatons, we make gestures and we know what to do, but there is something strange and depressing, something like being on automatic pilot.

RFI: Who is the audience at Ciné 104 and when the cinema reopens, will they come back?

AH: Cinema is an art and an industry, but there is also the popular side. Cinema remains a popular art and mainly here in Seine Saint-Denis.

We welcome an extremely wide audience: schoolchildren, very young children, we do a lot of family screenings, young people, moviegoers, couples, and old people.

After the summer, at the beginning of the school year, we invited film directors to come and speak about their movies. We filled up on the meetings that were proposed, even wearing a mask in the theatre or on stage, people had a mad need to discuss, to debate.

That's already our particularity in this type of theatre, but there it was tenfold. People stayed for an hour, an hour and a half after the film to discuss with the guest or with each other.

That was very strong and that's why I'm moderately worried about the reopening and the return of the audience, people really miss it. I think they will be there when the reopening takes place.

RFI: How does a closed establishment like the Ciné 104 work?

AH: There are 13 of us in the team and I organise the planning of the public service personnel by small gauges. We alternate between remote working and going to the cinema. There are always things to be done, there are always technical checks to be done in the booth.

This establishment is like a house where there are always things to be arranged and tinkered with. 

Also we are present on social networks to give news, to make film recommendations, we organise virtual sessions on a platform called 'The 25th hour'.

Our colleague in charge of young audiences also offers events via Facebook, she goes to schools to present the films and give workshops.

The film programmer and I continue to see movies on our small screen, no longer in press screenings or in cinemas.

The films continue to be presented to us, so we are way ahead of the game here!