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In 2018, more than fifty productions of French cinema were distributed in Russia, achieving more than two million admissions. Sign of this craze, an outdoor festival is organized every year in the parks of Moscow. Films of authors or popular films, it is an eclectic programming which is proposed to the inhabitants of the Russian capital. An initiative of a Russian distributor and in partnership with the French Institute of Moscow.
Report from our correspondent in Moscow, Daniel Vallot
" I love French cinema, exclaims Katia . French cinema is a good level each time. Any movie is not bad. I like comedies, dramas. This film of my childhood, 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg', I play it and I sing it ... "
And umbrellas are in order for this outdoor projection, which takes place despite a rather threatening weather.
We are at Park Museon, right in the heart of Moscow, and tonight Elena returns to French cinema, a passion born, as for many Russians, during the Soviet era. " Unlike American cinema, French cinema was allowed in the USSR and French films were very successful, explains Elena. We all remember the movies with Pierre Richard and Gérard Depardieu. And then all the movies with De Funès, the comedies on "Le Gendarme". We liked a lot. "
The new generation loves the " New Wave "
Varvara, 22, did not know the great era when French cinema attracted tens of millions of spectators in the dark rooms of the Soviet Union. She is more interested in auteur cinema. His favorite movie? The 400 shots of François Truffaut . " This is the first film I watched in French, I was impressed by the way to make this film, recognizes Varvara. It's fashionable to say, "yes, I love New Wave movies." As it is fashionable to dress like Jean-Pierre Léaud . It's very popular among people of my age . "
Yet popular comedies continue to march in Russia. With 400,000 tickets sold it is Taxi 5 which was the biggest French success of 2018, on the Russian market.